#JesusHealsAnOfficialsSon

[brotherseph]

Jesus Heals An Officials Son

March 15, 2021, Monday Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent (Violet) CYCLE B - YEAR I RDGS: IS 65:17-21/ PS 30:2.4. 5-6. 11-12. 13 GOSPEL: JN 4:43-54

At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast. Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe." 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. While the man was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, "The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon." The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live," and he and his whole household came to believe. Now this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

The officer here looked on Jesus as someone special and pleaded with him to come to his home before the son died. It is interesting that he saw no survival after death. Still, the son was alive, and so there was hope. Now we know that our trust in God must stretch beyond death.

This prayer was made humbly and wholeheartedly. A man was praying that his little boy would not die. Jesus saw true faith in his prayer; the boy was healed through the faith of his father. We pray constantly, ‘Lord, I believe, strengthen my belief’.

PRAYER:

Lord, forgive me for the times I have treated you like a messenger boy. I turn to you in a crisis, begging for a favor. When the crisis passes, I easily go back to living as though you did not exist. I want to find time for you, to live in your presence.