v 48 Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”
The Samaritans believed the good news from Jesus without the evidence of miracles; now, back in Galilee, things are different. I have no doubt that this government official with his son so ill was desperate. Perhaps he saw no hope for him beyond some kind of miraculous cure. He felt that he needed Jesus to come to his home, to be physically present, in order for healing to take place. But there is more to this official than meets the eye. Jesus tells him to go home as all will be well – and the man takes Jesus at his word. It is only later that he discovers the precise time of the healing – and the significance of Jesus’ promise to him. The fact is that the man believed without seeing the signs and wonders at all!
I am not sure that people are looking for signs and wonders in our generation; we are much more in an age that looks for some kind of intellectual proof about Jesus. That is the nature of 21st century education and expectations. There is some sort of hope that there might be clear evidence to persuade our intellects to accept Jesus and then lead us to decide to follow him. There is however no evidence better than that of a life changed by the power of God’s Holy Spirit however.
Reflect today on how God has changed your life in some way. Your story could well be the very thing that God can use to open people’s eyes to the truth about Jesus. Lives healed, restored, and transformed by God are the evidence of him at work in our times. So what is your story – what miracles have God done in changing you?
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