What does it take for Jesus to be amazed?

Can you imagine doing something so amazing that even Jesus Christ will be in awe? Now we all know that, during His life on earth, people were always amazed by Jesus. And they ought to for reasons we all know - no one ever spoke the way He did and no one ever acted the way He did. He always had a crowd following Him, to be amazed by the wondrous deeds. In the midst of all His mighty works - His power over diseases, death, demons and devil, what could anybody do to make Him stop in His path and say "wow"?

There is no mystery about the man who amazed Jesus, it is the Roman centurion, "When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, 'I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith'" (Luke 7:9). I have always thought what amazed Jesus about the centurion was his faith combined with humility and obedience. It was quiet unusual for a Roman official to display such humility in front of a Jewish man, even if the man was a rabbi with great abilities. But the centurion put aside his pride and decided to ask for help. I have no problem to agree that the centurion had a lot more to lose than many of his contemporary jewish people. But the only reason the centurion had more to lose because he was given a lot more than others, and Jesus knew this. I thought the leper in Luke 5:12-14 had a lot more to lose than the centurion, he was taking a lot more risk by approaching Jesus like that, and how could anyone even come close to the faith of the woman with the hemorrhage in Luke 8:43-48. Both the leper and the woman were risking their lives by approaching Jesus because both of them were untouchables by the Jewish law. Is humility and obedience better than willingness to risk one's life for faith?

One thing I failed to pay attention to, while attempting to 'argue with Jesus', was the nature of the request itself. Both the leper and the woman went great distances because they were desperately seeking help with unbearable personal problems, while the centurion wasn't suffering from any such situation - he was seeking help to heal his slave. Though it is hard to figure out the exact cost of a slave at that particular time, it couldn't have been high enough for the centurion to risk possible rejection by a Jewish Rabbi and the humiliation to follow afterwards. I believe that Jesus was commenting about the unselfishness in the centurion's action - he was willing to take a risk in love for his neighbor which in this case was a mere slave, and Jesus was amazed.

Such a view on the whole incident also confirms something many have known already, the power of intercessory prayer - an unselfish act that amazes Jesus even today because "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Nowhere in the scripture do we read about the slave himself; we don't know what kind of a person he was - whether he had any faith in Jesus, whether he was God fearing or not. But it didn't matter, all Jesus cared about was the faith of the person making the request. This brings up the importance of praying for others regardless of who they are, what their faith is and without giving any concern to their current state. It is an opportunity to amaze Jesus with our faith and healing for somebody who desperately need one. 

"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you." (John 15:12-14)