[Notes of a sermon preached at Holy Trinity Norwich, on the morning of 8th November, 2026]

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: your child at death’s door.

There is just one glimmer of hope.  A wonder-worker, Jesus by name, has recently returned to the area.  Maybe he can help.

(a) He comes, v47.  He is a senior official in the court of Herod Antipas.  Think of what Herod did to John the Baptist!  He sets off on the 20-mile journey from Capernaum (on the shore of the Lake of Galilee) up to the hill town of Cana.  I’m guessing that he broke the journey at a town such as Magdala, arriving in Cana about midday the following day.

Perhaps you are not yet a believer.  I encourage you to make your own journey.  Put yourself in the way of blessing.  This may mean continuing to come to church gatherings.  It may mean talking to people you know are followers of Jesus.  It may mean reading helpful material.  It may mean signing up for a short introductory course such as Hope Explored’.

He comes.

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

The royal official begs the humble carpenter!

“Let me make this harder for you,” Jesus seems to say, 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 it’s not.  Jesus is probing.  “What do you really want?”  Do you want me for who I am, or just for what I can do for you?

In the everyday world, friendship is not simply about getting what you want from the other person.  So it is with our relationship with Jesus.  Prayer isn’t just reciting a shopping list of what we want him to do for us: it is ‘the conversation of friends’ (Tim Chester).

He asks.

(c) He asks again – v49.  Note the parable of the persistent widow, Lk 18:1-8 – ‘they should always pray and not give up.’  Abraham intercedes for Sodom.  Jacob: ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’  He asks again.

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

(e) He believes, v50b – ‘The man takes Jesus at his word and departs.’  Note that!  He has seen nothing.  He has been given no evidence.  He might have urged Jesus, “You’d better come with me, just in case.”

He believes; he takes Jesus at his word.

Something has happened between Jesus and the man.  Maybe you have heard or read the words of Jesus many times, but they’ve had no real impact on you.  But there comes a time when his words speak to you with power and conviction.  That’s the Holy Spirit at work.  It’s a precious moment; don’t let it pass by.

(f) He receives, v51f.  With a spring in his step, he begins the long walk home, stopping overnight, as before.  The following morning he continues his homeward journey.  He spots a group of men approaching in the distance.  As they draw nearer, he recognises them as his trusted servants.  Breathlessly, they tell the story.  Yesterday, the boy’s mother had been sitting anxiously beside his bed, mopping his forehead, trying desperately to cool him down in the midday heat.  She left the room momentarily to fetch some fresh water.  And when she returned, he was sitting on the side of his bed, cheerfully asking for something to eat and drink!  When?  1 o’clock in the afternoon.

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

We never meet this family again in Scripture.  We don’t even know their names.

Or do we?

We are told in v46 that the father was ‘a royal official’, 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 is named 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.

A double miracle: the first, a distant miracle granted to the body of a critically ill 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.

Does Jesus still heal the sick?  Yes!  (Some of you from an African or Asian background may have more awareness of this than us Westerners).

[This being Remembrance Sunday, I refer to two memorials in the church building.]

Memorial window, North transept.  A bronze plaque commemorating the ministry of Rev George Charles Hoste, who was instrumental in causing this place of worship to be built in 1861.  Above it, a window, remembering three daughters, who all died of Scarlet Fever within a few weeks of one another in Jan 1864 – Edith (4), Rachel (10), Mary (16).

Jesus does not say to every anxious parent: “Your child will live.”

War memorial.  Commemorating 164 men of the parish who lost their lives during the First World War.

Jesus does not say to every parent of a soldier sent into battle: ‘He will return home safely’.

To expect those we love to be always protected from harm is to ask for heaven now.

At the present time we have a foretaste of heaven, but not heaven itself.  We have the first fruits, but not yet the full harvest.  The deposit, and only later will we enter into the complete inheritance.  We get to view the trailers, but the movie isn’t on general release yet.

But Jesus does make many promises that apply to us all:-

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry”, Jn 6:35

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness”, Jn 8:12

“I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters through me will be saved”, Jn 10:7, 9

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies”, Jn 11:25.

You too can take Jesus at his word, and he will never disappoint you.

[Here’s the video:-]