Word to the Wise
Monday, March 27, 2017 - 4th Week of Lent - Mon
[Isa 65:17-21 and John 4:43-54]Jesus said to him, "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. [John]
In the Gospel According to John, every encounter with Jesus seems to be intense, both in person and in meaning. The incident in today's gospel passage is similar to the ones in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10 where the petitioner is a Roman centurion. In those two, the focus is on a comparison of the faith of the pagan petitioner with the faith of the Jewish audience. In the passage from John, there is no such comparison. The focus is on the word that Jesus speaks and the court official believes. It is the faith of the Royal Official that results in the healing of his son and the conversion of the official and his whole household.
If one remembers the encounter with the Samaritan woman on the third Sunday of Lent and yesterday's encounter with the Man Born Blind, the intensity of these encounters becomes very clear. It is the encounter in faith with Jesus and belief in his Word that is a saving event. If Jesus is the one whom God has sent, then everything else takes its meaning from that. Consider the encounter with Nicodemus in chapter three and Jesus' word there: "God so loved the world that He sent his Only-begotten Son...." [John 3:16]
If reading scripture more (or even starting) is one of your Lenten resolutions, just taking the Gospel According to John and paying attention to the "encounters" with Jesus, from the two disciples to the "signs" and Pilate, etc., could yield an amazing opportunity to encounter Jesus on our own in his Word, which the Holy Spirit will fill with inspiration. AMEN
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