John 4:43 After the two days, he went on from there toward the Galil. 44 Now Yeshua himself said, “A prophet is not respected in his own country.” 45 But when he arrived in the Galil, the people there welcomed him, because they had seen all he had done at the festival in Yerushalayim; since they had been there too.
46 He went again to Kanah in the Galil, where he had turned the water into wine. An officer in the royal service was there; his son was ill in K’far-Nachum. 47 This man, on hearing that Yeshua had come from Y’hudah to the Galil, went and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Yeshua answered, “Unless you people see signs and miracles, you simply will not trust!” 49 The officer said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Yeshua replied, “You may go, your son is alive.” The man believed what Yeshua said and left. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him with the news that his son was alive 52 So he asked them at what time he had gotten better; and they said, “The fever left him yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon.” 53 The father knew that that was the very hour when Yeshua had told him, “Your son is alive”; and he and all his household trusted. 54 This was a second sign that Yeshua did; he did it after he had come from Y’hudah into the Galil.
Yeshua had just gotten back into Cana when this officer of the royal court hunted him down to ask for healing for his son. The first question I have is:
How does this man know Yeshua could heal sick people?
He didn’t. Or maybe he did. Or maybe he hoped.
According to John (v54), this was only the second sign Yeshua did. The first was the water to wine at a wedding. The potential second? Healing a young boy from a life-threatening situation. Hardly a connection, right? Well, maybe there is.
We saw that turning water into wine was (perhaps) an exercise in accelerating time. “If this man can speed up time,” the man may have thought, “then maybe he can reverse it also.” But there’s a pretty big jump from providing a celebratory beverage to a wedding party and bringing a young boy back from the brink of death.
You would assume that, as an officer in the royal service, he likely had access to the best physicians in the region, right? And yet his son was getting worse. Exhausting every other alternative, he turned to the man who was rumored to have turned water into wine. In his desperation, he had absolutely nothing to lose.
Yeshua was not a doctor in the traditional sense so why would anyone in their right mind ask Him to come try to heal someone that’s about to die. But when we’re desperate, we’re not always in our right mind. And it’s in that space that Abba can truly work. In that space, we’re willing to do just about anything. Just about…
If someone we deeply love were facing certain death and Abba said to eat a gallon of ice cream then run a marathon, we would. No matter how sick we got along the way, we’d keep pushing. In the midst of blisters, dehydration, and painful cramps, we’d keep going -- if there was hope.
Yeshua had to be the royal officer’s last hope. The most talented people in the region couldn’t help him. Governors couldn’t help him. Kings couldn’t help him. There was no one. But word has it that there is this Man that almost magically turned water into wine -- for people at a wedding! I mean, who does that?!
“If He can do something like that for those people,” he thought, “then surely He could do this for my son.”
So he traveled a pretty good distance and carried with him the hope that someway, somehow this Man could possibly do something to help his son. A broken man with nothing to lose.
49 The officer said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 Yeshua replied, “You may go, your son is alive.”
Wait…that’s it? No incantations, no lengthy prayers, no desperate petitioning of the gods? He’s just told to leave? Shouldn’t he at least ask some questions as to why this kid is dying? Maybe have this royal officer wallow in some sort of regret based on how he’s lived his life up until now? Couldn’t Yeshua use this time to really grab his attention and call him to repentance?
But there’s nothing other than: “Go home.”
Wouldn’t you feel cheated? What guarantees does he have that what He said was true? He has none.
And this…this is the key to trusting.
No argument, no persistent nagging, no guarantees -- The man believed what Yeshua said and left.
Amazing. Here is an incredibly desperate man that travels 20-25 miles to seek help from someone with no track record of healing (but may have turned water to wine at a wedding a few weeks ago) -- and he simply believes Him when He speaks.
Put yourself in his place as he is making his way back home. Half of the trip back had to be some form of torture. Not knowing, but hoping. Battling the thoughts of what could be:
“What if those people lied about the wine?”
“What if this guy is simply crazy?”
“If it’s all a lie, why did I go all this way and leave my son during his last few days on earth?”
And about that time, his servants met him with the news. Surely, as he saw them approaching, he likely had the fiercest of battles raging in his mind. “Here come my servants to tell me my son is dead.”
But imagine the feeling this man had when he heard the news that his son was alive. Relief, joy, gratitude, wonder, amazement, confusion…a swirl of emotions combined with a mountain of questions:
“How is this even possible?”
“Who is this Man?”
“Why would he help me?”
Despite the reasoning, his son was alive.
What is healing anyway?
Healing is essentially restoration. Something has caused a decay (maybe a rapid one) and the goal is to return to a state of wholeness. Reversing decay, if you will. But this is most certainly not a natural process. Entropy tells us that. How could this royal officer in any way whatsoever assume the natural order of decay could possibly be reversed?
Desperation does strange things to reason. But it did bring him to the doorstep of the impossible.
This officer’s trust was enough to secure physical healing for his son, but it was the spiritual healing that flooded his home that was the purpose of it all.
Yeshua answered, “Unless you people see signs and miracles, you simply will not trust!”
Again, trust is the issue. Did Yeshua want this young boy to be healthy? Of course. But why heal him unless it was to produce salvation. If He were to heal this child and everyone went back to their regular lives, then what would it have been for? Living just for the sake of being alive and living the life you want? No! The point of healing is restoration. Not to the life you want, but to the life He wants.
We see that this is exactly what happened:
53 The father knew that that was the very hour when Yeshua had told him, “Your son is alive”; and he and all his household trusted.
ALL his household. Salvation came to everyone in his family. Servants included. One man’s trust brought healing to many.
What are you willing to do to get healing for yourself? Regarding spiritual and/or emotional healing and based on what I’ve seen, not much. We like the idea of being spiritually and/or emotionally healed but sometimes it’s just too much work. Besides, we have to become vulnerable and admit that we are weak and hurting. Our pride simply won't allow it.
But when someone you love is hurting and approaching death, we’d do just about anything to get them healed. Given the opportunity, we would simply trust. Right?
(we’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader)
Back to you…
The question is: Is there someone that would do that for you?
Answer: Your Bridegroom.