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Matthew 8 and Luke 7 each depict different versions of an exchange between Jesus and a man known to the Church as “The Centurion of Great Faith.” That epithet is more vague than it needs to be, since we can actually know quite a bit about this officer of Capernaum.
A Judean Officer
Both Gospels agree that on the man’s rank and location, placing him in aristocratic circles of Antipas’ numerii. Luke is clear that he is not a Jew, with the elders speaking of him in the third person, “he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” (Luke 7:5) This was not unusual, as Galilee was a diverse place, one regarded by devout Jews as "the district of the nations” (Isaiah 9:1). He was a Judean in the geographical, not religious, sense.
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