Whole Household

When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival.

Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee .John 4:43-54 

As a parent, I have to admit that I still worry about my children. They are grown. They are brilliant and delightful women, thriving each in their own unique places. Each has had crises, challenges and illnesses, and each has overcome major adversities. I am very proud of them. Yet still, daily, moment by moment I pray for them, entrusting them into God's hands, aching that their strong faith gets them through the day. I cannot help that, as a parent, they are embedded in my soul.

Jesus is sought out by a desparate parent. The official was not an official that day, but a panicked parent. The child was very sick and near death. Jesus told him that the child would live and the parent believed, as did the whole household. Surviving a near death experience with a loved one changes everything and everyone. We are invited to see God in the midst of our crises, our terrifying anxious moments and the everyday, coming and going in life. As Jesus met the man on the road, so too are we invited to Jesus in our midst.

Today, I ask God to help me turn the everyday and the extraordinary worry over to God. May we trust that the miracles we need are at hand, and go on our way, rejoicing.