Believing the Word

48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
John 4:48-54
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Believing the Word
Jesus’ words to the official strike us: “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” We are often like him, longing for proof before trusting the promise. Yet Jesus does not send the man away empty. He speaks a simple word: “Go; your son will live.” The man believes, not because he saw, but because he heard. Faith clings to Christ’s Word even when sight fails. At the cross, there was nothing to see but weakness, blood, and death, yet in that very place, God was reconciling the world to Himself. The Word declared it, and faith believes it. When we hear Christ’s Word of forgiveness, Baptism’s promise, or His body and blood given for us, we walk in the same trust as that official. We live not by sight but by faith in the crucified and risen Lord whose Word gives life.