Hope for the Helpless

A young woman had become critically ill and her prognosis was grim; she would likely die within a year. Her family had a nominal "Easter and Christmas Eve" commitment to the church, so the discussions in the hospital between [a] young pastor and this family always plowed new ground. The woman challenged him: if Jesus healed in the Bible, he should be able to help me today. If not, what good was he? So she prayed. The pastor prayed. The whole family prayed – and pleaded and begged and bargained. If God would only show mercy, the family urged, they would completely recommit themselves and come to church every Sunday. This earnest young pastor prayed with all his heart. He refused to join the ranks of those who said, "if it is thy will." It was God's will that she be healed, he concluded.

Then to his amazement, God healed her – completely. And with the physicians shaking their heads, she was sent home from the hospital.

We talk a lot about prayer and faith and trusting Jesus. We sometimes look for signs and wonders in order to reinforce our faith. We may even want to see miracles. But what will be the result?

Today, as we continue to study the Gospel of John together, we get to consider the second “sign” that John includes as he lays before us his argument, making the case for belief in Jesus, the Son of God, resulting in eternal life.

As we consider this brief section of scripture today, we are going to reflect on this theme:

Whether we are coming to Jesus for salvation or walking daily with Him, we must recognize how helpless we are and how help-full He is.

As we process through this theme, let’s begin by...

Understanding the Situation

Let’s briefly consider some of the implications and cultural elements of the context.

John 4:46 ESV

So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.

Jesus had been in Samaria and traveled a day or so to get to Cana, a mountain town in the region the sea of Galilee - actually a bit West of water itself.

Capernaum was on the north coast of the sea - about 20 miles from Cana.

This official was a governing official - not a religious one. He served the King.

John 4:47 ESV

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.

We don’t know how long Jesus was in Cana before this man heard that Jesus was there. John simply doesn’t give us that information.

Being a royal official - this man had some means and some influence - even some power - and yet his son was gravely ill - and he was powerless to heal him.

So he came to Jesus and asked - or pleaded - for Jesus to come to heal his son.

To which Jesus replied:

John 4:48 ESV

So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

Here - Jesus uses the plural “you” - so he’s likely referring in general to the people of the region.

It is interesting too that Jesus says “signs and wonders” - this is the only time that appears in John’s gospel - thought it appears in the other gospels. It’s as though Jesus is calling out the people saying that they are looking for miracles to believe - they want a show.

In spite of Jesus pushing back a bit - this man was insistent:

John 4:49 ESV

The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Now, instead of pleading or begging - the man commands Jesus to come. He says come down because even though Capernaum was a bit north and east of Cana, it was below sea level.

So Jesus responds with an equally insistent reply:

John 4:50 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”

The command to “go” is the same type of imperative. He tells him to go and promises healing.

At Jesus’ word, the man obeys and believes:

John 4:50 (ESV)

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

Here this powerful man with a dying child was helpless and all he can do is trust, walk in faith and obey. He believed.

Now, keep in mind that 20 miles is about what an average person can walk in a day. We don’t know if he had a chariot or an entourage - it’s quite possible. But this was not the 30-60 minute journey that it would be by car for us. It was at least a half-day or more each way.

So he likely invested 2-3 days in this request.

The section concludes:

John 4:51–54 ESV

As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

Now - not only had he expressed trust in Jesus at his Word, but he believed something more. John seems to be signaling here that this man believed in Who Jesus is - a common theme for John in the gospel.

As we think about this encounter between Jesus and the official, let’s consider some applications that we can glean.

Applying the Word

There are elements where this experience really touches so much of our lives - our faith in Jesus, our prayer lives, and the very core of our salvation.

As we apply this passage, we’re going to consider some principles that we see depicted in this encounter.

First of all...

We must perceive our helplessness (4:46)

Just as the official recognized that in spite of all of his power and resources, he was helpless to heal his son, so too, we need to recognize our own helplessness.

As a society, we have so many resources. Our standard of living is among the highest in all the world - even the poorest among us. The freedoms we enjoy, the autonomy we exhibit - all speak volumes to the control that we seem to be able to experience.

But when it comes to our relationship with Jesus - we have to recognize that all of those resources and gifts are worthless. We are still so helpless.

We like to throw money at problems.

The problem is that we are trying to fix spiritual problems with material solutions - that will never work.

We have to recognize that we are spiritually helpless - destitute - without hope - that is, without hope outside of Jesus.

But beyond just perceiving our helplessness, we can follow the official’s example and...

We should plead for help from the capable One! (47)

Jesus is that capable One. Whether we are coming to Him for our eternal salvation or pleading for him to fix an unfixable situation, we need to recognize that

He is the One who can act,

He is the One who can save,

He is the One who can heal,

If you’re not yet a follower of Christ, if you’ve not yet trusted in what Jesus did on the cross for your sin and mine, let me encourage you to recognize your helplessness and repent of your sinfulness and rebellion against God - receive His salvation - our sin eternally separates us from God, but by Jesus sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection, we now have a way of coming to God - by faith.

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

The Apostle Paul continues:

Romans 10:13 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

But, more than just coming to Jesus for our salvation, think about it from the discipline of prayer.

In prayer, we recognize our need, our helplessness.

In prayer, we plead for Jesus to act and move.

In prayer, we express our hope that Jesus will do exactly what is according to His will.

In prayer, we regularly submit to His will.

So, we can observe that the official perceived his helplessness, He came to Jesus and pled for Him to act. We can follow his example in that we should...

Persist in hope that God will act (48-49)

When Jesus pushed back by stating that the people of that region only wanted a show, the man insisted - come down and heal my son. His intentions were true and his situation was desperate.

How often do we toss up prayers like flower petals on a windy day? God, would you bless me or bless this person? Would you be with so and so? And then we move on, never coming back to it.

My prayer is out there flowing in the wind, I hope it lands on Jesus’ ears.

Instead, our prayerful posture should be one of persistence. Bringing requests before the Lord, insisting on action, trusting in His will.

Jesus has told us how we should pray:

Luke 18:1–8 NLT

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’ ” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”

Beloved, keep praying.

Keep pleading for that love one to return to God - to get his or her life in alignment with God’s plan.

Keep asking for God to save, to act, to move, to heal.

But finally, as we can see in the official, we should...

Proceed in Faith (50-54)

At some point faith must be exhibited by our lives.

This man exhibited at least a short term faith, kind of like the family we talked about at the beginning. He knew he was helpless and in spite of the fact that Jesus wasn’t going to go with him, he trusted Jesus to heal his son - even from a distance.

At some point we have to trust that God is at work and that he is good to fulfill His word.

This faith is not a commentary on the strength or substance of our faith, but on the Object of our faith-Jesus

We learned a few months ago I our study of Hebrews that

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)

…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This afternoon, let me encourage you to take some time to read and consider all of Hebrews 11 and the way that so many of the OT heroes proceeded in faith. They walked, trusting that God would accomplish his will.

What does proceeding in faith look like?

In Salvation - it looks like trusting that when Jesus died on the cross, He covered your sins for eternity. In light of that, it means trusting that God is at work in you, shaping you, transforming you. It means changing your paradigm and not running on a performance-based standard anymore.

In Prayer - It means persistently bringing things before the Lord and waiting on Him to move. Not trying to manipulate a situation. It means paying attention to how the Spirit is leading you, but doing things on God’s terms and in His time.

Closing thoughts

I wish I could say that I’m really good at this, but I can’t. My prayers are too often vague platitudes. There is a general lack of desperation in my personal prayer life. I wonder if that really speaks to how much or how little I trust that God works through prayer.

I really have so much to learn in this area. I need to grow in this area.

Will you pray for me even as I seek to improve how I pray for you?

Will we walk in faith, even if God says “no” to our request?

Will we trust Him even if it means waiting on His perfect timing for years or even decades?

When we began, I shared a story about healing. In the vein of the late Paul Harvey, let me tell you the rest of the story.

Next Sunday, the entire family was there in the front pew, dressed and sparkling. The young woman gave her testimony, praising God for his goodness. The following Sunday, the family was there again. In four weeks, it was only the woman and her husband. And after that, attendance was sporadic until they dropped into their previous pattern. Before long, the woman rationalized the entire incident. She had experienced the most dramatic sign God could give her: healing bathed in prayer and surrounded by the church. But after only two months, its power dimmed to nothing.

Sadly, the miracle was all they had to their faith. They seemed to lack a consistent recognition that they we’re helpless.

We don’t know about the long term commitment of the ruler, but John seems to indicate that he believed, that he had a saving faith.

What about you and me?

Let’s pray.

Benediction

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Sources:

Burge, Gary M. The NIV Application Commentary: John. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000.

Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991.

Crossway Bibles. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.

Milne, Bruce. The Message of John (The Bible Speaks Today). Downers Grove, IL. Inter-Varsity Press, 1993.

Related Media

Related Sermons