A Bold Act of Faith (John 4:4-46)

A Bold Act of Faith (John 4:4-46):

In this small section of scripture we see a man come to Christ, his Child is sick and he has come to ask Christ to heal the child.   This in and of itself is not that uncommon at this point in Christ’s ministry, but this man is told “go home the child is fine.”  At Christ tell him this the man leaves to go home, knowing his child is going to be fine.  He could not see that with own eyes that this child was going to better he just had faith in Christ that he spoke the truth that it didn’t matter where Christ said  all he knew was Christ could heal His child.  He went home happy knowing that his child would be fine.  How many of us would have said no you need to come with me lay your hands my child, or how can you say without seeing my child that they are fine?  Christ desires us to put our faith in Him, that what He says is true and good.   Instead we tend to want to put our faith in what we can hear from others not what we hear from God.  We go around and listen to our friend’s advice before we go into prayer and study Gods word seeking out Gods advice.  This man went to Christ talked to Christ and his child was healed.  Because of this, many in this man’s house came to believe and follow Christ.

Christ is Seeking us Out (John 5-15):

At the end of the last chapter we saw a man who knew of Christ and sought Him out so his son could be healed.  At the beginning of chapter five we see a different kind of story unfolding, there is a pool where people who are sick go and wait for the water to stir because they believe you can be healed when it is stirred.  Christ looks at a man who is there and asks “do you want to be healed?”   The man’s answer is yes, and Christ heals him.  The difference in this story from the other is that Christ was looking for this man, and not that this man was looking for Christ.  This man answered but it was not just an answer but also a complaint.  Of course I want to be healed but no one is here to help me, they all left me and by the time I get there someone else has taken my spot.  I wonder how often we do the same in our own lives instead of going to God and praising Him for all He has done for us we go and complain to him.   God , who had sought us out, sent His son to die on a cross so we could have eternal life and instead of praising Him we complain about what we think He should be or what others need to be doing.  It was by no accident that Christ looked and saw this man, He gave him a physical healing, and then Christ  went looking for Him in the temple so he could heal His soul. 

Notice when Christ finds this man in the temple He gives him a warning, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”  You see God had come and did a wonderful thing in this man’s life, but more wonderful then the physical healing was the spiritual healing that happened, Christ wanted him to know that.  Just like the noble man who came to Christ knew that his son was healed the moment Christ spoke the words, the more wonderful part of that story is that his faith became stronger and more in his household came to know God.  The thing about when God works in our lives we cannot walk away and be the same person, we cannot take credit for either.  We must put our faith in God, that He is going to keep His word to us, that is that we have eternal life through Him, through Christ who Came and died on a cross for our sins.  When we give our lives to God it is no longer about us but it is about God.