Bread – Obey
January 23, 2012
Readings for Monday, January 23, designated by the 1979 Book of Common Prayer: Gen. 14:1-24; Heb. 8:1-13; John 4:43-54; Psalms 41, 44, 52
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From our reading today in the Gospel of John: “Jesus replied, ‘You may go now. Your son will live.’ The man took Jesus at his word and departed.” John 4:50
What is interesting about this event is that Jesus did not give the man what he wanted. What he wanted was for Jesus to “come and heal his son.” John 4:47. In other words, the man with the sick son wanted Jesus to come to his house and lay hands on his son or do something else which required his physical presence. Instead, Jesus does not (apparently) do anything. He just tells the man to “go” and “your son will live.” The man asks for an action, for a miracle, and Jesus gives him an order and a promise.
The man obeys and leaves to go home, and the boy lives. After doing some calculation, the man and his servants figure out that the boy got well at the same time that Jesus was saying “your son will live.”
Big question. Was the son made well because Jesus said so or was the son made well because Jesus said so and the son’s father was obedient? If the obedience had not been there, would the healing have been there?
The fact is we don’t know. At the same time Jesus said “your son will live,” the man “took Jesus at His word and departed.” The promise and the obedience are so intertwined in the same moment that they cannot be divided.
Of course, Jesus, being God, could save the boy with a word of command. And perhaps He did in this instance. But Jesus, being God, could also have conditioned the effectiveness of His command upon a man’s obedience. And perhaps He did in this instance.
This is a great mystery. It shows itself in this little history lesson. It shows itself in the Bible instructions in prayer. It shows itself in salvation.
“Obey” is not a word which many Americans are comfortable with. About the only place where “obedience” is practiced on a routine basis is the military, and even there we give a place to the private who gives due regard to the “conditions on the ground” and therefore disobeys an order from someone which is “wrong” in the circumstances. Everywhere else, obedience is something which is practiced when it works together with our individual objectives and rights, and ignored the rest of the time.
But “obey” is a good word and a good thing to do. As a Christian, the effectiveness of what we do is often related to the degree of our obedience to God’s instruction book, the Bible.
So, there is a problem at work or at home. You have gone to the Lord in prayer about it and, after a while, whether through Scripture, Godly counsel from a fellow Christian, or plain revelation by the Holy Spirit, you have received an answer with an instruction. Maybe the answer is “I am in control, so go home and don’t worry about it.” What do you do? Obey? Ask for more proof? Worry some more? Which of these answers is most likely to result in a successful outcome? If you don’t know the answer, read the story about the father and his son again.
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