The kings servant - an example of the true Christian Orthodox Faith

Icon of St.Eprahim bowing before the Lord

"So he came again to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." The royal official said to him, "Sir, come down until my child dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. While he was still going down, servants ran to meet him and told him that his son was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better. They said to him, "Yesterday at about the seventh hour the fever left him." Then the father knew that it was at that very hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he believed, and his whole household." (John 4:46-53)

In this part of the Gospel, the Lord heals the son of the king's servant. This servant is an example of how we should behave in our physical and especially spiritual needs.

In our needs, we should always and only turn to God in prayer, who is the only one capable of fulfilling all our needs. However, in order to turn to God in prayer in our needs, we need to have the holy Christian Orthodox faith, because without true faith in God, we are unable to ask for God's help in our needs. We should only hope for both spiritual and material goods from God that are necessary and useful for our earthly life and eternal salvation.

Following the example of the king's servants, we too are obligated and should care for both the material and spiritual needs of our neighbors. If we do not care for the material, and above all for the spiritual needs of our neighbors, we are the perpetrators of many grave sins and as such we are on the path to eternal destruction, as the apostle Paul confirms: "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel." (1 Tim 5:8). Amen!