Jesus Heals an Official’s Son-John 4:43-54

Today, Jesus heals a young boy.

After two days with the Samaritans, Jesus and his disciples head for Galilee, his hometown. Apparently, Jesus didn’t expect much of a reception because he pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his hometown. In other words, the folks you grow up with, don’t have much respect for you.

His comment points to human nature in general. When you grow up with someone or watch someone grow up, I think it would be difficult to see them in a new light as a prophet. It would be even more difficult for them to believe he was the Messiah. If your next door neighbor was gone for a few years and came back home as a prophet with followers, it might be hard to believe. I think Jesus is tapping into our own human weaknesses and simply pointing them out to his disciples. He is stating the truth of human nature.

But, when he arrives, the Galileans welcome him. Had Jesus been wrong about his hometown welcome? Unfortunately, no. If we read carefully, we will see that they had “seen all he had done.” It says once again, he visited Cana. Remember what happened in Cana? Yep, the first miracle was there.

The Galileans weren’t welcoming the Messiah. They were welcoming a miracle worker. They welcomed Jesus because of what he could do for them. Does this sound painfully familiar to us today? How often do we seek Jesus when we need something physical, like healing? Do we wait to seek him when there’s nowhere else to go? Do we wait to seek him when we want something from him? I suspect most of us are a lot like these Galileans.

To make matters worse, a royal official in Herod’s service, heard Jesus was in town and asked him to heal his gravely ill son. This guy wasn’t even a Jew. He was a Roman; but as most parents know, was willing to do anything to save his child.

I picture Jesus saying wearily, with a sigh, “Unless, you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

The man persists, as any parent would, and Jesus simply tells him, “You may go. Your son is healed.”

The man took Jesus at his word and left. Let’s ponder that for a moment. The man took Jesus at his word. Here’s a Roman who likely knew nothing about God or Jesus or anything about the Jewish faith. He took Jesus at his word. Do we take Jesus at his word? Do we have the faith of this Roman officer in Jesus’ abilities?

His faith was rewarded and the boy was healed at the exact time Jesus said he would be. The official’s entire household believed. I once again, find myself wondering about these people. How many people were in that household? How many people did that miracle change forever? Did they go on to share their faith with others? Did they come to the aid of other new Christians down the road? We will never know; but my curious mind would love to.

The scripture ends saying this was the second miraculous sign, but specifically, it was the second time Jesus performed a miraculous sign after coming from Judea to Galilee.

What do you think about today’s reading? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂