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The Gospel of Luke Chapter 7:1-23 Healing A Roman Centurion’s Servant 7:1 After Jesus had finished teaching all this to the people, he entered Capernaum. When Jesus had finished speaking his ‘sermon on the plain’ to the people he returned to Capernaum, where earlier he had performed many miracles (Luke 4:31-41). This chapter also recalls Jesus earlier statement at Nazareth. There Jesus had warned the Jews that if they rejected him they would miss out on blessings which instead would be received by outsiders; just as Naaman the Syrian was healed by Elisha and the Widow of Zarephath’s son was raised from the dead by Elijah. Luke 7 gives us the healing of a Roman centurion’s servant and the raising of the widow of Nain’s son to reinforce the truth that Jesus ministry represented the coming near of God to ‘visit’ his people, and that the blessings of this visitation would be made available to all people. 7:2-3 A centurion there had a slave who was highly regarded, but who was sick and at the point of death. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. A Roman centurion stationed in that town had a servant to whom he had become very attached. This servant was sick and near death. No doubt having heard about Jesus and the miracles he had performed for others, he sent some Jewish elders (leaders in the synagogue) to ask for Jesus to come and heal this man. Clearly, as verse 5 makes clear, the centurion was a god-fearer and patron of this synagogue himself. 7:4-5 When they came to Jesus, they urged him earnestly, "He is worthy to have you do this for him, because he loves our nation, and even built our synagogue. What appears to be this issue here is not whether the man was worthy of being healed, but whether performing such a healing would be sufficient grounds for Jesus to enter this Gentile’s house, a thing discouraged if not altogether forbidden among the Jews. When the synagogue elders reached Jesus they begged Him earnestly to come on the basis of the fact that the centurion was a worthy god-fearer who loved Israel, and so its religion and had built them the synagogue. 7:6-7 So Jesus went with them. 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. That is why I did not presume to come to you. Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed.