I really do believe that Jesus performed healing miracles. Some believers play down the healings. I do not. I believe Jesus performed many miracles. 

Not everyone who witnessed the miracles was quickly convinced. Not even everyone who was the recipient of a miracle was quickly convinced. Today’s story is about a man who believed quickly, deeply and completely. 

This story is actually a very improbable story. That may be part of the reason why it is recorded in the tradition. It’s about a royal officer in King Herod’s court. Most likely he was not Jewish. He was someone who was likely to be climbing on the economic ladder. He was respected and reasonably affluent. He was not necessarily religious. Religion was just not all that important to him. He had more important things to do. He was very much like some people you and I know today. 

What made him consider Jesus? His son was very sick with a fever. The son was probably near death. And the father had heard of this Jesus. Probably the man could have sent for Jesus. He had servants. He was wealthy. But instead he began a desperate search. He traveled over 30 miles on foot over rough terrain. He was driven by energy and by love for his little son.  

He wanted Jesus to come to his house. He wanted him to come right away. He wanted Jesus to stand at his son’s bedside. He wanted Jesus to touch him somehow. He wanted Jesus to just let his shadow fall across his son’s bed. The father didn’t have specifics. He just knew he had to find Jesus. 

Any of you who ever had really sick children know the feelings here. You’ll try anything. You’ll risk ridicule. You’ll step out of the box. You’ll do whatever it takes. The emotional picture painted in this story is powerful. 

Jesus seems to be a little harsh in his first reply to this father. He says in effect, “Will none of you believe in me unless you see a miracle?” But scholars are quick to point out that the “you” in that sentence is plural. Jesus is speaking more to the crowd than to one individual father. 

The father is undaunted anyway. “Come, before my child dies,” he cries out. In effect he says, “I walked long and hard to find you. I will not be deterred. I will not be put off by theological arguments. I don’t care about signs and wonders. My son is sick, and I want him to live.” 

Jesus responds at the point of the man’s need. He does not say to the man, “I will go with you to your home.” He does not say, “Go home and I will meet you there at noon tomorrow.” What Jesus says is this: “Go home. Your son will live.” And the writer of the story says, “The man believed, and he went on his way.” 

Remembering that the Gospel writer is a preacher, what is the message here in the story? 

HEALING IS CENTRAL 

First, we are reminded that healing is central to what we are about. Followers of Jesus are involved in healing. We must never forget Jesus’ charge. We are to preach, teach, and heal. Jesus was not mostly about healing, but he did heal many people. 

Soren Kierkegaard, the 19^th century Danish theologian, tells the story of a small shop in Copenhagen, Denmark with a sign in the window. The sign read, “We press pants.” A man walking by saw the sign, went home and got a pair of pants and brought them back to be pressed. He handed to the man in the store. The man said, “Oh, we don’t press pants.” The would-be customer replied, “Well, what about the sign in the window? It says ‘We press pants.’” The store owner said, “Oh, we don’t press pants. We sell signs.” 

We need to know what we are about here. The church is about healing—physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. It is central to our ministry. 

For almost 50 years we have had a Wednesday evening service here at this church. The service involves intercessory prayer. It includes communion. It includes laying on of hands for healing. Interestingly, what we call the service is our “healing” service. A few years ago we added Taizé to the worship menu on the first Wednesday of each month. This service is also about healing. Names are called out. There is an act of touch. There is anointing with oil, and we light candles. 

Methodist hospitals rise out of many city landscapes today. One physician wrote recently, “Healing is a healthy blend of penicillin and prayer.” 

The first time I was at Red Bird Mission Hospital in Kentucky, a prayer room at the hospital caught my attention. I was told that doctors in this particular mission hospital may treat their patients with medicine or surgery; or they may take them to the prayer room to pray with them; or both. When we were talking here about an office space for our parish nurse, we decided that the best office space was right next door to the chapel—the prayer room of Christ Church. 

After several months without a physician, a Zimbabwean doctor has arrived at Nyadire United Methodist Hospital in Zimbabwe. We are very pleased. And we are actively working with the General Board of Global Ministries to find a mission doctor or a surgeon to be placed there. 

We are about healing in this ministry. 

HEALING REQUIRES PARTICIPATION 

Secondly, healing often requires our participation. I read a story about a lady by the name of Mrs. Feinstein, who desperately wanted to win a lottery. She prayed about it: “Dear God, please help me win the lottery.” She prayed often and hard. After weeks and months of praying, she finally said to God, “Why is it that you never let me win the lottery, and I’ve been praying so hard for so long?” Suddenly the skies parted and a voice came back, “Mrs. Feinstein, give me a break. At least buy a lottery ticket!” 

The father went out of his way to participate in his son’s healing. He took some risks. He made the hard journey. We can and should participate in the healing process. Perhaps that means a visit or a touch or a phone call or a note written. Sometimes it comes at some personal inconvenience. Sometimes it comes interrupting our routine. Sometimes participating in a healing ministry takes us way past our comfort level. 

I remember a member of this church some 20 years. He was battling cancer. He took an active part in his treatment, and he involved others. He did all the right things medically. He took care of his physical body with diet and exercise. He engaged in prayer and invited others to pray with him and for him. He came to the Wednesday night healing service on a regular occasion. All of this gave him a remarkably upbeat extension to his life. He actively participated and invited others to participate in the healing process. When death finally came, it was not his enemy. It was simply God’s final healing in his soul! 

Healing requires our participation at some level.  

HEALING SOMETIMES REQUIRES PASSION 

Thirdly, healing sometimes requires a certain passion. I know members of this church who have come to the healing service on Wednesday night for years. Week after week they come. They call out the same name or names. They offer the same prayers. 

God does not always ask us to walk a day and a half. God does not always ask us to beg, or cry, or cry out. But God does anticipate a certain passion from us. 

The word “passion” is sometimes lost in worldly pursuits and thoughts. But it is a good and valid Christian word. The story today suggests a certain passion is in order for healing. 

HEALING CAN HAPPEN EVEN IN DOUBT 

Healing can happen even in the midst of doubts. I’m not talking here about fundamental doubt, but more about nagging doubt. Don’t you think that happened to the father in this story? Imagine what might have happened. Jesus says to him, “Go, home; your son will live.” The father’s heart leaps in his throat. These are the words he had waited to hear. John says, “The man believed.” And I’m quite sure he did. 

Most of us would like to hear the words from God so clearly.

• “The pain will be gone in a few hours.”
• “The tumor is benign.”
• “The tumor has begun to shrink.”
• “The heart is undamaged; your heart attack was only a warning.”
• Or even this statement: “The company called, and you got the job.”

Would you not like to hear those words loud and clear? “Go home. Your son will live.” 

But now imagine the trip home. Use the principle of reverent imagination in this story. It’s 30 miles back to Capernaum. It’s a long way. There’s no way to phone ahead to see what happened. At first the father is elated. “Jesus said my boy will live.” He is euphoric! But then the uncertainty begins to creep in. He plays the “what if” game. His pace slows a bit. His perspiration turns to worry. What if it’s a cruel hoax? What if his son had already died? 

He sits by the roadside, head in his hands. He begins sobbing. Faith turns to doubt so easily, so quickly. He just does not know, and it’s still a long way home. 

Have you not had some honest doubts from time to time? The message in the story is that healing can happen even through honest doubts. God is so gracious to us. God is so compassionate. God understands our feeble and often frail faith at times. 

Healing happens even in the midst of our honest doubts. And God does not punish our doubts or our uncertainties. 

HEALING HAPPENS ACROSS DISTANCES 

Healing can take place from a distance. This is the curious part of this particular story in the Bible. Jesus never meets the boy he heals. They are still 30 miles apart. There is no physical contact. There are no witnesses to say exactly what happened. Jesus simply says to the father, “Go home. Go back to Capernaum. Your son will live.” 

What’s the lesson for us in this? Something very deliberate about intercession? Can we pray for people who are far away? Can you pray for a person who is inaccessible to you?  

As the father in our story returns home, he is met by his servants. They tell him the good news. “Your son is gaining strength. The fever left him.”  

“When did it happen?” asks the father. Comes the reply: “About 1 p.m. yesterday.” And the father remembers that that is exactly the hour at which Jesus told him to go home, that his son would live. 

In my first church there was a little 10-year-old girl whose name was Debbie. One Thursday summer afternoon she had a bike accident. She fell from her bike and hit her head, and she hit it hard. She was taken to the local hospital, and then finally to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. After careful examination the doctors reported that her brain was swelling. If it continued to swell more than 48 hours, she would die.  

People in the church began to pray. They were 15 miles from the hospital, but they prayed urgently and passionately. Friday and Saturday passed. Sunday morning worship was just beginning. During that service we named Debbie in the prayer time. I invited people to come and pray for her at the altar during the prayer hymn. The altar was filled that morning, and there were people standing in line waiting to pray. 

After the prayer time we had the offering, the choir sang an anthem, and we read the Scripture. Then there was a hymn of preparation before the message. During the last verse of the hymn, the door opened at the back of the sanctuary, and a smiling member of the church came walking forward with a note in her hand. The note said simply, “Debbie opened her eyes this morning and recognized her parents.” No one in that sanctuary that day did not believe that moment came during the prayer hymn. 

Healing does not always come in such dramatic fashion. But healing does come. When did the fever break? “It was about 1:00 yesterday, sir.” 

The story implies that healing happens over distances. As we pray, energy is released. The more people who pray, the more energy is released. And God uses that energy to reach the hurting soul in need. 

The royal officer of Herod’s court returned to Capernaum. He now knew his son was alive and would be well again. And John tells us for a second time that the man believed. (Verse 53) 

A friend of mine shared a letter he received from one of his members a few years ago. The letter included this paragraph.

For years, as you know, I was self-centered and greedy, and did not know what gratitude meant. Then, the day came, you will remember, when we almost lost our little boy—I telephoned you about it. That was a hellish time. But when he did not die but instead recovered, I could not stop thanking God. I literally entered a new world where I realized how life, this world, and our loved ones are God’s special gifts to us, how breathing and seeing and walking are divine blessings we take for granted most of the time. When I truly thanked God for giving us back our little boy, I was awakened to how rich, full, and beautiful each day is. You tried to help me see that years ago, but I was too wrapped up in myself and my little world. Now I want to thank you for those seeds you planted in my soul. 

I believe in miracles. I believe in the miracles of Jesus. Healing is not always physical healing. Life is not always the result of our prayers. Sometimes God’s most perfect form of healing is death. Christians can accept and affirm that truth without fear. 

But I believe in miracles. I believe in the healing power of God at work in and through us. I believe God can do more through a community of believers than any of us can possibly imagine. I invite you to believe as well.