n by
Chuza's wife.

The nobleman, whoever he was, came to Jesus with an urgent request. He
had come twenty miles to appeal to Jesus, and he had been unable to
trust his petition to a messenger. But instead of meeting this
distracted father with words of sympathy and encouragement, Jesus merely
utters a general and chilling observation. Why is this? Why does He seem
to lament that this father should so urgently plead for his son? Why
does He seem only to submit to the inevitable, if He grants the request
at all? Might it not even seem as if He wrought the miracle of healing
rather for His own sake than for the boy's or for the father's sake,
since He says, "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise
believe"--that is, will not believe _in Me_?

But these words did not express any reluctance on the part of Jesus to
heal the nobleman's son. Possibly they were intended, in the first
instance, to rebuke the desire of the father that Jesus should go with
him to Capernaum and pronounce over the boy words of healing. The father
thought the presence of Christ was necessary. He had not attained to the
faith of the centurion, who believed that an expression of will was
enough. Jesus, therefore, demands a stronger faith; and in His presence
that stronger faith which can trust His word is developed.

The words, however, were especially a warning that His physical gifts
were not the greatest He had to bestow, and that a faith which required
to be buttressed by the sight of miracles was not the best kind of
faith. Our Lord was always in danger of being looked upon as a mere
thaumaturge, who could dispense cures merely as a physician could within
his own limits order a certain treatment. He was in danger of being
considered a dispenser of blessings to persons who had no faith in Him
as the Saviour of the world. It is therefore with the accent of one who
submits to the inevitable that He says, "Except ye see signs and
wonders, ye will in no wise believe."

But especially did our Lord wish to point out that the faith He approves
and delights in is a faith which does not require miracles as its
foundation. This higher faith He had found among the Samaritans. Many of
them believed, as John is careful to note, because of His conversation.
There was that in Himself and in His talk which was its own best
evidence. Some men who introduce themselves to us, to win our
countenance to some enterprise, carry integrity in their whole be