A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 2. This history, though different in some circumstances from that related by S. Matt. chapter 8 is most likely a relation of the same event, and the apparent discrepancies may be easily reconciled. S. Matt. says it was the centurion’s boy; Saint Luke calls him his servant: but in these terms there is no necessary contradiction. And whereas the former says the centurion went himself to Christ, Saint Luke mentions that he sent the ancients, or senators, of the Jews. Here, as in other places, we may suppose, that the former evangelist, for the sake of brevity, attributes to the centurion what was done in his name and with his authority; and through the whole narrative he represents our Saviour answering the centurion as if personally present. Jans. concord. Evan.