Luke 7:3

And when he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. By divine dispensation it happened that the elders of the Jews were sent to the Lord, and while they stood by, the one …

Or in another way. The centurion must be understood as one who stood foremost among many in wickedness, as long as he possesses many things in this life, i. e. is occupied with many affairs or concerns. But he has a servant, the irrational part of the soul, that is, the irascible and concupiscent part. And he speaks to Jesus, the Jews acting as mediators, that is, the thoughts and words of confession, and immediately he received his servant whole.

And when he had heard of Jesus, etc. After the opportunity of working a miracle, the Evangelist here adds the worthiness of obtaining a remedy, which the Evangelist gathers from three things, namely from the centurion's reverence in supplicating, from the elders' confidence in petitioning, …

Masters ought to take particular care of their servants when they are sick, and not to neglect them then. This centurion begged that Christ would come and heal his servant. We may now, by faithful and fervent prayer, apply ourselves to Christ in heaven, and ought to do so, when sickness is in our families; for Christ is still the great Physician.

Elders of the Jews - These were either magistrates in the place, or the elders of the synagogue which the centurion had built, Luk 7:5. He sent these, probably, because he was afraid to come to Christ himself, not being a Jew, either by nation or religion. In the parallel place in Matthew, he is represented as coming to Christ himself; but it is a usual form of speech in all nations, to attribute the act to a person which is done not by himself, but by his authority.

These verses describe the miraculous cure of a sick man. A centurion, or officer in the Roman army, applies to our Lord on behalf of his servant — and obtains what he requests. A greater miracle of healing than this, is nowhere recorded in the Gospels. Without even seeing the sufferer, without touch of hand or look of eye — our Lord restores a dying man to health, by a single word. He speaks — and the sick man is cured. He commands — and the deadly disease departs.

These verses describe the miraculous cure of a sick man. A centurion, or officer in the Roman army, applies to our Lord on behalf of his servant — and obtains what he requests. A greater miracle of healing than this, is nowhere recorded in the Gospels. Without even seeing the sufferer, without touch of hand or look of eye — our Lord restores a dying man to health, by a single word. He speaks — and the sick man is cured. He commands — and the deadly disease departs. We read of no prophet or apostle, who wrought miracles in this manner. We see here the finger of God! We should notice in these verses — the KINDNESS of the centurion. It is a part of his character which appears in three ways. We see his kindness in his treatment of his servant. He cares for him tenderly when sick, and takes pains to have him restored to health. We see his kindness again in his feeling towards the Jewish people. He did not despise them as other Gentiles commonly did. The elders of the Jews bear this strong testimony, "He loves our nation." We see his kindness lastly in his liberal support of the Jewish place of worship at Capernaum. He did not love Israel "in word and tongue alone — but in deed." The messengers he sent to our Lord supported their petition by saying, "He has built a synagogue for us." Now where did the centurion learn this kindness? How can we account for one who was a heathen by birth, and a soldier by profession — showing such a spirit as this? Habits of mind like these were not likely to be gathered from heathen teaching, or promoted by the society of a Roman camp. Greek and Latin philosophy would not recommend them. Tribunes, consuls, prefects and emperors would not encourage them. There is but one account of the matter. The centurion was what he was — "by the grace of God."