why heal some but not others

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 miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus replied, “You may go. 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, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his household believed.  (John 4:46-53)

It was odd to see the way that Jesus reacted to people. This was the holiest man who ever lived, yet he seemed to treat some people so brusquely.

The man, a royal official, asked Jesus for healing for his son. Jesus’ response? All you people want is to see miracles. The man asked again, please come before my child dies. Jesus then replies, your son will live.

Why did Jesus answer him this way? The man was worried sick over his son and how in the world he could get him to get better. He did something that went against every grain of his being. He went to see Jesus and petition a miracle.

Jesus brushed him off as another one of those who were always wanting to see a miracle. Or at least he seemed to.

I have read books that talked about that Jesus wanted to hear his faith, that Jesus was pushing the man to believe stronger. But I think those are all junk.

Why did Jesus talk like this to the man? It reminds you of the Gentile woman in Matthew 15 who went to Jesus to ask him to heal her demon possessed daughter. His response there? It isn’t right to throw the food that belongs to the children and throw it to the dogs. She replied: yes, but even the dogs get to eat the food that drops on the floor.

That touched Jesus. And he granted her request.

I believe that Jesus was not omnipotent. He didn’t know everything. When people came up to him, he didn’t necessarily know their condition. And he always had a million people around him asking for stuff night and day. He probably began brushing people off. After all, he didn’t come to heal, and he certainly was not going to be a sideshow magician. He came to save.

This man came up to Jesus and asked for healing for his son. To Jesus he looked like anyone else with yet another earth-shattering request for a miracle. “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe”

The man asked again and this time Jesus caught the urgent need. Come down before my child dies. I need you, Lord.

At this Jesus says, go. Your son will live.

The man had faith in Jesus already. Now he had strong faith when he found out that it was just as Jesus said. At the hour Jesus said that, his son was healed.

Jesus recognized that this man was the real deal. His request was not for himself or for some kind of gain. It was for his son who was sick.

But how many came up to Jesus to ask the same thing and Jesus didn’t. The last verse in the chapter says This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee. The first was changing the water to wine, the second was healing this man’s son. Yet Jesus had been traveling around by this time a fair amount.

What about all those other people? Did he not care about them?

When we pray, sometimes God answers, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he heals, sometimes he doesn’t.

Why in this instance and not in that? Why here and not there? Does God love him more than me? Am I just inconsequential in his sight?

The answer to these is no. But at the same time God loves us. He just doesn’t answer everybody.

Hard to take but true. But he is still God.