You Will Live
“The royal official said to him,
‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’
Jesus said to him, ‘You may go; your son will live.’
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.”
Has someone ever said to you or have you ever said to someone , “You have my word?” What is it really that we are trying to say? It’s not really the words per se that we believe in, right? We really believe in the person behind those words. We believe in the relationship that we share with that person. We believe that that person genuinely wants our good. In today’s Gospel, a royal official goes up to Jesus and asks Him to heal his dying son, saying “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus replies, “You may go; your son will live.” This man who probably never really needed to ask someone for a favor personally set out to find Jesus because he had heard about Him and all that He had done. He was desperate. Think about it. This royal official stooped from his high place to find this Jesus who was seemingly just some poor carpenter. Why? Because his son was dying? But, why not go find a royal physician? He had faith in Jesus. He heard of the great things Jesus had done and so he has hope that He will be able to heal his son. And when he approached Jesus and asked Him to heal his son, Jesus simply said, “You may go; your son will live.” And the man did. Jesus gave the royal official His word and he believed in it. His son was healed. It was Jesus’s words that healed the boy. But wait, I thought we said it was not really the words per se that we believed in and that could accomplish things. Yes, that’s right. But Jesus is the WORD made flesh. With God, the Word is Jesus, and it is Jesus who heals.
Do we believe in what Jesus says and teaches? Do we believe in the God who tells us “I have you loved with an everlasting love?” Do we believe it when Jesus tells us that the Father will provide and that our sins will be forgiven if we are to forgive others? Jesus’ words are not like ours. His has the power to save. He is His Word. When you have hit rock bottom and are in the depths of the pit and there is seemingly no way out, Jesus says to you “You will live.” Will you believe Him? Jesus wants so much to give us life. Will we allow Him to? May we today, like the royal official, run to Jesus and give Him all our worries and all our sins and wrongdoings, all that weighs us down and keeps us from living freely, confident that He will say to us, “You may go; you will live.”
