Taking Jesus Seriously

John 4: 43-54

When the two days were over, he 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.

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son 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[m] 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 whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Noted author Richard J. Foster wrote this opening paragraph to his book “Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth”, in 1978, “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” Think of how many years ago these words were stated and written. Foster shared this before the internet was commonplace, Google was the go-to source for information, or was the driving force for the imagination of many. This was written before the existence of countless social media sites that provide an opportunity to skim the surface of endless topics but lack any in-depth understanding of the subject being questioned. We live in an age where we instantly become aware of most things, all while maintaining extremely limited knowledge of almost everything.

Word has spread about Jesus’ turning water into wine at the wedding feast which may have made everyone more aware of Jesus but had not motivated them to take Jesus seriously. Jesus returns to Galilee as a royal official is driven to try Jesus with a literal life and death concern. As this royal official stepped out on faith, Jesus heals this official’s family member who was gravely ill. It is only after the healing that we hear, “So he himself believed, along with his whole household.”

What a difference we can make when we decide to take Jesus seriously, not because of what we have seen, but because we believe, Let’s draw closer to center of life where real concerns are engaged, our lives, our communities, our society and prayerfully the world are all transformed by faith. We must move beyond being aware of his presence and have faith in his presence. It should not be said about us what Jesus said to those in the text, “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “You will never believe.”

prayer

Father, we thank Thee that Thou art our Father. We commit ourselves to Thee. May Thy Spirit of absolute purity, absolute honesty, absolute unselfishness, absolute love permeates our lives. May we join our hands and our hearts with the peoples of the world to build a fellowship of freedom, of peace, of love, of brotherhood everywhere. Amen.

—Mary McLeod Bethune “My Prayer”