Demonstrative compassion
Greetings.
This week's study is on John 4:46-53:
This story about the royal official struck me as really odd when I read it. Here is a royal official, someone who probably would have had the expectation that he could boss a commoner like Jesus around, but instead of bossing and demanding, he's begging. And here's Jesus, who talks frequently about how we need to have faith without needing signs, still giving this guy a miraculous sign, even though he doesn't deserve one. This whole incident must have taken place on National Self-Contradiction Day or something!
What's also interesting is that, after being scolded by Jesus, the royal doesn't argue with him, or get into a philosophical/theological debate about the nature of faith. He just wants his son to get well again. Jesus has compassion on him and heals his son. But that's not even enough to give him faith. He has to ask when the healing took place. Was it connected to the whole conversation he had with Jesus, or did it happen on its own? Did wealth heal his son? Unicorns with magic lollipops? A team of doctors from Rome? Science demands answers! He couldn't brand it a miracle until he was forced to put two and two together.
To me, that demonstrates Jesus's compassion. Yes, it's better if we believe without having to see the miracle first, but God isn't going to get all academic on us and make us go without. He's not some kind of cosmic DMV clerk, hell-bent on making sure every box is filled in correctly before he gives us what we came for. He wants the connection. He wants to see us thrive and to be glorified in what changes as a result of our contact with him.
There are things I ask for, and which you guys probably ask for, which I honestly don't have much active heart-felt faith for, if any at all. Does that mean I can't progress and grow unless I can reprogram my mind on my own? I don't believe it has to. Look at the lengths God goes to in order to court us, and to lure us into a solid faith in him. Look at Abraham, and all of his high-maintenance drama. Look at Moses. These guys didn't just jump up the first moment God said something. They even argued with him, but God won them over.
This privileged royal guy gets to be the example we all get to look at for how tolerant God can be towards our spiritual stubbornness. Nobody's perfect on their own, even royalty. In a black and white worldview, where either you have perfect faith or you're outside the kingdom and favor of God, this miraculous meeting could never have happened. What else could happen that we've been taught not to hope for?
This week's study is on John 4:46-53:
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. 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.
“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
“Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
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 whole household believed.
This story about the royal official struck me as really odd when I read it. Here is a royal official, someone who probably would have had the expectation that he could boss a commoner like Jesus around, but instead of bossing and demanding, he's begging. And here's Jesus, who talks frequently about how we need to have faith without needing signs, still giving this guy a miraculous sign, even though he doesn't deserve one. This whole incident must have taken place on National Self-Contradiction Day or something!
What's also interesting is that, after being scolded by Jesus, the royal doesn't argue with him, or get into a philosophical/theological debate about the nature of faith. He just wants his son to get well again. Jesus has compassion on him and heals his son. But that's not even enough to give him faith. He has to ask when the healing took place. Was it connected to the whole conversation he had with Jesus, or did it happen on its own? Did wealth heal his son? Unicorns with magic lollipops? A team of doctors from Rome? Science demands answers! He couldn't brand it a miracle until he was forced to put two and two together.
To me, that demonstrates Jesus's compassion. Yes, it's better if we believe without having to see the miracle first, but God isn't going to get all academic on us and make us go without. He's not some kind of cosmic DMV clerk, hell-bent on making sure every box is filled in correctly before he gives us what we came for. He wants the connection. He wants to see us thrive and to be glorified in what changes as a result of our contact with him.
There are things I ask for, and which you guys probably ask for, which I honestly don't have much active heart-felt faith for, if any at all. Does that mean I can't progress and grow unless I can reprogram my mind on my own? I don't believe it has to. Look at the lengths God goes to in order to court us, and to lure us into a solid faith in him. Look at Abraham, and all of his high-maintenance drama. Look at Moses. These guys didn't just jump up the first moment God said something. They even argued with him, but God won them over.
This privileged royal guy gets to be the example we all get to look at for how tolerant God can be towards our spiritual stubbornness. Nobody's perfect on their own, even royalty. In a black and white worldview, where either you have perfect faith or you're outside the kingdom and favor of God, this miraculous meeting could never have happened. What else could happen that we've been taught not to hope for?
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