A Roman army officer trusts Jesus to help him
5 Jesus went into Capernaum. An officer in the Roman army came to meet him. He asked Jesus to help him. 6 He said, ‘Sir, my servant is lying in bed at home. He cannot move his legs and he has a lot of pain.’
8:5Rome ruled Israel at that time. The officer had authority over about 100 soldiers. He was not a Jew. Rome was an important city in the world at the time of Jesus. It was a powerful city and it had a strong army. The Romans ruled many other countries and they made the people obey the laws of Rome. They made them pay taxes to Rome.
7 Jesus said to the officer, ‘I will go with you to your house and I will make your servant well again.’
8 But the officer answered, ‘Sir, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. Instead, speak your command. I know that my servant will then be well again. 9 In my work, someone has authority over me. I also have authority over other soldiers. I say to one soldier, “Go!” and he goes. I say to another one, “Come!” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this!” and he does it.’
10 Jesus heard what the officer said. He was very surprised. He spoke to the crowd that was following him. ‘I tell you this. I have never found anyone like this man in all of Israel. Nobody else believes in me as well as he does. 11 I tell you, many people will come from all over the world to take their place in the kingdom of heaven. There they will sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 12 But other people who think that God's kingdom belongs to them will not be there. God's angels will throw them into the dark places that are far away from God. There those people will weep very much. They will bite their teeth together.’
8:12Jesus was talking about Jews who did not believe in him. Biting their teeth together may have shown that they were angry. Or it may have shown they were in much pain.
13 Then Jesus said to the officer, ‘Go home. You believed that I would make your servant well again. So I will do it for you.’ At that moment, the officer's servant did become well again.
