Matthew 8:8

‘And the centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

The centurion takes the point. He possibly recognises that a Jewish prophet would be hesitant about entering an ‘unclean' Gentile house where proper rituals of cleanliness have not been observed. He is not, of course, yet aware that Jesus rises above all such things, making clean by His presence. But that does not explain why he applies the idea of unworthiness only to himself. His words indicate that he is even more aware of his own undeserving. ‘I am not worthy' is a recognition of personal undeserving. Religiously he is ‘poor in spirit' and ‘mourning' over sin, and ‘meek'. In other words he is open to blessing (Matthew 5:3; Matthew 5:5). He may be a God-fearer but he recognises his unworthiness to welcome this awesome Jewish prophet under his roof. His huge faith in, and admiration of, Jesus is thus revealed. For he has no doubt that Jesus has but to speak the word and his servant will be healed, whether He comes under his roof or not. We can compare the same sense of unworthiness in John the Baptiser when Jesus went to him for baptism (Matthew 3:14). The purity of Jesus was such that He made good men feel unworthy. But along with this sense of unworthiness went great faith. And that was all that the centurion needed.