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The Centurion's Servant / Royal Official's Son was one of the Miracles of Jesus, according to the Gospels of Matthew (8:5-13) and Luke (7:1-10) and with different details, John (4:46-54).

Overview

This is one of the few miracle stories coming from the earliest Christian tradition (Q Gospel?), to deal with a Gentile. At Capernaum a Roman centurion asks Jesus to heal his "boy/servant" (pais, Matthew)" or "servant" (doulos, Luke). The episode offers Jesus the opportunity to explicitly praise the faith of a Gentile and foretell their future conversion to the Church.

In Matthew the Roman centurion approaches Jesus directly. Luke recognized the difficulty of such a close encounter; in his account, there is no direct relationship between Jesus and the centurion, as the conversation was mediated by some "Jewish elders" and "friends." Luke also stresses that the centurion was a God-fearer and was well known by the local Jewish population for his "piety." The narrative is more plausible; however it remains very unlikely that a Roman centurion lived at the Jewish village of Capernaum

John offers a less controversial (and more primitive?) version of the story. It was not a Roman centurion but a (Jewish?) royal official who at Cana interceded for his "son" (uios/pais) who laid ill in Capernaum.

The two narratives are too similar to assume that they referred to two different miracle stories. It is more likely that the original reference to a Jewish "royal official" (of king Herod Antipas) could be mistaken for a "Roman centurion" while his "son" became one of the Centurion's slaves. In its metamorphosis the story offered to Q (and then Matthew and Luke) the opportunity to relate Jesus to Gentiles and offer a justification for the Christian preaching to Gentiles.

The Centurion's Servant in ancient sources

Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 8:5-13 (NRSV) -- 5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him 6 and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress." 7 And he said to him, "I will come and cure him." 8 The centurion answered, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." 10 When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, "Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; let it be done for you according to your faith." And the servant was healed in that hour.

Gospel of Luke

Luke 7:1-10 (NRSV) -- [1] After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. [2] A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. [3] When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. [4] When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having you do this for him, [5] for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us." [6] And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; [7] therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. [8] For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." [9] When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." [10] When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Cf. Gospel of John

John 4:46-54 (NRSV) -- 46 Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." 49 The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies." 50 Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51 As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him." 53 The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole household. [54] Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Cf. Gospel of Barnabas

[31b] And behold there drew nigh a centurion, saying: 'Lord, my son is sick; have mercy on my old age!'

Jesus answered: 'The Lord God of Israel have mercy on thee!'

The man was departing; and Jesus said: 'Wait for me, for I will come to thine house, to make prayer over thy son.'

The centurion answered: 'Lord, I am not worthy that thou, a prophet of God, shouldest come unto my house, sufficient unto me is the word that thou hast spoken for the healing of my son; for thy God hath made thee lord over every sickness, even as his angel said unto me in my sleep.'

Then Jesus marvelled greatly, and turning to the crowd, he said: 'Behold this stranger, for he hath more faith than all that I have found in Israel.' And turning to the centurion, he said: 'Go in peace, because God, for the great faith that he hath given thee, hath granted health to thy son.'

The centurion went his way, and on the road he met his servants, who announced to him how his son was healed.

The man answered: 'At what hour did the fever leave him?'

They said: 'Yesterday, at the sixth hour, the heat departed from him.'

The man knew that when Jesus said: 'The Lord God of Israel have mercy on thee,' his son received his health. Whereupon the man believed in our God, and having entered into his house, he brake in pieces all his own gods, saying: 'There is only the God of Israel, the true and living God.' Therefore said he: 'None shall eat of my bread that worshippeth not the God of Israel.'

The Centurion's Servant in scholarship

The Centurion's Servant in literature and the arts

External links

• Wikipedia (Centurion's Servant) -- Wikipedia (Royal Official's Son)