‘And Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof,”
Jesus responded to their plea, and the cry for help, and went on His way. It is probable that the centurion had actually seen the approach of the elders as a first step in order to scout out the position, rather than as a request for Jesus to come. Thus it would appear that when a messenger was sent on ahead in order to say that the Prophet was coming, the centurion sensed his own unworthiness and in a sense panicked. He felt that he was not worthy for a Prophet to come under his roof. Indeed he may also have recognised that for Jesus to do so would render Him unclean, but we must not see that as the main motive, otherwise it would have been stated. So he immediately sent his friends to assure Jesus that He need not come to his house, because he knew that he was not worthy. He was a man in awe of God.