“Yes, there had been a period of considerable unrest, many years ago, concerning the taxes imposed on fishermen of the lake, and during that time Pilate maintained a century of men in Capernaum, under my command, to enforce law and order. Even during that duty, however, I still accompanied the procurator whenever he came here to Jerusalem for any occasion.”

I leaned toward Cornelius until we were almost nose to nose. “Tell me, centurion, is it true that you knew Jesus from those days?”

“Yes, I knew him,” he said, his voice trembling.

My shot in the dark! Now I was almost certain that I was in the presence of that unnamed centurion from Matthew and Luke whose servant had been healed by Jesus. “Did you ever speak with Jesus?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me about it, as best you can recall.”

Cornelius cupped his large hands over both knees and shook his head as if to clear it. He said, “I had heard many stories of the good deeds and wonders performed by this man among the poor of the waterfront, even his curing of many who were sick and infirm. When my beloved servant, Linus, became ill with palsy and none who tried could help him, I went to the waterfront in search of Jesus and begged him to intercede with his god in behalf of my friend. To my great surprise he placed his arm around my neck and said, ‘I will come and heal him.’ I told him that I was not worthy of his coming under my roof, but from what I had heard of his great powers I knew that if he just said the word my servant would be healed. I explained that I understood such things for I was a man with authority, having soldiers under me, and if I said to one man, ‘Go,’ he would go, and to another, ‘Come,’ he would come, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and it was done. I thought that Jesus might be able to do the same thing without having to defile himself, as a Jew, by entering my house.”

“What did Jesus do?”