Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent – March 15, 2010
John 4:43 – 54
After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, 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 signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
"Go," Jesus replied, "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, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him."
Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and his whole household believed.
This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
The official with the sick son “took Jesus at his word.” What does it mean to “take Jesus at his word”?
Many contemporary expressions of Christianity reduce faith to a system of assertions and propositions we are to believe intellectually. They suggest that we agree with certain statements about God and Jesus. If we agree with those statements, and even agree publicly with those statements, we believe.
Some suggest that such belief in and of itself is the extent of Christian faith. Much of the Christian community reduces life with God to that assent. It is a terrible watering down of the Gospel to reduce it to a simple mental agreement to the words Jesus spoke.
“Do you believe in Jesus?”
“Yes, I agree with what he said.”
That kind of agreement makes little difference in our lives and little impact on the world.
To take Jesus at his word is to adjust one’s life, so that one’s reality is shaped by the words and life of Jesus. It is not merely hearing and agreeing with Jesus, but means that a person is intentionally allowing Jesus to shape their framework of life. One is willing to put down one’s own structure for thinking and living, taking up for herself or himself Jesus’ structure instead.
So the official who approached Jesus on behalf of his son adjusted his approach to life as a result of his encounter with Jesus. Taking Jesus at his word meant giving his life without reserve to what Jesus said to him.
This work of adjusting our life’s framework is the core of Christian spirituality. We are giving up our frameworks, the ways that we ordinarily see and approach life in order to increasingly adopt a framework characterized by the life of Jesus.
“Taking Jesus at his word” is not a throw-away statement, but represents the center of the spiritual life. You and I are invited to adjust our lives God-ward, so that our real-lives are increasingly congruent to the life of Christ. We take Jesus at his word not by agreement, but by intentionally giving ourselves to his transformation.
After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that prophets have no honor in their own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, 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 signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
"Go," Jesus replied, "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, "Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him."
Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and his whole household believed.
This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
The official with the sick son “took Jesus at his word.” What does it mean to “take Jesus at his word”?
Many contemporary expressions of Christianity reduce faith to a system of assertions and propositions we are to believe intellectually. They suggest that we agree with certain statements about God and Jesus. If we agree with those statements, and even agree publicly with those statements, we believe.
Some suggest that such belief in and of itself is the extent of Christian faith. Much of the Christian community reduces life with God to that assent. It is a terrible watering down of the Gospel to reduce it to a simple mental agreement to the words Jesus spoke.
“Do you believe in Jesus?”
“Yes, I agree with what he said.”
That kind of agreement makes little difference in our lives and little impact on the world.
To take Jesus at his word is to adjust one’s life, so that one’s reality is shaped by the words and life of Jesus. It is not merely hearing and agreeing with Jesus, but means that a person is intentionally allowing Jesus to shape their framework of life. One is willing to put down one’s own structure for thinking and living, taking up for herself or himself Jesus’ structure instead.
So the official who approached Jesus on behalf of his son adjusted his approach to life as a result of his encounter with Jesus. Taking Jesus at his word meant giving his life without reserve to what Jesus said to him.
This work of adjusting our life’s framework is the core of Christian spirituality. We are giving up our frameworks, the ways that we ordinarily see and approach life in order to increasingly adopt a framework characterized by the life of Jesus.
“Taking Jesus at his word” is not a throw-away statement, but represents the center of the spiritual life. You and I are invited to adjust our lives God-ward, so that our real-lives are increasingly congruent to the life of Christ. We take Jesus at his word not by agreement, but by intentionally giving ourselves to his transformation.
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