Trinity
21 – November 9th and 10th, 2019 – John
4:46-54
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
Last
week, I had been cranky – just had had one of those weeks where
everything seemed sour, and I was just in a nail spitting mood. And
so after service last week, I look at this Gospel lesson, and I
thought, “Boy, it sure seems as though Jesus is in a cranky mood,
too.” Well, I think the “cranky” observation was more me than
Jesus – but it is odd what Jesus says in the Gospel today, isn't
it? So, what's the set up? So [Jesus] came again to Cana in
Galilee, where He had made water wine. Jesus
had been down in Samaria, had dealt with the woman at the well –
all that stuff. And He comes home – and it should be peace, quiet,
folks who understand Him. Family, cousins (because He had been
invited to the wedding and mom was running the back room) so nice and
relaxing. 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.
And
this seems like it should be fantastic – an official, a big wig
from the capital city hears that Jesus is back in the area, and this
man walks miles and miles to ask Jesus to heal his son. Well, isn't
this great?
And
then we hear this. So
Jesus said to him, “Unless you [people] see signs and wonders, you
[people] will not believe.”
You might have noticed that I added “people” to this, because
Jesus is using the plural you – it's not just you individual, but
you all, y'all. And again, I don't know if it's accurate to say that
Jesus is cranky here – but that's sort of an exasperated tone to
it. There's not the rejoicing that someone sees and believes,
there's not a praise of the man's faith. Just – man, unless I keep
tossing out signs and wonders, y'all just don't get with it. There's
a frustration – there is a connection that Jesus expects people to
get and they aren't getting it.
Now
the dad – he doesn't care about connections or bigger thoughts or
anything – his boy is sick. So he sticks with it – The
official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
I don't really care what's bugging You or what signs or wonders
other folks want to see, but my son is going to die so can we get a
move on it? Well, no – we aren't going to get a move on it. Jesus
said to him, “Go, your son will live.”
So often, when we picture Jesus saying something in our mind, we
think of these great actors with fantastic voices saying things with
epic resonance – GO, YOUR SON... WILL LIVE!!
And there's a swell of music and the sun comes out to shine –
awwwwww. Well, no, that's not what Jesus says. That word for “Go”
isn't the epic, grand word for go – it's get a move on, scram.
It's WC Field saying, “Go away kid, you're bothering me.” And
even that “your son will live” - it's not epic. It's ὁ υἱός
σου ζῇ. Your son lives. Go on, he's fine. It's like when
you've got one parent freaking out because their kid got a scrape and
going all, “Oh my baby” and the other parent saying, “relax,
he's fine.” This is completely low key and unimpressive. This is
even less impressive than water in the jars being turned to wine
while no one was looking.
But
the dad – he's good with this. The
man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
Oh. Well – if You say that I can get going, well, I'll get going.
This man takes Jesus simply at His Word, even Jesus' most simple
word. And we know what's going to happen. 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 this was the hour when Jesus had said to
him, “Your son will live.”
Okay – this is cooler than we think. Oh, it's nice that the
servants meet him. But did you note when? The next day. He had met
Jesus at 1 pm. The seventh hour – and then the guy starts walking
home – and it's the next day, and that's when the servants came,
who would have come running as soon as it happened to inform the guy
that the son was improving. Do you get the time table? The guy had
walked for two days to get to Jesus – to beg Jesus to come with
him. Eh, scram, the kid is fine.
And
yet, there's no anger, no disdain, No 'I thought the prophet would
come and wave his hand over the kid' – nope. Just faith. And
he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second
sign that Jesus did when He had come from Judea to Galille.
The sign is given, and the folks believe. They recognize that this
Jesus is the Messiah. He is God incarnate. And yet, why was Jesus
so... if not cranky exasperated and short with people? It has to do
with this word “sign.”
See,
in John's Gospel the word “miracle” isn't used. The wedding at
Cana isn't Jesus' first “miracle” - it's His first sign that He
does. And this healing is the second sign. So then, what's a sign?
A sign is something that tells you what is going on. A sign points
you to the real deal. When you've seen the sign, you know where you
are, you know what's going on. It should be the giant clue by four
that puts everything into place. And in Jewish culture – once you
had two signs – things were solid. Add a third on top, and
everyone should know what is going on.
And the signs were clear. Jesus is the Messiah. He is
God come down, not just to Capernaum, but come down to earth. The
hills drip sweet wine – and He speaks and it is just like at
creation – this is God with us, this is Immanuel. God Himself is
Present! This is great!
So then – now what? Now that God is here with us,
now that the Messiah has come – now what? What's the response, how
do you approach life, how do you live now that you have had this
wondrous sign revealed you? Now that the mystery of the ages is
present – what do you say? Well... I heard You were back, and I
know You are good with the healing, so You think You might heal my
son? Yeah, yeah, prophecy fulfilled, mystery of the ages, that's
nice, but his fever is sort of high, so You mind if we start walking?
I'm
not saying that it's bad that this father wants his son healed – I
mean we pray for people all the time. That's fine. But there's
Jesus. There's the Word of God by Whom all things were made – and
here's just another humdrum problem. It would be like having Van
Gogh or Monet show up at your house and saying, “Oh, wow – you're
a great painter – you know, the spare bedroom could use an extra
coat, would you mind?” Unless
you [people] see signs and wonders you [people] will not believe.
Don't you people get it? Don't you see the bigger picture? Don't
you realize why I have come? Go,
your son will live.
Scram, your kid lives. Of course he lives – don't you know that's
why I've come. Oh, he'll die eventually, and you'll die, and your
servants will die – but I've come so that you all will live. When
Isaiah talks about the hills dripping sweet wine, it wasn't just for
a wedding one weekend – it's going to be forever. This creation
that I had made – that I spoke, and it was good – I've come to
destroy and eradicate sin and death so that I can and will make it
good again – and not just what you folks think of as good – maybe
80 or 90 years of health – but good good. Living, never to die
living – that's that Good that I'm here to set up. Get with the
big picture, people!
One
of my favorite stories was one my college economics prof told – Dr.
Will Clark. Not the first basemen for the Giants, but I did take his
class because of the name – and Dr. Clark told this story. The
famous economist John Keynes was having a debate with some folks who
didn't like his economic theories, and they said, “You know, in the
long run, our theories work just as well.” And Keynes' response
was, “in the long run, we're all dead.” And frankly, if left to
our own devices, in the long run, we're all dead. And that would be
the end of the story. Think of the drama and spats that you've had
this week – how many of them are you going to really remember 5
years from now – much less feel? Or 10 years from now? I took
that class with Dr. Clark 24 years ago – it was a wonderful class
and I loved the man – he had a tremendous impact upon me as a
student and scholar. I might think of him two or three times a year.
That's 24 years for you. And who of us is even going to be around
100 years from now? And now think of the anger, the hurt, the pain
that we get so wrapped up in – the fears, the sorrows, the hurts.
Half the time when I get in a bad mood I can't even remember what set
me off thirty minutes later – but I'll still get my mood on. And
in the long run, we're all dead. And that should be it, end of the
story, that's all she wrote – to where 150 years from now we're
nothing more than a note in someone's family tree, maybe a plaque on
a wall with our name now faded.
And
that's what it would be – except for this. So
He came.
So Jesus came. The Word of God, by whom all things were made, who
had made all things good, came down into the midst of His creation, a
creation torn apart and wrecked by sin to such an extent that instead
of enjoying blessings we nurse our hurts and our grudges and we abuse
the gifts He gives and we grouse and complain and we ache and
suffer... and into the middle of this Jesus came. And He takes all
of it up upon Himself, He goes to the Cross, He dies – wretchedly –
probably more wretchedly than any of us will. And why? Not to heal
you for a moment, not to buy you a pony or help you pass a test you
didn't study for. He just might do that – He doesn't mind doing
that – but that's not WHY He came. He came for this reason. So
that He could look at you and say, “Go on, you'll live. Forever.
Resurrected, perfected, with Me. Free from sin and pain. This life
now – this is like childbirth – it hurts and is confusing – but
the fullness comes after.
Two weeks ago – ugh, that was wretched. This past
week – meh? As for this week to come – who knows? I hope I have
a good one and I hope you all have even better ones. And I hope in a
few weeks your Thanksgiving Turkey as moist and as flavorful as
you've ever had. If so, enjoy it. But that's not the most important
thing. Nor will be the things that get you upset, the things that go
sideways, because something always does go sideways eventually. The
important thing is this. Jesus has died, and Jesus has risen – and
He has claimed you as His own Baptized child – and so no matter
what happens to you, you will rise. You live. Happily. Even after
the end and then onto the Ever After. That's actually how your story
goes – because Christ Jesus is your Savior. God grant that we see
this and believe this and delight in this and all the other gifts
that He gives us, whether big or small, for we are His baptized
children! In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit +
No comments:
Post a Comment