“I’ll believe it when I see it!” How often have you heard that phrase or may have even spoken it yourself? As I continue to read in chapter four of the Gospel of John, imagine my surprise when I came across this very same perspective! Jesus’ response reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Santa Clause, with Tim Allen.
There is a scene where, at the North Pole for the first time and taking in all the unbelievable sights, he’s having a conversation with Judy the elf. He comments, “I see it, but I don’t believe it”. Judy informs him that he’s missing the point, because “seeing is not believing, believing is seeing“. Come and see it with me! I’ve emphasized certain words and sentences within the passage from verses 45-53 so they stand out…
45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, only because they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
46 Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had made the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”
49 The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son is alive.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home. 51 And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was alive.
52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son is alive”; and he himself believed, and his entire household.
Did you see it? Look closer at verse 48. Jesus response to the royal official draws attention to the fact that we all tend to only believe what we can actually see (something AI makes harder every day)! We want Jesus to visually perform on our behalf first.
I can only imagine what the royal official must have been thinking. Verse 49 gives us the idea, as a father, it may have been something along the lines of “I don’t know about any of that, I just know my son is dying”. In verse 50 Jesus offers him a miracle, if he’s willing, to believe first and then see: “Go; your son is alive.” It then says the man believed. He chose to believe first, before he ever saw the result. As he headed for home, only then does he learn that his miracle has been confirmed.
There are some things that can only be seen through the eyes of faith. We must trust first so that we can behold what God is showing us, otherwise Jesus is just another famous man putting on a show.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. – Hebrews 11:1
Alabastersky 
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