From the harmonised accounts we gather that a certain centurion, who had renounced the worship of the “gods many,” and become a proselyte of the gate, hearing of the miracles of JESUS, sent certain elders of the Jews to beseech the exercise of His healing power upon a favourite servant, who was grievously tormented, and at the point of death. He does not seem to have come at all himself. The deep sense which he entertained of personal unworthiness would alone have deterred him; and, besides, he knew that there was a middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, and that as yet JESUS was not sent but unto the house of Israel. The elders, come to JESUS, seek to enlist His sympathy and active interest, by pleading that the centurion, though not actually a Jew, was a friend of Jews, and had done much for the support of the Jewish worship. “He is worthy for whom Thou shouldst do this, for he loveth our nation, and himself hath built us a synagogue. Come, then, and heal his servant.” JESUS replies, “I will come and heal him;” and straightway sets out with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion, alarmed at the temerity of his former request, and shrinking instinctively from One so high and so holy, sent some of those around him to prevent further condescension and trouble, on behalf of one so unworthy, and to suggest that JESUS should but express His will (which he felt must be omnipotent) from the spot where He stood: “Say in a word and my servant shall be healed.” The centurion had arrived at the knowledge of a great truth, namely, that CHRIST’S power was not confined to the scene of His bodily presence: and he described the process of reasoning by which he had arrived at it. “I am but a man, myself under authority, yet I have but to say, Go, come, do this, and, lo! it is done by my servants here, there, or wherever else I appoint, while I remain still. How much more shalt _Thou_ speak and be obeyed, Thou who art Absolute and Supreme in authority, Whose will all the spiritual armies of heaven observe, and are prompt and eager to perform. ‘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.” Twice we read that our LORD marvelled—once at unbelief, and once at belief. And this is no mere figurative statement. Our LORD literally marvelled. His human nature, much as He knew of what was in man, was taken aback by the unexpected and extraordinary display, in the one case of perverse blindness, in the other of clear spiritual perception. “Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith.” It is remarkable that our LORD selects the centurion’s _faith_ for admiration. He dwells not on his care and anxiety for his slave, on his general good will and good deeds, on his consciousness of unworthiness,