 Faith is not complicated. Unlike every other religion (faith) in the world, only Christianity sets the requirements as simple as faith alone. No rituals, sacrifices, practices, or works are required, just faith. This is what we see in the centurion. He is a man who recognized that there was nothing he could do to merit the grace of Christ, for he considered himself to be so unworthy that he could not even stand in Christ's presence. Even though he recognized this divide, or because he recognized this divide, he had complete trust and commitment, faith, in Christ. The fact that a gentile centurion understood this, as evidenced by his simple request free from manipulation and coercion, yet expressed forthright with confidence, while his trained Jewish counterparts did not astonished Jesus (Howell, 118). Jesus found the “qualities celebrated in the Beatitudes” in the Centurion as his faith is both intellectually and practically applied in his unquestioning request for a miraculous healing of his servant from afar (Elwell, 731-32). For his faith, the centurion's servant was healed “that very hour,” but not before Jesus capitalized on it as a teachable moment. “Jesus' healing of the servant anticipates the mission to the Gentiles,” which He foretells in the metaphor of the feast where the seats of Jews who reject Jesus as Messiah are taken by Gentiles due to their faith (Elwell, 732).
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