When Jesus had finished all his words to the people,he entered Capernaum.A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die,and he was valuable to him.When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him,asking him to come and save the life of his slave.They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying,”He deserves to have you do this for him,for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.”And Jesus went with them,but when he was only a short distance from the house,the centurion sent friends to tell him,”Lord, do not trouble yourself,for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;but say the word and let my servant be healed.For I too am a person subject to authority,with soldiers subject to me.And I say to one, Go, and he goes;and to another, Come here, and he comes;and to my slave, Do this, and he does it.”When Jesus heard this he was amazed at himand, turning, said to the crowd following him,”I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”When the messengers returned to the house,they found the slave in good health.

Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed.

It says that Jesus was amazed at this statement. Why? Because the centurion feeling unworthy to have the Son of God in his home? The centurion was well respected and admired among his people and on a material level he had great authority, and were are few people in this world that he could not welcome under his roof. But this centurion recognized who Jesus was and the spiritual greatness of Jesus, and as such he recognized his lowliness and did not warrant the reception of the lord, “under his roof.”

But I don’t think that is not what amazed Jesus. I think that Jesus was amazed that the centurion persisted despite his feeling of unworthiness, and because he understood the authority of Jesus. This centurion is a leader of a 100 men, and understood the structures of authority better than most. He also understood that the kingdom of heaven is organized under the same principles of power and authority, and so he knew without question that Jesus could help his servant from afar.

So he humbly asked Jesus to heal his servant from where He was, because he knew that Jesus could do it. This takes great faith, and it was this faith that Jesus was amazed by. Do you believe that Jesus can heal you, and/or your family? If not why not. I invite you to discover that with faith anything is possible. God can do anything, if you simply ask for His intercession. He may not do it in the way you want or expect, but He is faithful to the sheep of His flock.

Oh lord, increase my faith, help me to love you and trust you in the way the centurion did. Amen.