Written by Marc Wagner
God can do miracles. Throughout the Old Testament, God has done many miracles with his people. Through Jesus, God continued to do miracles in the New Testament period. Should the recorded story in John 4:46-54 of Jesus healing an official’s son be Scripture that we look to for God to do a miracle in our own lives? Whenever Jesus does some amazing act, we are naturally drawn to it, want to see it, be a part of it. And yet, in this story, Jesus’ response reveals quite a negative attitude towards those who depend on seeing a miracle.
Verse 48 highlights what God wants from us…faith. Faith that does not depend on having to see something first. Jesus did say later in John 20:29, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We should remember Paul’s words, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). We also are told by John in 20:30-31 that belief/faith/trust in Jesus is the reason that we have this story of healing in the first place.
It is important that John uses the word “sign” throughout his gospel to refer to the miraculous actions that Jesus performs. What is a sign? It is really just a pointer to a certain reality. When you see a road sign saying, “Maximum 80 km,” it is not the sign that is the law, but the sign is a pointer to the law. Likewise, the miracles that Jesus performed were pointing to who he was, so that we would believe what he has said to us, what he is saying to us, that we may have what God wants…“life in his name.”
The official in the above story ended his time with Jesus by believing “the word that Jesus spoke to him” and continuing on. This is similar to when Peter said, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5). It is this kind of faith that is commended and rewarded by Jesus…at your word I’ll do it, not because I see something first or get something first, but because you say it, Lord. Even the miracles/signs/wonders that were done by the early church was God “who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (Acts 14:3). Therefore, instead of depending upon some wonder or miraculous event to happen before we trust in him, we must remind and inform ourselves to depend on the words and person of Jesus for whatever we need to trust him for.