[Notes of a sermon preached at Holy Trinity Norwich in November 2017.

Audio available here.]

Jesus keeps his Word

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: your child at death’s door.  Head throbbing, mind confused, eyes sunken, hands shaking.

No physician has been able to effect any relief, let alone a cure.

There is just one glimmer of hope.  A wonder-worker, Jesus by name, has recently returned to the area.  He’s about 25 miles away, in Cana.  He’s your last hope.  Maybe he is willing to visit.  Maybe he can help.

There is a spark of faith; a tiny seed.  And see what happens as this tiny seed of faith engages with a mighty Saviour.  Watch as it grows, flowers, and yields fruit.  Listen as the father, and we, learn that when Jesus speaks, his words can be trusted.

(a) He comes, v47.  The father is a senior official in the court of Herod Antipas.  Think of what Herod he did to John the Baptist!  He makes the journey from Capernaum (on the shore of the Lake of Galilee) up to the hill town of Cana.  A journey by track of about 20 miles.  I’m guessing that he broke the jorney at a town such as Magdala, and arrived in Cana at about midday on the following day.  He has heard that Jesus has been doing amazing things.  He is in desperate need.  So he comes.

Perhaps you are a seeker.  I encourage you to make such a journey yourself.  Put yourself in the way of blessing.  This may mean continuing to come to church meetings.  It may be seeking out and talking to people you know are followers of Jesus.  It may mean reading helpful material.

‘Faith is the foot that runs to Christ, the hand that takes Christ, the eye that sees him.’  Faith, even weak faith, is active.

(b) He asks, v47. He asks Jesus to come down from Capernaum and heal his son.

The royal official begs the humble carpenter!  ‘All the fitness he requireth…’  We have not, because we ask not.  ‘Thou art coming to a king.’

“Let me make this harder for you,” says Jesus, v48.  “You lot are all the same, aren’t you?  Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders you will never believe.”  It sounds like a rebuff.  But, actually, Jesus is probing.  “What do you really want?”  Do you want me for who I am, or do you want me just for what I can do for you?  Are you most interested in the gift, or the Giver?

This operates in everyday life.  It operates in the spiritual dimension too.

(c) He asks again – v49 – Abraham.  Canaanite woman.  Importunate widow.

(d) He hears, v50.  The man has said: “Come, or my son will die?”  Jesus responds: “Go.  Your son lives”.  It was 1 o’clock in the afternoon.

(e) He believes, v50b – ‘The man took Jesus at his word and departed.’  He has seen nothing.  He has been given no concrete evidence.  He might have urged Jesus, “You’d better come with me, just to be sure; or, at least, give me a sign that my boy lives.  It will take me until at least this time tomorrow before I can see it with my own eyes.”

How do people put their trust in a Jesus they have never seen?  His word is enough.  This man is given a promise that will prove itself to be true until some time later.

Something has happened in the interraction between Jesus and the man.  Maybe you have heard or read the words of Jesus many times, but they’ve had no lasting impact on you.  But there comes a moment when those words speak to you and demand a response.  And that’s the Holy Spirit at work.  It’s a precious moment; don’t let it pass by.

(f) He receives, v51f.  The following day he continues his journey home.  In the distance, he spots his servants approaching.  What news will they bring?  They tell the story.  His mother had been sitting beside his bed, mopping his forehead, trying desperately to cool him down in the midday heat.  She left the room momentarily to get some more water.  And when she returned, he was sitting on the side of his bed, as right as rain!  When?  Yesterday, at 1o’clock in the afternoon.

(g) He shares , v53 – ‘So he and all his household believed.’

Do we meet this family again in Scripture?  Possibly.

The father has already been described as ‘a royal official’, v46.  He was an official in the court of Herod Antipas.

Luke 8:3 – ‘Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household.’  Joanna was one of those women who went around with Jesus and his disciples supporting them from their own resources.  In Lk 24:10 this same Joanna appears as one of the first witnesses of the empty tomb of Jesus.  It may well be that this father and his wife are Chuza and Joanna.  And they date their conversion to this healing of their son.

A double miracle: the first, a distant miracle granted to the body of a dangerously sick child, the second a secret  miracle granted to the souls of an entire family.  The first a ‘sign’, v54, pointing to the second, the thing signified.  The first – healing of the body – experienced by some; the second – eternal life – available to all.

Jesus does not say to every anxious parent of a sick child: “Your child lives.”  Memorial window.  He doesn’t say to every soldier sent into battle: you will return home safely.  War memorial.  To expect all the sick to be healed and all the dead to be raised is to ask for heaven now.

But he makes many promises that apply to us all:-

1. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry”, Jn 6:35
2. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness”, Jn 8:12
3. “I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters through me will be saved”, Jn 10:7, 9
4. “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though he dies”, Jn 11:25.  Death, whether it be in war or in peacetime, is sad.  But Jesus holds out hope.

If you feel that your faith is weak, don’t look at the faith itself, but at its object.

Beware of superficial ‘faith’, that is impressed with flashy externals but is hollow on the inside.

Be willing to take Jesus at his word, and you will never be disappointed by him.