He didn’t even get to see the replay!
This is being written on a Saturday with College football on in the background. My teams have already played: OU got beat by Texas (AGAIN!! DRATS!!) and the Hawkeyes won big against Wisconsin (GO HAWKS). So with this last entry on the “Official’s Son,” I think it is fitting to use the following analogy. Have you ever been in the other room when the big play happened? Then on top of that, when you finally get back to the TV the replays have already been shown and they’re moving onto the next down/play/swing/whatever? I am sure that has happened to all of us. Let’s go ahead and read our text one more time and finish this thing up.
John 4:43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.
46 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. 47 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.
48 "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49 The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50 Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.
54 This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
In the last entry I pointed out how Jesus said right to the officials face “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders …you will never believe." We know that the dad (the awesome example of being a true father) stood in there and fought for his son. Jesus followed up by saying “You may go, your son will live.” That’s when the dad took Jesus at his word and departed. Since we just read the whole story again I won’t continue with the “play by play” but do you realize the father never saw his son being healed? Sure he saw the end result (his healthy son) but he never saw the processes; he never saw the big play. Going back to the game analogy we want our team to win but what we love more is to watch them win it. The end result is what we want but the play by play is what we desire. Not only did this dad not get to see the big play he didn’t get to see the replay either. He made it back to the “TV” too late--more like a day late. Now think about what Jesus said to his face “Unless you people see…you will never believe” [emphasis mine]. WOW! This guy/dad/awesome example of fatherhood really did “Walk (all day & night) by faith not by sight” [ref 2 Cor 5:7]. Well, he had to keep his eyes open to walk back home, but still he never saw the healing take place. What brings tears to my eyes is what verse 53 says: “Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he and his household believed.” His whole household believed!! Now we have no real idea how big his household was. He was a “Royal Official” so we know his income was up there. We know he had at least 2 servants because of what John 4:51 says: “While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news… [emphasis mine]”. We know he had a son so that is at least 4 in the household. I am not sure what the average family size was for the area the Official was from, but I’ve heard 5 was the going rate for the number kids in a Jewish family at that time. You have to count the mother in there somewhere. I am going to take a guess and say the number in his household was 10. That’s just a guess, but no matter how many were in the household, they all believed on Jesus. Think about this: the reason why the whole household believed was not because of the son’s healing but because the father’s faith. The whole household, except the dad, saw the son get suddenly well, but it was only when the father returned that the whole household believed. What an awesome example of faith. Heb 11:1 famously states: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We don’t need to see it; we just need to believe it. Going back to the my first entry on this subject, the healing and the whole household believing is all a result of this man taking Jesus at His word. John 1:1 states “In the beginning was the Word”. Let the Word be the beginning of your faith. The results will be more then what you could imagine or think.
I’m excited to start on the next recorded healing that Jesus did. It’s crazy!! I’m even more excited about “seeing” how strong our faith will grow. I want testimonies!!
Stay blessed y’all, it’s your choice.
jimmy
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