The Tupelo journal., 1908-02-14
Jesus Heals the
N0bleman's Son
LESSON TExT.-John 4:4s-54. Memory

Specially Prepared for This Paper

GOLDEN TEXT.-''The man believed
the word that Jesus had spoken unto
him. and he went his way."-John 4:5l.
TIME.-December. A. D.. p. or possibly
early In January. A. ID. Is. a few days
after the last lesson. Beginning OF sec
ond year OF Jesus ministry. known as the
great Galilean ministry. John the Bap-
list was stil preaching in wilderness OF
Judea.
PLACE.-Cana OF Galilee. a few miles
from Nazareth; and Capernaum. a city
20 or Is miles to the northeast. on the
shore OF the Sea OF Galilee.
SCRIPTUHtAL REFERENCES. -
Miracles as an Aid TO Faith.-Matt. SO;
H. compare with lisa. 35:j. 81; iI:33;
1871: &:54; Mark 2:l0. II: 1881; Luke 5:2t;
7:le: 1913: John 2:i1. 1923: SO. 4:45. 90;
5:36; 6:14: 7:3i; 9:16. 3O-33; 1921. %. 81. IS;
l2:9-l1: 14:10. II: 2O;30, 81: Acts 2:22.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
v. 45. The Galileans received
him." because they had seen all the
things that he did at Jerusalem al the
feast" John 2:14-17, %; 1929 Because
the miracles were signs and proofs
that Jesus came from God, and they
Endorsed his message. The miracles
were no breaking or changing of the
laws Of nature, but were the personal
will of God acting directly upon the
needs of men.
A miracle is simply Gods doing
with his infinite power the same quail
ity of action, though vastly greater in
degree, that we do every hour when
we exert our personal will amid the
force of nature. l lift up a book, l
turn on the water from the water
works, and make a shower on my
parched lawn or garden. | stop a part
of the machinery in the factory and
rescue a child caught in it's wheels.
If Jesus was divine they were as
natural to him as any other act of
his will. They were object-lessons
in the spirit and the work of the Cos
pei, the principles of which he had
been teaching. Every miracle is a Wis
ible picture before men of the char
acter of God, of the nature OF the
Gospel, Of the loving kindness of our
Saviour, of his power to help, of the
wonders of grace he can work in our
hearts, of his power to deliver from
the diseases of sin.
V. AZ. When he had heard that
Jesus was come into Galilee." He
must have heard about him, and espe-
cially of the miracle at Cana. 1t was
the knowledge of what Jesus had al
ready done that gave him faith to be-
lieve that he might cure his son.
Earnest Seeking.-The faith was so
strong that "he went unto him." from
Capernaum to Cana, % miles away,
a long days journey. Jesus must help,
or there was no hope. The fact that
he went to Jesus shows that he had
some faith, and that his faith, that
was theoretical from what he had
heard, had now come to be a working,
living force. "Besought him Ccontin-
ued to beseech) that he would come
down." Thinking that Jesus must go
and see the boy in order to cure him.
"At the point of death" Showing the
difficulty of the cure, and the urgency
of haste. Sickness and trouble are
often n leans of increasing faith.
Like Jacob from his pillow of stones
in the night of sorrow, many have
seen visions Of heaven and of our
Father, and have received the mes
sages Gods angels have brought.
Countless stars, invisible by day, shine
upon lis in the night.
V. 48. Then said Jesus unto him"
Jesus neither refused nor granted the
request at once, but uttered a truth
which tended to awake a fuller and
more spiritual faith. Except We see
signs and wonders miracles in two
aspects) we will not believe" Perhaps
Jesus was thinking of the form of
the request when he said this-the
feeling that Jesus must go to Caper-
naum If he would cure the boy, that
the father must see Jesus present to
heal. But chiefly he wished to lift the
man beyond the outward form of mir
acles, out of wondering, out of mere
proofs of faith, to insight into the
very nature and spirit of Jesus as the
Son of God
A Heart at Rest.-What interesting
lesson can we learn incidentally from
this part of the story?
The cure took place at one o'clock
in the afternoon, the seventh hour.
The distance from Main to Caperna-
UNI was 25 miles.
The nobleman in haste could have
reached home, riding down hill, some
time that same night, perhaps, as Mac
laren says, before dark.
But it was the next day, some dis
lance before he reached Capernaum,
that he met his servants coming to
report that his son was restored.
The natural inference is that the
father did not hasten home, himself
and the beast he rode being weary by
their swift and urgent journey in the
morning. He had come weary and
heavy laden and found rest. He that
believeth shall not be in haste" He
had a foretaste of the promise Jesus
gave to his disciples more than two
years later, Believe that We have re-
ceived and We shall have" mark
1924 r. W.
v. "a. Second miracle" Sign. Not
the second miracle Jesus had wrought
". 45), but the second in Galilee.
Why was this the best of all the
blessings which rewarded his faith?
How can we have such faith? Prof.
Drummond says: so far as | can see
there Is only n way in which faith
is got, and it is the same in the re-
ligious world as it is in the world
Of men and women. l learn to trust
you, my brother, as / come to know