Then Jesus went with them,…. The elders of the Jews, towards the centurion’s house, after hearing their request, and their reasons for it; and that without any reluctancy, he at once complied, made no hesitation, or difficulty about it, but went with them very freely:

and when he was now not far from the house; of the centurion, where his servant lay sick; he having some notice of his coming, and of his being near his house, in his great humility, and being conscious to himself of his unworthiness to have such a person under his roof, sent messengers to prevent him:

the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself; or do not fatigue thyself by coming to the house, stop, go no further;

for I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof: he might know full well the law of the Jews, that it was not lawful for a Jew to go into the house of an uncircumcised Gentile; and though he might be a proselyte of righteousness, and so his house was free of entrance; yet considering his own meanness, and the greatness of Christ, who was become so famous for his doctrines and miracles, he thought it too great a stoop for Christ to come into his house, and too high a favour for him to enjoy.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Went with them ( ). Imperfect indicative middle. He started to go along with them.

Now (). Already like Latin jam. In 1Co 4:8 like jam nunc.

Sent friends ( ). This second embassy also, wanting in Matthew’s narrative. He “puts the message of both into the mouth of the centurion himself” (Plummer). Note saying (), present active singular participle, followed by direct quotation from the centurion himself.

Trouble not thyself ( ). Present middle (direct use) imperative of , old verb originally meaning to skin, to mangle, and then in later Greek to vex, trouble, annoy. Frequent in the papyri in this latter sense.

For I am not worthy that ( ). The same word , not , as in Mt 8:8, which see for discussion, from , , to fit, to reach, be adequate for. H in both places as common in late Greek. See Mt 8:8 also for “roof” (, covering).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Went [] . The imperfect tense is explained by what follows. He was going, was on the way, when he was met by the second messenger from the centurion.

Friends. Possibly kinsmen, not elders now.

Trouble [] . Lit., worry. See on Mt 9:36; Mr 5:35.

Worthy [] . Lit., sufficient. Compare Mt 3:11, “worthy to bear;” and 2Co 3:5, “not that we are sufficient [] , but our sufficiency [] is of God.” It is also used in the sense of much, many, long. See ch. Luk 7:12; Luk 8:27, 32; Luk 20:9; Act 9:23.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Then Jesus went with them,” (ho de lesous eporeueto sun autois) “Then Jesus went in colleague with them,” in a spirit of compassion and care that the Jews shared, Luk 7:3.

2) “And when he was not far from the house,” (ede de autou ou makran apechontos apo tes oikias) “Then when he was not far away from the residence,” of the centurion, where the servant lay critically ill, near death, Luk 7:2.

3) “The centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord,” (epempsen philous ho hekatonarches legon auto kurie) “The centurion sent friends to him saying, Lord,” or master, addressing Him with respect, dignity, and honor. This was the second message the centurion had sent out to Jesus.

4) “Trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy,” (me skullou ou gar hikanos eimi) “Do not exist as a man who is worthy, but of a different race from you, not considered to be morally clean myself, according to your law, which I respect, Act 10:28; Gal 2:12; Gal 2:14.

5) “That thou shouldest enter under my roof.” (hina hupo ten stegen mou eiselthes) “In order that you should enter or come under the roof of my residence,” to become defiled in the eyes of your people, the Jews, and I know it, Mat 8:8; Joh 4:9; Joh 4:18; Joh 4:28; Act 11:3.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(6) Then Jesus went with them.Literally, And Jesus was going with them.

The centurion sent friends to him.The precision of St. Lukes account leads us to receive it as a more accurate record of what St. Matthew reports in outline. It is, we may add, more true to nature. The centurion was not likely to leave the slave who was so precious to him when he seemed as in the very agonies of death.

Trouble not thyself.The word is the same as in Mar. 5:35, where see Note.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

‘And Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof,”

Jesus responded to their plea, and the cry for help, and went on His way. It is probable that the centurion had actually seen the approach of the elders as a first step in order to scout out the position, rather than as a request for Jesus to come. Thus it would appear that when a messenger was sent on ahead in order to say that the Prophet was coming, the centurion sensed his own unworthiness and in a sense panicked. He felt that he was not worthy for a Prophet to come under his roof. Indeed he may also have recognised that for Jesus to do so would render Him unclean, but we must not see that as the main motive, otherwise it would have been stated. So he immediately sent his friends to assure Jesus that He need not come to his house, because he knew that he was not worthy. He was a man in awe of God.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The faith of the centurion:

v. 6. Then 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;

v. 7. wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee; but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

v. 8. For 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.

v. 9. When Jesus heard these things, He marveled 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.

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

Strange disagreement! The Jewish elders declare that he is worthy, the centurion says that he is not worthy. They had intimated in their petition that it would be best for Jesus to come, and He, accordingly, went with them. The officer maintains that so much bother and inconvenience on the part of Christ was too much honor for him. When the centurion received the news that Jesus was coming in person, a possibility with which he had not reckoned, the fear of his unworthiness took hold of him. Jesus was even now quite near. Therefore the Roman quickly dispatches other friends to intercept Him, saying that Christ should not bother, should not put Himself out by coming in person. He as the host, and his house as reception-hall for the Most High: that seemed altogether too incongruous to him. For that reason also he had not come in person, but had sent a delegation to plead with the Lord. Note: The argument of the centurion is a model of humility, especially since he does not draw the conclusion, but makes his object so obvious that the effect is all the more overwhelming. He himself was a mere man; Christ was the Lord from heaven. He was a man under authority, in a constant state of subordination; Christ was the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Yet the centurion could give commands which his soldiers and his slave must carry out at once at his bidding, so great was the authority of a mere man. Surely here was a clear case: Speak only in a word, by means of a single word, and the sickness must obey Thy almighty will. He that has the true, living faith in his heart realizes his own unworthiness and weakness before the Lord, and yet he does not doubt, but firmly believes, that the Lord of heaven loves him and will gladly help him. The believer understands what mercy is, and that the mercy of God is intended for those that are without worthiness and merit.

This argument of faith conquered Jesus. He was filled with astonishment; He turned to the multitude that was following Him and said: I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. In the midst of the chosen people, to whom were entrusted the words of the revelation of God, the majority, if not all, should have felt as this Roman officer did, but they were here put to shame by an outsider. And in His joy over this rare find Jesus spoke the word for which the centurion had pleaded. When those that had been sent returned to the centurion’s house, they found the sick servant restored to perfect health. Thus was the faith of this heathen rewarded. Faith at all times takes hold of Christ, the almighty, kind Helper and Savior, and thus it accepts from Christ help, comfort, grace, and every good thing. Faith depends entirely upon the Word, and therefore takes and puts into its own possession all that the Word promises.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

DISCOURSE: 1499
THE CENTURIONS SERVANT HEALED

Luk 7:6-7. Then 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: wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

NOTHING makes a wider breach among men than a difference in political and religious opinion: but mutual good offices would greatly counteract this evil. Though we can never hope to soften the rancour of all, we may by persevering kindness conciliate the esteem of many. We have before us a remarkable instance of the efficacy of such conduct. The centurion was a heathen, an officer of a hostile nation, stationed in Juda to keep the Jews in subjection; but instead of oppressing the Jews he had shewed them much favour. He, in his turn, needed their good offices on behalf of his servant; and they gladly became his advocates and intercessors; they even prevailed on Jesus to work a miracle on his behalf.

To elucidate this miracle we shall consider,

I.

The centurions character

Soldiers, for the most part, are unfavourably circumstanced with respect to religion; but here was one, though a heathen, whose character may well put to shame the greater part of the Christian world. We may observe,

1.

His love to his fellow-creatures

[His servant was grievously afflicted with the palsy nigh unto death [Note: Compare Mat 8:6. with Luk 7:2.]. In this disorder, persons can do nothing for others, or even for themselves; and in such a state, even dear friends and relatives are ready to think the care of one a heavy burthen; yet this Centurion administered to his servant with the tenderest affection, and interested all he could in the promotion of his welfare [Note: He applied to some of the Jewish elders to use their interest with Jesus on his behalf.]. What could the servant himself have done more for the kindest master?]

2.

His piety towards God

[He had not embraced either the doctrines or discipline of the Jewish Church; but he had learned to acknowledge the only true God; and he was glad to promote the worship of God, even though he himself did not acquiesce in the peculiar mode in which he was worshipped. He even built a synagogue for the Jews at his own expensed [Note: ver. 5.]. What an admirable pattern of liberality and candour! How different from those who will not do any thing without the pale of their own Church! Surely he never afterwards regretted that he had so applied his wealth.]

3.

His low thoughts of himself

[He did not arrogate any thing to himself on account of his rank and authority; nor did he value himself on his benevolence to man and zeal for God. While others judged him worthy that a miracle should be wrought for him, he accounted himself unworthy of the smallest favour. This was the reason of his forbearing to wait on our Lord in person [Note: On our Lords near approach to the house, the same humility that had kept the Centurion from going to him, compelled him, as it were, to go, lest he should seem guilty of disrespect. Compare Mat 8:13. with the text.]. How lovely does such an one appear in the eyes of God and man!]

4.

His exalted thoughts of Christ

[He judged our Lord to be too holy to admit of converse with a heathen. He believed also that Jesus could effect whatsoever he pleased, by a word, and at a distance, without the intervention of any means [Note: ver. 7.]. Nor did he doubt but that universal nature was subject to his will far more than the most obedient soldier could be to the commands of his officer [Note: ver. 8.]. Thus did he ascribe to Jesus a power proper to God alone [Note: Deu 32:39.]. Well might our Lords address to the discreet Scribe have been applied to him [Note: Mar 12:34.].]

Such a character as this could never meet with a repulse from Jesus.

II.

The kindness vouchsafed to him by our Lord

Instantly at the request of the elders Jesus set off to the Centurions house. He who, though repeatedly importuned, declined to visit a noblemans son [Note: Joh 4:46-50.], went, at the very first summons, to attend upon a centurions servant; and no sooner met the centurion, than he richly recompensed his assiduity

1.

He expressed his admiration of the centurions faith

[We never hear of Jesus admiring the things of this world: he rather checked in his Disciples such ill-judged veneration [Note: Mar 13:1-2.]: but when he beheld the Centurions faith, he marvelled at it. Not that such exercise of grace was really unexpected by him. Jesus both knew what was in the Centurions heart [Note: Joh 2:25.], and had planted there the very grace which he exercised [Note: Joh 1:16.]; but Jesus, as our exemplar, would teach us what to admire, and shew us that the smallest portion of true faith cannot be estimated too highly [Note: 2Pe 1:1.]. Our Lord declared in his very presence, that this faith had not been equalled by any even of the Israelites themselves [Note: ver. 9.]. Such approbation from his mouth could not fail of comforting the afflicted Centurion.]

2.

He wrought the desired miracle in confirmation of his faith

[By a simple act of his Will he restored the servant to perfect health, and told the Centurion that it should be to him according to his faith. Thus he removed the distress of the family in an instant. Thus too he confirmed the faith which had shone forth so nobly, and shewed that we could never expect too much at his hands. What advantage for eternal life did the Centurion derive from hence! With what lively hope might he apply to Jesus for the healing of his soul! We can never suppose that such love and piety, such humility and faith, were left to perish. No, verily; that declaration shall be found true to all eternity [Note: 1Sa 2:30.]]

3.

He declared that many such persons should be saved, while many, with clearer light and higher privileges, should be cast out

[They who profess the true religion may be called the children of the kingdom.But how many of them are destitute of the attainments this heathen had made! How many would have imitated that vile Amalekite rather than him [Note: 1Sa 30:13.]! How many grudge the necessary contributions for keeping up the houses of God [Note: What a contrast to him who, entirely at his own expense, erected a synagogue for people of another communion!]! What doubting of Christs power and grace, yea, what a proud conceit too of their own worthiness, is to be found among professing Christians! Surely what our Lord said respecting the unbelieving Jews shall be realized in Christians of this character [Note: Mat 8:12.]: and the humbler heathens, who walked agreeably to the light that they enjoyed, shall be preferred before them. Nor can we doubt but that the Centurion, in reference to whom these things were spoken, shall be among that blessed number.]

Application

[Let us then learn to plead earnestly for ourselves; nor let a sense of unworthiness keep us from carrying our wants to Jesus Let us also sympathize with, and intercede for, others. Job, like the Centurion, found benefit from his own intercessions [Note: Job 42:10.]: nor shall our supplications be in vain, either for ourselves or others.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

6 Then 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:

Ver. 6. For I am not worthy ] So saith Jacob of himself, Gen 32:10 ; so Paul,1Co 15:8-101Co 15:8-10 ; so the Baptist, Mat 3:11 ; so Augustine, Non sum dignus quem tu diligas, Domine, I am not worthy of thy love, Lord.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Luk 7:6 . : no hint of scruples on the part of Jesus, as in the case of the Syrophenician woman. , not far, i.e. , quite near. Lk. often uses the negative with adjectives and adverbs to express strongly the positive. Hahn accumulates instances chiefly from Acts. : these also would naturally be Jews. : here we have , followed by with subjunctive. In Luk 3:16 it is followed by the infinitive.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luke

WORTHY-NOT WORTHY

Luk 7:4 , Luk 7:6 – Luk 7:7 .

A Roman centurion, who could induce the elders of a Jewish village to approach Jesus on his behalf, must have been a remarkable person. The garrison which held down a turbulent people was not usually likely to be much loved by them. But this man, about whom the incident with which our texts are connected is related, was obviously one of the people of whom that restless age had many, who had found out that his creed was outworn, and who had been drawn to Judaism by its lofty monotheism and its austere morality. He had gone so far as to build a synagogue, and thereby, no doubt, incurred the ridicule of his companions, and perhaps the suspicions of his superiors. What would the English authorities think of an Indian district officer that conformed to Buddhism or Brahminism, and built a temple? That is what the Roman officials would think of our centurion. And there were other beautiful traits in his character. He had a servant ‘that was dear to him.’ It was not only the nexus of master and servant and cash payments that bound these two together. And very beautiful is this story, when he himself speaks about this servant. He does not use the rough word which implies a bondservant, and which is employed throughout the whole of the rest of the narrative, but a much gentler one, and speaks of him as his ‘boy.’ So he had won the hearts of these elders so far as to make them swallow their dislike to Jesus, and deign to go to Him with a request which implied His powers at which at all other times they scoffed.

Now, we owe to Luke the details which show us that there was a double deputation to our Lord-the first which approached Him to ask His intervention, and the second which the centurion sent when he saw the little group coming towards his house, and a fresh gush of awe rose in his heart. The elders said, ‘He is worthy’; he said, ‘I am not worthy.’ The verbal resemblance is, indeed, not so close in the original as in our versions, for the literal rendering of the words put into the centurion’s mouth is ‘not fit.’ But still the evident antithesis is preserved: the one saying expresses the favourable view that partial outsiders took of the man, the other gives the truer view that the man took of himself. And so, putting away the story altogether, we may set these two verdicts side by side, as suggesting wider lessons than those which arise from the narrative itself.

I. And, first, we have here the shallow plea of worthiness.

These elders did not think loftily of Jesus Christ. The conception that we have of Him goes a long way to settle whether it is possible or not for us to approach Him with the word ‘worthy’ on our lips. The higher we lift our thought of Christ, the lower becomes our thought of ourselves. These elders saw the centurion from the outside, and estimated him accordingly. There is no more frequent, there is no more unprofitable and impossible occupation, than that of trying to estimate other people’s characters. Yet there are few things that we are so fond of doing. Half our conversation consists of it, and a very large part of what we call literature consists of it; and it is bound to be always wrong, whether it is eulogistic or condemnatory, because it only deals with the surface.

Here we have the shallow plea advanced by these elders in reference to the centurion which corresponds to the equally shallow plea that some of us are tempted to advance in reference to ourselves. The disposition to do so is in us all. Luther said that every man was born with a Pope in his belly. Every man is born with a Pharisee in himself, who thinks that religion is a matter of barter, that it is so much work, buying so much favour here, or heaven hereafter. Wherever you look, you see the working of that tendency. It is the very mainspring of heathenism, with all its penances and performances. It is enshrined in the heart of Roman Catholicism, with its dreams of a treasury of merits, and works of supererogation and the like. Ay! and it has passed over into a great deal of what calls itself Evangelical Protestantism, which thinks that, somehow or other, it is all for our good to come here, for instance on a Sunday, though we have no desire to come and no true worship in us when we have come, and to do a great many things that we would much rather not do, and to abstain from a great many things that we are strongly inclined to, and all with the notion that we have to bring some ‘worthiness’ in order to move Jesus Christ to deal graciously with us.

And then notice that the religion of barter, which thinks to earn God’s favour by deeds, and is, alas! the only religion of multitudes, and subtly mingles with the thoughts of all, tends to lay the main stress on the mere external arts of cult and ritual. ‘He loveth our nation, and hath built us a synagogue’; not, ‘He is gentle, good, Godlike.’ ‘He has built a synagogue.’ That is the type of work which most people who fall into the notion that heaven is to be bought, offer as the price. I have no doubt that there are many people who have never caught a glimpse of any loftier conception than that, and who, when they think-which they do not often do-about religious subjects at all, are saying to themselves, ‘I do as well as I can,’ and who thus bring in some vague thought of the mercy of God as a kind of make-weight to help out what of their own they put in the scale. Ah, dear brethren! that is a wearying, an endless, a self-torturing, an imprisoning, an enervating thought, and the plea of ‘worthiness’ is utterly out of place and unsustainable before God.

II. Now let me turn to the deeper conviction which silences that plea.

‘I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof, wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee.’ This man had a loftier conception of who and what Christ was than the elders had. To them He was only one of themselves, perhaps endowed with some kind of prophetic power, but still one of themselves. The centurion had pondered over the mystic power of the word of command, as he knew it by experience in the legion, or in the little troop of which he, though a man under the authority of his higher officers, was the commander; and he knew that even his limited power carried with it absolute authority and compelled obedience. And he had looked at Christ, and wondered, and thought, and had come at last to a dim apprehension of that great truth that, somehow or other, in this Man there did lie a power which, by the mere utterance of His will, could affect matter, could raise the dead, could still a storm, could banish disease, could quell devils. He did not formulate his belief, he could not have said exactly what it led to, or what it contained, but he felt that there was something divine about Him. And so, seeing, though it was but through mists, the sight of that great perfection, that divine humanity and human divinity, he bowed himself and said, ‘Lord! I am not worthy.’

When you see Christ as He is, and give Him the honour due to His name, all notions of desert will vanish utterly.

Further, the centurion saw himself from the inside, and that makes all the difference. Ah, brethren! most of us know our own characters just as little as we know our own faces, and find it as difficult to form a just estimate of what the hidden man of the heart looks like as we find it impossible to form a just estimate of what we look to other people as we walk down the street. But if we once turned the searchlight upon ourselves, I do not think that any of us would long be able to stand by that plea, ‘I am worthy.’ Have you ever been on a tour of discovery, like what they go through at the Houses of Parliament on the first day of each session, down into the cellars to see what stores of explosive material, and what villains to fire it, may be lurking there? If you have once seen yourself as you are, and take into account, not only actions but base tendencies, foul, evil thoughts, imagined sins of the flesh, meannesses and basenesses that never have come to the surface, but which you know are bits of you, I do not think that you will have much more to say about ‘I am worthy.’ The flashing waters of the sea may be all blazing in the sunshine, but if they were drained off, what a frightful sight the mud and the ooze at the bottom would be! Others look at the dancing, glittering surface, but you, if you are a wise man, will go down in the diving-bell sometimes, and for a while stop there at the bottom, and turn a bull’s-eye straight upon all the slimy, crawling things that are there, and that would die if they came into the light.

‘I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof.’ But then, as I have said, most of us are strangers to ourselves. The very fact of a course of action which, in other people, we should describe with severe condemnation, being ours, bribes us to indulgence and lenient judgment. Familiarity, too, weakens our sense of the foulness of our own evils. If you have been in the Black Hole all night, you do not know how vitiated the atmosphere is. You have to come out into the fresh air to find out that. We look at the errors of others through a microscope; we look at our own through the wrong end of the telescope; and the one set, when we are in a cynical humour, seem bigger than they are; and the other set always seem smaller.

Now, that clear consciousness of my own sinfulness ought to underlie all my religious feelings and thoughts. I believe, for my part, that no man is in a position to apprehend Christianity rightly who has not made the acquaintance of his own bad self. And I trace a very large proportion of the shallow Christianity of this day as well as of the disproportion in which its various truths are set forth, and the rising of crops of erroneous conceptions just to this, that this generation has to a large extent lost-no, do not let me say this generation, you and I -have to a large extent lost, that wholesome consciousness of our own unworthiness and sin.

But on the other hand, let me remind you that the centurion’s deeper conviction is not yet the deepest of all, and that whilst the Christianity which ignores sin is sure to be impotent, on the other hand the Christianity which sees very little but sin is bondage and misery, and is impotent too. And there are many of us whose type of religion is far gloomier than it should be, and whose motive of service is far more servile than it ought to be, just because we have not got beyond the centurion, and can only say, ‘I am not worthy; I am a poor, miserable sinner.’

III. And so I come to the third point, which is not in my text, but which both my texts converge upon, and that is the deepest truth of all, that worthiness or unworthiness has nothing to do with Christ’s love.

When these elders interceded with Jesus, He at once rose and went with them, and that not because of their intercession or of the certificate of character which they had given, but because His own loving heart impelled Him to go to any soul that sought His help. So we are led away from all anxious questionings as to whether we are worthy or no, and learn that, far above all thoughts either of undue self-complacency or of undue self-depreciation, lies the motive for Christ’s gracious and healing approach in.

‘His ceaseless, unexhausted love,

Unmerited and free.’

This is the truth to which the consciousness of sinfulness and unworthiness points us all, for which that consciousness prepares us, in which that consciousness does not melt away, but rather is increased and ceases to be any longer a burden or a pain. Here, then, we come to the very bed-rock of everything, for

‘Merit lives from man to man,

But not from man, O Lord, to Thee.’

Jesus Christ comes to us, not drawn by our deserts, but impelled by His own love, and that love pours itself out upon each of us. So we do not need painfully to amass a store of worthiness, nor to pile up our own works, by which we may climb to heaven. ‘Say not, who shall ascend up into heaven,’ to bring Christ down again, ‘but the word is nigh thee, that if thou wilt believe with thine heart, thou shalt be saved.’ Worthiness or unworthiness is to be swept clean out of the field, and I am to be content to be a pauper, to owe everything to what I have done nothing to procure, and to cast myself on the sole, all-sufficient mercy of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

And then comes liberty, and then comes joy. If the gift is given from no consideration of men’s deserts, then the only thing that men have to do is to exercise the faith that takes it. As the Apostle says in words that sound very hard and technical, but which, if you would only ponder them, are throbbing with vitality, ‘It is of faith that it might be by grace.’ Since He gives simply because He loves, the only requisites are the knowledge of our need, the will to receive, the trust that, in clasping the Giver, possesses the gift.

The consciousness of unworthiness will be deepened. The more we know ourselves to be sinful, the more we shall cleave to Christ, and the more we cleave to Christ, the more we shall know ourselves to be sinful. Peter caught a glimpse of what Jesus was when he sat in the boat, and he said, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ But Peter saw both himself and his Lord more clearly, that is more truly, when, subsequent to his black treachery, his brother Apostle said to him concerning the figure standing on the beach in the grey morning, ‘It is the Lord,’ and he flung himself over the side and floundered through the water to get to his Master’s feet. For that is the place for the man who knows himself unworthy. The more we are conscious of our sin, the closer let us cling to our Lord’s forgiving heart, and the more sure we are that we have that love which we have not earned, the more shall we feel how unworthy of it we are. As one of the prophets says, with profound meaning, ‘Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy transgression, when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done.’ The child buries its face on its mother’s breast, and feels its fault the more because the loving arms clasp it close.

And so, dear brethren, deepen your convictions, if you are deluded by that notion of merit; deepen your convictions, if you see your own evil so clearly that you see little else. Come into the light, come into the liberty, rise to that great thought, ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy He saved us.’ Have done with the religion of barter, and come to the religion of undeserved grace. If you are going to stop on the commercial level, ‘the wages of sin is death’; rise to the higher ground: ‘the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

went = was going.

with = in conjunction or fellowship with. Greek. sun. App-104.

not far. In the former case, the Lord did not go; being prevented by the centurion.

not. Greek. ou. App-105.

from. Greek. apo. App-104.

sent. Greek. pempo (App-174.) = to send with; the envoy being accompanied by an, escort.

saying. He himself was present, and was the speaker.

Lord. App-98. The Person of the Lord is the subject of this second period of His ministry. See App-119.

trouble not Thyself. This second and similar address shows a greater depth of humility, probably grown since the former healing, of which the synagogue may have been a votive token. not. Greek. me. App-105. Not the same word as in preceding and following clause,

not worthy. Greek. ou. As in first clause.

under. Greek. hupo. App-104.

my. Emphatic by position in the sentence. Figure of speech Hyperbaton. App-6.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Luk 7:6. , but now) Whilst he feels sensibly the promptness of the Lord, the reverence of his faith increases in the centurion.-, friends) He had sent elders for the sake of beseeching (Luk 7:4): now he employs friends to deliver a second message. Could then friends come unto the Lord, when the centurion himself did not? Yes; because they went unto the Lord in behalf of the centurion, not in behalf of themselves. The one and the same faith produces in different persons different mental effects and emotions.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Jesus: Mat 20:28, Mar 5:24, Act 10:38

trouble: Luk 8:49

for: Luk 7:4, Luk 5:8, Luk 15:19-21, Gen 32:10, Pro 29:23, Mat 3:11, Mat 5:26, Mat 5:27, Jam 4:6, Jam 4:10

Reciprocal: Lev 13:45 – Unclean Rth 2:10 – seeing 2Ki 5:21 – he lighted Isa 56:3 – The Lord hath Mat 8:7 – I will Mat 8:8 – I am Mat 15:27 – Truth Mar 1:7 – General Mar 5:35 – why Mar 7:28 – yet Luk 11:7 – Trouble Luk 18:13 – standing Joh 4:47 – that he Joh 11:21 – if Rom 7:14 – but

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

6

This Gentile felt unworthy to have Jesus in his house.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 7:6. Went with them. There was no delay as in the case of the Syro-Phenician woman, because there was not the same necessity either for bringing out the faith of the person who asked the favor, or for thus giving a lesson to the disciples, to remove prejudice.

Friends. A very delicate and thoroughly natural touchno intercessors, for these he needed no longer, but intimate friends of his family, who can in some measure take his place in greeting the highly honored Guest. (Van Oosterzee.)On the message itself, and the subsequent words of our Lord, see Mat 8:8-13.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Ver. 6b-8. The Second Deputation.

The centurion, from his house, sees Jesus approaching with His retinue of disciples. The veneration with which this mysterious person inspires him makes him afraid even to receive Him under his roof; he sends, therefore, a second deputation. Strauss sees in this a contradiction of his former proceeding. But it was simply a deeper humility and stronger faith that had dictated this course. here denotes moral worth, as in Luk 3:16 and elsewhere. Faith vies with humility in this man. The expression , say in a word, suggests this means in preference to His coming in person.

In Matthew’s narrative all these proceedings are united in a single act; the centurion comes himself to tell Jesus of the sickness, and to the offer of Jesus to visit his house, returns the answer which we find in Luk 5:8. Bleek regards the details in Luke as an amplification of the original narrative; others consider Matthew’s account an abridgment of Luke’s. But how could Luke exaggerate in this way the plain statement of Matthew, or Matthew mangle the description of Luke? Our evangelists were earnest believers. All that tradition had literally preserved was the characteristic reply of the centurion (Luk 7:8), and our Lord’s expression of admiration (Luk 7:9). The historical outline had been created with greater freedom in the oral narration. This explains in a very natural manner the difference between our two narratives. Although he was only an ordinary man (), and a man in a dependent position, the centurion had some subordinates through whom he could act without always going himself to the place. Could not Jesus, who stood far above him in the hierarchy of being, having the powers of the invisible world at His disposal, make use, if He pleased, of a similar power? We may compare here Jesus’ own words respecting the angels which ascend and descend (John 1:52).

How are we to explain the existence of such faith in this man? We must bear in mind the words of Luk 7:3 : having heard of Jesus. The fame of the miracles of Jesus had reached even him. There was one cure especially, which Jesus had wrought at Capernaum itself, and since Cana, which presented a remarkable similarity to that which the centurion besoughtthe cure of the nobleman’s son (John 4). Perhaps his knowledge of this miracle is the most natural mode of explaining the faith implied in the message which he addresses to Jesus by the mouth of his friends.

The expression, such faith, refers not to the request for a cure, but for a cure without the aid of His bodily presence. It was, as it were, a paroxysm of faith!

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

It seems unusual that the centurion would send for Jesus and then tell Him not to come. Apparently his humility moved him to do so (cf. Luk 3:16). He felt unworthy that Jesus should enter his house. He understood that Jews customarily avoided entering the homes of Gentiles because they considered them ritually unclean. He may also have wished to spare Jesus the embarrassment of entering a Gentile’s house since many Jews would have criticized Jesus for doing so. He even felt unfit (spiritually, morally, religiously) to meet Jesus outside his house.

However the main point of the centurion’s words was his recognition of Jesus’ authority. He viewed Jesus’ relationship to sickness as similar to his own relationship to his subordinates. He saw both men as operating in a chain of command under the authority of others but also in authority over others. Jesus could bid sickness to come, to go, and to behave, as this soldier ordered his slaves. Jesus only needed to issue an authoritative command, as the centurion gave orders, and the sickness would depart. All they had to do was say the word and things happened. This man not only viewed Jesus as having authority over sickness, but he even believed that Jesus’ spoken word would be sufficient to heal.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)