John 4:46-54
Trinity 21
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
Jesus said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” And sometimes we wonder, why should we? Why should we believe and risk playing the fool without signs and wonders? What good is faith if it doesn’t deliver? If it doesn’t move mountains, shouldn’t it at least make sickness go away? Where are the miracles we hear about in the Bible? Why were signs and wonders given to them while we are rebuked or left in silence? Why must we leave our children to die in Capernaum instead of drinking wine in Cana?
The nobleman had left the bedside of his dying boy to travel 18 miles and bring home a miracle worker. That took some faith, some real hope and belief that Jesus could help. But the miracle worker who turned water into wine would not go with him. He would not leave Cana. The official’s authority was not enough to command Him and only earned him a rebuke. It must have seemed as though his faith and hope, his desperate prayers had all been for nothing.
Jesus here does not seem like he’s being a very good pastor. In the face of this desperation He speaks not comforting but harsh words. For He sees that faith is still lacking, still imperfect, and He will not pretend that it is good enough or that He is impressed. He will not be winsome or polite. He will not kindly meet felt needs. He sees into the man’s heart by the man’s words. He rebukes. He brings faith to its knees. He makes the father come to full desperation and forget his nobility and official power. And then He commands: “Go your way,” and all he adds is “Your son lives.” But what does that mean to a father full of fear? Does it mean that his son lives in heaven? Does it mean he lives right now but will die within the hour? Or does it mean, does he dare to hope that the fever has left him? The official is not told. Nothing is explained. No promise is made. It is not “Your son will live.” It is a simple declaration in the present tense: “Your son lives.” That is it. Nothing more. Take that and go on your way and trust in Me.
The miraculous thing is, that mysterious sentence changes the official. He had at first tried to command Jesus. He did not ask. He commanded: “Come down before my child dies.” That’s the way he was used to talking to people. But Jesus simply said: “Your son lives” and everything changed. In a way, you might say that it was no longer the nobleman who believed. It was simply the man, the father of the son. His nobility was stripped away. Up to this point in the Gospel, he had been called a an official. But after Jesus says: “Your son lives” he’s not referred to in that way any more. He’s simply called anthropos in the Greek, the man, who believed. The Word of Jesus changes him. He goes on his way. He obeys and believes as a simple man, stripped of pretensions, no longer glorying in his official human standing, no longer making demands of God, but resting in the Word of Jesus. He still doesn’t know just what it means, but Jesus said it, and that is good enough. That is how faith lives between Cana and Capernaum without signs or wonders. Faith trusts that the word of Jesus is true, and that it is sufficient. It is more than enough.
God seeks to teach us these same things through today’s Gospel. These things were written for our learning. For many of you, it was not an easy task to get here today, whether that’s for physical or emotional or other reasons–to come to this place where Christ is present for you in His words and in the Sacrament. But still you seek Him out, week by week, month by month. You look to Him for help and mercy and deliverance and comfort–and not just for yourself, but also often for the needs of others. And yet very often it seems as if you’re hearing back a rebuke from Him, as did the official in the Gospel. You’re already feeling broken, and still something else comes your way that seems to break you down even further. Learn from today’s Gospel that it is not because our Lord does not care for you, or even worse, that He wants to be rid of you. Just the opposite–He wants to strip away all of the earthly titles and honors and things which you are still clinging to and putting your trust in, so that your faith may be fully in Him and His Word alone, so that you may have full and real life with Him forever. His purpose is to do you true and everlasting good that far outweighs your troubles, which are but for a fleeting moment.
What are those things that you are anchoring your hope in for the future apart from Christ? What gives you a sense of nobility and pride about yourself that keeps you from glorying in the Lord and humbling yourself before Him? Repent of it. It’s time to stop being the nobleman who comes with his own merit and standing, and kneel as the plain man or woman before Christ. We can’t command Him. All we are given to do is trust in His Word, even if on the surface it doesn’t seem sufficient or we can’t understand it entirely. Because with the Lord it is always more than enough.
The official wanted Jesus to come back with Him. He thought Jesus needed to be visibly present to do His work. But all that was necessary was Jesus’ Word. For this was the One through whom all things were created; His words do what they say. And words are simply heard, not seen. Faith has nothing to do with what you see. As it is written, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith relies entirely on what Jesus says.
“Go your way; your son lives.” By the Holy Spirit of Christ, the man believed the words that were spoken to him, and he went his way. By all appearances he was returning with nothing more than he left with. But by faith he was returning with the greatest treasure of all, the healing words of Jesus. He traveled those eighteen miles back home trusting in what Jesus had said.
The nobleman’s faith was not in vain. On the way back, before he arrived home, his servants met him with good news about his son which showed the wonderful power of Jesus’ words. What are the first words out of the mouths of the nobleman’s servants? “Your son lives,” the same words that Jesus spoke. It was at the seventh hour of the day before that the son had gotten better; and it was at the seventh hour of the day before that Jesus had said to the nobleman, “Your son lives”–the number seven, the fullness of creation and life.
Jesus speaks, and it so. For He is the very Son of God through whom all things were created. He is the Word of the Father who calls things into being out of nothing and who gives life to the world. He says, “Let there be light,” and there is light. He says, “Your son lives,” and he lives.
Don’t ever forget: the Word of God is not merely print on a page. It is the living and powerful voice of the Lord. The Word of God is the extension of Christ into this world to bring light out of darkness and life out of death. When He speaks, what he says happens. His words contain within them the power to create what they declare.
So it is still today. The same God who said, “Let there be light” and “Your son lives” is still speaking. Now He is calling Christians into being by the power of His Word in the water. To every parent at Baptism He says, “Your child lives.” Now the Lord is speaking the absolution, “I forgive you all your sins.” And it is so. Now the Son of God is saying, “This is My body; this is My blood.” And by the power of those creative words, the bread and wine truly are His body and blood, so that eating them with firm faith, you are filled with His healing and share in His resurrection.
In fact, since Jesus Himself is now raised up from the dead, we say to the heavenly Father, “Your Son lives!” Christ our Lord, who suffered on the cross at the seventh hour to take away your sins, who Himself received no miracle to deliver Him from death but suffered the full tortures of hell in order to break its claim on you–this Jesus is alive forevermore to bring you into the new creation to come, in which there will be no more sickness or sorrow or death. For the old order of things has passed away.
So as you leave this Cana and go back to your Capernaums and to your everyday life in this world, God strengthen you and encourage you on the way. May He grant you the fervent, confident faith of the nobleman. Cling to the words of Jesus as you make that sometimes difficult and lonely trek. His living words will see you through. In the end your faith will not be in vain. Go your way in peace. For by the grace and mercy of God, just as His Son lives, so also you live in Him.
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
(With thanks to David Petersen)