Healing the Royal Official's Son: The 2nd Sign

If you could have any super power, what would it be?

You can tell a lot about a person by their answer to this question, you can tell a lot about yourself by your answer to this question.

Often it either tells you what they value most in the world, or it tells you what their biggest fears and insecurities are.

Right, if you’re comfortable with your body, who you are, how you look, and how people see you, there’s not a ton of reasons to wish for the power to shape shift.

Unless you really value traveling to see other places and people, there’s not a lot of reasons to wish for teleportation.

Some of you should put some very deep thought into how you want to use those super powers and figure out why that’s so important to you. Some of you may figure out the more you think about this, “I think I might actually be a super villain.”

See, I say that what your favorite super power tells you a lot about a person but the truth is a layer deeper than that. How they would choose to use those superpowers is the important thing.

If you want to turn invisible and teleport because it will help you rob jewelry stores, you might be a super villain. Maybe it’s best you don’t have powers.

Tonight Jesus is going to prove to us in the book of John, three super powers that He has, and He is going to show us just by using them.

Turn with me to John chapter 4, down at the bottom of the chapter. Starting in verse 46.

John 4:46–47 CSB

46 He went again to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and pleaded with him to come down and heal his son, since he was about to die.

So Jesus rolls into the city of Cana, small town. and when he gets there a guy runs up to him and begs Jesus, please come with me to capernaum and heal my son.

and that’s all the information that Jesus gets from this man. There’s a kid, 20 miles away in capernaum, he’s sick. Capernaum is a city of a few thousand people, which at the time was pretty big. Most people lived in communities of a few hundred people. That’s the size town Jesus was from, That’s the size of Cana, but Capernaum was a big city.

Imagine being told “Help! Come quickly! My kid is sick. He’s at home in Montgomery.” That’s the full amount of information that this man give to Jesus. That’s absolutely nothing to go. There’s thousands of people in Capernaum, its a long way away, the man offers up bacisally no information. But what’s amazing is that at no point does Jesus ask for more information. Jesus, already has more information than He needs here. Jesus already knows who this kid is and where he is.

See the first super power that Jesus shows us here is that He is omniscient.

Jesus is Omniscient…all-knowing

When you seek out the Lord He is not limited by what you choose to tell Him. you cant hide anything from him…he also isnt limited by your knowledge of your situation…He knows more about your life than you do and can handle your situation based on what He knows. Not just what You know.

and that can be both beautiful and terrifying.

Have you ever made a fool of yourself because you tried to handle a problem, that you thought you had under control, only to find out that you were missing some vital piece of information. It ahppens in big ways and small ways. Last week I had work sunday morning, I needed a certain pair of pants washed for, I was coming into town late saturday night, but thats ok, I’ll throw them in the wash and swap them out in the morning and they’ll be dry by the time I need to go to work. I had it all planned out. What I didn’t know is that there was no laundry detergent in the house. and all the stores were gonna be closed by the time I got home. So my plan is foiled because no matter how well I planned it, there was a peice of information that I did not have that caught me off guard and ruined my plan. If I had known that,I’d have planned differently. I’d have stopped in montgomery and got some detergent, but I didn’t know. And my lack of knowledge meant showing up to work sunday morning with a mustard stain on my pants.

That has never happened to Jesus. He doesn’t show up to church with a mustard stain because He has never been caught off guard by a peice of information that He didn’t have. He knows everything.

there’s nothing you can hide from God. But there’s nothing anyone else can either. He is not limited by what you’re willing to tell him. But he’s not limited by what you know. Jesus knows everything, and whatever your situation is, He can handle it knowing every bit of the information.

Jesus is Omniscient. But that’s not all. back to our story. Man ask Jesus to some to Capernaum

Now Capernaum is about 20 miles from Cana, so from here to Demopolis, and that’s not that far for us. But when your ability to travel is limited to the speed of men and horses walking, Capernaum to Cana is a full day’s trip. Capernaum is the nearby big city, but it’s not that near by. It is just far enough that if you’re going to Capernaum from Cana, you spend the night.

For us that’s more like New Orleans or Atlanta.

So this is a trip.

Guy heard that Jesus was gonna be in Cana this weekend and he took off walking.

My brother text me a couple weeks ago and told me that John Mayer has a concert coming up in Atlanta in October, and I wept when I found out it was on a Wednesday. I love you guys, but I don’t love you more than I love seeing John Mayer. and I’m not sorry. So you can expect me to be in a bad mood that night because I’ll be here instead of there. I’ve already started pricing flights to Baltimore, chicago, charlotte, and miami to see him in one of those places.

You will travel like crazy for what is important to you.

This man in the book of John, he travels a full day from Capernaum to Cana to find Jesus, not because Jesus is important to him, but because his son is important to him.

He trusted that Jesus had the power to heal, but Jesus in this moment isn’t his focus. In fact, I think we have reason to suspect that He wasn’t really sold on Jesus, he just wanted Jesus for what Jesus could do for him. He wanted what he though he could get from Jesus.

John 4:48–49 CSB

48 Jesus told him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” 49 “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my boy dies.”

Right, Jesus is clearly trying to make a point here about faith and the reason that He doesn’t miracles. Essentially, he is publically calling this man out because he has traveled all this way, not for Jesus Himself; just for what Jesus can do for him. and the guy just totally misses it. right over his head. So he ignores it and goes “Bro, what are you talking about? We can deal with this on the way, my kid is dying. Come on!”

Big dog, have you ever done that? be honest. Are you more interested in Jesus or are you more interested in what Jesus can do for you?

Here’s how you can tell the difference. When was the last time you prayed, when you weren’t asking for anything? How often do you pray just to praise God and to connect with Him. Or is every time you pray, you asking God for something? Do you care more about Jesus or about what He can do for you

Better yet, when you ask Jesus to do something, and He doesn’t do it the way that you want, does it stress you out? Man, God’s providence isn’t limited by your imagination. This man cuts Jesus off while He is talking because He needs Jesus to just do what he has decided is the way that Jesus should handle this. He needs to walk a full day to cappernaum and heal this kid. No amount of talking matters right now. Jesus needs to do what the man needs Him to do. How incredibly shortsighted is that?

Watch what Jesus does. John 4:50

John 4:50 CSB

50 “Go,” Jesus told him, “your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and departed.

Jesus has a better idea. He doesn’t need to walk 20 miles to heal this kid. If Jesus says the kid will live then the kid will live. He has that power. He says it, and that’s that. Easy. Done.

This man has just cut Jesus off in conversation, imagine him running up to Jesus, trying to pull Him by the hand, come one we have to go or my son is gonna die. You have to come and heal him. and then when Jesus tries to speak he Just says we can talk about this later. My kid is gonna die.

When you have a problem, and you figure out for yourself the solution and you need somebody else’s help, do you go to them and tell them what you need them to do, or do you take the time to walk them through the problem and let them understand why you need them to do the thing that you’re asking of them?

When you do that, what happens pretty often is that they have a better and easier solution.

When you trust God with your problems, you have the benefit of all of His knowledge not just yours. He knows the whole situation, not just the parts that you know.

How presumtuous, how self centered is it for you to try to pigeon hold God into the solution that you have devised for the problem that you have gotten yourself into. He has knowledge that you don’t and He has power that you don’t. Trust Him. Trust Him and not just your ideas of Him. Tell God your problems and let Him tell you the solution, don’t tell God your solutions and then be mad when He does something different.

Are you interested in Jesus or in what He can do for you, because if you’re interested in Jesus, you need to trust that His knowledge and power is far beyond anything you can come up with. Trust Him to handle it and sit back and watch what He does.

Now the trick here is knowing the difference between you r problems and your version of the solution.

I’ll give you an example. I lost my job a couple years ago. I begged God for a job to pay my bills. I should have been broke in 6 weeks, but I went 6 months unemplyed begging GOd for a job. Man I didn’t need a job. A job wasn’t my problem. a job was my solution. what I needed was to have my needs met. WHat I needed was provision. God answered that a million times. I should have been broke in 6 weeks and he provided for 6 months before giveing me a job. He provided 4 times longer than I could have, just to show me He could.

Don’t pigeon hold Jesus into your solutions. Here’s why

Jesus is omnipotent…all-powerful

Last one. watch this. John 4:50-53

John 4:50–53 CSB

50 “Go,” Jesus told him, “your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and departed. 51 While he was still going down, his servants met him saying that his boy was alive. 52 He asked them at what time he got better. “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him,” they answered. 53 The father realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household.

There’s a reason that the man wanted Jesus to follow Him. There were miraculous healings in the Bible before this. He was familiar with these stories.

Every time there is a miracle healing in the Bible, the prophet or healer goes to the sick person. puts their hands on them, a couple of times they put their whole face or their whole body on them. But the healer goes to the sick person, touches them, and prays that GOd will make them better.

Jesus doesn’t do that. He does. but He doesn’t.

See healers need to be there with the sick person. But Jesus doesn’t need to hike 20 miles to be there with the sick person.

He’s already there.

Jesus is omnipresent…everywhere at once

Jesus can do miracles from Cana to Capernaum the same way he can do miracles from Heaven to earth. He’s already there. By His Spirit He is everywhere at once. He is not limited geographically.

What do we do with this.

Maybe you need to stop trying to hide things from God.

Maybe you need to relax and let Him handle your situation His way.

Maybe you need to ask Him into your heart…He’s already everywhere else.