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Jesus Heals an Official's Son
This is an interesting and slightly different miracle story than others for a few reasons. There are some similar stories where Jesus heals from a distance (healing a slave - Matt. 8:5–13; Luke 7:2–10 and a daughter - Matt. 15:21–28; Mark 7:24–30), but this one is different because the man is certainly NOT praised for his great faith. As the man approaches Jesus, he offers no sign of faith, no "Son of David" or "I know that you are able" type statements at all - we get the feeling from the passage that he comes simply out of desperation because his son is "at the point of death". How does Jesus respond? "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." He knows that the man comes only for miracles, not because He believes anything in particular about Jesus. Yet.....Jesus heals his son. AND....what is the result? The man and all of his household believe!
We've talked a lot about the purpose of miracles: God's glory and the revelation of Jesus. Here we have a picture of someone who absolutely seeks the wrong thing, yet is changed by the miracle!
We may seek the wrong things from God. We may be selfish. In fact, we DO seek the wrong things. We ARE selfish. Yet God seeks us out even in our spiritual death and makes us alive! He does this through a variety of ways - in this case He works the miracle of spiritual life through the miracle of healing.
Questions? Comments?
Jesus Heals an Official's Son
This is an interesting and slightly different miracle story than others for a few reasons. There are some similar stories where Jesus heals from a distance (healing a slave - Matt. 8:5–13; Luke 7:2–10 and a daughter - Matt. 15:21–28; Mark 7:24–30), but this one is different because the man is certainly NOT praised for his great faith. As the man approaches Jesus, he offers no sign of faith, no "Son of David" or "I know that you are able" type statements at all - we get the feeling from the passage that he comes simply out of desperation because his son is "at the point of death". How does Jesus respond? "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." He knows that the man comes only for miracles, not because He believes anything in particular about Jesus. Yet.....Jesus heals his son. AND....what is the result? The man and all of his household believe!
We've talked a lot about the purpose of miracles: God's glory and the revelation of Jesus. Here we have a picture of someone who absolutely seeks the wrong thing, yet is changed by the miracle!
We may seek the wrong things from God. We may be selfish. In fact, we DO seek the wrong things. We ARE selfish. Yet God seeks us out even in our spiritual death and makes us alive! He does this through a variety of ways - in this case He works the miracle of spiritual life through the miracle of healing.
Questions? Comments?
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