John 4:43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. 45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. 46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. 52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.
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Multitudes want the Lord's blessings. Some pray for physical healing for ourselves or others. Some pray for wealth. Some pray for justice.
Almost every day, most of us are tempted to think we have done pretty well. We like to think of ourselves as “good” because of something we have done that day or, at least, we like to make lists of bad things we have refrained from doing. I didn’t kill anyone today. I didn’t violate someone else’s spouse today. I didn’t rob anyone today. I didn’t tell a lie today. I didn’t disrespect my parents today. Depending on how long a list we can make, it is easy to suppose we really aren’t sinners.
But how many people suffer from selfishness - the sin principle? If you were born selfish, you can no more rectify that problem than you can change the color of your skin. The best you can do is try to hide the selfishness problem. If we were born selfish, we are not “guilty” of being selfish but, to the extent that our decisions and actions are motivated by selfishness, we are plagued by a sinful condition.
Now imagine yourself in the position of the nobleman whose son was very sick. It is not wrong to want the great physician to heal your son. But is your faith conditional on whether he grants your request?
Jesus seemed to know something about the nobleman that even the nobleman himself didn’t realize until Jesus pointed it out to him. The words of Jesus show that Jesus knew that the nobleman had decided to accept Jesus as the Messiah on condition of his son being healed.
When the nobleman responded “ Sir, come down ere my child die”, Jesus also seemed to realize that the nobleman’s faith was no longer conditional. The nobleman no longer wanted to know whether Jesus could heal his son. He was so sure that Jesus was the Messiah, he didn’t even hurry home to learn whether his son was healed. “The seventh hour” translates to 1:00 pm in our way of speaking. Capernaum is slightly under 16-1/2 miles from Cana. The nobleman could have walked home before dark. Instead, he got home the next day.
Two thousand years ago, the Hebrews’ wanted and expected a messiah to reverse the social order. Instead of them paying taxes to the Romans, they wanted a messiah who would enable the Hebrews to collect taxes from the Romans. Jesus wasn’t that kind of a king so the chief priests and Pharisees did their best to persuade Pilate that Jesus was that kind of a king - and thus a danger to the Roman Empire. If Pilate had perceived Jesus that way, he would have had him crucified as a revolutionary. Instead, Pilate said “I find no fault in him” John 19:4 (See also John 18:38 and Luke 23:4.)
Jesus didn’t even try to reform the government of the Roman Empire. His goal was much bigger than that. His goal was to persuade people to allow him to remove selfishness from our thoughts and from our actions. His way is love. He cannot use coercion. He couldn’t then. He can’t now. And he can’t in the future. It is not in his nature to do so. When he said “My kingdom is not of this world”, that can be understood to mean that his kingdom is an entirely different kind of kingdom than the kinds of governments that employ coercion.
That also means that the citizens of that kingdom won’t use coercion either - not to set up or try to set up the kingdom of Jesus and not as enforcers after Jesus sets up his kingdom in his own good time and in his own good way. The kingdom of Jesus will consist of people who have allowed him to remove our selfishness.