Kyle Dresback

Dear friends,

While reading about the royal official in John 4, I got curious. “List all the strangers who approached Jesus with a request in the gospels” I demanded of the nearest chatbot. Scanning the list is a survey in human desperation and need: leprosy, paralysis, bleeding, blindness, demon-possession, deformity, and death.

It was likely the desperation of these strangers that emboldened them to confront Jesus with their requests (sometimes demands!). This desperation is not well known to many of us in the mixed blessing of our comparatively wealthy, satiated, and comfortable lives. But for most of us it is not unknown either.

“Sir, come down before my little boy dies.”

This is a moment of true desperation. For those who have faced the prospect of a long-odds pregnancy, a child’s diagnosis, or a phone call about a loved one, the urgency and the helplessness behind this father’s words may feel familiar.

Reviewing these accounts in the gospel story, I am reminded of a few things.

First, Jesus has compassion for those who suffer. He responds. This is central to his character.

Second, he reveals a God who not only identifies with those who suffer, but who is himself acquainted with suffering.

And third, we are reminded that sickness and death are not the end of the story.

The Christian story, as I understand it, is not one of a God who brings about terrible tragedies for reasons known only to him. It is the story of a God who stepped into tragedy at great cost to himself, continually insisting on partnering with humans to bring about his purposes, and eventually providing hope and peace to us all—lepers and centurians alike.

Go; your son will live.

Hallelujah.

In Christ,

—Kyle