When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed,

Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Matthew 8:10

      Jesus marveled! The Son of the Living God marveled at what he heard. Let that sink in. He was present at Creation, witnessed the miracles of His Father, performed His own miracles and knew Himself to be the fulfillment of prophecy yet He marveled.

      He was in Capernaum when a centurion came to ask for his help. The centurion was a powerful man. He could have sent a servant to ask but he came personally because He knew who Christ was. The centurion had asked for Jesus to just say the word. How could he know Jesus could do that?

   He commanded in person or possibly by messenger or a chain of command, so how did he know? He never spoke words into the air in one part of town and expected them to be heard, much less obeyed in another. So it would seem He understood what it meant to command and that Jesus’ power was far greater than his own: great faith.

      The NIV says Jesus was astonished. The New Living says amazed and the Message says taken aback. Across the pond in the UK they have a slang term for it: gob smacked. We do know the Israelites are God’s chosen people but even they didn’t show such great faith. They were still looking for the messiah.

          Then along comes the centurion recognizing the Messiah’s power. The centurion was probably a learned man who knew scripture. He knew prophecy, reaching out to prophecy fulfilled when Jesus walked by. For that Jesus made an example of him.

        Great faith: it was revealed; it was recognized; it was rewarded.