There is one world, one humanity, and one God - we should never forget this. The author of 1 Timothy insists that we pray for everyone without exception, high and low, in our group and outside of it. This is for the simple reason that God is God for everyone and desires everyone to be saved. That should be our wish too. We should cleanse from our heart and mind every sort of prejudice, negative attitude, and exclusive practice that we might harbour towards individuals or groups. They do not come from God and they actually keep us far from God.

There were many reasons Jesus could have refused the centurion's request. He was a pagan and he was a Roman officer - a member of the hated army that occupied and oppressed Judea. But there are things in his favour: he is a good man, and the community elders put in a good word for him. But most of all, he has incredible faith in the power of Jesus to do what he asks. Such is his faith that it outshines all that Jesus has seen within Israel. His request is indeed granted. Often we find wonderful faith and trust in those who do not belong to our religious group. We need to learn a lesson: the most important thing is to trust and believe in God and to live that out in one's life. All the pious words in the world are useless unless we truly have faith. When we do we empower God to come to our aid.