Matthew 8.5-13 and
Luke 7.1-10: Possible Resolutions to Tensions[1]
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Matthew 8.5-13
(ESV)
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Luke 7.1-10 (ESV)
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5 When he had entered Capernaum,
a centurion
came forward to him, appealing
to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering
terribly.”
7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal
him.”
8 But the centurion replied, “Lord,
I am
not worthy to have you come
under
my roof,
but
only say the word, and
my
servant will be healed.
9 For I too 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 servant, ‘Do this,’
and he
does it.”
10 When Jesus heard this,
he
marveled and
said
to those who followed him,
“Truly,
I tell you, with
no one
in Israel have I found such faith.
11 I tell you, many will come from east
and
west and recline at table with Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12 while the sons of the kingdom
will
be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you
as you have believed.”
And the servant was healed at
that very moment.
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1 After he had finished all his sayings in the
hearing
of the people,
he
entered Capernaum.
2 Now a centurion had
a
servant who was sick
and at
the point of death,
who
was highly valued by him.
3 When the centurion heard about Jesus,
he sent
to him elders of the Jews, asking
him to come and heal his servant. 4 And
when
they came to Jesus, they pleaded
with
him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to
have
you do this for him, 5 for he loves our
nation,
and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”
6 And Jesus went with them. When he was
not
far from the house, the centurion sent
friends,
saying 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 say the word, and
let my servant be healed.
8 For I too 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
servant, ‘Do this,’
and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard these things,
he marveled at him, and turning
to the
crowd that followed him, said,
“I tell you,
not even in Israel have I found
such faith.”
10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they
found the servant well.
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Issue
·
Matthew: no mention of intermediaries (i.e., “elders of the Jews” and “friends”)
·
Luke: no mention that centurion met Jesus face to face; intermediaries
Possible Responses
1.
Possibility of multiple events: are these two
different events being narrated?
In any case that deals with parallel passages we have to ask
whether they recount the same incident or two different incidents. In this case
there are many similarities between the two accounts. The centurion’s speech
given in Matthew 8:9 is almost identical to Luke 7:8. We can safely conclude
that we are dealing with two accounts of one event. So there is a genuine
difficulty.[2]
2. Several
stages of events
a.
Postulate stages in the encounter between Jesus
and the centurion
i. Centurion
first sent elders of the Jews (Luke 7.3-5)
ii. Then
centurion sent friends (Luke 7.6-8)
iii. Then
centurion came in person and repeated some of what had been said earlier
(Matthew 8.5-9)
b.
Norval Geldenhuys’ view
When we bear in mind the parallel account in Matthew viii. 5–13,
we must picture to ourselves that after the centurion had sent his friends to
Jesus he also went to Him himself. Owing to the seriousness of the
circumstances and his inner urge to go to Jesus himself, notwithstanding his
feeling of unwor- thiness, he overcame his initial hesitation. Luke emphasises
the fact that the centurion sent friends, while Matthew only states that the
centurion went to Jesus. And so the two Gospels supplement each other.[3]
c. Minor
difficulties
i. Centurion
states explicitly that he is unworthy (Luke 7.6) and that is why he has sent
others (Luke 7.7). Yet, he then
changes his mind comes for a face to face to meeting with Jesus.
But Geldenhuys supplies possible motivations by reminding us of
the “seriousness of the circumstances,” by postulating an “inner urge” to come
to Jesus, and by labeling his original attitude “initial hesitation” rather
than a firm resolve not to come because of his unworthiness. Is all this
possible? It is. Human motivations and decision making are complex and often
include some wavering or change of mind.[4]
ii. Repetiton: Luke 7.6-8 friends give speech then, according to this theory, centurion says
the same thing again (Matthew 8.8-9)
In Geldenhuys’s picture of the event,
the centurion repeated in person what he had said to his friends earlier. We
may ask why the centurion thought he had to repeat his speech, since his friends had
already delivered it. But human motivations are complex. Particularly in a situation of distress, such as
the emotional turmoil the centurion experienced, he might in spite of himself
repeat what he knew had already been said.[5]
3.
Representatives acting on behalf of the
centurion
a.
Augustine, Calvin, and R. T. France all offer this
view
His [Matthew’s] omission of the means
of the centurion’s approach to Jesus is a valid literary device to highlight
the message of the incident as he sees it (on the principle, common in biblical and contemporary literature,
that a messenger or servant
represents the one who sent him to the point of virtual identity). R. T. France[6]
b.
Craig Blomberg points out that Matthew 27.26 and
Mark 15.15 also illustrate this principle. “Both verses report that Pilate scourged Jesus; but given
the social and military protocol of the Roman world, Pilate would not have
taken up the scourge in his own hands.
The verses mean that Roman soldiers would have physically handled the
scourge, acting on Pilate’s orders.”[7]
What We Learn from
the Differences in the Narratives
1.
Plausible harmonizations are not inspired; the texts with the
differences are inspired!
a.
The differences of nuance and detail have
something to teach us
b.
Beware of “flattening out” the text into a
harmony
2.
Matthew stresses the centurion’s Gentile status
a.
Matthew 8.11-12
b.
Theme in Matthew’s gospel
Matthew shows repeated concern for the unique role of the Jews
and the issue of Jewish rejection of Jesus. Matthew alone has the expression
“sons of the kingdom”: “the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer
dark ness” (Matt. 8:12). These “sons of the kingdom” are Jews who are resisting
his ministry. They have the
privilege of having a certain nearness to “the kingdom,” that is the kingdom of God, and yet,
tragically, they “will be thrown into the outer darkness.”Matthew alone includes
the pointed threat, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken
away from you and given to a people producing its fruits” (Matt. 21:43).
Matthew, more than the other Gospels, emphasizes the Jewishness of Jesus (Matt.
1:1–17). Twice Jesus emphasizes his ministry “to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel” (Matt. 10:6; 15:24). But Jews who presume on their heritage are in
danger of being left out.
This theme is important to Matthew. It comes out pointedly in
our first pas- sage, Matthew 8:5–13, because Jesus commends the centurion for
his faith and contrasts this commendation with the failure in Israel: “Truly, I
tell you, with no one
in Israel have I found such faith” (Matt. 8:10). The centurion was a Roman
soldier, not a Jew. His Gentile character comes more starkly to the foreground
in that Matthew does not mention “elders of the Jews” as intermediaries.[8]
3. Luke
stresses the humility of centurion
The
Gospel of Luke has humility as a theme. “He [the Lord] has brought down the
mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate” (Luke 1:52). “For
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself
will be exalted” (Luke 18:14; see 14:11). Luke devotes attention to social
outcasts and marginalized people: women, the poor, the sick, tax collectors,
Gentiles (Luke 4:18; 7:21–23). Luke 7:1–10, by explicitly including the role of the
intermediaries and by including the contrast between “worthy” (7:4) and “not worthy”
(7:6), has highlighted the theme of humility and of Jesus’s mercy to the
“unworthy.”[9]
4.
Conclusion
In
sum, Matthew and Luke have distinctive emphases; Matthew emphasizes the
centurion’s Gentile status, and Luke emphasizes his humility. Both of these
emphases say something significant about the kingdom of God and Jesus’s
ministry. First, the kingdom of God will include Gentiles and all who come to
Jesus in faith. Jews who do not trust in Jesus are excluded. Second, those who
enter the kingdom must come in humility, recognizing that they do not deserve
the benefits that God offers.[10]
[1] I am
dependent upon Vern Poythress, Inerrancy
and the Gospels: A God-Centered Approach to the Challenges of Harmonization
(Westchester: Crossway, 2012), 17-24.
Online: http://www.frame-poythress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/PoythressVernInerrancyAndTheGospels.pdf.
[2] Vern
Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
18.
[3] Quoted in
Vern Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
19.
[4] Vern
Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
19.
[5] Vern
Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
20.
[6] Quoted in
Vern Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
21.
[7] Vern
Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
21.
[8] Vern
Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
23.
[9] Vern
Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
24.
[10] Vern
Poythress, Inerrancy and the Gospels,
24.
