Jesus Heals the Centurion's Servant
A Roman soldier's faith astonishes Jesus: only speak the word.
A Roman centurion asks Jesus to heal his paralysed servant, but insists Jesus need not come — speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Jesus marvels at his faith, saying he has found none like it in all Israel, and the servant is healed in that same hour.
What happened
The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
What it means
The centurion — a Gentile, an officer of the occupying army — understands authority. As a man under authority himself, he knows that a word from someone in command is as good as their presence: he says to one soldier go, and he goes. He reasons that Jesus' authority over sickness works the same way, needing no physical presence at all.
This is one of only two times the Gospels say Jesus marvelled, and both involve faith — here, its greatness in a Gentile; elsewhere, its absence in his hometown. That a Roman soldier grasped Jesus' authority more clearly than Israel did was a rebuke and a preview: many shall come from the east and west to sit down in the kingdom.
The healing at a distance shows that Christ's power is not bound by proximity. The centurion could not have known how right he was — the word of the one who spoke creation into being needs only to be spoken. And the faith Jesus praised was not certainty about himself but humble confidence in Christ: I am not worthy, but speak the word only.