Trinity 21 Service

St. John 4:46-54

[Jesus] came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

A couple of things stand out in this text (and other lessons this morning); one is death, and the other is the power of God’s Word.

Death

The man in our text is very anxious to avoid death coming to his house. No wonder. Nothing is more of an affront to us than that. We prolong death’s coming to us—exercise, diet, doctors, medicine. “Sir [the man says to Jesus—again, very urgently], come down before my child dies.”

Our brief Old Testament lesson talks about death in the way all of us think of it, as a plague, as a sting (we aren’t bad Christians to think of it that way—to think of it as the curse that God pronounced it to be when the first people sinned [Gen. 3]). They were no longer going to go on living in the paradise of the Garden of Eden. They would struggle now. They would age (becoming more and more frail year by year). Finally…they would die—their bodies decomposing in the earth. It’s a fact of life in this corrupted world that death is coming to all of us; but we don’t want it to come. Yes, I know, of course, we’re aware of the Gospel, aware that even death has been overcome, and has a solution; that gives us joy even in the midst of death’s sorrow. It’s real, and that’s what we can talk about to comfort ourselves when someone has died in Christ. But there is sorrow, isn’t there? There is loss. Remaining temporal death, and Christ’s overcoming for us of eternal death have to stand side by side in this world. After all, it took Jesus’ innocent death to overcome eternal death for us.

If there would be any question whether the man in our text has reason to view the prospect of his child dying as tragic and to be avoided, the answer (OF COURSE!) is yes. It is every bit as sad as it seems that someone would die (It isn’t wrong for us to cry tears at funerals, either, by the way; death isn’t part of God’s good creation; it’s what happens because the good creation was corrupted with sin—our’s too). So, a man approaches Jesus, quite understandably, wanting him to prevent death coming to his house.

Jesus is the one Who recently turned water into wine; He has already been talked about in this way, in that area, even among Gentiles like this official in Cana. Remember, in that account it says that the master of the wedding feast didn’t know where the wine had come from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew—John 2:9). No doubt those servants had been telling people about Jesus.

But it was important that people not think of Him as a magic man. They needed to believe in Him as their Savior from sin and death. He wasn’t here to do simple tricks (or even primarily to feed people as came to be thought on another occasion); He was here to humbly lay down His life so that sinners could have an eternal place in God’s kingdom. There were times when He refused to do any miracles when this misunderstanding seemed to be present.

On this occasion, a man comes to him with a genuine need; but Jesus comments to those who are gathered there, saying, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” This was a problem to be dealt with if they were to ever be able to find themselves in God’s kingdom. It would certainly prove true of many people (remember that Jesus told the parable about the rich man in hell who insisted Lazarus be sent back from the dead, because that miracle would convince his unbelieving brothers to believe and avoid hell); but actually, even when they saw signs and wonders many didn’t believe. Something else had to convince them—with the signs and wonders merely confirming it in their minds.

God’s Word

So, what would cause people to believe for forgiveness and eternal life? Jesus challenges the man in our text. He says, “Go; your son will live.” Well, there it is. God’s Word is there to bring joy to his heart.

But the man hadn’t really asked for God’s Word, had he? He’d said, Come down. He’d said it twice: come down. Be in the physical space with my son, he meant. If he’s thinking of Jesus like others apparently are (not believing unless they see signs and wonders), then certainly, in his mind, Jesus would have to come down to his house for this to happen. He’d have to…lift his hands and do some sort of…something, right?

St. Paul talks in our epistle lesson, about being able to stand against the schemes of the devil. He talks about the flaming darts of the evil one. Getting people to put their trust in signs and wonders apart from God’s Word, getting them to think of Jesus—not as Savior from sin, but as practitioner of simple magic tricks in this world—is certainly to be included among the schemes and flaming darts Paul is talking about. It’s the devil’s work to draw people away from the means God has provided to enliven and sustain their faith, and toward external things that don’t do that.

Instead, St. Paul directs his readers to the armor of God. This armor will make a person able to stand against the schemes of the devil. This armor will make a person able to withstand in the evil day, to stand firm, to extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And this armor of God isn’t signs and wonders; it is the Spirit-filled Word of God—the very same that Jesus speaks to the man in our text, saying, “Go; your son will live”—the same that’s available to you, too. Jesus speaks it with authority as God Himself.

And in this case, the thing happens that brings joy to the hosts of heaven as well as to God Himself: St. John tells us, The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. His belief in that Word of Christ doesn’t require any sign or wonder to be attached to it, though if Jesus had chosen to include one, it would have come as an added blessing. The Spirit has been present in God’s Word, spoken to convince this suffering person of His power and love (and to bring about the result that the man has sought).

For our benefit, St. John includes what the man does after leaving Jesus, believing His Words. Hearing from servants who meet him on the way home, that his son is recovering, he asks—probably smiling as he does so, because he knows what the answer will be—he asks when his son started to improve. Of course, the answer is that it happened when Jesus said the words. On that other occasion we talked about, it said the master of the wedding feast didn’t know where the wine had come from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew—John 2:9). Similarly in this case, we could say that the servants meeting the man on his way home didn’t know Jesus had spoken those words and healed his son, but the man himself knew. We can imagine that he and his household, who, it says believed, had a lot to say about this to a lot of people in their community.

This business of needing signs and wonders in order to believe: Jesus brings it up because He knows it’s going to be problem for His listeners. And it has been a problem for us any time we have expected some sort of extra sign from God beyond His promises in Scripture. It’s been a problem when we’ve said to ourselves, Yeah, I know that God says in the Bible that He’s with me, that He loves me, that He forgives my sins, that He provides for my needs, that He protects me from harm and danger. But…even from this particular danger? Even for this need? Even this sin? He’s still with me, even after what I’ve done? The devil is an expert marksman, whose flaming darts often hit their mark with us. He is a strong persuader whose schemes often confuse us and trouble us, and make us feel so helpless.

But Christ’s Word is sure. Even as He said to the official in our text, “Go; your son will live” so He says to you this morning, Go in peace; I am with you always, your sins are forgiven, your every need is met, there is no danger from which God cannot protect you. Jesus was punished as the world’s greatest doubter of God’s love, and forgiveness, and faithfulness—taking your sins upon Himself, and trading you His perfect righteousness. Before God, it’s as if you have never doubted His Word. You stand before Him forgiven of every sin.

Why would you ever need any sign or wonder when you have God’s ever-faithful Word that declares you righteous before Him in Christ Jesus? He is the One Who ransoms you from the power of Sheol (those words from our Old Testament lesson), Who redeems you from death. God has declared you righteous in Christ. He’s said, Go; in Him, you will live. That Word is sure. Nothing more is needed. Amen.

Hosea 13:14

I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?

Ephesians 6:10–17

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.