As I read this again, the words that strike me are unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe. We have to look at the context: Jesus had preached with great authority in Jerusalem and now was back in Galilee: to give an US example he had preached at New York and was now somewhere in Appalachia. And a royal officials son had the fever and come to ask Jesus to heal him.
Jesus had many people watching him. They wanted to see miracles and power. Instead Jesus told the man to go: his son was healed. The theologians will speculate as to if the man showed faith by leaving or as the gospel notes: when he found the fever left the lad when Jesus spoke. I am interested as to if Christ was predicting that he would come to faith when he saw the act of power.
43When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee 44(for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). 45When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival.
46Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. 47When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” 50Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. 52So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” 53The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. 54Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee
Acts pf great healing and restoration can happen in Christ: but they are called miracles, and they are unusual. Those who seek this power alone fall into the error of Simon Magus: those who saw Jesus as another healer (and went to him as a physician, requiring his services ) did not see the Messiah. For there is another meaning of the phrase, and it is an implied criticism. It may be that for some the signs and wonders, like the food Jesus provided, were the reason to be there.
And Jesus is saying that this is not the correct reason.
The Gospel is about the glory of God and the reconciliation of a fallen world with its creator.It is not about healing, though healing occurs. It’s not about doing good, though good things will occur. And it is definitely not about saving society, or making it democratic, although historically both have happened.
So in this passage three things happened: an official came to faith, his son was healed, and the crowd were rebuked by the words of Christ and the lack of spectacle.
We need to be careful, within the church, of our love for spectacle, for the special, for the emotions. And I am saying that as one of my sons is finishing his time at Parachute, where there used to be fantastic worship, but now there is but music.
Wee need to ensure that we do not see signs and wonders as a goal, nor as a measure of if we are effective. We are told by Christ many times is that we should test people by the fruits they produce — how they influence people, how they witness. And, finally we have to remember that the Church is not ours by Christs, as our salvation is not held by us, but by Christ, and this is good, for he is faithful and true. We are neither.
You make some excellent points.
I usually come at the same issue from a different angle.
If we compare “signs and wonders” to a medicine, both an under-dose and an over-dose can harm the patient.
There’s more to spirituality than psychical research, but denying the psychical component of spirituality can also lead a church astray.
A church that denies the importance of “signs and wonders” can become an atheistic society for self-righteous busybodies. Conversely, a church that attaches too much importance to “signs and wonders” can become a cult of thrill-seekers.
This is very good, we are at a quiet waiting point in our lives. Where we continually follow routines, memorize scriptures, building futures, work. Unexciting work, but sometimes it is in the quiet that God moves and grows us.