Matthew 8:5

And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him.

This wonder is mentioned at greater length by Luke (Luke 7:1-10); and, of the so-called discrepancies, it may be said that there are none when proper allowance is made for the common practice of ascribing to one person the deeds he actually did through an agent, or the omission of details, or addition of details, by one narrator as compared with another. Such things are the only sure evidences of independent witnesses, casting no suspicion of inaccuracy, but rather corroborating and proving the validity of the account.

Here, quite early in the New Testament, we are confronted with one of those persons called a CENTURION, who appear in such a favorable light throughout the New Testament. A centurion was an officer in the Roman legions, having command of one hundred men, hence his title. Other centurions besides the honorable example before us include: (1) the one who said, "Truly, this was the Son of God" (Matthew 27:54), (2) the centurions who rescued Paul from the mob (Acts 21:32), (3) the centurion who bore Paul's message to the chiliarch (Acts 22:25), (4) Cornelius, the first Gentile convert (Acts 10:1), (5) Julius, who courteously treated Paul and saved his life on the voyage to Rome (Acts 27:3,43), and (6) the centurion who brought Paul's nephew to the chiliarch (Acts 23:17,18). Trench observed, "Probably, in the general wreck of the moral institutions of the heathen world, the Roman army was one of the few in which some of the old virtues survived."[3]

Many of the Lord's most wonderful deeds were done in Capernaum. The miracle before us, the raising of the daughter of Jairus, ruler of the synagogue, and other outstanding demonstrations of his power and Godhead were exhibited there; and yet, in the final analysis, that city rejected him!