For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.”
Matthew 8:9. For I am a man subject to the power of another This comparison does not imply equality between the two cases, but is taken from the less to the greater. He forms a higher conception of the divine power, which is manifested in Christ, than of the authority which was possessed by himself over servants and soldiers.
Here stood a soldier, a Roman, a Gentile, dwelling among the Jews as a badge of their subjection, yet godly and zealous. Christ received him and favored him; therein He teaches us to do good even to our enemies and shows Himself a light to the Gentiles as well as the glory of Israel. Grace conquers where it is least expected and proves itself more than a conqueror.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 8:5-13
When Jesus heard it, he marvelled,.... Which must be understood of him as man; for as God, nothing could present itself unto him at unawares, unthought of, and not known before; and so could not raise admiration in him, and which cannot properly fall on a divine person: or he behaved, both by words and gesture, as persons do when they are astonished at anything...