I have read these verses many times. Than suddenly, I saw something new.
Jesus met a gentile with faith. The Messiah honored this man, and said he had not seen such great faith even in Israel.
What was it that made Jesus give such a statement?
Let take a fresh look at the recording in the gospel of Luke.
Luke 7:3-10
The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 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.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
(end of scriptures).
That the Jewish elders pleaded for the centurion, is not recorded in the gospel of Matthew.
His plead has merits, and that makes this Roman officer very special. Being part of an occupying force, he is by the Jewish elders branded as a “Friend of Israel”. Not only does he “love the Jewish nation”. He has also build the very synagogue that the Jewish elders were using.
Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Jesus had seen a lot of people with faith in Israel. So what was so great with the faith of the centurion?
While many Jews acted and worked as the very enemies of the Jewish people, Jesus was facing a gentile supporter of His people, who also believed Jesus was the Messiah. Just like the Samaritan woman, who gave a testimony that would lead other Samaritans towards faith in Him.
Isaiah 65:1
“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
Written by Ivar
ivarfjeld.com 
We are living in interesting times. What I think we are seeing is the gathering of Yeshua’s bride; not the rapture quite yet, but the bringing together of the bride, both jew and gentile followers of the Messiah. These two groups comprise all of Israel, since the gentile believers are grafted into Israel; sort of a seperation of the wheat from the tares.
What is really quite extraordinary is at this very same moment we see a huge portion of the church going into apostacy. Mixing Islam with christianity and turning against Israel. It truly is astonishing.
Lukes accounts always seem to have more detail. Jesus knew full well
even before these elders came to persuade him to honor this centurion
who this centurion was and what he had done. The new Covenant had not been established yet so to bless anyone who blessed Israel was in accordance with the the promise of God the father to Abraham. ” I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you”. Gen. 12:3
The healing of this centurions servant was due to the Centurions Faith.
The fact that he loved the people and built their synagogue for them and as I see it is not the reason for the healing. This love and good deeds to Israel definetely gained him favor from Jesus as under the Old covenant with Abraham this was fitting for Jesus to do. I wonder though now under the new covenant would it be the same. What if the story had been this way. Suppose a military officer ( who happened to be Jewish) had built a church for Christ believers and followers and they begged Jesus to heal this military officers servant because he built their churched and loved these Christ followers. The Military officers faith was the same as the one stated in Lukes account. Would the outcome have been the same even though the people begging for Jesus to heal the officer’s servant were not Jewish?
This is obviously a hypethetical situation but one that would come under the New Covenant. Which is in effect now and we all know that the promises that were spoken to Abraham were also spoken to his seed, which is Christ. So today to bless any one who blesses Christ’s followers, those that are in him would be deserving by Christ to be blessed because all who are in Christ are Abrahams seed. Gal.3:29 This would be in accordance to New Testament scripture and Old testament scripture because Christ believers and followers are the seed of Abraham through adoption
Dear Todd.
Shalom.
You are still glued to Replacement theology, and refuse to recognize the true Jesus. What kind of “Jesus” needs to be excused, for honoring a man who build a synagogue?
All the promises the Father has given, is “Yes” and “Amen” in Jesus. The New Covenant has not replaced anything. Its a just a better deal, where Jesus brings an end to all kinds of blood sacrifice’s, by His own blood.
2 Corinthians 1:20
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Your approach to the truth is regrettable.
Yes, No matter how many promises God has made (to his people the Jews) They are yes in Christ.(through him) And so through him the “Amen”(agreement) is spoken by us (apostles) to the glory of God
All the promises God made are fullfilled in Christ Jesus. And the Apostles were in agreement with that. Therefore we should be.
No matter how many Promises God made with the Israelites and they are the only ones he made promises with; they just as the apostles should be in agreement that only in Christ are they fullfilled. We as believers and followers believe this.
Dear Todd.
Shalom.
You wrote:
No matter how many Promises God made with the Israelites and they are the only ones he made promises with; they just as the apostles should be in agreement that only in Christ are they fullfilled.
My reply:
You are dragging your feet. The promise of the restoration of Israel in 1948 is not “fulfilled in Christ”, in the sense a promise to those who believe in Him. This is an exclusive promise given to the Jewish people, equally valid for the good the bad and the ugly among them. All of them. Likewise, is the promise in regards to those who harm the Jews. You bring a curse on your own head.
Christians living inside all nations, have not been gathered home to Israel, for a simple reason. We have been told to go out to all nations, stay put, build Christian fellowships and make disciples. The Jews have in the radically opposite order, been called to come home and rebuild Zion. They have done so.
Ivar
Peace
So was the centurions servant healed because of the centurions faith
or was he healed because he had done nice things for the Jews, and liked there nation.Jesus was obviously amazed at the centurions comments. The centurion showed humility towards Jesus, acknowledging that Jesus was due all of his Honor. He told Jesus that he was a man of authority and when he spoke ordered his soldiers to come they came and when he told his servants to do this or that they did as he said. He acknowledged that Jesus had authority to just speak and his servant would be healed. Jesus recognized that he had greater faith than anyone he had found in all of Israel. This is why Jesus healed his servant. Very little is spoken about the elders who were sent
by the Centurion other than they pleaded with Jesus to heal the centurions servant only because he done nice things for them and loved the nation. They said to Jesus you deserve to do this or another way to say it would be “you owe it to him because he has done good things for us and loves our nation. They believed because of the centurions good works that he should have this done for him. Their main reason for him to be healed was based on works but Jesus showed that it was his faith that healed the servant. Notice; Jesus does not tell the Centurion that your servant has been healed because you were nice to his kinfolk but because of his faith. What is the meaning of
this whole story. You emphasize that the man was shown favor and blessing was awarded him because he was good to the Jews and loved their nation. Good works
I emphasize that blessing and favor came to him because of his faith.
Which is it.
In your first reply you said that I was glued to replacement theology,
and I only asked a question that if the roles were reversed today and things being the way they are now with the complete scripture would the outcome be the same. You never answered but only replyed that I’m a replacement theology person and what kind of Jesus has to be excused for honoring a man who built a syngogue. As we debate about
this great story let us keep to it and learn from it. What is it that the Jews were to learn from it and what was it that we gentiles learn from it