my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority [1], having under me soldiers, and I say to this: Go, and he goeth, and to another: Come, and he cometh, and to my servant: Do this, and he doeth it.” Hearing this, Jesus wondered much, and turning to the multitude that followed Him, said: “Amen, I say to you, I have not found so great faith[2] in Israel[3]. And I say unto you that many shall come from the East and the West, and shall sit down [4] with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children[5] of the kingdom shall be cast out into exterior darkness[6]; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[7] Then He said to the centurion: “Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee.” And the servant was healed at the same hour.
COMMENTARY.
The Divinity of our Lord was proved by two astounding miracles. The leper believed in our Lord’s Divinity. He did not say to Him: “Pray to God that I may be clean”, but he entreated Him as God, and, full of faith, said: “If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean”, i. e. it only depends on Thy will to cure me, for Thou canst do it, if Thou wilt. And Jesus confirmed his faith by saying: “I will: be thou clean.” Our Lord said: “I will!” to show that He could make the sick well by His mere will, or, in other words, that He was Omnipotent. He manifested the same Omnipotence by curing the centurion’s servant without even seeing him.
Our Lord's prophecy about the extension of His Church is another proof of His Divinity. The heathen centurion believed, whereas the
- ↑ Subject to authority. Means here the same as “placed in authority”. The centurion wishes to acknowledge Christ as God. He therefore says: When I command those under me to do anything, it is done at once; how much more will Thy word be obeyed, if Thou commandest disease and approaching death to depart: for Thou art more than man, and art subject to no one.
- ↑ So great faith. As in this man.
- ↑ In Israel. Among Israelites.
- ↑ Sit down. Shall obtain eternal happiness. Heaven is often compared to a banquet, because there man will find peace, joy, and satisfaction.
- ↑ The children. The descendants of Abraham, for whom the kingdom of the Messias was primarily intended.
- ↑ Exterior darkness. The darkness which is outside the kingdom of heaven, or, in other words, hell.
- ↑ Gnashing of teeth. Anguish and rage at the misery they have brought on themselves.
