Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable regardless of the distance...

This week, we have been looking at an unexplainable vent from the history of Jesus life that is recorded for us in account of Jesus li8fe in the Bible called the gospel of John. Wednesday, we looked on as a royal official traveled 20-25 miles of changing elevation in total desperation that Jesus would return with you in order to heal your dying son. We looked on as this royal official repeated his request even after Jesus had challenged what he believed and trusted in Him for. We looked on as Jesus simply turns to this royal official and said “Go, your son lives”.

Jesus responded by posing an even stiffer test to this Jewish official. Jesus is basically saying to this royal official “Do you trust in Me enough to return home without Me. Do you trust Me enough to believe that I do not need to be present to heal your son?”

Now you are the royal official. What would you be thinking at this point? What would you be feeling? How would you respond? John records for us that royal official’s response in the second half of John 4:50:

            The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off

Now when John uses the word believe here, this word, in that language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to entrust oneself with complete confidence to someone or something. The royal official placed his confident trust in Jesus ability to do the unexplainable. And to demonstrate his confident trust in Jesus ability to do the unexplainable, the royal official began to make the 20-25 mile journey back to Capernaum.

Now imagine yourself as this royal official? What would be running through your mind at this point? Can you imagine how fast your heart would be beating? Can you imagine how long that trip must have seemed at this point? I mean, do you think that the royal official was returning home at a slow leisurely pace? However, as the royal official traveled towards home, he was met by some people he did not expect to see in verse 51:

  As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."

John tells us that as the royal official traveled back to Capernaum, he was met by the slaves that he owned and that managed his affairs. These slaves had traveled to meet the royal official in order to let him know that he did not need to bother to bring Jesus to Capernaum because his son was no longer near death. Upon hearing the news, the royal official asked when this miraculous event had occurred. The slaves, unaware of their master’s encounter with Jesus, explained that his son began to get better at the 7^th hour, which was 1 p.m. in the afternoon.

Now, a natural question that the slaves probably were thinking at this point is “why does it matter what time his son got better? Shouldn’t he just be happy that his son did get better and is not dead?”  John provides for us the answer to these questions as he concludes this section of the gospel of John in verse 53:

  So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives"; and he himself believed and his whole household. This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

John tells us that the royal official quickly connected the dots between Jesus statement and his son’s healing. And after connecting the dots that revealed that the healing of his son occurred at the exact time that Jesus spoke with him, the royal official recognized that what had occurred was unexplainable apart from the reality that Jesus was the Messiah.

And as a result of connecting those dots, John tells us that the royal official, along with the entire household, responded to Jesus doing the unexplainable by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. The man who went looking for the spectacular and miraculous physical healing came away with a spectacular and miraculous spiritual healing that resulted in his entire household experiencing the forgiveness and relationship with God that they were created for.

John then concludes this section of his account of Jesus life by explaining that this was the second sign that Jesus had performed in Galilee. As we discovered last week, signs are different than miracles in the sense that they point to something significant about Jesus. Jesus, in doing the unexplainable, was providing a sign that was designed to reveal and point people to something significant about who Jesus is and what He came to earth to do.

And it is in the unexplainable healing of this royal officials dying son that we see revealed for us a timeless truth when it comes to Jesus. And that timeless truth is that Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable regardless of the distance. Just as it was with this unexplainable activity involving a journey of a desperate father for a son over an elevated distance, just as it has been throughout history, Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable regardless of the distance.

You see, so often we can find ourselves in a place where we feel distant from Jesus. So often we can find ourselves buying into the idea that God is up in Heaven distant, detached and disinterested about what is happening in our lives. So often we can find ourselves believing that Jesus needs to be physically present in our lives in order to bring healing in our lives. So often, we can find ourselves in a place where we believe that the distance between where we are at physically, spiritually, emotionally, or relationally and where others are at physically, spiritually, or emotionally, or relationally is too great for Jesus to enter into and do the unexplainable.

But the timeless reality is that Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable in our lives regardless of the distance.  The timeless reality is that distance is not an issue for Jesus. The timeless reality is that Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable in our lives physically, regardless of the distance. The timeless reality is that Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable in our lives spiritually, regardless of the distance.

The timeless reality is that Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable in our lives emotionally, regardless of the distance. The timeless reality is that Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable in our lives relationally, regardless of the distance.  Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable regardless of the distance that you may feel between you and Jesus. And Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable regardless of the distance that you may feel between you and others.

So here is a question to consider: Is there a part of your life where you feel that the distance is too great between you and Jesus?  Is there a part of your life where you feel that the distance is too great between you and others? Physically? Spiritually? Emotionally? Relationally?

Because as Jesus has the power to do the unexplainable regardless of the distance.