Jesus, having just given His ministry manifesto in Luke 6 in the Sermon on the Plain, is now demonstrating His love and power to those who were beginning to follow Him. In this passage, there are two miraculous healings that take place—first was the servant of a Roman centurion and second was the only son of a widow. In each instance, Jesus demonstrated His authority thereby confirming His authority to teach as He did in Luke 6, but the motivation to perform these miracles seems to be two-fold—the first miracle happened because of the faith of the centurion and the second because of Jesus’ compassion for the plight of the widow. We learn a lot here about Jesus’ character in this passage.