Matthew 8:5-13

Read

⁵When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹²But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

Reflect

Have you ever found something valuable in a place that you didn't expect? I heard a story a while ago about a family in America who discovered that their house had money hidden in the walls! Jesus is talking to a Roman military leader who should have been an enemy (imagine how you would feel if Italians ruled our country) and who was part of another religion (imagine how you would feel if this was a Hindu or Muslim that Jesus was commending. However, this man demonstrates a faith in Jesus that he found to be totally amazing. Jesus is God-incarnate (think about what that means) and yet he was held in wonder by what he discovered in this unexcepted moment. In the same way, we can have faith that amazes Jesus.