7 Miracles in John (2): One Word

by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung

We have already discussed the first miracle Jesus had performed, that is “Turning Water into Wine.” Today, we want to reflect on the second miracle in the Gospel of John. I entitled this miracle “One-Word Miracle” because Jesus only spoke one word to the royal official “Go, your son will live!” The Bible says the man took Jesus at his word and his son lived! So, this is a one-word miracle.

In this miracle, we want to reflect on three different kinds of faith:
1. Crisis Faith
2. True Faith and
3. Propagating Faith

I. Crisis Faith 46-50

The Bible says that there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. In fact, the child was dying. We must understand that this man was not an ordinary official, he was a royal official. He was connected with royalty, he was not just a high official, he was a very high official. His son was sick- we can imagine he must have done all he could to find a cure for his son, probably he had tried the best doctors and the best medicine, but all to no avail. It was during this time that he heard of Jesus, especially of how He had turned water into wine. In this seemingly hopeless situation, he saw a ray of hope. He, therefore, traveled from Capernaum to Cana to look for Jesus.

There is a distance of about 30 miles from Capernaum to Cana. Although it is not very far, but neither is it very near; especially back in those days, when modes of transportation were not as developed as in our time, it wasn’t an easy trip to make. This father’s faith emerged out of a time of crisis, because his beloved son was sick; I call this `crisis faith’.

But Jesus’ response towards this royal official was strange. Imagine, if a powerful man comes, asking us to go down with him to heal his sick child, we would immediately go with him, because we would see it as a great opportunity. When they don’t have any problems, such powerful people wouldn’t even come to meet us even if we want to see them. Now that he is the one coming to see Jesus, didn’t the Lord see this as a great opportunity? If I were Jesus’ disciple, I would have told him: `Lord, we are all fishermen, now that a royal official has come to see you, you must go. It will be a great boost to your preaching ministry in the future. This is a big fish.’ However, Jesus told the royal official: “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

This statement was a rebuke, why did Jesus say this? Because Jesus wanted him to understand two things:
1. Is your faith in the miracles or in God?
2. Is your faith in the miracles or in God’s word?

1. Is your faith in the miracles or in God? – When people find themselves in a crisis, they run to the Lord. Of course this is a good thing, because God begins when man is at the end of his rope. But Jesus wanted them to realize: “Is it the miracle you want or the miracle-working God? Is it me you believe in, or is it the miracles I do?” When we get sick, we ask the Lord for healing. We tell the Lord, “Lord, if you heal me, I will believe in you.” Meaning, if the Lord doesn’t heal us, then we will not believe in him.

Such faith is based on miracles, not on God himself. Jesus wants us to understand that our faith must be founded on God himself, not on his miracles. Because we only seek miracles, we turn God into a genie like Aladdin’s genie from the magic lamp. With a few swipes, we expect God to come out and say, “Master, what is your wish?” We become the master, while the Lord becomes our servant. But the truth is, He is our Lord, we are his servants. He should not be the one asking “Master, what is your wish?” We are the ones who should be asking Him, “Master, what is your wish, your servant is awaiting your command!”

2. Miracles or God’s Word – Jesus said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe.” And then he told the man, “Go, your son will live.” This is very interesting, let me explain.

In Chinese, the character for faith is made up of the characters for man and speech. So, the Chinese say a man’s word is his credibility. Credibility is very important. Without credibility, it is difficult for a man to succeed. Recently, I read the book, “Biography of Li-Kashing.” Li-Kashing is Hong Kong’s richest man. This book is about his life. Li-Kashing is a dealer of plastic material. He is called the plastic king and one of his most successful export products is plastic flowers. The book narrates an incident wherein American businessmen had sought to do business with him. Everything had gone well, and they were about to sign the contract, however, they needed a guarantor. Li-Kashing couldn’t find any, he told the Americans, “I am sorry, I couldn’t find anyone to guarantee for me. The deal may not push through, but we can continue to be friends.” However, the Americans told him: “We have already found a guarantor – it is you.” They said, “We have observed and investigated you, we find that you are a very honest businessman. Your credit is good, your credit is your guarantee.”

As a result, Li-Kashing’s business flourished further. A man’s word is his credibility. When we say we believe a man, it is actually his words we believe. Jesus told the man, “Go, your son will live!”, the man took Jesus at his word and departed. Jesus wanted him to move from believing in the miracles to trusting in Jesus’ words. Do you trust Jesus? Do you trust Jesus’ words?

II. True Faith 50- 53

Upon hearing Jesus’ word, the man departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. He inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” Then he realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”

From his conversation with his servants, we realized that the man couldn’t have known or wasn’t certain that his son would get well, but he trusted Jesus’ word and went home. Later on, he realized at the moment Jesus told him his son will live, his son indeed lived. We discover here the process of faith’s development: Faith in God’s word +Faith in action = True Faith.

In this process, there are two important elements:
1. Faith in God’s word
2. Faith in action.
If any one of the two is absent, then it is not real faith.

1. Faith in God’s Word – Faith must have an object. Without an object, faith is simply superstition and not faith. In fact, the depth of your knowledge of the object of your faith will determine the depth of your faith. For example: there are two chairs here. One can carry 200 pounds of weight, another can carry 100 pounds. If you are a 200 lb. man, you will not dare sit on the one which can only carry 100 pounds. You do not have faith in that chair. You dare to sit on the other one, because you know it can carry a 200-lb. load of weight, you have faith in it. But when you sat on it, you fell out, and you realize you had been deceived, it actually could only carry 180 lb. weight. You had been deceived. You have mistakenly placed your trust in the wrong object.

The object of our faith is very important. God is the object of our faith, but do not be deceived. You must know which one is the true God, the one worthy of your trust. We said a while ago: a man’s word is his credibility. We believe a person because we believe his words. It is the same with God. We believe in God because we believe what He says. The Bible is God’s Word. Psalm 119:89 “Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.” God’s word is eternal, unchanging. Even if heaven and earth pass away, God’s word will remain the same. God’s word is very trustworthy. Twenty-three years ago, because of one word from the Lord, I came alone to the Philippines. Twenty-three years ago, I didn’t even know what kind of place the Philippines was, but I came, because of God’s word in Jeremiah 1:8 `“Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.’ In these 23 years, I have witnessed the trustworthiness of God’s word.

2. Faith in Action – Faith must have an object, but faith must be accompanied by deeds. Faith and deeds are inseparable. We have a saying in Chinese, that is `talking about strategies on paper’, meaning empty talk. In the Bible, true faith is coupled with action. The Lord told Abraham, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” The Lord told Abraham, “Take your son, Isaac, sacrifice him.” Early the next morning, Abraham got up and went about doing what God told him to do.

As Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they came to the Red Sea, and so before them was the sea, behind them was the pursuing Egyptian army. The Lord told Moses, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that you can go through the sea.” And by faith, the people walked across the Red Sea. Every action borne out of faith entails some risks, that is why we call it act of faith.

Jesus told Martha, “If you believe you will see the glory of God.” Why? John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” Actions borne out of faith bring God’s blessings. The author of “It is Well with My Soul”, Spafford was a lawyer. Originally, he was going to travel with his wife and four daughters to England for a vacation, but because he had urgent matters to attend to, he sent his wife and daughters ahead of him. He was going to follow them afterwards. But their ship met tragedy and sunk to the bottom of the sea. His wife telegrammed him saying “saved alone”. He immediately boarded a ship to meet his wife. As his ship neared the place of the tragedy where his four daughters perished, his heart felt extreme sorrow, but God’s word came to comfort him, so that his soul found peace. He immediately took pen and paper and wrote “It is Well with My Soul”. But the story doesn’t end there. In 1881, he left Chicago, took his wife and two other daughters to Jerusalem, where they established a center for the poor and sick. He also founded the Spafford Children’s Hospital. In his deep pain, he was able to stand back up because his faith was real, his faith was founded on the right object, he was able to live out his faith, the Lord was glorified in his life.

III. Propagating Faith 53

“So he and his whole household believed.” We see from this verse that two groups of people came to believe. First, he himself believed. Second, his whole household believed. He himself believed – he represents those who have personally experienced God’s grace. His whole household believed – these represent those who had been influenced, just like a sick man contaminating many others.

1. The Royal Official Experienced God’s Grace – He believed, this we all can understand because he himself experienced Jesus’ power. Before he sought out Jesus, his heart had two misconceptions: v 47 “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.” He held two beliefs in his heart: 1. Jesus needed to go down to heal his son. His son was in Capernaum, while Jesus was in Cana. There was a distance of 30 miles between these two places. For a doctor to heal a sick man, the sick man has to go to the doctor; but if the sick man can’t go, then, they have to ask the doctor to go see him. “Look, Listen, Ask, Analyse” – these are the four steps that must be undertaken by doctors in Chinese medicine, therefore, the idea is that if the doctor and the sick person don’t see each other, then there can be no healing. So the royal official told Jesus, `…come down…’ 2. Before the child dies. If the sick man dies, then the best doctors in the whole world would be useless. So he begged Jesus to go before his son dies.

However Jesus didn’t go, Jesus told him “Go, your son will live.” While he was still on earth, Jesus had performed at least three long-distance healings.

a. Matt 8:5-13, the healing of a centurion’s servant. At that time, Jesus was in Capernaum. A centurion came to ask Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus said, I will go and heal him.” The centurion replied, “Lord… just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Thus, Jesus didn’t go, but said to the centurion, ““Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed.

b. Matt 15:21-28, Jesus healed the daughter of a Canaanite woman from a distance. The woman pleaded for Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus told her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” The Bible tells us, “And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”

c. Healing of the royal official’s son. Jesus told him to go, Jesus did not go with him, but his son was healed. The royal official experienced the amazing healing power of Jesus, and he believed, because he experienced the grace of God.

2. The royal official’s whole household believed – This clearly includes all his family, his son who was ill, as well as his servants. Apart from him, no one knew why his son had suddenly become well. After he left to seek Jesus, his son suddenly turned around and got well. At that time, Jesus didn’t come to them, his whole family wouldn’t simply presume it was Jesus who healed the boy. They may have believed it was a miracle, but probably from the idols they worshipped; they couldn’t have assumed it was Jesus’ healing, because Jesus didn’t come at all. But later on, they all believed, and the only explanation could be because the royal official told them the story, he testified of Jesus’ work, as a result, they all believed. That is why I call this propagating faith. O Church, we must spread the faith, so that many may find God’s grace!

Jesus’ first miracle in Cana, turning water into wine, tells us that our Lord has the power to transcend over time. Water cannot just turn into wine. Wine comes from grapes. Grapes must first become grape juice, and only after a time, can it turn into wine. But Jesus turned water into wine in a moment’s time because he is the God who transcends time.

Jesus’ second miracle in Cana, healing of the royal official’s son, tells us that our Lord has power to transcend space. With simply one word from the Lord Jesus, a boy who was sick 30 miles away got healed. Our God is not limited by space. Brothers and sisters, our Lord is sovereign over time and space, He is the God of the universe, He is the Lord of creation. Is there need for you to worry about anything? Surrender everything to Him! Proclaim Him!