Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
The royal official said to him,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. (Jn 4:43-54)

It is interesting that in this passage, Jesus indicates that unless people see signs and wonders, they will not see; however, we hear clearly in the passage that the royal official believes that his son will live based on the Word of Jesus alone. The man believed and left! He believed that his son would be healed based upon Jesus’ word alone. Jesus tells him to go and he does. He leaves.

Only on the way home does he learn that in fact his son was healed! Similar to the first sign at the wedding at Cana, the miracle occurs seemingly at the request of another who simply believes that it will be done. In the case of the water turning to wine, it is Jesus’ mother who requests that Jesus address the wine shortage at the wedding, confident that Jesus would do what needed to be done. She lets Jesus know the situation, and then tells everyone to listen to what he tells them to do.

In the Gospel stories, there is a sense of trust Jesus offered to those he encountered that is not be necessarily tied to outcomes. We do learn in this story that the official’s son near death was healed, but there seems to have been a transformative thread that began with the royal official’s request and then his belief in the saving word of Jesus that continues on through the healing of the son and beyond. The trajectory is not linear. It is not so much a cause and effect situation. It is more like alchemical flow. As the official travels home, word is sent from his home to him informing him that his son was healed, and more people come to believe. It is something like a tide of faith, coming and going, changing and growing.

Many times in the Gospel stories, there is a tidal flow of trust and faith that is energetically produced through interactions between Jesus and those he encounters. Many times there are frustrations that occur in this tide, and not all necessarily end up in the same space when the tide goes out. Not all believe. As we get closer to the passion-tide in the Lenten season, we will see this growing fear and suspicion that will lead up to the Easter Events! I wonder, though, if this is not how we encounter Christ in our lives even today.

There are times when we most definitely look for expected outcomes. Many times we hope for very specific things, for healing, health, well-being, deliverance, the end of suffering, the end of violence, hatred, war, etc. There is a real power in that type of prayer, but I wonder if we are sometimes too narrow in the dimensions of our intentions and expectations. Like the royal official, we say, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Our requests may seem very specific and isolated, but they carry with them a current of interactions and implications that we may not see, that can involve unexpected turn of events and many other people. There are ripples that flow in and out of our lives effecting everyone and everything, regardless of whether or not we see them.

Our intentions are never solely our own. A single wish for the well-being of another is a wish for the world. One simple gesture of kindness multiplies outward into the benevolent tide of the Christ. That being said, the same is true for our biases, our unkindnesses, and our violent exclusions. Nothing stands alone. if we can begin to attune ourselves to this and see those tides and currents of our attitudes, actions, and intentions in the larger tide of Christ, then we can begin to see the connections that are there and co-create wider dimensions for everyone and everything.

There is also a relief in all this. When we can really see that we do not stand alone, that our intentions are not isolated and ineffective – and unaffected -, we also realize that it’s not just up to us. We do our part, important as that is and then trust the flow – believe in the Christ tide. Just as the royal official who believed what Jesus said and left. He did not ‘leave’ in the sense of giving up, but in the sense of doing his part and trusting in the rest – whatever that is. This type of leaving is really a surrendering in (not “to”) the flow and trusting it (the flow not the outcome). This alleviates the overwhelming-ness of our concerns and lives without burning out or giving up. We can see ourselves as co-creators in the boundless abundance of shared intentional hope.

Isn’t this what Jesus did? He did his part. He trusted in the power of the Divine and he trusted us! Isn’t that what Christ does? We are in the Christ tide, called to do our part in opening up the creativity of wider and wider dimensions for more life? When we can begin to know that we are already in the Christ tide, then we can willingly participate in the magnificent creativity of Isaiah’s Vision:

Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness
in what I create;
For I create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight;
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and exult in my people.
No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,
or the sound of crying;
No longer shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime;
He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,
and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.
They shall live in the houses they build,
and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant. (Is 65:17-21)