Believing

I may not need to know who you are but that you can help me.

When the two days were over, Jesus went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his entire household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee. - John 4:43–54

The royal official who came to see Jesus believed that Jesus could help his son who was dying.

Or did he?

He may have heard about Jesus and was prepared to do anything and everything to help his son, so he sought Jesus out.

Wouldn't we do the same?

We start out by going the traditional routes, and when they prove to be dead ends, either we give up, or we go wherever we can to find help.

Jesus knew the man didn't know enough about him to believe in him, but he was desperate and Jesus was compassionate.

The story is as much about us as it is about the miracle of healing the boy.

We have to seek out Jesus any way we can, beginning with our cry for help.  

And then comes the test.  Can we believe even if what we seek isn't granted?

To us, Jesus may represent one of the traditional routes and while that is a good sign, it can mean that we give up on everything else.

Jesus is our help and our savior.  We can trust Him and should go to Him always.

The question for us is the question for those who came to Him then.  Can we believe without seeing the miracles?

More to come...