Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity

Many people think Jesus was a super nice guy who went around teaching people, “Be nice to everybody, just like me” – gentle Jesus, meek and mild, or so the saying goes. While it’s true that God is love, and Jesus did love everyone he encountered, the perfect love of God sometimes manifested in ways that we would hardly call “nice.” Consider the time that Jesus made a whip and drove out the moneychangers and kicked over their tables. Was this love? Yes, it was, though it’s admittedly not the first thing that comes to mind when we think about love.

So too in our Gospel reading: Jesus, out of love for the official who comes begging for help, responds in a way that appears to be unkind: 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 (Jn 4:46-47). This seems like a reasonable request, even a faithful one. The man believes that Jesus can help. Surely Jesus will commend this man for his faith. Instead, Jesus responds with a bit of a rebuke, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe” (Jn 4:48). Though it’s hard to catch this in the English text, Jesus isn’t talking only to the man. The original Greek makes this clear, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

Crowds of people followed Jesus everywhere he went. They were happy when he fed them bread and fish, when he turned their water to wine, and when he healed their sicknesses. But did they care about his words? Were they interested in Jesus’ true mission – to do battle against sin, death, and the devil, to open the way to eternal life? Not really. They wanted full bellies good health, and peace from the Romans. The Jews then were just like most people today, more concerned about the cares of this life than about eternal things. But what good is it, Jesus asked, to enter into hell with two healthy feet? If you had to choose, you’d be better off to be maimed in this life and then enter heaven.

“Unless you people see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official did believe in Jesus to a point. At least, he believed that Jesus could heal his son. That’s why he was begging Jesus to come to his house. But did he believe that Jesus could save from sin, death, and hell? That’s the faith that matters, and Jesus wanted to give the man that faith. When you read the Gospels, Jesus often gives a harsh answer to people who come begging for healing. He does this in order to changes people’s focus from their problem to their Savior. He wants to create saving faith within the hearts of his people.

The official said to Jesus, “Sir, come down before my child dies” (Jn 4:49). In his imperfect faith, this man had a plan for Jesus. He knew exactly what Jesus needed to do: “Come to my house. Now!” We often have a plan for God as well. “I know exactly what I need. I know what God should do. I need this job. I need God to take away my friend’s cancer. Jesus, come down to my house now.” Should we ask God for these things? Yes, we should. We should take every need to our heavenly Father in prayer. But we should never the most important prayer: “Thy will be done.” What is God’s will? The Scriptures answer, “It is the will of God that none should perish… but that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Pet 3:9, 1 Tim 2:4). God wants to do far more for you than you could ever ask or think. Because of this God doesn’t always do what we want him to do.

“Sir, come down to my house before my child dies!” Jesus refused to go. “Lord, if you don’t hurry, he’s going to die!” That’s what they said to Jesus when his friend Lazarus was sick. What did Jesus do? Did he hurry on down? No. He waited two more days until Lazarus has good and dead and then he went to him. “But he’s going to die!” Since when has death been a problem our Lord? We serve the God who raises the dead with his word. Jesus isn’t concerned about death. What he’s concerned about is creating saving faith within the hearts of his people. If you have that, then you have everything you need. Should you lose your earthly life? What about fame, goods, health, lands, even wife, children, and family? “Let goods and kindred go,” Luther answers, “this mortal life also. The body they may kill, but God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever.” This is the will of God – that you would live under him in his eternal kingdom, and serve him, in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

Jesus said to the man: “Go; your son lives” (Mt 4:50a). The man was sure that all his problems would be solved if Jesus would just come to his house, but Jesus refused to come. Jesus wanted more for the man. He wanted to kindle saving faith in his heart, and faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Go; your son lives. That’s it. The man wanted the physical presence of Jesus with him. He wanted to see Jesus walking alongside him. He wanted Jesus to walk into his home and physically place his hand on his son’s head. Jesus wasn’t going to play along. Instead he gave him something better – his word.

Think about this for a minute: When did sin and death enter the world? When did all this trouble start? It began when we stopped believing God’s Word and listened to the voice of the serpent. Jesus had come to earth, not to patch up our broken, sinful lives, but to deal with our problem at the source. He came to do battle against Satan, and to restore us to a right relationship with God the Father, a relationship of trust and faith in his Word.

Jesus said to the man, “Go, your son lives.” And now we come to the great miracle in this story. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way (Jn 4:50b). Certainly, healing the man’s son is a miracle. Jesus undoes the effects of sin. He stops the sickness from ravaging the boy’s life. But the greatest way that Jesus destroys the power of the devil over your life is by creating faith within your heart. This is the great miracle that Jesus does for the man and for you. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. Imagine that he had told his wife: I’m going to leave my child on his deathbed, and go get Jesus. We’ll be back tomorrow” – but then he came back the next day, alone. “Where’s Jesus? You said you would bring him!” Now here is a miracle! The man believes Jesus word and goes home. He had nothing to show for his efforts, and yet he was content to go on his way. He had nothing tangible to place his trust in – except, he had everything, because he had the word of Jesus.

This is what Jesus gives us today – his word. You might look like a sinner, act like a sinner, sin like a sinner, but Jesus says to you, “You will live. Your sins are forgiven.” You have nothing to trust in except his promise, his word, but this means you have everything. For by the Word of God everything was made that has been made (Jn 1:3). And what if you lose those things that the world treasures? What if you lose your possessions, your health, even your life? It’s inevitable, actually. Whether by accident, disease, or old age, your body will fail and you will leave all earthly treasures behind. You will die. But death is not a problem for Jesus. He has conquered death by his death upon the cross. He has spoken, “You will live,” and so you shall. God who created your body will raise it up again, according to his promise. He is the God of miracles. But the greatest miracle that God has done for you is this: He has given you faith to believe his promise. The perfect trust in his Word that Adam and Eve had before the Fall has begun to be restored in you. You are baptized into Christ. You have the Holy Spirit. Your sins are forgiven. Everything that you need in this life and the next, your heavenly Father will provide. How do you know this? Because Jesus has given you his Word: “Go your way in peace; you will live.” Amen.