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The 21st Sunday in Trinity
Jesus Heals the Nobleman’s Son
November 1, 2009
TEXT: John 4:46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had
made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at
Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he
went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the
point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and
wonders, you will by no means believe.” 49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come
down before my child dies!” 50 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. 51
And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your
son lives!” 52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they
said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the
father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son
lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. 54 This again is the
second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
This is Jesus’ second trip to Cana—the place of His first miracle—the place
where He turned water into wine at the wedding feast—and now on His return to
this small village about 10 miles from Nazareth—where Jesus grew up—the trip for
this nobleman was probably about twice that distance—and it was over mountains
and through rough country—and the nobleman asks Jesus for help.
What a beautiful example of faith—true faith—this nobleman didn’t know much
about Jesus—but he knew enough to believe in Jesus’ ability to heal his son—that
healing was driving the nobleman to find Jesus—and to ask for His help—I’m sure
he will seek to learn more about Jesus after the healing.
For most of us, our faith starts out like that—a simple understanding in a
Savior—not knowing much about how we are saved—but grasping the hope of our
salvation—but it shouldn’t stay like that—it should grow—and continue to grow
until we are called home.
This man surely will be driven to learn more about Jesus—we must also continue
forever to learn more about our Lord—continuously getting to know Him
better—immersing ourselves in the Word of God—this is what we should do—but do
we do it?—not to the extent that we know we should—and why not?—because we are
in the world and the devil is the prince of this world—each of us has been
subject to the devils temptations, his lies, and the tricks of the devil—he
never rests—but is always prowling around looking for an opportunity to distract
us from focusing on our Lord—the devil wants to give us doubts—he tries to tempt
us—he wants to devour our very souls.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because
your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour.
That’s what Jesus is trying to warn us against.
John 14:30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is
coming, and he has nothing in Me.
Let’s not forget who it is we are dealing with—and what is at stake—we’re
dealing with the devil and his workers—and the result will be eternal life—or
eternal death.
Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Whenever the devil senses that one of us has faith—he moves in to cause doubt—to
wrestle us away from God—the devil wants to protect his kingdom—he will try to
take us by surprise—consider the Scriptural examples.
The children of Israel—rescued by God from Egypt—witnessed the plagues—crossed
the Red Sea—received manna every day—were protected and guided by the pillar of
cloud—and the pillar of fire—suddenly they feared that they would perish from
lack of food and water—they lost their faith in God—they returned to the things
of this world—they wanted Aaron to make them a golden calf—they complained and
they turned away from trusting the God who brought them out of the slavery of
Egypt less than three months before.
Another example of Moses and the children of Israel—God’s people—complaining.
Num 20:1 Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the
Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and
Miriam died there and was buried there. 2 Now there was no water for the
congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the
people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our
brethren died before the LORD! 4 Why have you brought up the assembly of the
LORD into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5 And why
have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not
a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to
drink.”
There are examples in the New Testament too—no one had greater faith than
Peter—he had the courage to walk on the water with Jesus—but did not keep his
focus on the Lord—he turned away from Jesus long enough to begin sinking into
the sea—our Lord let him sink but He did not let him drown.
Matthew 14:28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me
to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come
down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw
that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31
And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O
you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Here the devil was able to instill fear in Peter in the very presence of our
Lord—therefore if you think you are strong enough to overcome the devil without
spiritual help—think again!—only the power of God—the power of the Holy
Spirit—can put the devil in his place.
A quick look back at the first Holy Week—Jesus’ triumphant entry—that same week
the people cry out for His death—the devil was at work then—and he is at work
today—consider these words of Scripture:
Luke 23:21 But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
This is the same Jesus that they had considered a prophet a few days before—they
had laid their garments on the road before Him—yet as Jesus was arrested and
beaten and mocked—even His disciples denied Him—when the devil smells faith—he
immediately tries to destroy it—look a the Church today—compare it to the Church
right after the resurrection—see how the devil tempted men with their own
weaknesses.
He tempted them with their egos—he let them think they are smarter than God—how
many divisions have we experienced in the Church—over the Lord’s
Supper—baptism—what name we should call God—when we should hold worship
services—and other silly thing men choose to be excuses—in Luther’s day men were
members of the Roman Catholic church—the Greek Orthodox church—they might be a
Jew—or they might be a heathen.
Today—the devil must be very happy—we divide ourselves into hundreds of
different denominations—this keeps us confused—where shall we go?—who has the
truth?—the devil wants us to be frustrated and stay home and watch
television—the devil uses the latest technology to distract us from focusing on
the things of our Savior—people are losing their communication and language
skills—they don’t talk to each other—they don’t write sentences in
letters—instead, they type gibberish into electronic devices—today’s world is
filled with electronic distractions.
THE DEVIL CANNOT ALLOW THE PURE DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE TO BE PREACHED
None of us can sit back and feel secure—none of us are save—each of us must
constantly be on our guard—we have example upon example of strong men of faith
failing under the devil’s pressure—David with Bathsheba—Peter and his denial of
Christ—Peter walking on the water and starting to sink—Moses double-striking the
rock for water.
Remember the lesson we learned from the fall of Adam and Eve—the devil will try
to separate us and find our weakness—we must never allow ourselves to be
spiritually alone—we have to stay together physically to encourage one another
spiritually—we need to stay in the Word to spiritually maintain our faith—and
hence we have our ability to overcome and defeat the devil.
Luke 17: 5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
[Luther] “Our hearts should always be in the conditions as if we had only
begun to believe today, and always to be disposed toward the gospel as if we had
never heard it before.”
Remember when you first understood that Jesus died for you?—remember your hunger
for the Word?—you couldn’t wait to hear the next sermon—you asked questions—you
thought about the Lord all the time.
Paul tells us about man’s faith-relationship with God—how encouraged the devil
is by our weak nature—and how the devil tries to turn our attention away from
the things of God—but our strength is in the Word—a gift from God which makes us
strong enough to survive the devil’s attacks.
2 Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness, "made
his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Christ. 7But we have this treasure in jars of clay
to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard
pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in
despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We
always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus
may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given
over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal
body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 13It
is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."With
that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know
that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with
Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit,
so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving
to overflow to the glory of God.
The earthen vessel referred to here is us—the treasure is the Gospel.
The nobleman that asked Jesus to heal his son had faith—and Jesus demonstrated
the power of God through the healing for our learning—remember this lesson and
keep your faith strong.
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!