e
followed in the main Luke's more circumstantial account. Matthew's
briefer statement of the officer's petition, and the Lord's gracious
compliance therewith, represents the man as coming in person to Jesus;
while Luke refers to the elders of the local synagog as presenting the
request. There is here no real discrepancy. It was then allowable, as in
our time it is, to speak of one who causes something to be done as doing
that thing himself. One may properly be said to notify another, when he
sends the notification by a third party. A man may say he has built a
house, when in reality others did the work of building though at his
instance. An architect may with propriety be said to have constructed a
building, when as a matter of fact he made the design, and directed
others who actually reared the structure.

2. Jesus Marveled.--Both Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus marveled at
the faith shown by the centurion, who begged that his beloved servant be
healed (Matt. 8:10; Luke 7:9). Some have queried how Christ, whom they
consider to have been omniscient during His life in the flesh, could
have marveled at anything. The meaning of the passage is evident in the
sense that when the fact of the centurion's faith was brought to His
attention, He pondered over it, and contemplated it, probably as a
refreshing contrast to the absence of faith He so generally encountered.
In similar way, though with sorrow in place of joy, He is said to have
marveled at the peoples' unbelief (Mark 6:6).

3. Sequence of the Miracles of Raising the Dead.--As stated and
reiterated in the text the chronology of the events in our Lord's
ministry, as recorded by the Gospel-writers, is uncertain. Literature on
the subject embodies much disputation and demonstrates absence of any
near approach to agreement among Biblical scholars. We have record of
three instances of miraculous restoration of the dead to life at the
word of Jesus--the raising of the son of the widow of Nain, the raising
of the daughter of Jairus, and the raising of Lazarus; and on the
sequence of two of these there is difference of opinion. Of course the
placing of the raising of Lazarus as the latest of the three is based on
certainty. Dr. Richard C. Trench, in his scholarly and very valuable
_Notes on the Miracles of our Lord_ definitely asserts that the raising
of the daughter of Jairus is the first of the three works of restoration
to life. Dr. John Laidlaw, in _The Miracles of ou