‘And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death.'
In or near Capernaum lived a Centurion and his household, and a servant whom he loved dearly was sick, and indeed at the point of death. By the fact that he was concerned about it we see both the centurion's compassion and his concern for his servants. The centurion was probably a Roman soldier assigned to the service of Herod Antipas as there were no official Roman forces in Galilee at that time. Or he may have been a foreign soldier in Herod's army. But his obvious wealth would suggest that he held an important position.