In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
Alright Pastor, we're ready. You've warned us that we are entering the end of the Church year, that things are going to get rough – fire and brimstone and away we go... with Jesus healing an official's son. Really? Shouldn't there be something more dire in the text, something more drastic? Can't we get a little wailing and gnashing of teeth in here if we're going to be all doomy and gloomy? Now, I said things were going to be rough – I didn't say I was going to have to go to Spirit Halloween and get stuff for special effects. I will submit to you that our Gospel lesson actually shows what is drastically hard about being a Christian, what makes the Christian life incredibly difficult for us today. The reality is that God knows what He is doing, and He is in control... and as sinful people we hate that.
Consider how our Gospel lesson begins. 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. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Well, what's so odd about this? A guy has a sick son, and he goes to Jesus for help – isn't that the way things ought to go? One might think so, on the surface, but Jesus gives a rather curt response. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” Jesus sees that there is something wrong here. Jesus sees that there is something about this set up that isn't quite right – that's why we have that “So”. So. Therefore. Because of this set up Jesus chides the fellow for his unbelief. You don't really believe yet. You're still looking for signs and wonders, you don't get what is going on here.
Isn't that harsh Jesus? Isn't that overly critical? Surely this is a decent guy! Well, let's examine the situation again. Jesus returns to Galilee, and he heads back up to Cana. You know, where He did His first sign at the wedding – look and see, Jesus brings goodness, water to wine, there is celebration, and it was good. Jesus makes all things good – just like we heard in Genesis 1. And it was good – and look, Jesus is here, so again, all things are good. And this official, this big-wig, hears that Jesus is up in Cana, and what does he do? He goes to Jesus in person, and then he “asked Him” to come down to Capernaum. There's a tone here. If a police officer shows up at your door and says, “I'm going to have to ask you to come down to the station” that's not a polite and humble request. There's weight, there's oomph in it. The word there for “ask” isn't just the normal word for asking a question – it's the word you might use if you were interrogating someone. This official is basically saying, “What in the world are you doing up here in podunk Cana; I've got a sick son back down in the big city, so You're going to stop what You're doing, You are going to change Your plans, Jesus, and You are going to do things my way.”
And so you know that I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill here, I want to compare this set up to what we hear in Matthew 8, where Jesus heals a leper and a Centurion's servant. We hear in Matthew 8 - And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Note how this leper does things. He kneels – which is the word for worshipping – in the ancient world you always knelt in worship. The leper simply states a fact – You are able to heal me if You want to Jesus – it's about what You think is best. Or the Centurion - When He had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to Him, appealing to Him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” Again, there's no demand, no insistence – in fact, it will be the Centurion who says that Jesus doesn't need to come; rather simply speak the word. And what's great is that word “appealing” - it “paraclete-ing” - it's that Holy Spirit word. Do you see the distinction here? This official in today's text is coming at this from a position of personal power and authority; the leper and the centurion knew that Jesus was in control.
Hence Jesus saying if you don't see you won't believe. But this official still thinks he's the one in charge. The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Do you hear the tone of command, the assumption of authority? Jesus, I don't have time for your spiritual hippie-dippie jibber-jabber, my son is going to die unless You do what I say right now. This man is so sure of himself, so sure he knows what is going on, what is going to happen, how things will play out – and Jesus just needs to hop to it.
Now, now the hard part. Now the question. How often do you expect, do you demand that things be done your way or else? How often do you act as though you think you are the one in control? We love control, we are control sick, control mad. If something doesn't go our way, how often will we seethe and rage? Last week in Ephesians we were instructed that we should be “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” We should be happy and willing to follow someone else's lead, do things their way – because we respect Jesus, we respect the fact that Jesus has put people in our lives, and we can orient ourselves around them, around their need. It's all good, Jesus is in charge, it will be fine. Is that the way we live... or do we think things hinge on whether or not we get our way? There's a bunch of elections coming up – come November 6th and all the dust is mostly settled, are we all going to say, whatever happens, “Ah, well, for Thine is still the kingdom,” or will we look at everything in terms of what we wanted, how we think things should have been done.
But the kicker, the place where the screw really turns on our dastardly desire for dominance – it's not just that we think to boss our neighbor around. It's not just that we want our way right away over them – no. We are tempted to treat God this way. We are tempted to saunter up to God just like this official and start saying, “Here's what you need to do God.” We're tempted to second guess God – why did you do X instead of Y? I wanted this, why did You do that, God? We forget the third petition – Thy will be done. What does this mean? The good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also. How is God's will done? God's will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God's name nor let His kingdom come; and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This is His good and gracious will. This is the temptation we face constantly. To not let God be God. To want our will over our things, rather than seeking Christ's will. To do things our way, forgetting that God is good. He made all things Good – and He makes all things Good.
So what is Jesus' response? What is His response to this official's insolence, to our insolence? Listen. Jesus said to him, “Go, your son will live.” I'd actually translate this as, “Go, your son lives.” Oh official, you thought you knew everything, you thought you saw how things were going, you thought you knew how to fix it. You think I need to jump through hoops? Nope. I don't need to dance to your tune; what I'm going to do is something better. I'm going to do what I always do, and that is be the good and gracious God that I am, and I will speak My creative Word and make all things good. You think your son is dying – well, I say he lives. Right now, he lives – he lives because I say so, and I am God almighty. And the Word of God is a wonderful thing. It creates. It creates life, but it also creates faith. Did you catch this? Jesus speaks His creative Word, and then: The man believed the Word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” The roles are reversed; no longer is the man telling Jesus where Jesus needs to go and what Jesus needs to do. Nope – Jesus speaks, and the official listens. He listens and believes and simply does what Jesus says. And it goes well, because Jesus is good. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. They told him, literally, your child lives... they tell him the exact same thing that Jesus had said. Jesus said, “Go, your son lives.” The servants say that his child lives. The Word of Jesus proves true. The Word of Jesus does what it says, right here and now.
And this is true for you today. There are so many fears and desires and wants and worries that batter you and bruise you. There are so many things that try to make you think that unless you get your way everything will be dire and doom. And in the face of that, in the face of all your foolish, fearful plans, Jesus says to you, “Go, you live.” Right now, you live, you live in Christ, a forgiven and redeemed child of God. You were once dead in the tresspasses and sins in which you once walked, and those sins and tresspasses still call out, trying to dominate your life, trying to make you dominate others, but you live, for by grace you have been saved through faith in Christ Jesus, and He says to you today that you are forgiven, that you have life in His name, that you live, that you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (and it was good!) for good works that you will simply walk in, so, “Go, you live.” You live in Christ, you live in His forgiveness, His strength, His might. You live covered by His truth and His righteousness and His Gospel and His peace and His faith and His salvation.
And this is true. You live. And no danger, no trouble, no strife in the world can change this. The official demanded, come down before my child dies. Later on in the book, Jesus tarries – He doesn't head to Bethany before Lazarus dies. And Martha confronts Jesus – Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. He'll rise. Oh, I know he will come the last day. And Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Don't even worry about death, Martha. I say you live, I say Lazarus lives, and so he does. See – Lazarus, come forth. Even dying, you live. Living in Me, you never taste death – death just becomes the doorway to the resurrection. Jesus knows what He is doing, and He says to you, Go, you live.
And you do. You live now, and you will live eternally in the life of the world to come when Jesus has finally made all things good again, and every drop and dreg of sin has been dredged away from creation. But you do live now, and Christ lives in you, and He works in you and through you to do His good. And His doing good through you, well, it might disabuse your sinful flesh of some of its silly ideas. So be it. Jesus has spoken and He speaks again. Because He has died and risen for you, Go, you live. Amen.
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