In the Beginning: The Book of John

(John 4:46-54[HCSB])

46 Then He went again to Cana of Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and pleaded with Him to come down and heal his son, for he was about to die.

48 Jesus told him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

49 “Sir,” the official said to Him, “come down before my boy dies!

50 “Go,” Jesus told him, “your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and departed.

51 While he was still going down, his slaves met him saying that his boy was alive. 52 He asked them at what time he got better.

“Yester-day at seven in the morning the fever left him,” they answered. 53 The father realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” Then he himself believed, along with his whole household.

54 This, therefore, was the second sign Jesus performed after He came from Judea to Galilee.*

This is the second sign in Cana though there were probably others in the interim.

The second sign

It is not said, but I wonder if this official had heard about Jesus’ ability to turn water into wine and took a chance that He might be able to save his son? It is unlikely that this man knew Jesus as more than a rabbi with special powers. What would we do, and whom would we seek, in our desperation?

If the son had not been healed I wonder if the man would have still believed … I doubt it. This is why Jesus said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

This is a lesson about faith, and not about healing, as it may first appear. Jesus knew all of this would be written down and transmitted to the whole body of believers. As such, He is making a case for believing with or without miracles to underpin our faith. Knowing that while many will find their strength, albeit temporarily, in the miraculous answers to prayer, far greater numbers will fall away when prayer is not “answered in the affirmative.”

How many testimonies have you heard that began with, “I was a strong believer until …,” which almost always continues with a tale of hurt and disappointment because God either did not step in and save a dying relative or prevent a wrong from occurring? I think it is a universal response to what we cannot understand nor control.

The hardest thing a believer will ever do is to continue to believe in the mercy and grace of God in Jesus Christ through the good, the bad, the hurt and the joy … but more importantly … when life is on course and there is nothing to report.

There is a profound beauty and peace when we believe simply because we find life richer and more abundant in God’s presence, rather than when we are at our highest high or our lowest low.