The moment of panic
My refuge and my fortress;
My God, in whom I trust. Psalm 91:2
Read John 4:46—54
This is barely a stand-alone story. By the introduction and the conclusion the writer wants me to get something. I’m meant to connect it with the story in chapter 2 where Jesus, at the same place, Cana, turned water into wine at a wedding. They are both signs. What do they point me to? Together? Of course all the signs point to Jesus. That’s a start. Who Jesus is. What he does reveals who he is. Both these signs are what he did in the nick of time: the wine running out at the wedding would put me in panic mode; the royal official’s son — royal! the stakes are high — is at the ultimate extreme, the point of death. Jesus is inviting me to call him in when I am on the edge.
Lord Jesus Christ, I call you my Saviour, and that is who you are. I trust you to bring me into the presence of your Father at my death. I thank you that you have come to the rescue of the human race. When I am at the extreme point of my life, the edge of experience that causes me to panic, come to my aid. I pray now, when I am not in that extreme place, that I will trust you then, when I am.