Capernaum (8:5) was the setting of a customs station and was near a trade route. Given this strategic location, the presence of Roman soldiers was likely. To hear of a centurion, a commander of eighty to one hundred soldiers and a representative of Rome’s great military power, approaching Jesus in an attitude of submission (8:5–6), requesting healing for his servant (the Greek term may possibly be translated “son”), would have likely surprised Matthew’s audience.

The healing of a centurion’s servant is one of only two clear moment…