Matthew 8.8-10
But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. (9) For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go’, and he goes, and to another, ‘Come’, and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he does it.” (10) When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him,”Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” (ESV)
The above verses took place in the city of Capernaum, which is immediately to the Northwest of the Sea of Galilee. In this general area around the sea the public ministry of Jesus was very active and many people were healed of various types of diseases. With a few exceptions, Jesus healed people by means of speaking the miracle without any other action. It is not surprising that a Roman centurion would seek a miracle from Jesus, but it is unexpected that he would seek it with such a fully persuaded faith that would amaze Jesus.
In the parallel account of this event set forth in Luke 7.1-10, we learn that the centurion gave the money needed to build the local synagogue. So maybe he was a believer at that time in God according to the Old Testament, or he wanted to help the local community; or maybe even he had come to put his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. The centurion did refer to Jesus as “Lord”, so maybe this was the case. But with respect to any of these possibilities, he was a Roman and expectations would not have been very high within the local community for the centurion to be a person of such great faith.
But the centurion’s faith in Jesus was so great he believed that Jesus could make the sick person well just by the spoken word of Jesus alone. When Jesus responded in amazement at the centurion’s faith, and that he had not found in Israel such faith, Jesus also set forth in effect that entrance into the kingdom of heaven was not by birthright or nationality. Entrance into the kingdom of heaven is by faith in Jesus, and it is offered to anyone who will believe.
And Jesus granted the request of the centurion by saying to him, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” (ESV)