43 After two days, Jesus left for Galilee. 44 Now He Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown. 45 Yet when He arrived, the Galileans welcomed Him. They had seen all the great things He had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had gone there as well.

46 So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.

48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

49 “Sir,” the official said, “come down before my child dies.”

50 “Go,” said Jesus. “Your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at His word and departed.

REFLECTIONS

Written by Scott Favelle

Words or Wonders – what is more important? Of course I love the word of God and love to delve into it, but there are times when I think how amazing it would be to be the people in these accounts and actually witness the things Jesus did! His miracles, His signs – how much stronger would my faith be, how much more tangible would the gospel feel rather than “simply words on a page”? But today’s passage seems to be a strong challenge against such thinking.

In our reading today, we hear about the Galileans who all too recently had taken offence at Jesus and his amazing teaching (see Mark 6:1-6 for the background). But now they welcome Jesus. Why? Because they sat with his teaching and thought and reflected on it some more? No, not at all! It was because they saw him doing signs and wonders. That is why Jesus gives a scathing rebuke: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.” Their desire for spectacle over substance showed the fickle and unreliable nature of their faith.

The royal official is a stark contrast to the rest of the Galileans. He comes to Jesus and begs him to come down and save the life of his sick son. But Jesus simply replies, “Go – your son will live”. So what does the man do? Does he demand that Jesus come with him or do something impressive? No, he simply takes Jesus at his word and leaves. (We will find out tomorrow if this was the right call, so stay tuned.)

So I go back to my first question: Words or Wonders, what is more important? It seems intuitive that if we saw the wonders Christ performed, our faith would be stronger. But that isn’t the reality. Instead, a faith that relies on wonders as its foundation is fickle and weak, because when the miracles stop, so will our belief. Instead, we should ground our faith on the words of Jesus and of God, just as the royal official did: “The man took Jesus at his word” (v 50). Why? Because the Word of God is secure and never changing. As Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” – so believe what he says.

As we celebrate Christmas, let’s reflect on the trustworthiness of God’s word and his promises. Yes, Christmas is the story of a miraculous virgin birth and the miracle of God becoming man, but even more importantly, it is the beginning of the fulfilment of every one of God’s promises, culminating at the Cross of Christ.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Scott is a member of our Fairfield Morning congregation.