Text: John 4: 43-54
Focus: John 4: 52
In the previous section, we read about the Samaritans who came to believe. Jesus looks at them and then says to his disciples:
“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35).
Instead of just travelling through Samaria, they stayed there for two days to gather this harvest. When Jesus and the disciples arrive in Galilee, they experience an anticlimax: Jesus’ own people don’t want to accept Him. For them, it is not about Him as the Messiah, but about the miracles He can perform. They want miracles and not Him as the Messiah. Therefore He says: “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” (John 4:48).
His own people’s hearts were hardened and they would not accept Him.
Then this man whose son is dying, comes to Jesus and asks him to heal his son. Jesus sees in him a lack of faith. Also, he believes in Jesus based on miracles and not on the fact that Jesus is King (vs. 48). He pleads with Jesus to heal his son - even before he dies. He does not yet realise that Jesus also has power over death.
It’s like a father going to the shop who asks his child to go along. A child’s response is usually to ask his father what he can get if he were to go along. But as that child grows, his perspective changes. Later, it is no longer about what he can get, but simply being with his father. He then seizes every opportunity to be with his father.
We are often like children in our faith. We tend to use Jesus to solve all our bad situations instead of seeing Him for who He is. He is our Saviour who loves us immensely!
It may be as the writer of Hebrews says:
“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” (Heb. 5:12).
To be able to move away from milk, we need to see how Jesus helped this man. Jesus did not give in to his request because he did not go with the man to his house. No, He sent him home alone.
Can you imagine what this man must have been thinking when he saw his family approaching from afar? All the questions… “Is my son dead?”… “Is Jesus really able to heal my son?”
In this way Jesus breaks down the mistrust in the man’s heart.
More so, Jesus breaks down the mistrust in our hearts by not always giving us what or when we ask.
The gospel shows us what Jesus does give us, and it changes our lives. He gives us His life! The cross is proof that He has our interests at heart. We just have to trust Him as our Saviour. He knows what is best for us, even if it sometimes seems that He does not answer our prayers.
Don’t look for someone who can give you what your heart desires; serve Christ who has your interests at heart and loves you so much that He died for you.