Choices, choices. Student life is full of them. What courses to choose. What societies to join. What to cook tonight (oh, the joys of self-catering!). Where to go to church. By the look of things, it only gets worse as one grows up...
Mind you, none of these are particularly traumatic decisions, unlike the one in the passage. This man, presumably an official at King Herod’s court, has travelled for miles to get Jesus to come and heal his son, and is told to turn around and go home again, empty handed apart from Jesus’ words. Helpful.
The thing that strikes me in this passage is the nobleman’s reaction to Jesus words ‘Go home. Your son lives.’ He just turns and leaves. Just like that. It reminds me somewhat of the disciples’ calling; Jesus said, ‘Follow me’ and they left everything and followed Him. Of course, we only get the bare bones of the story. Perhaps there was a moment of indecision, of gazing anxiously into Jesus’ face, trying to work out whether to trust Him or not. But whatever may have been going on in his mind, the outcome was trust and this trust is fully justified, as the end of the passage shows us. I think the disciples’ trust was justified in the end, too.
Lord, help us to trust you, especially when your way seems strange or uncertain. Help us to remember that you don’t always answer our prayers in the way we expect. Thank-you that you do answer.
Amen
Rachel Douglas
St Peter’s House Church and Chaplaincy
