NOTES for Luk 7:8-10

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⁸For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

⁹When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

¹⁰And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.

As in all the cases of resurrection and healing mentioned by the evangelists, here before us is the manifestation of the Kingdom that Jesus brought into the world. In this Kingdom there is no place for sickness or death, and everyone who comes into contact with it receives life and health in all their fullness, insofar as such fullness is accessible to him within the framework of humanity not yet transformed.

But the Kingdom is not simply some place or space, even one that is somehow specially arranged or organized. The Kingdom is first of all relationships binding people with Christ and with one another. One could even say that the Kingdom as a special kind of place or space is determined by these relationships and depends on them. Indeed, if we take, for example, the story of the healing of the centurion's servant, here there is not really any single continuous physical or mystical space: at the moment when the centurion's servant was healed, Jesus was quite far from him, and the servant himself very possibly may not even have known that his master was asking for his healing. But there is one spiritual space, and it is generated by the relationships of love and trust that bound the centurion both to his servant and to Jesus.

It is quite obvious that the centurion had an altogether special attitude toward his servant, who in the original is directly called a slave: such concern for a sick slave was plainly unusual for Romans, who were by no means inclined to sentimentality. Evidently this love forced him to turn to the Teacher, about whom all kinds of rumors circulated among the people, but about whom it was known for certain that He healed everyone ready to trust Him. And the centurion truly managed to trust Jesus in a way that, according to Jesus' own testimony, few had trusted Him even among the people of God, verse 9: he did not dare call the Teacher to his house, being completely certain that His desire alone would be enough for healing, verses 6-8.

The measure of trust and love proved so great that the Kingdom became a reality not only for the centurion himself, but also for his servant, who did not see Jesus at all and perhaps even knew nothing about Him. Thus relationships give birth to the Kingdom. And then it becomes clear why Jesus is ready to enter every house where He is awaited. For those who wait for Him and receive Him thereby increase the space of the Kingdom, themselves becoming part of it, and therefore its witnesses and servants. The same kind of witnesses and servants Jesus wants to see in each of us.

Other notes

For Luk 7:8

⁸For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

In Bishop Cassian's translation, the centurion's words sound like this: for I also am a man... Read more

In Bishop Cassian's translation, the centurion's words sound like this: "for I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to one, 'go,' and he goes, and to another, 'come,' and he comes, and to this slave of mine, 'do this,' and he does it". In the Synodal translation, however: "For I too am a man under authority, but having soldiers under me, I say to one: go, and he goes; and to another: come, and he comes; and to my servant: do that, and he does it."

Let us note that in the two cases the pronoun "I" and the conjunction "also" appear in a different order. This difference is not accidental. Something led the authors of the Synodal translation to change the word order, even though it is exactly that way in the original and in all modern and old translations, making the phrase hard to pronounce and unnatural in Russian. It looks very much as if it came to mean "although I too am a man under authority, yet I have under my command..." And we need to understand what this "something" is, the thing Bishop Cassian removed, because it gives a great deal, as we see it, for understanding the text.

If the centurion says, "I also am a man under authority," then he means: I, like someone else. And who is this someone else? He is speaking with Jesus. All these words are addressed to Him... In essence, the centurion is saying this. There is authority over me, and I have subordinates; there is a certain three-level hierarchy of society in which he stands in the middle between the lower and higher levels. And he says to Jesus: just like You. That is, You too have Someone over You, to whom You are subject, just as I am subject to authority. And this Someone is, of course, God. He involuntarily transfers the three-level hierarchy to which he himself is accustomed onto the whole structure of the universe. And he places Jesus in the middle, as though He were a mediator between God and man.

For us this is entirely different. For Jesus is not a mediator, but God Himself. That is precisely why in the Synodal translation these two words were rearranged and this meaning was completely removed from the text. But if we turn to the corrected text...

Yet this must not frighten us in any way; there is nothing terrible here at all. On the contrary, this is not a reason for doubt but for wonder, wonder at our Lord, at His humility, ready to accept being seen merely as a mediator and declaring the centurion's faith better than the faith He had found in Israel. Let us note that only comparative descriptions are used here; the centurion's faith is by no means recognized as the ideal of faith for all times and peoples. But it was already a breakthrough, already a step, to see in Him God's envoy, a Man subject to God; that is already very, very much, and the Lord values this step so highly.

The Lord values every little step of ours in general. Even if we have taken a small step away from a very primitive faith toward understanding something a little more complex, the Lord already values it very, very much and is generous both with praise and with complete help. It seems to us that this text, as we read it in Bishop Cassian, is an amazing witness to the Lord's humility and His ineffable kindness.

For Luk 7:1-17

¹Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.

²And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.

³And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.

⁴And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this:

⁵For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.

⁶Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:

⁷Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

⁸For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

⁹When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

¹⁰And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.

¹¹And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

¹²Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

¹³And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

¹⁴And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

¹⁵And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

¹⁶And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

¹⁷And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.

Today we return again to such a fundamental concept as faith. In the Bible this word most often means not simply trust in some information, but... Read more

Today we return again to such a fundamental concept as faith. In the Bible this word most often means not simply trust in some information, but the ability at a critical moment to "take hold" of God, to lean on Him as on a firm pillar or rock.

Today's story about the Roman officer who asked Jesus to heal his servant, and whom Christ sets as an example for His disciples, illustrates this well. He is a military man, trained in army discipline, and he is absolutely certain that his order will be carried out, just as he himself is ready to carry out the order of his commander. In his relationship with God, such confidence rests not on discipline and military order, where a soldier is punished with death for disobedience, but on something no less strong: namely, on faith.

Strictly speaking, when Scripture speaks about faith, it is speaking about faith that is stronger even than death, so that the sick are healed and the dead are raised.