John 4:50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed.
We all trust the word of someone else. Just listen to the news and the opinion polls these days. Almost everything is believed by someone. Things don’t have to be grounded in facts at all, and they are still believed. The ‘facts’ can change daily, and that doesn’t seem to bother some people; they just follow.
Just because someone says something doesn’t make it true. A repeated lie is still a lie, no matter how many times it gets repeated. But the result of a liberal education, that removes a grounding in absolute truth, brings about fruit that is sterile, unable to sustain itself. And this is what we are seeing today.
The vaccine will solve our problems. You must keep wearing masks. It is too dangerous to open schools to in-person learning. The hordes at the boarder need in person education. This kind of list could go on indefinitely. So what should our response be?
Jesus is teaching in part of His world that was considered ‘off limits’ to Jews. Ethnically and religiously they were different from the Jewish people. They were considered by the Jews to be cursed. Jews would travel extra distance to avoid traveling through this area. But not Jesus.
Jesus specifically travels through this area and is heartily received by the people. He even spends an extra two days because the people are so receptive to His message. And when Jesus spends time with people, He teaches and heals people.
I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life when I wanted the LORD to bring healing, life and death moments. And sometimes He has!
But an unlikely person finds out Jesus is in his area and hope rises in his spirit. He is an official of the government. (Can anything good come from a government official? Let’s see.) His son is sick and he thinks Jesus can help, so he comes to Jesus to try to persuade Him to come and heal his son. (A father’s love in action.)
He begs! Not the usual posture for a person at the top of the political food chain. He is used to giving orders and those orders being obeyed. But he knows he doesn’t have authority in the real of his son’s sickness. He has already tried what he could, and has failed. He is desperate. So, he begs.
Jesus does not do what He is asked. He doesn’t go with the man. Instead, He tells this official that his son will live. And the man believes Jesus’ word. He trusts what Jesus says.
And we know from the rest of the story that the son received healing at that precise moment when Jesus spoke those words and the man believed them. What joy that must have brought to this official and to those who heard this story over the coming days and years. I am sure it became a ‘family story’ that was repeated for generations.
So not only did Jesus go to a forbidden place and share the message of life, but when He was in this forbidden place, an even more unlikely recipient comes forward and believes in Jesus.
You see, in the new Kingdom, place doesn’t matter. You don’t have to go to Jerusalem or any other physical location in order to worship God. You con’t have to have a certain blood line or ethnic background. You don’t have to possess certain qualities or attributes to enter.
On the contrary, those without the background or qualities are more likely to receive the message than those with all the outward signs of qualification. What matters is what we do with Jesus. Do we accept what He said? Do we live our lives differently based on our relationship with Him?
The Arnold Journey 