5Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."
7And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."
8The 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. 9For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, "Go,' and he goes; and to another, "Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, "Do this,' and he does it."
10When 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! 11And 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. 12But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13Then 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.
Here is a centurion of the Roman army, coming to Jesus to plead for his servant. Jesus loves all. The centurion didn't ask Jesus to come, but Jesus offered anyway. Jesus wants to take care of our problems. If we just lay our problems before His feet, He will know what to do with them.
The centurion most likely had a grand house. There are probably many who would not be worthy to enter such a grand dwelling. But here the centurion humbles himself saying he is not worthy enough for Jesus to enter his house. Neither our possessions nor our station in life have anything to do with our worthiness of Jesus coming to help us. None of us are worthy of Jesus' love. But Jesus loves us anyway.
The centurion recognized Jesus' authority. Just as when the centurion commanded, people did what he commanded, he knew that if Jesus commands, all that He has power over will do as He commands too. He knew that Jesus had power over whatever caused his servant to be afflicted. He knew Jesus' authority was so powerful that Jesus would not even need to be present to command that his servant be healed.
This demonstrated the great faith this centurion had. Faith is not limited to the chosen ones, the people of Israel, the Jews. In fact, Jesus said this centurion's faith is greater than any He had seen in Israel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all great men in Jewish history, are probably some of the people the Jews would most like to meet with in heaven. But Jesus said that there will be many others, non-Jews from all over, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, and sit with these great men. And Jesus also warns that there will also be many Jews who will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is emphasizing here that being Jewish does not automatically mean you will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven, and that heaven is for everyone, not just the Jews.
It is interesting to me that it was a centurion who first showed this great faith, greater than any Jesus had seen in all of Israel. And it will be a centurion, who at His cross, is the first to proclaim "Surely this man was the Son of God". Sometimes it is we who are so assured in our place with Jesus who are poorest at demonstrating our faith. We get lax and take many things for granted. May God help us to be more like this centurion whose feeling of unworthiness is very strong, but whose faith in Jesus is even stronger, strong enough that he acts out his faith. For it is the strength of our faith which will determine if we enter heaven or be cast into outer darkness. It is by faith that Jesus will take care of our problems.