5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.REFLECTIONSWritten by Chris MacgeorgeBrian and I have been to Capernaum. These days it’s a beautifully serene lakeside town where visitors can wander amongst the ruins and contemplate the magnificence of the Son of God actually performing miracles here ... and up those mountains ... and out on that water.But go back to the 1st century and imagine the shock of watching Jesus being approached by a Roman army officer. A centurion in the Roman army had 100 soldiers at his command. He was a powerful man, probably extremely busy in the management of this rough and rebellious corner of the Roman Empire. How extraordinary that he addressed a humble teacher of the oppressed nation as “Lord”. How extraordinary that this powerful man knew and cared that one of his servants was sick. How extraordinary that he recognised Jesus’ authority and that he counted himself, with all his own authority, as unworthy for Jesus to visit.Jesus commends this “great faith” and grants his request to “just say the word” and heal his servant. So we learn that “great faith” comes from recognising two things: that Jesus has absolute power over all of creation and that we are totally unworthy to approach him. Easy to say – but do our lives reflect that? I’m very good at firing off requests for God to help in this or that situation. But I’m still learning to submit humbly and bring my life, all of it, under his authority.What about the Jewish people who were watching on? Jesus didn’t only heal the foreigner’s servant. He also delivered a further shock by saying that foreigners would enter the kingdom of heaven and, even worse, that Jewish people would be thrown out!At church we have been learning from Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome that entry to God’s kingdom is open to all, Jews and Gentiles, because Jesus died for us. Jesus’ onlookers that day didn’t yet know what he would ultimately do for them. As we travel with Jesus in this devotions series, will you join me in praying that we can grow in humble gratitude to the Lord who secured our salvation?QUESTIONWhat does it mean that Jesus has authority over everything?ABOUT THE AUTHORChris likes taking advantage of any opportunity to relive past travel experiences while in this season of staying at home.