Tuesday - The Healing of the Royal Official’s Son

Just as yesterday we saw that the first miracle in the Gospel of John symbolised the superabundant outpouring of God’s grace and mercy in Christ Jesus, today we can hear that the second miracle recorded in the Gospel of John, namely Jesus’ healing of the royal official’s son, was not the provision of a fast local health service but a further revelation of who Jesus is.

The crowd of Galilean locals who proudly welcomed back from Jerusalem Jesus, the local boy made good, wanted miracles for miracles’ sake – they wanted a spectacular religious show.  And Jesus was not going to give it to them.

A royal official wanted Jesus to come many miles to his house to heal his sick son.  But Jesus resisted the request – however the official persisted – begging for his son to be healed by Jesus anyway.  Jesus gave the word that the sick son was already healed at home – in a very unspectacular way – and the official returned home believing the miracle to have occurred. Jesus was revealed to be the Son of God, as he worked through time and distance to bring supernatural healing to the official’s household.

When I was a missionary, in Congo I observed animists trying to manipulate spirits and local gods with sacrificial offerings and magic: for a fruitful crop, for revenge on an enemy or for the safe delivery of a child etc.  It was a totally self-serving religion.  But the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be manipulated.  In fact if he could be so manipulated he would not be worthy of our worship. 

The place of blessing is not the overflowing bank account, perfect health or a beautiful body, but being in the centre of God’s will, experiencing healing and salvation on his terms - which is doing things His way, the way of the cross.  You see, Jesus’ claims and teaching are so outrageous they are either the commands of a mad fraud or he is the Son of God.  I believe he is the Son of God.  Let us do things His way.