Word to the Wise
Monday, April 4, 2011 - 4th Week of Lent - Mon
[Isa 65:17-21 and John 4:43-54]"Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe." The royal official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus said to him, "You may go, your son will live." the man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
If someone says to us, "You have my word on it!" do we believe him or her? Perhaps we might reply, "It depends on who is saying that!" What if that someone is just someone you heard about and had never met before? We may continue to hem and haw with another less specific response, "It depends......" What does "it" "depend" on? Does "it" depend on the diplomas on the wall and the fact that he or she has a white coat on with a stethoscope around their neck? Or does "it" depend on the fact that we have known the person twenty years and have never known them to tell a lie or even be misinformed about something on which they give their "word?" Perhaps we may remain skeptical and demand some physical proof that we should believe in what is being said to us. Do we need a "sign" in order to believe the "word?" This is the crux of the matter in the story in today's gospel scripture.
It might help if we remember that the Gospel of John begins with the line, "In the beginning was the Word!" Jesus IS the Word. The royal official is not simply accepting an abstract statement. He "believes" in the word which Jesus gives him and goes home. He didn't get a prescription to give to his dying child. He put his faith in Jesus' word, which is the equivalent of putting his faith in Jesus. There is no separation between the Word and the reality here, as we might do. The gospels from the past two Sundays about the Samaritan woman and the Man Born Blind should remind us of the importance of faith in Jesus and the importance of his word, and not in a miraculous "sign." There is no distinction here between Jew and Gentile as there is in the equivalent stories in Matthew and Luke. What is important is faith in Jesus' word. Do we respond to that word with "It depends.....?" AMEN
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