Trinity 21 John 4:46-54 (2021)

“God’s Word Does What It Says”

John 4:46-54

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.   St. John 4:49-50 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”  Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.”  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord…  Today’s Old Testament reading from Genesis 1 and 2 is the amazing account of the creation of the world.  You heard several times in that reading the words, “And God said…  and there was.”  How God created the world is no mystery; the Bible is crystal clear.  God simply spoke things into being, from nothing, in six literal days.  His Word did exactly what it said.  It is as though when the words were coming out of God’s mouth, the thing He spoke appeared.  That’s not magic, of course, nor is it myth; it is the powerful reality of God’s creative Word and the only correct teaching of the beginning of all things.

Furthermore, in today’s Epistle, St. Paul teaches us that it is the Word of God which is essential to us as we battle our way through life as God’s children.  We are to take up “the whole armor of God,” including girding our waist “with truth,” remembering that Jesus Himself said to His heavenly Father, “Your Word is truth,” (Jn 17:17).  Also, we are to protect our feet with “the Gospel of peace,” and “the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.”

It is that same creative and powerful Word of God that makes Holy Baptism not just water, but a sacramental gift from God that gives forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation.  And it is that same creative Word of God that joins Christ’s real body and blood to the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper wherein He delivers to us forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.   

But wait – there’s more!  It is the same creative and powerful Word of God that is at work in today’s Gospel too, where a nobleman’s son was sick but healed by a simple Word from Jesus.  This man’s son was critically ill and about to die.  This nobleman had heard about Jesus; he knew that Jesus was a Prophet whose powerful teaching was backed up by miraculous works, like turning water to wine.  In fact, it may well have been that this royal official had heard Jesus preach in person, since he lived in Capernaum and Jesus had previously been there.  So when the nobleman heard that Jesus had come to Cana, which was in the same region, he went to Him to ask for His help.

These few facts tell us that the nobleman had faith in Jesus.  It may have been a faith that had room to grow, but it was faith nonetheless.  This man was not merely grasping at straws in coming to Jesus; he wasn’t using Jesus as a last resort.  You see, Cana was about eighteen miles away from Capernaum, easily a day’s journey on dirt roads.  That meant that he would have to be away from his dying son for at least two days, traveling there and then back.  How could this man leave the bedside of his deathly ill child for that long unless he believed that Jesus could really help?  This man had faith in Christ.  He traveled those eighteen lonely miles, sometimes walking, perhaps sometimes running, until he came to Jesus to plead for His help.

You are like this nobleman.  You are here today because you have faith in Christ.  You are here by God’s grace to seek the help that only He can give.  I certainly hope you wouldn’t take this chunk of time out of your schedule for any other reason except that you believe that Jesus can do for you what no one else can do – forgive your sins, rescue you from the power of the grave, restore you to life with the Father – and that He does it in this very place through His powerful Word and sacraments.  In a very real way, today this place is Cana; this is where Jesus is located for you.

When we see the example of this nobleman, we have to ask ourselves, are we that fervent in our faith?  Compared to us, this man had only the slightest knowledge of Christ and His Word; and yet he had faith enough to go immediately to Christ in his time of need.  On the other hand, we have had God’s Word preached and taught to us for years; and yet how sluggish our faith often is!  Would you walk eighteen miles to church?  Is your situation that urgent?  Is your need that urgent?  It is that urgent, whether or not you realize it.  For apart from Christ, you are without hope, without help, and in bondage to sin and death.  Martin Luther says in the Large Catechism that every Christian should be willing to run 100 miles to hear Christ’s words of absolution and life.

The nobleman traveled the long distance necessary to get to Jesus.  He came before Him and begged Him to go down with him to heal his son.  And what was Jesus’ reply?  “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”  Why would Jesus say that?  Clearly the nobleman believed, or else he wouldn’t have come all that way.  He wasn’t asking for some miraculous work before he would believe.  He already believed, he already trusted in Jesus to help him and called on His name.  So, why these seemingly harsh words?

The answer is twofold.  First, Jesus was testing this man’s faith in order to strengthen it.  Would he continue to seek Christ’s help after this rebuke or would he give in to doubt and despair?  Was his trust resting entirely on Jesus and nothing else?  The nobleman had completed the journey in body.  Now our Lord sees to it that he completes the journey in faith.  In the fires of desperation our Lord purifies this man’s faith and thereby draws him closer.  The nobleman throws himself completely on the grace and mercy of Christ, crying out, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

Perhaps there have been times when you have felt such urgency, when you have felt such desperation because of trials and afflictions in your life or the lives of ones you love, or because of the awareness of your own sin before God.  You know all too well the temptation to give in to doubt and despair.

But in those trials which, by the way, God Himself has allowed to come upon you, the Lord is seeking to purify your faith, as gold is purified and refined in the fire, to strengthen your reliance and trust in nothing else but Him and His Word.  His rebuke is not meant to turn you away; it is meant to draw you closer.  So let your prayers become urgent, and even desperate. “God, help us!”  “Lord, save me!”  “Christ, have mercy on me!”  “Sir, come down before my child dies!”  If you have never prayed such prayers, then you have not yet learned how to pray, for faith is born and enlivened under fire, in desperate circumstances.  Such faith prays fervently.

And there is a second reason why Jesus responded this way to the nobleman.  The man’s request was that Jesus come back with him personally to heal his son.  He believed that it was necessary for Jesus to be bodily present in order for Him to exercise His power.  He wanted Jesus to do this in such a way that he could witness the miracle with his own eyes.  Ah, but, as you know, faith has nothing to do with what you see.  As it is written, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7).  Also, in Hebrews 11:1 we read, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  It is not necessary for our Lord to be visibly present to exercise His power.  Nor is it necessary for faith to have a visible sign before it truly believes.

In fact, Jesus once said (Mt 16:4), “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!”  What is your faith based on?  What sustains it?  Is it based on special experiences?  Do you need to see a miracle?  Is your faith based on supernatural occurrences in your life?  If it is, dear friends, then you need to hear that a faith that is based on such signs is not Christian faith at all.  And that is true because then faith is not trusting in the eternal Christ and His Word but in temporary events.    

And who knows if that sign was really from God anyway?  It could be that the devil conjured it up to lead you astray.  Remember that Pharaoh’s magicians were able, by the devil’s power, to duplicate the first two of the ten plagues.  Those signs were “miraculous,” but definitely not from God!  Or it could be that you were just looking for something to confirm what you already thought or that helped you rationalize what you already wanted to do.  It’s like the person who says, “I believe in miracles.”  Well, when you trust in miracles and then they don’t happen, where is your faith?  What do you have left?  You see, dear fellow redeemed, signs by themselves are slippery, they are unsure.  On the contrary, faith is about what is sure and certain and solid.

Christian faith is based entirely on the eternal words of Christ.  As it is written (Rom 10:17), “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  Faith doesn’t have to see something in order to be satisfied.  Faith relies entirely, only, and completely on what Jesus says.

And that is the reason that Jesus did not come back with the nobleman.  He wanted him to rely not on his eyes but his ears.  Our Lord gave the nobleman nothing but His words: “Go your way; your son lives.”  That was all the man needed.  And do you know why that was all he needed?  Because this was the Creator speaking, whose words bring about what they say, just like in Genesis 1 and 2.  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 not in what he saw, because he couldn’t see anything.  He went back trusting simply and profoundly in what Jesus had said.

The nobleman’s faith was not in vain.  For on the way back, before he arrived home, his servants met him with good news about his son, news which showed the wonderful power of Jesus’ words.  Remember, Jesus had said to the nobleman, “Your son lives.”  And what are the first words out of the mouths of the nobleman’s servants?  “Your son lives.”  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, eighteen miles away, had said to the nobleman, “Your son lives.”

Jesus speaks, and it happens.  God’s Word does what it says.  Jesus is the very Son of God through whom all things were created.  He is the Word of the Father who calls all 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.

That Word of God, dear friends, is not merely print on a page.  It is the living, active, and powerful voice of Yahweh God Himself.  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 and do precisely what they declare.

And it is still that way today.  The same God who said, “Let there be light” and “Your son lives” is still speaking.  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.” 

The Lord is speaking the absolution, “I forgive you all your sins.”  And it is so; by the power of those words of Christ, your sins are truly forgiven. 

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 in firm faith you may be filled with His healing and share in His resurrection.  As Jesus says (Jn 6:54), “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Indeed, Jesus Himself is raised up from the dead.  We now say to the heavenly Father, “Your Son lives.”  He suffered on the cross to take away your sins.  He paid the price that you should have paid, but took it for you and in your place.  And He is alive forevermore to bring you into the new creation to come, in which there will be no more sickness or fear or sorrow or death.

As you make that journey to your new and everlasting home, God grant you the desperate, fervent, confident faith of the nobleman.  Cling to the words of Jesus as you make that sometimes difficult and lonely trek.  In the end your faith – your God-given faith – will not be in vain.  Go your way in peace.  For by the grace and mercy of Christ, you live.   God’s Word has said it, and that Word has done exactly what it has said.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.