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THE KING’S BUSINESS
the time very likely seemed to him so exalted. V. 47. When he, (rather, this one ) heard that Jesus was come out, of Judea into Galilee, he went (rather, went away) unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death (rather, about to die).” This father had watched beside his sick son; he had seen the disease ad vancing step by step and the case be coming more and more hopeless until the little boy (see v. 49) was at the very point of dying. Just then he hears that Jesus, of whose miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana he may already have heard, and of whose works in Judea he surely had heard, had come again into Galilee. Cana was some thirty miles from Ca pernaum, a long and tedious journey with the methods of travel then in use, but that was nothing to the father’s love, he will not merely send a servant to implore the possible help o f Jesus, he goes all the way himself. The word translated ‘went” in both the Author ized and Revised Versions means liter ally “went away,” and emphasizes the fact that the father went away from or left his son for a time that he might secure help for him. His faith may have been very imperfect and feeble but his earnestness was thorough-go ing, The need was extreme, Jesus' aloné could help. The King’s officer was not at all sure that He could, but certainly it was worth the attempt. No human skill could have reached the boy but there was nothing too hard for the Lord (Gen. 18:14; Luke 8:49, 50). Often in our own day does the Lord come in with His healing when all earthly physicians have failed. Man’s extremity is always God’s op portunity. It s not only the extreme cases of sickness that can be taken to Him but the extreme cases of sin as
well (1 Tim. 1:15; Heb. 7:25). He can heal not only those who are at the point of death, but those who are al ready ‘dead1” (Eph. 2 :1 ). This man came to Jesus because there was no one else to whom he could go, no one else who could help. It is for the same rea son that men come to Him now (John 6:68). If we would induce men to come to our Lord, we must make clear to them that there is no one else who can save (Acts 4:12). Jesus wishes us to come to Him with all our trou bles (Matt. 11:28; Ps. 50:15). It does not seem to have even oc curred to this father that Jesus could heal at a distance. He thought there was a possibility that He might be able to heal if He would “ come down.” In a short time he learned that Jesus could heal by His mere word from a distance as well as He could by His touch when close at hand. V. 48. “ Then (rather, So) said Je sus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe- (rather, ye will in no wise believe).” Seldom did our Lord have men in such high position come to Him during His earthly life, but He never sought favor with great or small, and He as unsparingly laid bare the paltriness of the faith of this king’s officer as He would that of the most ordinary and common o f sinners. He read him through and through. He saw that he did have faith of a certain charac ter but it was the faith built simply on signs and wonders that He might see or hear of, and Jesus desired in him and desires in us a nobler faith than that (cf. ch. 20:29 ; vs. 39-42 of this chapter). A faith that is merely com pelled by signs and wonders is scarce worth the name of faith at all: It is. an evil and adulterous generation that demands a sign as a condition o f faith (see Matt. 12:39). Apparently, this king’s officer was a Jew, for Jesus says,
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