The Message

John 4: 49 - 53
The official pleaded, "Lord, please come now before my little boy dies." Then Jesus told him, "Go back home. Your son will live!" And the man believed what Jesus said and started home. While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, "Yesterday afternoon at one o'clock his fever suddenly disappeared!" Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." And he and his entire household believed in Jesus.

What a miraculous thing Jesus did for them. Totally life-changing. Life-saving. No doubt the parents were forever indebted to Him. And the son... I'm sure the parents told him the story over and over again of how Jesus saved his life. What an amazing testimony.

But as I was reading this passage today, the thought that came to me was, "I wonder what became of this family."

We all know how the passing of time can cause the bright light to dim a bit, the excitement to wane, the details to get fuzzy. Especially as the story reaches through the generations and becomes "Your great-great-grandfather was healed by Jesus" and even "You have an ancestor who was healed by Jesus." At that point, instead of being life-changing, it sometimes ranks as merely "interesting".

The biggest challenge for the disciples seemed to be convincing people that Jesus really was the Messiah. In contrast, most of the people I come into contact with really don't have a problem believing Jesus is the Messiah. Their biggest problem is believing it's somehow relevent to them. What happened back then is interesting. And they can see how exciting it would have been at the time. But somehow it's not very exciting now. The impact has lessened. It was just too long ago.

Now, I'm ABSOLUTELY NOT saying the message of the gospel is irrelevent. I'm just saying that for a large percentage of the people I talk to, it's not hard for them to believe Jesus is the Messiah, that He came to save us. It's just hard for them to really make that connection of what it means in their own lives. So my question is, how do we deliver the message effectively? It may have been a long, long time since He was here on earth, but Jesus is alive and well. He still cares and He's still paying close attention. He really is near, and He really will make a difference.

And that's what seems to be so hard for them to believe.