Luke 7:1-10

Jesus was in the city of Capernaum. This was the city where He did most of his miracles. In the city there was a Roman Soldier who was in charge of 100 soldiers. A soldier in the Roman army who was in charge of 100 soldiers was called a centurion.

This centurion had a servant whom he liked very much. The servant was sick and about to die. When the centurion heard that Jesus was in Capernaum he sent some important Jews, called elders, to ask Jesus if he would come and heal his servant.

When they came to Jesus, they told Him that the centurion deserved to have his servant healed because he loved the people of Israel and had built their synagogue.

This was very unusual because the Romans were occupying the Jew’s land and they were usually hated by the Jews. This man was different because he had shown them a great act of kindness in building them a synagogue. A synagogue was a building where the Jews met to worship and where Jesus often went to teach the people.

When people asked Jesus for help, He always helped them. Jesus went with them to the centurion’s house. The centurion sent elders to Jesus to ask for His help. We can go straight to God and to Jesus in prayer with our requests.

As Jesus was coming near the centurion’s house, the centurion sent some friends to meet Jesus to tell Him not to come because he thought he was not good enough to have Jesus come to his home. Instead, he asked Jesus just to say the word and his servant would be healed. This showed that the centurion had great faith in Jesus.

When Jesus heard this, He was surprised, and said that He had not found anyone with faith like that in Israel. Jesus immediately healed the centurion’s servant, without going to the centurion’s house.

The centurion had faith that Jesus could heal his servant. Jesus always responds to faith. If you have faith in Jesus and ask Him to forgive your sins, He will. He also promises to never leave you or forsake you.