Nobleman - John 4 46-54
I had been at a wedding a few weeks earlier. Jesus had been there too - and the rumour was that when the wine had run out late on the second evening, he had told the servants to fill the ceremonial washing pots with water and then he had told them to pour the water out into the wine vessels , and when they did the water had turned into wine! At the time I had thought this to be a bit of a fanciful story , although nobody could deny that the wine that was served at the end of the wedding feast was far superior to anything anyone had ever tasted before. I have travelled reasonably far with my job and have sampled wines from different places, but I had never tasted anything so sweet and clear and tasty as that wedding wine.
And then the stories started coming thick and fast. Jesus was apparently praying for people and they were being healed of all sorts of diseases. I had heard that the blind were regaining their sight and that people born with deformities were being restored to complete health. It was hard to know what to make of these stories. But the fact that the whole region was abuzz with them and that they kept on coming, day after day, started to cause me to wonder if there was some truth in them.
One of my friends had heard that Jesus had been in Samaria and that a whole village there had experienced miracles and healing. Apparently he spoke to women and prayed for children. He had no fear of lepers and some of his followers were tax collectors and sinners. It was all very confusing and hard to understand. If God was using this man, why was he breaking so many of the rules of our religion? The Pharisees were clearly not happy with the teaching Jesus was doing in the synagogues. I was not a big fan of the Pharisees. I had cause to come across them reasonably regularly in my work life, and I generally found them to be uptight, inflexible and obsessed with rules and regulations. They were difficult to work with and I could imagine that someone as unconventional as Jesus would well and truly ruffle their feathers.
My wife and I were intrigued about everything we were hearing about Jesus - little did we know how big a part he was about to play in our lives.
One evening as we were having dinner our son, a strapping and handsome youth of seventeen. fainted at the table. It was a warm evening and he had been working hard that day, so we made sure he had plenty of water to drink, fanned him until he was cool, sent him to bed and trusted that he would be fine by the next day. But the next day he was too weak to get up, his skin was clammy and pale and he looked terrible. We thought he must have some sort of food poisoning - he couldn't keep any food or liquids down and by that afternoon he was becoming delirious. He was our only and most beloved son. My wife was distraught , and whilst I was trying to reassure her that he would be fine, secretly I too was very worried indeed. I called for the doctor, but he was not able to offer us much help and just told us to keep him cool and hydrated until the fever passed.
I paced the floors that night not wanting to go to sleep in case he got worse. It was humid and the noise of the crickets, which usually didn't bother me, drove me insane as I sat beside my son's bed hour after hour. By the time the sun rose I had decided. I was going to go and fetch Jesus, who I had heard was in Cana, twenty miles away, and get him to come to our house to pray for our son. I was out of other options. I woke my wife, told her of my plan, packed a bag with a flask of water and some bread and set off on the long walk to Cana.
All along the way I was praying. Asking God to have mercy on my son, to use the prophet Jesus to bring healing, to protect my wife from grief and sorrow. I prayed all the prayers I knew. To be honest I wasn't a particularly religious person, but in moments of great stress I think we all tend to fall back on the things that we know to be truth. And deep in my heart I knew that God was able to heal my boy. I repented of my lacklustre commitment to the scriptures and daily worship. I told God that if he spared my boy I would spend the rest of my life serving him. And I prayed that when I arrived in Cana Id be able to find Jesus and that he would be willing to come with me.
Five hours after setting out I reached the outskirts of Cana. I had decided to go to the home of the parents of the bridegroom who had recently been married. They were family friends and were pleased, if not a little surprised, to see me. When I explained that my son was ill and that I needed to find Jesus they told me that he had arrived in the town a couple of days ago and had been sitting out on the hillside every afternoon teaching people and healing all who were brought to him. My heart leapt at the news and I quickly set out for the place - it wasn't hard to find, there was a large crowd gathered by the time I got there.
Most people were sitting on the grass listening to Jesus as he spoke to them. He seemed to be telling stories. Simple tales about seeds and pigs and things. To be honest I didn't pay too much attention to what he was saying, I just made my way through the people until I got to within a few feet of him. One of his followers stopped me and asked what I wanted. I told him that my son was dying and that I needed Jesus to come and pray for him. The man asked me to wait, then approached Jesus and when he stopped teaching for a moment whispered something in his ear. Jesus looked at me. He sighed and said in a low voice ' Why is it that you people just wont believe unless you see miracles?'
And then he moved towards me, held out his hand and said ' Hello there, thanks for coming so far today, how can I help you?'
I hadnt mentioned to anyone that I had walked for five hours to get there and I was trying to work out how he knew that as I garbled my story to him. I finished by kneeling on the ground before him and saying ' Sir, please, I beg of you. My son is dying , please come with my to my house to pray for him so that he can be well again'. Jesus looked at me and smiled. Then he looked around at the crowds which were growing by the minute and he said ' You can go home. Dont worry. You son is fine now' Something in his voice made me believe him. He had the sort of demeanour you don't argue with. I cant say I understood how it could be true, but I did believe it. I thanked him, stood up, and started off back down the hill to go home.
It had been a very long day. I hadn't slept the night before, I'd walked for five hours and now I had to walk five hours home again. I decided to stay the night in Cana and set off early for home again the next day. The walk back was much less anxious than the walk there had been. I found myself singing hymns as I went. And wondering about Jesus and what it was about his calm authority and generous smile that made people want to follow him. About two hours away from home I saw a couple of people coming towards me in the distance. As they came nearer I thought I recognised them as two of my servants and my heart sank. Why were they so far from home at this time of the day? This could not be good news. I broke into a run and as they recognised me they started to run too. As we met on the road I could see from their faces that they had news for me - and that it was good news. ' Sire, Master!' they shouted ' Jacob is well! He is completely better. Yesterday afternoon he just suddenly sat up in his bed and was as good as new. When we left to come and find you he was enjoying a large plate of mutton and bread' They were both talking over each other and I was asking them questions at the same time. It was all a bit mad. Eventually we all calmed down a bit and I asked them what time of day exactly my son had got better. They told me it was about one in the afternoon. Which was exactly the time I had been talking to Jesus.
I hurried home, embraced my precious son, hugged and kissed my wife and then sat down with them to tell them everything that had happened. Jacob confirmed that the previous day at around one in the afternoon he had suddenly felt the fever and the hallucinations lift off him. He said he almost felt that he could see a dark cloud rising up from his body and moving towards the ceiling. As soon as it had left him he felt completely well, jumped out of bed and went running to find his mother. My wife said she screamed when he walked in because for a second she thought he had died and she was seeing his ghost. We all laughed. And then I led the whole household in prayers of thanks to God for his goodness to us. From that day forward our whole household became much more devout. We encouraged everyone we knew to seek out Jesus and listen to his teaching as we believed he had been sent by God. My son almost died and God gave him back to me through Jesus. It still blows my mind when I think that God might care for us enough to do that for our family.
And then the stories started coming thick and fast. Jesus was apparently praying for people and they were being healed of all sorts of diseases. I had heard that the blind were regaining their sight and that people born with deformities were being restored to complete health. It was hard to know what to make of these stories. But the fact that the whole region was abuzz with them and that they kept on coming, day after day, started to cause me to wonder if there was some truth in them.
One of my friends had heard that Jesus had been in Samaria and that a whole village there had experienced miracles and healing. Apparently he spoke to women and prayed for children. He had no fear of lepers and some of his followers were tax collectors and sinners. It was all very confusing and hard to understand. If God was using this man, why was he breaking so many of the rules of our religion? The Pharisees were clearly not happy with the teaching Jesus was doing in the synagogues. I was not a big fan of the Pharisees. I had cause to come across them reasonably regularly in my work life, and I generally found them to be uptight, inflexible and obsessed with rules and regulations. They were difficult to work with and I could imagine that someone as unconventional as Jesus would well and truly ruffle their feathers.
My wife and I were intrigued about everything we were hearing about Jesus - little did we know how big a part he was about to play in our lives.
One evening as we were having dinner our son, a strapping and handsome youth of seventeen. fainted at the table. It was a warm evening and he had been working hard that day, so we made sure he had plenty of water to drink, fanned him until he was cool, sent him to bed and trusted that he would be fine by the next day. But the next day he was too weak to get up, his skin was clammy and pale and he looked terrible. We thought he must have some sort of food poisoning - he couldn't keep any food or liquids down and by that afternoon he was becoming delirious. He was our only and most beloved son. My wife was distraught , and whilst I was trying to reassure her that he would be fine, secretly I too was very worried indeed. I called for the doctor, but he was not able to offer us much help and just told us to keep him cool and hydrated until the fever passed.
I paced the floors that night not wanting to go to sleep in case he got worse. It was humid and the noise of the crickets, which usually didn't bother me, drove me insane as I sat beside my son's bed hour after hour. By the time the sun rose I had decided. I was going to go and fetch Jesus, who I had heard was in Cana, twenty miles away, and get him to come to our house to pray for our son. I was out of other options. I woke my wife, told her of my plan, packed a bag with a flask of water and some bread and set off on the long walk to Cana.
All along the way I was praying. Asking God to have mercy on my son, to use the prophet Jesus to bring healing, to protect my wife from grief and sorrow. I prayed all the prayers I knew. To be honest I wasn't a particularly religious person, but in moments of great stress I think we all tend to fall back on the things that we know to be truth. And deep in my heart I knew that God was able to heal my boy. I repented of my lacklustre commitment to the scriptures and daily worship. I told God that if he spared my boy I would spend the rest of my life serving him. And I prayed that when I arrived in Cana Id be able to find Jesus and that he would be willing to come with me.
Five hours after setting out I reached the outskirts of Cana. I had decided to go to the home of the parents of the bridegroom who had recently been married. They were family friends and were pleased, if not a little surprised, to see me. When I explained that my son was ill and that I needed to find Jesus they told me that he had arrived in the town a couple of days ago and had been sitting out on the hillside every afternoon teaching people and healing all who were brought to him. My heart leapt at the news and I quickly set out for the place - it wasn't hard to find, there was a large crowd gathered by the time I got there.
Most people were sitting on the grass listening to Jesus as he spoke to them. He seemed to be telling stories. Simple tales about seeds and pigs and things. To be honest I didn't pay too much attention to what he was saying, I just made my way through the people until I got to within a few feet of him. One of his followers stopped me and asked what I wanted. I told him that my son was dying and that I needed Jesus to come and pray for him. The man asked me to wait, then approached Jesus and when he stopped teaching for a moment whispered something in his ear. Jesus looked at me. He sighed and said in a low voice ' Why is it that you people just wont believe unless you see miracles?'
And then he moved towards me, held out his hand and said ' Hello there, thanks for coming so far today, how can I help you?'
I hadnt mentioned to anyone that I had walked for five hours to get there and I was trying to work out how he knew that as I garbled my story to him. I finished by kneeling on the ground before him and saying ' Sir, please, I beg of you. My son is dying , please come with my to my house to pray for him so that he can be well again'. Jesus looked at me and smiled. Then he looked around at the crowds which were growing by the minute and he said ' You can go home. Dont worry. You son is fine now' Something in his voice made me believe him. He had the sort of demeanour you don't argue with. I cant say I understood how it could be true, but I did believe it. I thanked him, stood up, and started off back down the hill to go home.
It had been a very long day. I hadn't slept the night before, I'd walked for five hours and now I had to walk five hours home again. I decided to stay the night in Cana and set off early for home again the next day. The walk back was much less anxious than the walk there had been. I found myself singing hymns as I went. And wondering about Jesus and what it was about his calm authority and generous smile that made people want to follow him. About two hours away from home I saw a couple of people coming towards me in the distance. As they came nearer I thought I recognised them as two of my servants and my heart sank. Why were they so far from home at this time of the day? This could not be good news. I broke into a run and as they recognised me they started to run too. As we met on the road I could see from their faces that they had news for me - and that it was good news. ' Sire, Master!' they shouted ' Jacob is well! He is completely better. Yesterday afternoon he just suddenly sat up in his bed and was as good as new. When we left to come and find you he was enjoying a large plate of mutton and bread' They were both talking over each other and I was asking them questions at the same time. It was all a bit mad. Eventually we all calmed down a bit and I asked them what time of day exactly my son had got better. They told me it was about one in the afternoon. Which was exactly the time I had been talking to Jesus.
I hurried home, embraced my precious son, hugged and kissed my wife and then sat down with them to tell them everything that had happened. Jacob confirmed that the previous day at around one in the afternoon he had suddenly felt the fever and the hallucinations lift off him. He said he almost felt that he could see a dark cloud rising up from his body and moving towards the ceiling. As soon as it had left him he felt completely well, jumped out of bed and went running to find his mother. My wife said she screamed when he walked in because for a second she thought he had died and she was seeing his ghost. We all laughed. And then I led the whole household in prayers of thanks to God for his goodness to us. From that day forward our whole household became much more devout. We encouraged everyone we knew to seek out Jesus and listen to his teaching as we believed he had been sent by God. My son almost died and God gave him back to me through Jesus. It still blows my mind when I think that God might care for us enough to do that for our family.
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