Just say one word! (Matthew 8:1-13)

[Stephan Choe]

March 9, 2026

Key verse 8: “The centurion answered, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but just say one word, and my servant will be healed.’”

 Jesus had been preaching on a mountain near Capernaum, beginning with the Beatitudes. Chapters 5 through 7 recount his sermon.

After his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus came down from the mountain and went to his town of Capernaum. There, he first encountered a leper and mercifully healed him. Then he met a Roman centurion, praised him highly for his faith, and healed his sick servant.

Through these two healings, we want to learn more about the value of faith in Jesus Christ, his mercy, and his omnipotence. In this way, we want to accept the merciful, almighty Jesus as our Savior and live by this faith.

1. Healing of a Leper (1-4)

I'll show you a photo of the place where Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount. To our eyes, it's not a mountain, but rather a hill or a field. That's why Luke, in his Gospel of Luke, calls Jesus' sermon the "Sermon on the Plain."

View of the Mount of Beatitudes

https://ssl.panoramio.com/user/4784228?with_photo_id=55370380, © Alle Rechte vorbehalten von Arthur Robsky

After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus descends from the hill. A large crowd follows him, having heard his wonderful teaching.

While Jesus is still walking down the hill, a leper approaches him, falls to his knees, and says, "Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me!"

"A leper is terminally ill," people believed at the time, because he could no longer be saved medically. Furthermore, the disease was contagious. Therefore, a leper was banished from the city. He was no longer allowed to show his face in the city. He was an outcast, a human wreck.

Why was a leper treated so cruelly? A leper looks terrible because the disease has eaten away at his hands and feet. His face is disfigured, and his limbs are mutilated. Even family members feel disgust toward him. People are afraid of being infected. It takes great willpower to touch this sick person or even be near them.

Back then, such a person was forced to separate themselves from the community of healthy people. They brought him food but always kept their distance. He is physically and mentally exhausted. He is a living dead man.

The leper in our text has essentially given up all hope of being healed. Then he hears about Jesus. He develops a desire to be healed by Jesus. He also comes to believe that Jesus can surely heal him. He overcomes his negative thoughts and waits for Jesus to finish his Sermon on the Mount and come down from the mountain. When he sees Jesus coming, he runs to meet him, falls down before him, and says, "Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me!"

With this, he expresses his desperate need for Jesus' mercy. In the eyes of others, however, he is not worthy of being healed. Many people even believe he is cursed by God. The leper had heard that Jesus warmly welcomes all the sick and sinners, forgives their sins, and heals them. This was truly wonderful news for him. He firmly believed in Jesus' healing power and his mercy. Therefore, he mustered his courage, ran to meet him, and pleaded, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean!"

How did Jesus respond to his request? Did he say something like, "Please come a little later. I need to rest first because I am exhausted"? Or, "Yes, I want to heal you. Please just keep your distance from me!"

Jesus knew perfectly well that, according to the law, the leper was not even allowed to be there. But instead of turning him away, he was so moved by his compassion that he did something unimaginable.

Verse 3 reads, “And Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed from leprosy!’”

Jesus fully felt the leper’s great pain and distress and had great compassion for him. Immediately, he expressed his goodwill, touched the foul-smelling leper with his loving hands, and declared his healing.

Perhaps we don’t find this touch so moving because we are used to shaking hands or hugging. But for this leper, Jesus’ touch was the most wonderful experience of his entire life.

Even today, there are still many people with leprosy in India. A German leprosy specialist tells us about his experience. Before examining a leper, he placed his hand on his shoulder and explained what he intended to do. The man began to cry. "Did I say something wrong?" the doctor asked. But the leper replied, "I'm crying because you put your arm around my shoulder. No one has touched me for years."

For the leper in this passage, Jesus' touch has an even greater significance than that of the German doctor. For most people, the leper in this text was considered an outcast from both God and humanity. They regarded him as a sinner, believing that he had become a leper because of his sin. But Jesus does not see him as a sinner but as a beloved child of God. He warmly accepts him and touches him lovingly.

The leper is deeply moved because Jesus has accepted him so warmly and touched him lovingly. I believe that Jesus' love and power flooded his heart and body like a torrent. And his love and power worked a miracle: all his leprosy suddenly vanished without a trace. What a miracle of God!

Jesus warmly accepts not only this person but every person. We may come to him and experience his healing and salvation.

It is said, "He who has nothing can give nothing." But where did Jesus get such love and power?

His love and power come from God, for he is God. He came into the world to give people God's love, his healing, and his salvation. That is why John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Jesus Christ came to give us the overflowing grace of God and fellowship with God (2 Corinthians 9:8). For God is the overflowing source of grace. Jesus brought us divine love, his healing, and his salvation. He gives us health, life, motivation, and strength. He also gives us the Kingdom of Heaven.

Through this story, Jesus shows us his divine grace. He wants to remove all shadows of death from our lives and make our lives bright and happy. He gladly gives us his healing and salvation! He wants to fill our hearts and our lives with his grace and power. We should gratefully accept his love, his healing, and his salvation.

2. The Faith of the Roman Centurion (5-13)

Capernaum, 

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https://ssl.panoramio.com/photo/99983076

When Jesus arrived in Capernaum, a Roman centurion approached him and pleaded, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in agony.”

This centurion was an officer in charge of 100 Roman soldiers.

Generally, Roman centurions were brutal because they had to suppress any uprising. Consequently, they held the people of their colonies in low esteem.

Back then, people viewed their servants like their machines. As long as their servants were young and healthy, they made them work hard without pay. But when their servants were old or sick, they treated them like we treat an old, broken-down car today.

But this centurion was a rare exception. He loved his servant like his own child. He also held the people of God in high esteem. According to the Gospel of Luke, he had built a house of worship for the Jews (Luke 7:5). When his servant was sick, he could not bear to see him suffer.

“Necessity teaches one to pray,” as the saying goes. For him, praying means asking Jesus for help. He has heard that Jesus healed all sorts of sick people. Now he learns that Jesus has just arrived in his town. He doesn't hesitate to run to Jesus and ask for his help: “Sir, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and suffering greatly.”

Most likely, Jesus has already heard of this devout centurion, because everyone is talking about him. He is eager to grant his request. So he answers him, “I will come and heal him.”

But the centurion says to Jesus, “Sir, I am not worthy to receive you in my house. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (8).

He explains his conviction in Jesus' healing power this way: “I have soldiers under me, and when I say to one, ‘Go,’ he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ he does it.”

Jesus most likely already knew about this devout centurion, because everyone is talking about him. He is happy to grant his request.

So he answers him, “I will come and heal him.”

The centurion is competent. He knows his soldiers will obey him when he gives an order. But he knows the limits of his authority. He can command his soldiers, but he has no power over illness. Therefore, he needs another power. This other power is the power of God in Jesus. He firmly believes that Jesus has the power of God to heal his sick servant, and Jesus only needs to speak a word. Because Jesus has the power over life and death, he only needs to speak a word to heal his sick servant. Jesus' word will certainly be effective despite the great distance between his current location and his home.

We can better understand, from the context of the entire Bible, why Jesus' word has such power. Jesus is the word of Almighty God, as John 1:1 testifies,

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (see also Revelation 19:13).

Through his word, God created the world (Genesis 1:3). Jesus is the Word of God. That is why Jesus' word has the power of the Creator God. When he speaks a word, it happens. When he says to a dead man named Lazarus, who had been dead and buried for four days, "Lazarus, come out!", the dead man comes out alive (John 11:43-44).

"Just say the word!"—one word from Jesus is enough. This is true even today.

When Jesus hears the centurion's words, he is amazed at his faith and says to everyone, "Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith" (John 10).

And he says to the centurion, "Go; let it be done for you as you believed!"

When was the centurion's servant healed? Was he healed as soon as the centurion believed in Jesus' healing power, or when Jesus blessed his faith? He was healed as soon as Jesus blessed the centurion's faith and pronounced the servant's healing. Our Lord recognizes our faith immediately. But He speaks of the healing of our illness or the solution to our problems in the time He has appointed. But His help is certain. We should firmly believe in His help. If He does not help us as we have asked, He will help us in a better way. We should firmly believe in His best help. When we have problems, we should come to Jesus and ask Him for His help. But we should come to Him with faith. His help is certain, just as He granted the centurion's request.

Our Faith in Jesus' Mercy and Omnipotence

What can we say in summary about the two healing stories of Jesus? They teach us that we should believe in the mercy of Jesus and his omnipotence. Let's say someone is merciful but has no ability to help us. It's wonderful that they are merciful. Unfortunately, they cannot help us. Let's say someone else is very capable but merciless. That is terrible. They can only be a source of fear to us.

But Jesus Christ is merciful and also omnipotent. He understands our needs well and wants to help us. He is the Son of God and has the power to help us. He can help us with various problems in life, such as problems with studies, visas, jobs, health, and so on. We should come to him with every problem and ask for his help. He will not refuse us his help.

He can especially help us with our sin and our death and grant us forgiveness and eternal life. We should have faith in his mercy and his omnipotence. God will surely bless us. Hallelujah, Amen!