Smoodock's Blog

In my study of the Gospel of John, I linked the nobleman’s son (John 4:46) with the centurion’s servant of Luke 7:2 and Matthew 8:5-6. If, indeed, this can be so, then the request to heal the young man came to Jesus, while he was yet in Cana of Galilee. It was there that he traveled to, when he fled the Pharisees who had just conspired to have John the Baptist arrested by Herod (John 3:24; cp. Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14 and John 4:1-3, 46). The nobleman, the young man’s father, had traveled from Capernaum to Cana to request that Jesus come with him to Capernaum to heal his son (John 4:46-47).

Both Matthew and Luke, however, have Jesus actually entering the city, but this isn’t necessarily so. First of all, on the next day Luke has Jesus entering the city of Nain, which is more than a day’s walking distance from Capernaum (Luke 7:11), so some explanation is needed to get Jesus in Nain the day following the healing of the centurion’s servant. The matter is easily resolved in that “…he entered into Capernaum” (Luke 7:1), could be translated: “he (Jesus) arose for Capernaum” vis-à-vis he started out on his journey for the purpose of entering Capernaum, where the young man lay dying.[1]

In other studies, I’ve shown that strict chronology wasn’t as important to ancient writers as it is today. During the first century AD it was more important that one’s story or record went from one event to another smoothly and without any noticeable break in the record.[2] Thus, since the Synoptics leave out the record of Jesus’ first Passover spent in Jerusalem (John 2:13) and, later, Pentecost (John 3:22), both Matthew and Luke have the centurion sending for Jesus from Capernaum, which is technically true in that the young man’s father, the nobleman (John 4:46), went from Capernaum to Cana to see Jesus and asked him to return with him to heal his son. (John 4:46-47).[3]

The centurion’s letter told Jesus that his servant lay ill at his home and was in great pain (Matthew 8:7). The peculiarity that the centurion’s servant is the nobleman’s son, is resolved in that the young man wasn’t the centurion’s bond servant. He was the centurion’s servant only according to rank. The care of nobility often fell within the responsibility of military men in the Roman era. Roman generals, for example, taught or guided Caesar’s sons, and, although Caesar’s son, he obeyed the Roman general. It is in this context, then, that the nobleman’s son was the centurion’s servant.[4]

When the centurion, however, understood that it was Jesus’ intention to come to his home to heal the young man, he wished to save Jesus much trouble. He knew that such an event would have had negative repercussions for Jesus in Jewish society. Therefore, he requested Jesus to simply command that the young man be healed. According to the centurion, authority doesn’t need to be literally present for it to be effective, because he instructs his envoy to relate his command to his servants, and they obey him, even though he isn’t present with them to give the order (Matthew 8:7-9).

When Jesus heard what the centurion said, he marveled, because he had not seen such faith in all Israel, vis-à-vis the Jews didn’t have the depth of faith in God that this gentile had in Jesus’ authority to heal (Matthew 8:10). Then, Jesus reflected on the centurion’s faith, saying that many, vis-à-vis many gentiles is implied, would come from the east and west to sit in the Kingdom of God (God’s Presence) with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, while the children of the Kingdom (the Jews) would be cast out into darkness (cp. Genesis 3:22-24; John 3:18-20). Therefore, Jesus told the centurion, vis-à-vis his envoy/servant (cp. Luke 7:10 and John 4:50) that they young man lived (Matthew 8:13), and he was healed the same hour (John 4:51-53).

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[1] The Greek preposition eis (G1519), which is translated “into” can mean ‘for the purpose of’ as it is in Mark 1:38 and John 4:3, and probably should be translated similarly at Matthew 8:5 and Luke 7:1, because Luke has Jesus entering Nain on the following day, which is more than a day’s travel by foot from Capernaum.

[2] According to ancient literary rules: “For, though all parts must be independently perfected, when the first is complete the second will be brought into essential connection with it, and attached like one link of a chain to another; there must be no possibility of separating them; no mere bundle of parallel threads; the first is not simply to be next to the second, but part of it, their extremities intermingling.” [The Way to Write History 55; Lucian of Samosata; cir. AD 120 to AD 180]

[3] Ibid.

[4] See my earlier study in the Gospel of John: Who Was the Nobleman in John’s Gospel?