In just a straight forward sense we see Christ snatching a life from the jaws of death. He is able to display his authority over the universe. His deity is further illustrated by the great distance which is breached by His power--though the boy lies ill miles off, he is still subject to the hand of the almighty and omnipresent God, whose incarnation has said "go, your boy will live." All of these things serve to advance John's consistent goal to establish Christ as a deity equal in every way, and in fact synonymous with, Yahweh.
An analysis of the recipient of this miracle may shine some further light on what John was communicating to us. This man is said to have been a "religious official." Galilee, at that time, was under the rule of Herod Antipas. Herod was a Gentile, and was generally despised by his people. It would only make sense that these feelings would be communicative to those who officiated on his behalf.
Why is this significant?
Well let's take a look at all those who Jesus has rubbed shoulders with so far: 1) Galilean commoners at a wedding feast; 2) Jewish religious crowds at the temple; 3) Nicodemus; a highly respected religious authority; 4) a triply despised Samaritan/woman/adulterer; and now a, in all likelihood, despised political official, the symbol foreign rule in Israel.
Jesus got around.
We are just starting and he has addressed his message and miracles at the low and the high; the admired and the despised; Jew, gentile, half breed--rich and poor; week and powerful. He is God not for the few, but for the many, not for some, but for all.
The final point which jumps out at me (though by no means the end of possible themes or applications) touches on the exchange which takes place between the official, Christ and those standing around. After being begged to heal the Officials son, (who lay some 20 mi. off) Jesus makes this statement, that "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe."
This is followed by the dismissal of the official along with the promise that his son would live.
Now what is strange about this is that there were none in that moment who experienced anything particularly miraculous. The servants 20 mi. off see a sick person who takes a turn for the better, wonderful but not necessarily miraculous, and those with Jesus only hear this ambiguous promise that the boy would not die. In the moment they are all very much denied the miraculous "sign and wonder" that they craved.
A possible application of this is that though we all want to see God move in the miraculous, hungering to see not only an end to suffering but also the evidence of the Divine on earth, we cannot always appreciate the miracles happening in front of us because of our finite perspective.
In retrospect, with the accounts of all those involved, John was able to see a miracle, but in the moment some heard a promise and others saw a boy recuperate. The miracle was there but hidden. For us it may often be the same. God has a desire to reconcile and to heal, and we are commanded to ask for these things, but when they don't become immediately apparent we need to not jump to grandiose conclusions. It could simply be that our perspective is too finite to perceive the miraculous which is taking place right under our noses.
No comments:
Post a Comment