I came across something which got me thinking. We know that Jesus did so many amazing things that left people in awe and wonder – the gospels are full of these moments. Because this was so normal for Him we could be forgiven for thinking that it would be difficult to impress, shock or amaze Jesus….. but we’d be wrong.

In fact the two times we see Jesus ‘amazed’ were both to do with the same thing.

faith, or a lack of faith, that humans possessed.

We wont focus on the negative amazement in this post but instead lets look at the positive. We’ll pick it up in Matthew 8.

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” Matthew 8:5-7

This story is controversial already. This is not just a Roman, not just a Roman soldier, but the commander of Roman soldiers. In short, not the kind of guy the Jews would want to help.

But Jesus did.

The next section shows us why Jesus was amazed.

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. 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.”

Are you ready for it?

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. Matthew 8:8-10

Interestingly the fact that this guy had been a Roman commander has actually given him an insight into Kingdom authority in a way that many other Jews hadn’t. This man had such faith in the words of someone who had authority that he didn’t require anything more from Jesus than His word. So, what happened his servant? Well, its no surprise but……

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. Matthew 8:13

This is a huge challenge. Do we want to amaze Jesus with our faith or lack of faith? How can we do that? How can we live a life of faith that would amaze Jesus?