The Jews had been instructed from childhood concerning the work of the Messiah. The inspired utterances of patriarchs and prophets and the symbolic teaching of the sacrificial service had been theirs. But they had disregarded the light; and now they saw in Jesus nothing to be desired. But the centurion, born in heathenism, educated in the idolatry of imperial Rome, trained as a soldier, seemingly cut off from spiritual life by his education and surroundings, and still further shut out by the bigotry of the Jews, and by the contempt of his own countrymen for the people of Israel,--this man perceived the truth to which the children of Abraham were blinded. He did not wait to see whether the Jews themselves would receive the One who claimed to be their Messiah. As the "light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9) had shone upon him, he had, though afar off, discerned the glory of the Son of God.

Jøderne var fra barndommen af blevet belært om Messias gerning. De havde haft patriarkernes og profeternes inspirerede ord og offertjenestens symbolske belæring. Men de havde ikke givet agt på lyset, og nu så de i Jesus intet af det, de havde ønsket. Men høvedsmanden, som var født inden for hedenskabet og opdraget til afgudsdyrkelse i kejsertidens Rom, oplært til at være soldat og tilsyneladende afskåret fra åndeligt liv ved sin uddannelse og på grund af sine omgivelser, og yderligere udelukket derfra ved jødernes fanatisme og sine egne landsmænds foragt for Israels folk, denne mand skimtede den sandhed, som Abrahams børn var blinde for. Han ventede ikke for at se, om jøderne selv ville tage imod den, som hævdede at være deres Messias. Da "det sande lys, som oplyser hvert menneske," havde skinnet på ham, havde han, skønt på afstand, skimtet Guds Søns herlighed. Joh. 1,9.