John 4:39-53
Faith Is the Ultimate Goal

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.

They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."

The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

New International Version

There's an interesting contrast in the three pieces of stories in this passage. The first section follows the discussion between Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria, and in this case, the rest of the people in the town were drawn to Jesus because of the amazing things he said. In the second section, the people of Galilee were drawn to Jesus because of the miracles he had done in Jerusalem. In the third section, the father is drawn to Jesus because of his reputation as a healer, but this father responds with faith before he finds out that his son has been healed.

It appears that Jesus did not have a pattern in how he reached out to different towns and locations. In some areas, his teaching drew attention, in other areas, his miracles, while yet in others, it was his reputation. From this section of scripture, it appears the approach depended on the individuals to whom Jesus was talking.

What was consistent was the result that Jesus wanted to see: evidence of faith in Him. The woman's response was not to a Jewish traveler who saw into her past, but to the One who would forgive her past sins. The father's response was to leave the presence of Jesus with confidence that his son would live, not because of stories of healing others had told, but because he had met the Messiah. Sadly, there are no similar stories recorded about the people of Galilee, for they might have been too familiar with the man Jesus to recognize Him as the Son of God.

Other stories in the Gospels tell how Jesus first healed souls before he healed bodies. While the religious skeptics could challenge His authority to forgive sins, they could not deny that the blind could see and the lame could walk. But of greater importance was that the healing of a temporary, mortal body provided evidence of the wholeness granted by grace to an immortal soul, and both healings were accepted by those who embraced Jesus in faith.

The point of these interactions with Jesus, and the point of the signs and wonders Jesus demonstrated, was faith. The miracles were not intended to prove to people that Jesus was who He said He was. Instead, we read in many passages where religious leaders refused to believe even when presented with strong proof that Jesus was the Messiah. Even today, in the most logical and scientific communities of study, every newly discovered truth will be rejected by some and accepted by others in a demonstration of differing degrees of faith in the scientific processes, in the data, in the design of the experiment, or even in the reputation of the researchers. Our mundane life activities even require a degree of faith, for every time we flip a light switch, we have faith that our home's electrical system will not give us a shock!

Just as Jesus did in these stories, He works in us today to develop our faith, to strengthen our relationship with One we cannot see. God answers our prayers with love and grace, and those answers encourage our faith to grow or stretch. You probably can recall experiences where words from the Bible seemed to jump off the page because they were so appropriate for you at that moment, and that miracle of personal relevance in text penned thousands of years ago affirms and strengthens our faith. Even some of those times that feel like dry spells in our spiritual lives are ways God exercises our faith, just as difficult labor exercises our bodies. The most important point is not that we would receive what we request in prayer, or that we would become Biblical scholars, but that we would love God more, would trust God's guidance more, and submit our wills to God's perfect Will.