THE LITTLE KING
Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. (John 4:46-47)
Important people don’t seem to need miracles. They normally have a safer version of spirituality. They believe in God, they just want a toned down expression of their spiritual life, after all, they have done pretty good on their own. The man in this story is called a nobleman, in the Vulgate he is called regulus, which means little king. He was actually an official in Herod’s court, not the kind of person who was following around this itinerant preacher. This man had more important matters to attend to, he was too busy for these religious meetings. After all, Jesus’ meetings could last for hours, with preaching and singing and praying for the poor miserable people, this man was far too busy for all of that.
Then one day, all of that changed. The nobleman’s son was sick. He was beyond the help of the doctors. He was beyond the little king’s ability to handle his problem, he was like all of the other poor miserable people. He needed the help of God.
Maybe you have some problems beyond your ability to fix. It may be debt, sickness, a child in trouble, or maybe a broken heart. All of us have been there before, or will be there someday. The place of desperation can suddenly become the place of faith.
The nobleman heard that Jesus was in Cana, that was about twenty miles from Capernaum where the little king was. Twenty miles in those days was quite a trip. Twenty miles is nothing when your son is on his death bed. The nobleman headed for Cana where he found Jesus, and was begging Him to come heal his son.” Go your way, your son lives”. The nobleman believed His words and headed home to find his son well.
Things could never be the same for ” the little king from Capernaum”.
That day, he had met the King of Kings who answered his cry of desperation. Maybe you are like that little king. Self importance can rob us of any awareness of God. All of us find ourselves, from time to time, with problems way beyond us. If that is your story, twenty miles is not too far to go. You may have to go out of your way for a miracle, but you won’t be disappointed.
