Miracle Faith, Miraculous Faith

John 4:43-54

Going to the Barber.

I get kind of desperate when my hair gets too long. I go see a “friend”.

It is a barber. This is an entirely contractual relationship. We don’t hang out. I see her when I need something that she very specifically can help me for.

Going to a Friend’s House

Now it is very different when I go to visit a friend. Someone I have a personal relationship with. I go to spend time with them… it isn’t about what they can do for me. You might have experience with a “friend” who always seemed to be only in it when they need something from you. That is a draining relationship. And actually, when you are wanting a real friendship with that person, it can be kind of heartbreaking.

Going to God’s House

We take this question into our relationship with God. What kind of relationship do you have with him?

It is very easy to fall into a contractual relationship. God I need help. God, I need healing. God, I need a miracle. And that isn’t wrong, God encourages us to come to him for help, to ask for healing, to pray for miracles.

But… if that is the only time we are coming to him. If that is all the stuff of our relationship… that is a pretty awful place to leave a relationship.

Jesus heals an Official’s Son

Once through from the man’s perspective

Desperate for help for his son. He hears of this healer, Jesus. He hears of the things he has done in Jerusalem. So off he goes. 15-20 miles. Walking from Costco at Highway 7 to Flat Irons Mall. Way uphill, as Lake Gallilee is at -700 feet below sea level. All the while, afraid for his son. Around 1 pm he gets to Jesus and begs him to heal him, and Jesus kind of gives him the brush off.

He begs. Jesus relents and heals him. Long distance. Kind of awesome… and he kind of believes. He believed but was clearly hesitant to fully fully believe.

Then back he goes. Halfway there, maybe hours into his walking, a servant meets him with the joyful news. His son is healed. And it happened right when Jesus said he was healed. Putting all the circumstances together, this could not be a coincidence, Jesus must have healed his son, and so he and all his household believed. What did they believe? At least that Jesus was from God, and a man of power, a man of healing, a miracle man.

Now this is a good story. It is a starting point. The man and his family believed after all. What did they believe? Not everything… but it was a starting point. A beginning. But there is a huge contrast set up here in chapter 4. Let’s see this story from Jesus’ perspective.

From Jesus’ Perspective

Coming from the woman at the well and two days with the Samaritans. Worship in Spirit and truth, revealed as the Messiah, people bringing their stories and selves and being changed, hearts being won for the Kingdom, people believing in Jesus as Messiah and Savior of the World and, likely being baptized. Jesus feeling just full of the ministry… and bringing his disciples into the harvest. And then… it is back to his “home country”, the land of the Jews in general, the region of Galilee in particular.

John 4:45-54

43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

This says a lot about Jesus.

He can heal at a distance. (Kenosis vs. super powers).

From Miracle Faith to Miraculous Faith

From contractual relationship to personal relationship.

God wants to go further with you. Deeper with you. He wants more of you.

Not because he is greedy, but because, as a loving Father, as a good friend, he knows that more of Him is good for you. That any part or aspect of your self or your life or your time held back from him is a piece of death and darkness you are holding on to. And he wants better for you, more for you.

Are you stuck in Miracle Faith?

How do we do this? Now I will sound like a broken record… because the answer already came two weeks ago. We come to Jesus, we come to God in worship, in Spirit and in truth.

The Father is seeking out those who will worship him in this way. And that doesn’t mean worship on the weekend, worship in spirit and in truth is bigger than that. It means life with God, a life of worship, a life of miraculous faith, a personal relationship with God.

I imagine what this might have looked like for the man. “Jesus, my son is dying… and I am afraid. I am afraid of losing him, I feel helpless and I feel like I am failing him. But… I trust you with my life… I will trust you with his life to. At least, help me trust you with his life? Really, honestly, I am desperately asking that you heal him, and heal me, help me too.”

Have a conversation with God. This afternoon. And just lay out where you are at. What you are thinking and feeling. The questions you are asking. The things you are thankful for, the things you are angry for. How you experience God and how you wish you could. The conversation you would have with a friend.

Step deeper into a personal relationship with Jesus. That is worship in spirit and truth. That is what the Father is seeking, that is what I believe Jesus was longing for in this moment.

Not just faith in his miracles. But faith in and love for him.