An Encounter With Jesus

There is a popular chorus about Jesus that goes like this

Everywhere He went He was doing good.

Almighty Healer He healed the lepers

When the cripples saw Him

They started walking

Everywhere he went my God was doing good

This is a rendition of Acts 10:38 describing the ministry of Jesus Christ: “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” “He went about…” This describes the kind of ministry Jesus had. He was an itinerant minister. And in his journeys, he did good to people. If you are a believer, if Jesus is your Saviour, then you can testify he has done you good. He has broken the hold of Satan over your life. He has redeemed you from sin and destruction (Psalm 103). But if you are yet to come to the saving grace of God, if you have not yet beheld his goodness, then this is an invitation: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” “Taste and see…” (Psalm 34:8).

The apostle John in his gospel, presents a picture of how Jesus did good to different categories of people. He encountered people of all walks of life and addressed their needs as individuals. In John Chapter 3:1 we see Jesus’ interactions with a religious man, Nicodemous. Then at the opening of the Chapter 4 Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman and the Samaritans. Now again we are introduced to Jesus’ interaction with a political figure: “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.” (v.46). Jesus brings the gospel to a respected Jewish teacher (John 3:1-21), an outcast Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42), and now an official working for the Roman government. The Gospel is meant for everyone in the world. In the rest of this article, we will consider what happens when people encounter Jesus paying particular attention to the narrative of a Roman official whose son was ill and came to Jesus to seek healing

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[d] 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 (John 4:46-53)

Jesus Reveals Our Real Need

In his interactions with different people, it comes to the fore, people often don’t come to Jesus for who he is. They come for their felt need. And at every turn in his interactions, Jesus puts his finger on their real needs. To Nicodemus, Jesus told him “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the KIngdom of God” (John 3:3). “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” That is Jesus to the Samaritan woman in John 4:10. She came for water. But her deepest need was beyond water. Everyone truly has needs, and they vary. But there is one shared need amongst all humanity. The for salvation, to be saved from sin. This makes our real need Faith in Jesus. The official in the narrative came because his son was sick at the point of death: “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” (John 4:47)

This was a desperate need. But it appears at that particular moment, Jesus didn’t see that as urgent. We may say, Jesus’ response to the desperate man was out of place: “So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The man has a need, and he has travelled about 32 kilometers from to Galilee to see Jesus. But what he gets from Jesus is a lecture on faith. Jesus firstly rebukes unbelief and addressed the real need. Jesus rebukes faith that is built on the spectacular and not in his person and his word.

We may reckon, that the rebuke wasn’t what the official needed. that is not what the official needed. But Jesus sees otherwise. He sees more than we see. He peels off the veneer.

Sadly, many live their lives chasing the spectacular. The unbelief Jesus rebuked is rather what many Christians today display. They want to see a miracle before they believe. They want a quick fix, a temporal solution and they will be fine. They will have nothing to do with Jesus himself. The world of unbelief says, “Seeing is believing”. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29).

Jesus Restores Life To The Dead

As the interaction progresses, the man was becoming desperate. His son is dying. So he presses on: “Sir, come down before my child dies.”(v.49). He pleads. He has no alternative. official pleading and begging Jesus to do something about his situation. This is not an ordinary citizen. He is a Roman official. He has the means to access the best physicians of the time to save his son. Perhaps he has done that but the son is not getting well. So he has no option but to get this miracle worker he has heard of to come heal his son. God often uses our desperations to build faith and trust in him. Life may bring us to a point of no options but God. And it is a good place. Have you ever gotten to that point with no end in view or you are presently there. Dear believer, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face” How? By pleading and petitioning his grace. The official did just that: “Sir, come down before my child dies”.

In the midst of the ongoing conversation, “Jesus said to him, Go, your son will live…” (v.50a). And immediately following Jesus’ word, John tells us “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way” Jesus’ words have life. Jesus’ words Restores life to the dying. His word according to John 6:33 is life and Spirit. Now while the man was on his way home, he met his servants who told him his son was recovering. He enquired further and linked the recovery to Jesus words. And the result was true faith in Christ (vv.51-53).

Jesus Points Us To A Bigger Picture of Eternal Life

The picture of this son’s restoration to life is a bigger picture of what Jesus does for sinners. Human beings in reality without Christ, are dead men in sins and trespasses (Epehesians 2:1). We stand the danger of eternal damnation. That boy though restored back to life from sickness, still died one day. And all of us will die one day and stand before God in judgement. What will save us on that day, is what we did with the word of God. Scripture tells us that Jesus died on the cross to save sinners so that whoever will believe in him will have life. The official’s son was temporarily restored to life. But there is an eternal restoration to life when we believe in Jesus and his finished work on the cross. Like this official, if you have not believed in the saving grace of God, consider this as a call to you for repentance: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Hebrews 13:5).