The Twenty-First Sunday After Trinity (October 24, 2021)

May the word of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

In this morning’s Gospel reading from the fourth chapter of St. John, our Lord goes back to Cana of Galilee. He had just been there two chapters earlier when he performed the first public miracle of his ministry at the Wedding Feast where he turned water into wine. Upon his return to the city, he was confronted by a nobleman who had a sick son on the verge of death.

Now the ethnic identity of this nobleman is ambiguous: is he a Jew or a Gentile? Usually, the Gospels give us some kind of indicator. But here, we don’t get an answer: he could have been a Roman nobleman or a high up figure in the Herodian regime but we have no definitive clues. The fourth chapter of John’s Gospel as a whole seems to be about Jesus’ ministry to non-Jews as it dedicates most of its discussion to Jesus’ time in Samaria. So personally I think we can say it’s probable the nobleman is a Gentile but the ambiguity may have been intentional: what is important about this man is not his ethnicity but the fact that he’s a human being and a father who comes before our Lord on behalf of his sick son.

Yet in response to the initial request, our Lord seems to offer a rebuke: “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” Why does Jesus respond like this? It’s not to be mean or minimize the man’s pain. It’s important to recognize that the second person pronoun “you” in English can be singular or plural, making it a confusing and slippery word. This is why, where I’m from, people say “ya’ll” when speaking to a group. The Greek verb here for “you see” is plural meaning it’s “ya’ll see.” Like many other encounters Jesus has, this is a test. It’s a chance for the man to show he’s unique, that he’s different from the crowds who clamored for the miraculous as if it’s a spectacle to entertain them like some sort of magic show, musical act, or sporting event.

The man’s response to Jesus’ challenge makes it clear that his motive was different than the crowds Jesus was criticizing: “Come down ere my child die.” Commentator BF Westcott calls this “a faith, however imperfect, which springs out of a father’s love.” And Jesus acknowledges that faith by providing a short reply: “Go thy way; thy son liveth.” Notice that the words are in the present tense: “your son lives” or “your son is living.” Jesus does not use the future tense here, “Your son will be okay.” No, he lives now. This is a declarative statement highlighting the authority of our Lord’s words. And, in response to these words, we’re told that the man “believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.” And when he arrived home, he found his son as Jesus had said and, when he asked his servants when the recovery occurred and it was exactly the same time Jesus had said “thy son liveth.” This recognition leads to the conclusion of the story where the noblemen “himself believed and his whole house.” Now, There’s an important question about the reading that many commentators ask and it’s this: when did the man have faith? We are explicitly told the man had faith first in verse 50 after Jesus told the man his son would be well and in verse 54 after he saw his son was well. Further, I think we can ask whether the man coming to see Jesus at all was an act of faith. But let’s think about that question of when the decisive moment of faith and answer it in a minute.

To better understand the depiction of the man’s faith, it’s helpful to delve into the rebuke Jesus gives: “unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” This tension, which can best be described as reluctant sign-giving is a consistent of the Fourth Gospel. We see it in the second chapter of the Gospel at the Wedding Feast when our Lord is reluctant to perform the miracle of turning water into wine because he says, “My hour has not yet come.” The theme continues throughout the book until it reaches its culmination in the figure of Doubting Thomas. After Thomas refused to believe the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus appeared to him and let him put his fingers in the wounds on his wrist and side. Seeing and touching the wounds made him exclaim, “My Lord and my God,” as an act of faith. These are the same words the priest prays when he elevates the sacrament at the Words of Institution. But after this realization, Jesus provides a rebuke to Thomas: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

In the wake of our reading then, I think we can say that there are three kinds of people in relation to the Gospel proclamation. First, there are those who believe without seeing. This is the best category to be in and what we should all strive for because it stems from confidence in God and a child-like trust in him. The second category is that there are those who believe after seeing. Thomas is one who fits in this category. As our Lord says, this is preferable to disbelief but it’s not as optimal as those who believe without seeing. And the final category is those who do not believe. In John’s Gospel, this category seems to be the crowds who want to see signs for the spectacle. In Matthew 16:4, Jesus proclaims, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.”

So in what category does the nobleman from the Gospel reading belong? We know he’s not a part of the faithless, cynical, and self-indulgent crowds because the reading presents him in too positive a light. Some commentators say he fits best in the second group. The text tells us, after all that he believes twice, both in response to Jesus’ words and actions. I would argue, however, that the man fits more with the first group: the group who believes without seeing. My reason for thinking this is because the man goes to Jesus unprompted. The man takes the initiative, whereas in the case of Thomas, Jesus initiates their encounter. That the man comes to Jesus out of desperation and a sense of helplessness shows that he knew only Jesus could heal his boy. This is an admission that Jesus is more than a regular human, and even more than a great teacher. But even then, the example of the nobleman highlights the effect of grace. It’s only the prevenient grace that goes before that enables him to come. The spoken word of our Lord works in the man to stir up belief. And the effect of Christ’s words and actions strengthen his faith and converts his whole household.

The stages the nobleman goes through are the same stages those of us who are Christians go through. Prevenient grace works in us to bring us to the baptismal font, whether that happened to us when we were just a baby or later in life. The proclamation of the Gospel and the Sacraments work in us to increase our faith. And finally, when we look back at God’s faithfulness, both in the Scripture and in our own personal experiences, we are further confirmed and strengthened.

Faith isn’t static; it’s not a one-time event. Faith is a gift that’s infused in us by the Holy Ghost. It’s something that has to be tended, stoked, and cared for. We do this by continually returning to our Lord with the same sort of desperation the nobleman exhibited in our reading this morning. Where do we go to find him? His Church and His Sacraments.

Today is the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity. The last Sunday of November is the First Sunday of Advent. This means that Ordinary Time is nearing an end and the new year is coming. This affords us an opportunity to re-walk these steps again as we follow the life of our Lord from his birth to his death, resurrection, and ascension. So our Collect of the Day is preparing us by walking us through those steps with the nobleman: “Grant we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind.” Grant us pardon and peace is the nobleman’s request for his son’s healing. In the story, it’s a physical healing; in our case, it’s a spiritual healing. “That they may be cleansed from all their sins” is a result of the healing just like the boy’s restoration of health was the effect of Christ’s words. And finally, “that we might serve thee with a quiet mind” speaks to our resolve after having experienced the power and faithfulness of God just as the man and his house believed upon seeing the son healed.

My prayer, as your new Rector, is that we as a community corporately and each of us as individuals who make up this community, might continually live into this rhythm: confession, reception, and sanctification. We come to God through the Church admitting that we have fallen short, being honest about our sins. We receive his Body and Blood in the Eucharist and his word is grafted into our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel. And finally, that as we receive and hear him, that we be made more like him.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.