Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. “For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, `Go,’ an…d he goes; and to another, `Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, `Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! “And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. “But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour. (Mat 8:5-13 NKJ)

There are some issues with this text that I will deal with later in the blog. Here we want to keep it simple. The centurion comes to Jesus pleading with him to heal his servant. Jesus responds by offering to come to the house and pray for the servant. The centurion responds, in faith, by telling Jesus that all he needs to do is speak the word. Recognizing Jesus’ authority, he knows that the word has power and doesn’t doubt or question.

Jesus is immediately struck by his faith and compares it to the Children of Israel. They question, doubt, and believe that they have a right to be in God’s presence based on Abraham’s righteousness. They are in for a shock.