Walking through the night

Have you ever walked right through the night? Maybe for fun? (I did it for a sponsored walk as a student.) Or maybe you'd broken down in the middle of nowhere? (Before the days of mobile phones.) How would you feel in the morning? (I had blisters like dinner plates.)

Now imagine the reason you've walked all night is to get some vital help. There's only one person who can help you - it's vital that they come back with you. How would you feel when you reach them? How would you feel when they tell you to go away?!

This is the heart of The One O'clock Miracle (John 4 v 46-54). A rich man's son is dying, so he walks through the night to find the only person who can help - Jesus Christ. He knows Jesus can heal people. He's sure that, if Jesus comes back with him, He will be able to touch the boy and make him well.

But Jesus doesn't come! He simply tells the man to go back home. "Go," Jesus replied, "your son will live." (John 4 v 50).

Jesus knew He didn't need to go to Capernaum to heal the boy. Distance was no problem for Jesus. But what about the man? How will he react to what Jesus has said? The answer is one of my favourite verses for showing what biblical faith is. Verse 50 simply carries on to say: "The man took Jesus at his word and departed."

Wow! He turned round, set off again, walked through the night again - trusting that Jesus' words would come true. And that's what faith is. It is taking Jesus at His word. It is trusting that what Jesus says will happen. It is reckoning on the promises in the Bible being true.

This simple story has been richly illustrated by Catalina Echeverri, full of rich images to help children imagine what it must have been like for this man and his son. But we have been very careful to make sure that the illustrations support one crucial conclusion - that Jesus' words always come true. They are the focus of the pictures, because they are the focus of the story. And that's something great for all of us to know, no matter what age we are.