Healing a Son
Notes
Transcript
NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
Engagement
Some of you joining us this morning are probably familiar with the 1970 rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar”. Even if you don’t remember the original musical or the 1973 movie, you may have seen the most recent production, which starred John Legend and Alice Cooper, and which was originally broadcast in 2018 and then shown again last year on Easter.
The musical claims to be “loosely based” on the gospel accounts of Jesus and centers on Judas, who is portrayed as being dissatisfied with the direction of Jesus’ ministry.
When the soundtrack first came out, I really liked the music. But, since I was not yet a disciple of Jesus, I didn’t realize just how blasphemous certain aspects of that production were. But looking back now, many years later, I also realize that the musical does pretty accurately reflect what much of the world thought about Jesus while He was here on earth and what they still think about Him today.
One song, in particular, is relevant to our current sermon series. It is titled “King Herod’s Song” and here are a few of the lyrics from that song:
Prove to me that you're divine; change my water into wine.
That's all you need do, then I'll know it's all true.
So, you are the Christ, you're the great Jesus Christ.
Prove to me that you're no fool; walk across my swimming pool.
If you do that for me, then I'll let you go free.
So, if you are the Christ, yes the great Jesus Christ
Feed my household with this bread.
You can do it on your head.
I realize these words are not historical. They were written in 1970 by Tim Rice, who admitted that he does not believe that Jesus is God. But I think they do nonetheless accurately reflect how Herod and others viewed Jesus. Like Herod, there were many who wanted to see Jesus perform signs, not because they wanted to know more about who He is, but because they just wanted to be entertained. And there was another group who, like Judas, wanted Jesus to perform signs that would benefit them personally. For Judas, that meant a Messiah who would make life more comfortable by overthrowing the Roman government.
Tension
Unfortunately today people are still looking for Jesus to perform some sign or miracle for all the wrong reasons. And that is often true even within the church. As a result, people have become consumers of religion who shop for churches like they shop for a house or a car or their clothing. They choose a church based on whether they will be fed or whether the church will meet their needs or satisfy they preferences. And as soon as the church fails to meet those criteria, they just find another church.
In his book God in the Wasteland, David Wells comments on this idea:
“We have turned to a God that we can use rather than a God we must obey; we have turned to a God who will fulfill our needs rather than to a God before whom we must surrender our rights to ourselves. He is a God for us and for our satisfaction - not because we have learned to think of him this way through Christ but because we have learned to think of him this way through the marketplace...And so we transform the God of mercy into a God who is at our mercy
I think if we’re honest, we are all prone to fall into that trap from time to time.
Truth
We’re in the second week of our current sermon series - Seven Signs - and we’re looking at the seven signs that Jesus performed that are recorded in John’s gospel account. Hopefully you’ll remember the definition of a sign from last week:
Greek semeion =
an outward indication of a truth
that which distinguishes a person or thing from others
While Jesus did many signs other that the seven John records, each of the seven in his gospel account reveal something about Jesus and they authenticate His identity, message and mission.
This morning we’ll look at the second of those signs and we’ll discover how that sign is the antidote to the “what’s in it for me” approach to Jesus that we’ve been talking about so far. The key to understanding this second sign is to make sure we put it in its proper context. It is only when this sign is contrasted with the events that occurred just before it that we can understand how this sign applies to our lives.
After Jesus performed the first sign - turning water to wine - He returned to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. And John tells us that while He was there, He did many signs. And as a result, John tells us that some people believed in Jesus. But that belief proved to be shallow and short-lived.
Some time later, Jesus left to go back to Galilee, this time going through Samaria where He had an encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well in Sychar. It is notable that as far as we know Jesus did not perform any signs in Samaria. And yet, because of the testimony of the woman that Jesus met at the well, the people of Sychar asked Jesus to remain there for two days. And because of the words that Jesus spoke to them over the next two days, many came to believe that Jesus was “the Savior of the World” (John 4:42).
The faith that the people of Sychar expressed is notable for two reasons:
First, they were Samaritans, who were considered to be half-breeds and hated by the Jews.
And more relevant to today’s message, they believed without the need for Jesus to perform any signs.
After the two days there in Sychar, Jesus finally made it back to Galilee. And He was welcomed by the people there. But not necessarily for the right reasons.
So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.
Jesus had performed his first sign there in Galilee in the town of Cana and since many of the people from Galilee had also traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover, they had also seen some of the signs and wonders he had done there. So they were anxious to see what kind of show Jesus might put on for them in His home town.
That is the context for the second sign that John records in his gospel account.
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. 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. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 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.
Here is the main idea that I want us to take away from this passage today:
This second sign shows that Jesus is not the means to an end, He is the end
This second sign shows that Jesus is not the means to an end, He is the end
This account of this sign begins with a man who comes to Jesus because he needs Jesus to do something for him. For him, Jesus is merely the means to an end. But by the end of the account this same man and his entire family come to a much deeper understanding of Jesus and they put their faith in Him. My prayer is that as we study this sign together, wherever you are in your walk with Jesus, you will understand His identity, His message and His message more fully and that as a result, you will experience a deeper, fuller belief in Jesus.
We are introduced here to a man who is only identified as “an official”. He likely served Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee on behalf of the Romans there in Capernaum. This is the same Herod who is later involved in both the beheading of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus. We are not told whether this official is a Jew or a Gentile, although as we’ll talk about in a moment, it seems likely that he was a Jew.
His son was ill and the underlying Greek grammar suggests that he had been ill for a while. And now he was about to die. It is easy to understand the official’s desperation here. In that day, a fever in a child was cause for great concern as it often preceded death. Historians estimate that in the Roman Empire only about half of the children born survived to age five. Undoubtedly this official had exhausted all his other options. So when he heard that Jesus was in Cana, he made the difficult trip from Capernaum to see Jesus.
As you can see on this map, that was about a 17 mile journey from the shores of the Sea of Galilee up the windy, mountainous roads to Cana.
The official approaches Jesus and he asks Jesus to travel with him back to his home in Capernaum and heal his son. Jesus’ reply seems a bit harsh at first glance:
“Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
Apparently, by now a crowd has gathered around to see what Jesus is going to do. Both of the pronouns “you” in Jesus’ response are plural. Those of you from the south would just say “y’all” there. So Jesus is addressing the entire crowd here. And while we can’t be certain, it seems likely that the crowd consists primarily of Jews. Later, when he wrote his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul points out that the Jews were looking for signs before they would believe that someone was the Messiah:
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
Jesus knew the hearts of the people in that crowd. I think they were a lot like Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar. They had come to see a show. Or maybe they wanted to see some indication that Jesus was going to fulfill their desire to overthrow the Roman government. I think that even the official had initially approached Jesus because He viewed Jesus merely as the means to an end. But Jesus was going to have no part in any sign that would serve those selfish desires.
I also think that Jesus is doing something that He had done with Mary when He performed His first sign. He was testing this official to see if his faith was in the person of Jesus or only in what Jesus could do for him. So just like Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus commanded even after He initially refused to help, this official still believes that Jesus can help him. In fact, he becomes even bolder. He no longer just asks Jesus to come to his home. He essentially commands Him to do so. And that command is made with a great deal of urgency.
Jesus certainly could have complied with that request. One of the things we see in Jesus’ ministry is that He never seems to be in a hurry. After talking to the woman at the well , He spent two more days there in Samaria. So He is certainly not constrained by time limits here. And we also know that Jesus cared about all and was willing to go out His way to reach even one person. So it’s not that he’s too busy to go care for this boy or that He just doesn’t care.
But by healing the boy from a distance rather than going to the official’s house, Jesus is directing attention away from the sign itself and directing people to seek Him and not the sign. And that is exactly what happens with this official. When Jesus tells him to go home because his son is healed, he doesn’t argue with Jesus or question Him. He just believes what Jesus said and heads home. As we talked about last week, when John uses the word “believe” in his gospel account, it is always more than just intellectual assent to a set of facts. It is complete trust in the person of Jesus that results in some kind of action. And we certainly see that here.
As the official heads home, he meets his servants who tell him that his son is recovering. And guess what? His fever began to leave him at the exact moment that Jesus told the official that his son would be healed. And as a result the official’s faith grew even deeper. As a result his entire family comes to believe in Jesus, not just as the means to an end, but as the end.
This second sign shows that Jesus is not the means to an end, He is the end
This second sign shows that Jesus is not the means to an end, He is the end
By performing this sign, Jesus overcomes two perceived obstacles in the mind of this official:
The first obstacle is distance. That’s why the official insists that Jesus must come with him. He didn’t even consider the possibility that Jesus could heal from a distance.
The second obstacle is death. That’s why the official insists that his son is going to die if Jesus doesn’t do something.
But this sign reveals that those aren’t obstacles at all for Jesus. In fact this sign reveals two crucial aspects of who Jesus is:
WHAT THIS SIGN REVEALS ABOUT JESUS
WHAT THIS SIGN REVEALS ABOUT JESUS
He is not limited by time and space
While the gathered crowd heard what Jesus said to the official, we see no evidence that any of them went with the official to see if whether Jesus really had healed his son. That would have required too much time and effort from a group that was just looking for Jesus to entertain them. Other than this official and his family , we see no evidence that anyone else even knew what Jesus had done here. Just like the first sign was performed so that four disciples would believe, Jesus did this second sign so that this official and his family would believe - and that they would do that for the right reasons.
By healing from a distance, Jesus is clearly demonstrating that He is God in the flesh. Only God Himself is capable of healing without needing to be physically present to do so. Only God is not bound by the limitations of space and time.
While this official and his family certainly didn’t fully understand Jesus’ mission at that point, they had experienced enough to believe that He was God because only God could heal like that.
He is the giver of life
We will continue to see this aspect of Jesus’ ministry expanded upon as we work our way through the rest of the signs. Here Jesus gives physical life to the boy who was dying. And throughout His earthly ministry He would continue to physically heal people. But that healing was only temporary. Every one of those people He healed, including this boy, eventually died. But healing those people was a picture of the more important aspect of Jesus’ mission - healing people spiritually so that they might believe in Him and receive eternal life, just like this official and his family.
Just as Jesus has mercy on this official and his son and stepped in to do something to save him, Jesus had mercy on us. When we were spiritually dead and could do nothing about it, Jesus stepped in and came to earth and died on the cross and then rose from the dead. He did that, not to put on a show or to entertain people, or to be the means to a more comfortable life. He did that because it is only in Him that we find real life.
Application/Action
As we close this morning, I’m going to give you a few questions that I want you to prayerfully consider. Sometimes I’ll ask a question and ask you to respond with the first thing that comes to mind. But in this case these questions require some deeper thought. So I want to encourage you to find some quiet time this week to sit down and ask God to help you answer these questions honestly and then to help you to respond appropriately based on your answers.
QUESTIONS TO ASK:
Am I trusting in Jesus for what He can do for me or am I trusting in Him because of what He has already done on the cross?
One good way to help you answer this question is to think about how and when you pray. Do you only pray when you have a problem or you want God to do something in your life. Or do you pray regularly and include times of thanksgiving and praise for the salvation that comes only through Jesus?
How is my relationship with Jesus impacted when He does not answer my prayers the way I want?
I know we have all experienced times in our life when God doesn’t answer our prayers in the way we would like. That’s essentially what happened in the passage we’ve looked at today. But what if God doesn’t heal the loved one we’ve been praying for? What if God doesn’t provide a job when we pray for that? What if my marriage ends after I asked God to restore it? If I turn away from Jesus during those times, that’s probably a pretty good indication that I’m only trusting in Him as the means to some end and not as the end.
Am I a religious “consumer”?
Do I approach my relationship with Jesus like I would if I was buying a car or a house? Am I looking for tangible benefits or looking for someone to fulfill my needs or am I willing to surrender my rights in order to love God and love others?
Do I take Jesus at His word?
Am I like the Samaritans who believed in Jesus merely because of what He said. Or am I more like the Jews who largely failed to believe even after seeing many signs. Am I willing to obey Jesus even when I don’f fully understand or when His commands don’t make sense to me?
Inspiration
This second sign shows that Jesus is not the means to an end, He is the end
This second sign shows that Jesus is not the means to an end, He is the end
As I’ve mentioned before, many of us, and I include myself in this group, were a lot like this official. At first we came to Jesus because we did view Him as a means to some end, as the way to receive something that was important to us. And there is nothing wrong with starting there, as long as we don’t remain there. So my prayer for all of us is that we would come to the place in our lives where Jesus is the end, where we desire Him above all else, where He alone is enough.