John 4:43-54. The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had
said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole
household.
This anxious father had
heard of the miracles Jesus had performed in Cana-in-Galilee. It is recorded
that “the man believed the word that Jesus spoke.” Jesus directed him to return
home: his son would live. The father responded faithfully to Jesus’ challenge,
“Unless you see the signs and wonders you will not believe.”
Yet we have reason to
think that for this man, the truth about Jesus hadn’t fully sunk in. It might
have been due to a lingering skepticism, or as I’d prefer to think, from a
desire to corroborate the good news from Jesus with the good news from his
servants. This royal official no doubt was used to making sure that his facts
were well established before reporting them to the king. In asking his servants
the time of his son’s recovery, he was testing his faith, making sure that his
faith linked up with reality. He received the answer he hoped for, and in
realizing this, his faith “clicked.” It must have been catching since not only
he but his whole household came to believe in Jesus.
Ah Lord God, you who made
the world that exists in time and space, help my poor faith in you to grow
beyond the limits of time or space, that I might truly know you as the savior
whose perfect love extends through all eternity. Amen.
—
Jim Ward
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