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Twenty-First
Sunday after Trinity
The
Collect.
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RANT, 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; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle
Ephesians vi. 10.
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Y brethren, be strong in the
Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of
righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me,
that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for
which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought
to speak.
If we were to cringe and withdraw into our desert dugouts, we would need no
armor. A non –belligerent needs no armor. But we are soldiers of the cross,
locked in mortal combat with the very enemy of the soul of man – the Devil and
his legions. Our battle must be more of offense than of defense since we bear
the advantage of the higher terrain and every resource of heaven. So our armor
is to protect ourselves, but also to inflict devastating blows to the enemy in
the field. He has attempted to misappropriate and corrupt the Creation of our
Lord. But the decisive victory has already been won by the Captain of our souls
at Calvary. We must now occupy the land and eliminate his pockets of resistance
and silence his vedettes and lines of pickets. Truth is our strength and
support. Our hearts are covered with the imputed righteousness of Him who has
commissioned us to His Army. The Gospel of Peace, having been instilled in our
hearts through study and preparation, is the liberty of movement and maneuver
which we enjoy on the field. Our main protection against the blows of the enemy
is our Faith. The helmet of our salvation is the strength of our learning
and belief. Our Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God which is a Two-Edged
Sword to either condemn, or convict of sin. Prayer is our communications
network whereby we are in constant supplication for the entire army and for
each other. This, and the Prayer of Collect, join together as a hand to the
glove the Imperative of Faith as our most treasured possession of victory!
The Holy Gospel
John 4:46-54
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o Jesus came again into
Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine; There was a
certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was
come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he
would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then said
Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The
nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him,
Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken
unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met
him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour
when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour
the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the
which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole
house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of
Judæa into Galilee.
Introduction
1. Mark the setting of the text. A father pleads
for the life of his son. Who would not have thought that the kind Saviour would
instantly say, “I will?” Yet He treats the application as a great error.
“Except ye see.” He disregards the man and treats him as the mouthpiece of a
mistaken multitude, whose prevalent fallacy was to make miracles the condition
of belief. No ordinary man would have thought of that answer.
2. This apparent rebuff, however, was only a
trial of his constancy. “Like the rest of your nation you set aside Divine
holiness, wisdom, and love and fasten on power, You forget how many works of
power there are which are not God’s, and not
until you have marked the adjuncts — holiness, wisdom, love — can you pronounce
Them Divine.” The nobleman responded, “Come down, ere my child die,” as though
he had said, “I am not thirsting for
evidences.” It is the voice of nature, and the God of nature hears it. The
trial is ended and the victory is won.
Notice the wonderful intertwining of nature
and grace in the Gospel. The Gospel adapts itself to all that is best and beautiful in man’s heart.
1. It has been found in some hour of mortal
peril that persons of no religion will invoke the mercy of that Being who, up
to that moment, they had denied. Skeptics, no doubt, can account for this in
the survival of old prejudices. Christians
naturally account for it by supposing that a belief in God is a primary
principle in man’s nature.
2. As in individuals, so in families.
(A) Fathers who have made shipwreck of faith for
themselves want Christ for their children. The immoral man would fence his
child from. vice; the sceptic refuses to rear his child on negatives and
chooses, therefore, a Christian school.
(B) And if the father sees his child stretched on
a couch of pain from which he may never rise, is there not a voice in his heart
crying, “Sir, come down, ere my child die.” I know the case is not rare in
which the doubting or disbelieving father hag desired, has sought, for his son
the spiritual healing, has called in some man of God whose repute was highest
for communication with the invisible, has encouraged his visits, has even knelt
in the corner while he prayed, and has joined with strong cries and tears in
the “Rock of ages, cleft for me,” sung or said in the chamber where the staying
pray with the going; and has gone off from the experience and trial strong in
the Son of God, to say at last, “Let me die the death of the righteous; let my
last end be like His.” Christ is marching to complete the sum of happiness and
to round the circle of being." (Dean Vaughan)
The Gospel text provides an example of victorious faith over the curse of Eden.
Faith is the crown jewel of our religion and, without it, there can be no
reconciliation to God. Our souls would remain in the dark abyss and our bodies
wracked with every sore and boil without the Balm of the Faith of Gilead. The
Gospel is a fitting benediction to that overcoming faith described in both the
Collect and the epistle for today.
God would have us, I believe, to learn:
1.
‘Believing
faith’ is a faith that will draw down the miraculous powers of heaven;
2.
Faith
believes where evidence does not appear. “Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders
obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed
by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which
do appear.” (Heb 11:1-3);
3.
Faith
must have a vehicle upon which to move – hearing;
4.
Faith
compels us, in our dire need, to draw on the smallest morsel of faith to
satisfy that need;
5.
Our
proper response to faith is immediate and without delay or procrastination. Its
urgency is compelled by love.
Cana has been blessed with the first miracle of Christ, and a land that lends
itself, by faith, to one miracle shall receive more. “So Jesus came
again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine.” This is
the city at which Jesus, in due regard for the high esteem in which He holds
the first institution of God at Eden, honored the same estate by turning six
large, stone vessels full of water into wine. It was a divine tribute to
Marriage as an institution. Now, Christ, in His second miracle, will pay
tribute to the blessed fruit of marriage – the child! The miracle would issue
from Christ at Cana, and find its fulfillment in Capernaum, in the healing of a
young boy.
There was a nobleman with connections to the power of the ruler whose son was
deathly ill at the point of death. There was no earthly hope for the son so
insidiously had the fever possessed his small frame. And there was a
certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. Capernaum
was some sixteen miles from Cana; however, that was a good day’s travel in the
time of Jesus. The nobleman had, without doubt, sought after every remedy,
treatment, and physician at close hand who might improve his son to no avail.
He had, most likely, expended every resort. When hope faded as a distant star
on the horizon, suddenly, there came news of the coming of the man called Jesus
coming out of Samaria into Cana of Galilee. He may have been present at the
first miracle of Jesus at Cana, but not likely in my thinking. Certainly, he
had heard of the miracle for it was voiced abroad in the area. Suddenly, that
fading star of hope became, to our nobleman and loving father, the Bright and
Morning Star! Hope often gives birth to the primitive germination of faith, and
so it was for this nobleman.
47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of
Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come
down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. He had not seen Jesus previously in all likelihood, yet, when he heard
that Jesus was coming, hope gave over to the early yearnings of faith – there
was Light breaking over the distant landscape! So then faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) Perhaps the nobleman had
heard at the lips of a single, or many, witnesses. But SOMEONE had told him of
Jesus and His coming. How sad that many have not had the benefit of hearing
that Jesus has come, and will come again! I might add that ALL are at the very
point of death without Christ. The need is great to carry the Gospel into every
dark corner.
It was the elemental tug of faith that impelled action on the part of the
distraught nobleman and father. Such a faith crosses all lines of class and
stature – the poor as well as the rich and powerful. There comes a moment in
the lives of great men such as General Naaman of Assyria whose leprosy made
wreckage of his life, to the poor blind Bartemaeus whose hope hinged on the
miracle he besought from a man he could not see outside the gates of Jericho.
When all hope is abandoned, there remains only faith to rekindle its warm
light. So, desponding of all possibility of an earthly cure, the nobleman now
latched onto the Fountainhead of all Hope and Healing in that early touch of
faith that suddenly penetrated the fortress walls of his heart. Here we see a
man of great influence begging a favor of a poor itinerant carpenter! Does this
make sense? No, it doesn’t make a bit of worldly sense, but the actions of
heaven are not dictated by worldly intelligence. Life and death matters (which
are the concern of Heaven) breach all lines of royal propriety and academia. No
time for role-playing when his son is at the very point of death! So he begs
mercy from an unlikely source, but the only Source of life and miracles. What
may seem unlikely to the world may make perfect sense with God.
How would the itinerant Master receive the nobleman of stature? He makes a very
telling statement of fact. He is not questioning the nobleman’s faith, but
EXPOSING it as a contrast to the lack of faith that abounded among common men. 48 Then
said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
This man had not seen signs and wonders as many of the latter multitudes had
seen, yet still did not believe. This man had not seen, yet believed still!
That is the faith that begets miracles and the favor of God! This approach is
very like a father telling his precious little daughter, with tongue in cheek,
“Surely you do not want this candy treat – you are just pretending!” Jesus
already knew the heart of this nobleman. He would have those who listened to
his pleas to know his heart of faith as well. There is no discouragement or
rebuff that will quench the light of earnest faith.
The gentle rebuff of Christ in no way diminishes either the faith, or its
kindred, perseverance, of the nobleman. His nobility of character comes to
light in his manner of responding to Christ. It is as if he knows that Christ
will not deny him. His faith has told him this. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down
ere my child die. “Please, Lord, let us not mince words – my
son will die if you do not come down!” He knows Jesus well enough in his heart
of faith that He will not slam the gates of mercy on a child – and He never has
done so! He spoke out of faith but not out of mature spiritual knowledge. He
believed that Jesus must personally come to where his son was to heal him, but
faith and divine power knows no distance.
Having exposed the child-like faith of this nobleman to the multitude gathered,
Jesus speaks again, 50 Jesus
saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that
Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. If the man did not understand before that Jesus need only say the
Word, and not come personally to heal his son, he knew it now form the lips of
Jesus whom he believed explicitly. The nobleman had no need of pressing his
point further….mission accomplished! He immediately believed the word of Jesus
and went on the trip back to his son at Capernaum. God will give this man
CONFIRMATION of his faith is a most delightful way. Faith of the believer is
ALWAYS confirmed in due time. We may be facing challenges that appear to have
no end other than tragedy, but clinging to that morsel of faith that has been
planted in our hearts; we believe the impossible….and the impossible comes to
pass!
The servants of the nobleman have been standing a sorrowful watch over the
man’s son whom they most likely loved more than even the nobleman himself.
Suddenly, they noted his perilous fever had broken and the boy was well – as
well as he had ever been! In amazement, they ran along the road to Cana to tell
the nobleman. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him,
saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to
amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left
him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus
said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. Note here, again, the direction the man was traveling. He had
experienced a mountain-top experience with the Savior. Any direction we take after
being with Christ in either presence or prayer is down again to the valleys in
which we must move and labor. When told that his son lived, he inquired of the
time of his improvement for the sake of confirmation of his faith. The
journey from Cana to Capernaum was at least a day’s travel. When told that the
son recovered the previous day at the 7th hours (1:00 pm),
the nobleman was not surprised but rejoiced in the confirmation of that small
kernel of faith that had brought him face-to-face with Jesus. I hope you, too,
have had that kernel of faith that has brought you face-to-face with Jesus.
After that encounter, that kernel will grow into a hundredfold, an even untold
harvests of souls.
We must not dismiss the results of the faith of the fathers for the children.
Remember Zaccheus whose was saved with his whole household at his faith in
Christ. See here how the noblemen believed AND HIS WHOLE HOUSE (including
servants). We have the promise of God that our children shall not depart in old
age from that righteous path wherein the fathers walked if they are trained up
in the nurture of the Word of God. One of the imperatives of baptism is to
raise the child according to the promises of God, and that child shall confirm
the faith of the parents in due time.
What a glorious and loving Lord we have in Christ!
