Today’s Scripture:
“Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” — John 4:50 (ESV)
Reflection
Today’s passage is about Jesus going back to Galilee, where he lived at the beginning of his life and ministry. He acknowledges that prophets have no honor in the places that they are from, and this is shown in how they only welcomed Jesus for what he did at the a previous feast. Then, he went to Cana, where he did his first miracle, and an official from Capernaum came to Cana, which was around a 20-25 mile walk. The official came to Jesus to ask for his son to be saved from his deadly illness. Jesus says that he will not believe unless he sees signs and wonders, yet he still asks again, to which Jesus says to go, as his son has been healed. As the official was going back home, a servant came and told him that his son was recovering, and started getting better at the same time as Jesus said that his son will live. As a result, the official’s family came to faith.
Jesus says that prophets aren’t shown honor in the places they are from, but it looks like the people of Galilee actually welcomed him. What does Jesus mean? This is very similar to what Jesus says to the official, which is that he will not believe unless he has seen signs. Basically, what this means is that the people of Galilee do not have genuine faith, but their belief in Jesus is purely based on the miracles and wonders that he does. This superficial type of faith is so deceptive because although it may seem that theh believe in Jesus, they do not actually have faith.
However, the story of the official is slightly different from that of the people of Galilee who did not honor Jesus. First of all, the official walks very far, to meet Jesus, without even a guarantee of Jesus actually healing his son. The official was fueled by the faith that Jesus will heal his son. Next, when Jesus tells him that he will not believe unless he sees miracles or wonders, the official asks Jesus again to heal his son. This is so interesting because even though the official could have been like offended or proved Jesus words to be right, the official kind of proved Jesus wrong because when Jesus tells him to go because he says that the official’s son is healed, the official goes back home in faith. There was no miracle or sign, it was a matter of if the official would have faith in Jesus’s words. When the official went back home and Jesus’s words were true, he had genuine faith and he converted his family as well.
This story illustrates the progression of faith from having no faith to having a genuine faith that was based on personal experience. At first, the official had just a hope, but that hope turned slowly and slowly into faith as Jesus shaped his mindset into that of a true believer. In terms of the sower and reaper, the people who told the official of Jesus were the sowers, while the official was “reaped” by Jesus and the miracle of faith that he did.
I know that I often ask Jesus to show me like signs of his presence or signs if he wants something to happen in my life, but this passage shows me that I don’t need signs to know Jesus’s presence, and I don’t need signs to know what to do next in my life. All I need is to trust in Jesus and in his word. The Bible truly holds all the answers to my questions or problems, so I need to stay in the Word of God more and trust in what God has planned for me.