Signs and Wonders

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 

Most parents will do anything for their child, especially when they are sick. Except for a few injured and abused souls, a parent will do everything they can. The centurion was setting out of the rules of his role, he reached out to an unknown rabbi for the sake of his child. This was early in the ministry of Jesus, when no one knew his name. Ane yet one father, stepped out, reached out, and his child was made whole. We who know Jesus often fail to step out and reach out. We are reminded today, no matter the distance, God's love for us will go to the ends of the earth and will find us in our broken places.

Gracious Creator, source of new life

we are reluctant to believe and to trust

yet you are always about love and healing

and you seek us out when we are afraid.

Our world is full of medicine and science

so we think signs and wonders ar for fools

we forget that you are the author of all life

and you embrace us all in our pain and sorrow.

Help us to trust in you unfailing love for us

help us to share that eternal love with others

the hurting, the outcasts, and the abused

so love can replace all the broken promises now. Amen.