The Healing of the Nobleman’s Son

"The nobleman said unto Him, Sir, come down ere my child die" (see John 4:46-53).

This nobleman had made an arduous and difficult journey to plead for the healing of his sick boy.  Jesus, however, looked into this man’s heart and said, “Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." That’s a sharp rebuke.

 I like this nobleman. He didn’t become angry when corrected; he didn’t get offended. He didn’t get into a huff. Instead, he continued to press Jesus, “Sir, come down before my child dies."

He is to be commended but notice the weakness of his faith. He’s got faith, but it has room for growth!  Notice how He asks that the Lord should "come down" to Capernaum. He believed that Christ could heal if He was close by, but not if he was far away; Jesus he thought could work a miracle at short range, but not at a distance.

Before we get too critical of this man, we must ask if we are not just like him.  Do we not sometimes think, “If Jesus were here in real life, I wouldn’t be in this trouble.” Or, “if Jesus were here in person this prayer of mine would be answered.” We too often only believe in the Christ of the short range! Then in Verse 50, "Jesus said unto him, Go your way; your son lives."

Notice the graciousness of our Lord.  He doesn’t demand that the man’s faith increase before He acts.  If Jesus had been a legalist, he would have required more faith.  Legalism and religion say, “Put this amount in and you’ll get this amount back---do this and do that, and you’ll get a result---But Jesus doesn’t treat this man that way! Our Lord is God in human flesh (John 1:14) showing us what God is really like! The Lord Jesus does not reject the man’s imperfect faith; the boy is in Capernaum, and Jesus is 25 miles away in Cana, and the nobleman thinks that Jesus can only heal if He is in the same place as his child.

“Come down with me so that my child might not die.”  The Lord’s answer is not, “Brother I see your weak and imperfect faith. To move me to action you will have to have increased faith.  To get higher faith you will need to take a class on the subject.  The seminar I recommend for you is called ‘Advanced Faith and How to Get It’. It has six easy lessons and is on sale, this week, for a special price of $36.”

No, in grace, Jesus says, “Go your way your son lives.” 

We read, that Jesus did not go down to Capernaum to see the sick boy, but only spoke the word, "Your son lives." Almighty divine power went with that little sentence. That very hour the patient began to get better. Christ merely spoke, and the cure was accomplished.  Strictly speaking, He didn’t even speak.  He merely spoke to tell the man what He’d already accomplished.

Christ silently commanded the healing, and the deadly disease disappeared.  Think about it...this is the kind of thing that only God can do.

Look at Jesus; He healed the boy even though He was 25 miles away, just by thinking him healed.  This is the power of God.

And that’s the Gospel Truth!

-preacher D. G. Miles McKee

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