I know there are lots of posts in between, but I am still going through the book of John and discovering more and more about Jesus and who He is and how people responded to Him. And it never fails to make me fall more deeply in love with Him…
In the beginning of chapter 4, He had an encounter with the woman at Jacob’s well. He revealed Himself by showing her His intimate knowledge of her personal life. As a result, she believed in Him as the Messiah and many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Him as well. In fact, they even ended up asking Him to extend His stay with them and He spent two days with them. He gave them the words of life and they responded and even more people came to believe. He invested His time, energy and words into their lives.
After the two days, He headed back to Galilee and stopped again in Cana, the place where He had performed His first miracle of turning water into wine. A royal official, hearing that Jesus was in town, made a trip from Capernaum, which was about 15 miles away. His son was deathly ill and he came to Jesus begging for Him to return to Capernaum with him to heal his son. He knew that he was at death’s door.
Jesus made a statement, addressing anyone close enough to hear. “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders…you will never believe.” He knows that the needs of these peoples hearts and souls goes so far beyond any physical healing. They are looking for the temporal answers to their earthly wants and desires. They want miraculous signs that to them reveal God’s power. Jesus has so much more to offer them – wonders of eternal proportions.
The official continues to beg on behalf of his son, believing that Jesus has the power to heal. Jesus responds to his faith where it’s at. The man, again, as Nicodemus and the woman at the well, is not fully aware of what he needs from Jesus, but he asks for what he does know and believe. And Jesus tells him, “You may go. Your son will live.” This miracle will reveal that He truly is who He says He is, not only to the man, but also to everyone who will hear about what is about to happen.
The man takes Jesus at His word, and without any further begging heads home. He seems to have a peace about it, a peace that can only come from God, a knowing that comes without yet seeing, because he doesn’t rush home. He doesn’t get there until the next day. And even before he gets there, his servants come to him and tell him that his son is alive and well and that his healing occurred at the exact same time that Jesus had spoken to the man. As a result, he and everyone in his house believed.
Cana. A place of miracles. A place where people get a glimpse of who Jesus really is and begin a journey of faith. A place where people who are searching for something else, end up finding the One who can meet their deepest need.
We all live in Cana. Jesus is still doing miracles. Water to wine. Death to life. Transformation. But are we just looking for signs? Or are we aware of our true need of Jesus? Do we see the wonder of the transformation God is doing on the inside – the healing and growing and changing of our souls? When we do see Jesus at work, does it take us to a deeper place in our faith? Do we bring others in by sharing with them what God has done?
I have a zillion million things to do today. And I want to do every single one of them with eyes open to see what God is doing in obvious and not so obvious ways. I want to encounter and invest in the people that He is drawing to Himself that are not yet aware of their need for Him. I don’t want to miss a thing…:-)
