{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Reflections","title":"Twenty-First Sunday After Trinity","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":424,"description":"October 25, 2026\n\nToday's Reading: John 4:46-54\nDaily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 27:1-26; Matthew 17:14-27\n\n\"Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.\" (John 4:48)\n\nIn the Name + of Jesus. Amen.\n\nThe royal official comes to Jesus in desperation. His son is about to die back in Capernaum, and he has traveled to Cana looking for the miracle worker. He needs Jesus to come down and heal his boy before it’s too late. But time is running out, and death is closing in. \n\nWhen he finds Jesus, Jesus’ response seems harsh. “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” It sounds like a rebuke, as though Jesus is frustrated with people who need proof before they’ll trust Him. But see what happens next. Jesus doesn’t send the man away empty-handed. Instead, he says, “Go, your son will live.” And here’s the amazing thing - the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. He didn’t demand proof. He didn’t insist that Jesus come with him. He simply trusted the promise and went on his way.\n\nThis is the faith Christ creates in us. It isn’t a faith that demands evidence before it will trust. Instead, it’s a faith that clings to the Word of Christ even when circumstances scream otherwise. The official’s son was still sick when he left Jesus. The fever hadn’t even broken yet. In fact, nothing had changed! Yet he walked away believing, because Jesus had spoken. \n\nWe live in a world that demands signs and wonders before it will believe. Show me the proof! Give me the evidence! Let me see it with my own eyes! But Christ calls us to a different kind of faith - a faith that trusts His Word even when we can’t see the outcome, even when the situation looks hopeless, even when death seems certain. \n\nThe next day, while still on the road, servants meet the official with news. His son lives! The fever left him yesterday at about the seventh hour - the very moment Jesus spoke the word. What the father believed by faith, he now knows by sight. But...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/P3eUvssXYVZBQK4BZg1UEKstUh8zuVz_CoZCK6YjRSs/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzI1MTcyLzE3MDI0/Mjg1MzAtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}