Good morning. I would like to have us consider an episode from the ministries of Jesus that occurs very early in His public ministry. We read of it in John 4:46-53. To understand it, we need to read of the entire event: So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.
Jesus was not yet well known, but word of Him had traveled enough that this synagogue leader (which is indicated in the word “official” in the text) had heard of Him. What we learn from this passage is that this man would never have experienced of the power of Christ unless he had first experienced the poverty of his own soul. The man didn’t have the luxury of time, for his son was dying. He undoubtedly had already tried every other option. His son was at the point of death, and he was at the end of his resources. There was no favor he could call in from a friend. There was no medication or doctor or healer of any kind who had proven capable. His son was dying, and he had no where else to turn. He begs Jesus.
I find Jesus’ first response interesting. Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” Jesus makes it clear that the healing of the man’s son is not for the purpose of Jesus being “proven.” Jesus is not willing to be some kind of side show. Healing the boy will be about love, compassion, and about the power of God willingly shared. The man acts as though he doesn’t even hear Jesus. All he can do, and all that he will do, is beg: The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus response is to tell the man that his son is healed. The man doesn’t argue or want proof, he simply believes. I can only imagine that there was something about the presence of Jesus, that there was a confidence and a gentleness that made the man accept His word and believe it as truth. It was the person of Christ that is the first basis for the man’s belief. Faith through understanding wouldn’t happen until the next day.
His belief to this point was in Jesus, but perhaps it was still a bit limited. He believed that Jesus’ promise of his son’s recovery was true, but it wasn’t until his servants met him on the road and he learned that the boy recovered at exactly the moment when Jesus had pronounced that he would live that the man’s heart changed. He went home to find his son well, but he didn’t stop there. He shared his new faith and soon it wasn’t only him, but his entire household who had come to believe in Jesus.
Some months ago, our adult Sunday School class at NLCC studied the Kyle Idleman book, “The End of Me.” This book does a great job of developing this point which is shared with us in the story of the official with terminally ill son. It is only when we realize that we are at the end of our own resources that we will truly open ourselves to the power of God shared with us in the person of Jesus Christ. We too must accept our own poverty, the complete lack of options available to us to solve our problems and meet our needs through expending our own resources. We simply can’t manage on our own. It doesn’t matter whether our need is of a physical nature, or financial, or emotional, or health, or anything else of importance. The first step to be healed and whole is realizing that we can’t. The next step to being healed and whole is realizing that Christ Jesus can.
In fact, nothing will please Him more than to help you. He is waiting for the humble heart to ask Him for help. He is eager to say “Yes, you can count on Me.”
We are closing in on a new year. It is a good time to assess our needs. What needs to happen for you to become healed and whole? New Year’s resolutions are fine ideas, although they often tend to fall pretty short on results. The better idea is to resolve that you can’t but that your Lord can, and you are going to give it all to Him!
‘God bless!
Vern