John 4: 46- 48
‘”Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.’”
When I read this passage, I have to remind myself about the truth about Jesus we discussed a few days ago, that Jesus is constantly using words and situations to describe his heavenly perspective.
In this passage, an important man is faced with a situation that money and power can’t change: his son is dying. This is a situation many of us can relate to. Facing the potential loss of a loved one, our world shrinks down to that one horrifying reality. Nothing else matters.
As this important royal official is confronted with this impending loss, he hears that Jesus has returned and has probably heard the story of how Jesus changed water into wine.
We don’t know anything about the man’s faith, or his reason for putting his hope in Jesus, or even if he was a Jew. All we know is that he came to Jesus and begged him to come to his son.
Jesus, speaking to this royal official, knowing what he is going through and what is in his heart, says somewhat harshly, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”
Q: What is going on here? Why is Jesus speaking to this man in this way?
I assume the man being a royal official is probably a Jew, and I’m only guessing he may not have been a practicing Jew, meaning he probably worshipped his power, and wealth over God.
Now he comes to Jesus to heal his son because he has heard of His power.
Jesus knows our hearts, He also speaks with total honesty that may seem harsh to people of today as we are taught to be tactful and do not hurt the feelings of others. God’s concern is for our eternal salvation, and He does not waste time being tactful with each person he speaks with. This does not mean He does not love the man, in fact it is a sign He does.
Jesus is planting a seed, reminding the man he does not express faith through worship of God, but he seeks God’s help when he has a great need, and he will only believe when he sees signs and wonders.
it works, when the man finds out his son is healed, the time he was healed, and he believes, in fact he and all his household believe.
One day, we will see this man in heaven and we can ask him all about it.
Thank Ron!
This is a challenging passage. God’s perspective is very different from our human perspective. We see that again and again as Jesus teaches about heaven and about God. In this case he understands that this royal official does not “believe” but is acting out of other motives. Jesus also knows what is needed for this man to believe. Hopefully this story helps draw us into deeper belief in Jesus!