08/27/2026
THE GIST OF THE CHURCH SCHOOL LESSON
Authority and Compassion
Lesson and Read: Matthew 8:5-13
When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.”
Matthew 8:10 (NRSV)
Our focus for the Summer Quarter is men and women who heard God’s call. This lesson focuses on Jesus’ response to the call to ministry.
Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-14 record the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Immediately following that trial, Jesus announced and began his public ministry. Matthew introduces it with the Sermon on the Mount, but Luke gives us some helpful backstory. Luke reports that when Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him (Luke 4:16-17). Jesus read from Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed . . . (Isaiah 61:1). His teaching noted that the Good News was not just for Jews but for everyone (Luke 4:18-27). This offended the hearers, and the people of Nazareth drove Jesus out of town and prepared to toss him from a cliff, but he walked through them (vv. 29-31). Consequently, Jesus relocated the “headquarters” of his ministry from Nazareth to Capernaum, about twenty miles away, on Lake Galilee.
Matthew Chapter 8 records that, following the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was immediately greeted by a l***r who asked to be made clean. However, he made his request in a way that showed his faith. He said to Jesus, “You can heal me if you want to.” To which Jesus replied, “I want to.” And he was healed. Jesus then went to his base of operations in Capernaum. Once again, he was immediately approached, this time by a Roman Centurion. A centurion was a commander of 100 soldiers, and they were famously solid, steady, and dependable. Rome did not station troops in Galilee in the 20s and 30s, so this was perhaps a decommissioned officer who retired in the area. Two things cause him to stand out. First, he is uncharacteristically devoted to his servant. The relationship between masters and slaves was businesslike and, on occasion, cruel. Aristotle once said, “A slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave.” Yet, this centurion master was willing to go to extremes to cure his household slave. Second, the centurion had faith. He believed that Jesus could heal his servant. He knew it was unlikely that a Jewish Rabbi would enter the unclean house of a Gentile. There is a hint of a question in Jesus’ statement, “I will come and heal him.” Both men are aware of the protocol (and Jesus would probably go out of compassion), but the centurion never expected Jesus to come. Though his rank placed him high up in Galilee, he felt unworthy to host Jesus. But more, he fully understood how authority worked. Those in charge command, and those under command, obey. Jesus had only to speak, and he was confident the servant would be healed. Jesus commented on his extraordinary faith.
Reverend Steven B. Lawrence
