Verses 1-10
§ 37. SERVANT OF THE CENTURION’S HEALED, Luke 7:1-10 .
From the mount of Hattin to the valley of Capernaum; from the sermon to the miracle. The doctrines of the sermon assert their own intuitive truth; but it is the miracles of the Preacher that attest that it is with a true divine mission that he utters them.
The following narrative is a striking instance of variation in word where there is no contradictions in purpose or thought. In Matthew’s account the centurion came unto him, saying. In the present account he sent the elders of Israel. Matthew makes our Lord say, I will come. Luke says, Jesus went with them. Now these variations are, we think, fairly reconciled, on the principle “that what a man does by another he does by himself.” The act of an agent is the act of the principal. So in Exodus 18:6, Jethro being himself not present, as appears by the following verse, is made to say, by his messenger, “I, thy father-in-law, Jethro, am come,” etc. In Matthew 11:2-3, John sent to Jesus and said. That is, John said by a messenger. In John 4:1, Jesus is said to have baptized, though he did it only by disciples. Comparing Mark 10:35, with Matthew 20:20, we have it that Zebedee’s children spoke to Jesus, but spoke by their mother. We have no hesitation to say that the king conquers a country, or that Solomon built the temple, though both were done entirely through their subjects. Matthew then gives the briefer substance; Luke gives the details. But Matthew, reading Luke, would not for a moment have supposed himself to be contradicted. He would only have seen the story more explicitly given and some interesting points added.
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