Such Great Faith

Jesus went to Capernaum. And the news of Jesus' arrival reached a centurion in the town. At that time, in the centurion's house, a highly valued servant was paralyzed and in terrible agony. And the centurion feared his servant was close to death. So, he sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to heal his servant. The elders came to Jesus and pleaded with Him earnestly on behalf of the centurion. “This man is worthy to have You grant his request, for he loves our nation and he has built our synagogue.”

So, Jesus went with the elders. But when Jesus was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends with the message: “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to You. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, He marveled at the centurion. Turning to the crowd following Him, He said, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And when the messengers returned to the house, they found the servant in good health.

(See Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10)

(Editor's Note: In the Gospel of Matthew's version of this story, it is not clear that the centurion appealed to Jesus by proxy, but the Gospel of Luke makes this clear. That being understood, the above presentation of the story includes the details from both Gospels.)

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