Bible Text: St John 4:46–54 | Preacher: Rev. Andrew Richard
Today’s Gospel is about the increase and strengthening of faith. Faith in Jesus is a living, active thing that must be nourished and grow, or else, like all living things, if neglected, it becomes weak and dies. Now there are two things we can talk about when it comes to faith: the object of faith and the strength of faith. Everyone, absolutely everyone, has faith in something, and when we talk about the object of faith, we’re asking, “What do you have faith in? What do you trust to give you security and provide you with every good thing?” Some trust in money, some in the work of their own hands, some in the favor and approval of men. These are all objects of faith, and they will not save from sin, death, or the devil, nor grant peace with God or eternal life. We trust in Jesus. He died for our sins and was raised for our justification. He is the right object of faith, and regardless of the strength of faith, if the object is right, you are saved. Jesus praises the power of even the weakest faith when it’s faith in Him: “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move;…If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you…and nothing will be impossible for you” (Mt. 17:20, Lk. 17:6). And faith does greater things than these, since faith isn’t really concerned with changing the face of nature. Faith buries sin and tramples Satan and defies death and conquers all things, as the Apostle John says, “this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 Jn. 5:4). So whether faith is weak or strong, if it is faith in Jesus, if faith has the right object, then you have grace, salvation, victory, eternity, heaven, earth, and all things.
We can also talk about the strength of faith. Now we might wonder, “If faith in Jesus brings all its benefits regardless of its strength, then why bother talking about the strength of faith?” The first answer is that Jesus cares about the strength of faith. Jesus laments weak faith, saying things like, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Mt. 8:26), and, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mt. 14:31). And Jesus publicly praises great faith, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Mt. 8:10), and, “O woman, great is your faith!” (Mt. 15:28). The basic answer to the question, “Why care about the strength of faith?” is, “Because Jesus cares about it!” As Christians, that’s enough of an answer for us. But Jesus also explains in His Word why the strength of faith matters, and the second answer is that a weak faith comes with risk. When Jesus laments, “O you of little faith,” it’s not out of frustration, but out of concern for us. In Ephesians 4 Paul speaks of building up the body of Christ, “…till we all come…to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Eph. 4:13-15). A weak faith makes us susceptible to being tossed about, like little boats that must give way before the wind because they are unable to stand against it. A strong faith, on the other hand, is like the armored man described in the epistle reading, who can dig in his heels and stand his ground and defy the spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6:10-17). He need not fear the devil or the world; the devil and the world should fear him!
So how do we get a strong faith? Jesus shows us in today’s reading. First, we see that Jesus makes the strengthening of our faith His business. After all, faith is not from ourselves, just as the grace of God is not from ourselves. And second, we see that Jesus strengthens our faith by putting faith to the test and then nourishing it with His Word. That’s how it went for the man in the reading, and that’s how it goes for us as well.
There was an official whose son was ill. The Greek word for this man makes it clear that he was a royal official, perhaps under King Herod. This official was a man of power and means. He had many things in which he could trust. He would have had money and servants, access to good physicians, influence to gather to himself anything that would have helped his son. Perhaps he made use of all these things and they failed him. Jesus often turns us toward himself by making false objects of faith fail, and in so doing He protects us from a false faith. Whatever the case, we see the official hurrying the 17 miles from Capernaum to Cana to get Jesus and bring Him back. In this we see that the man already has faith. He wouldn’t have made a journey that long, and made it in person, if he didn’t think Jesus was his best hope. How did the official get this faith in Jesus? It says earlier in John’s Gospel, “Now when [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He was doing” (Jn. 2:23). The official knew that Jesus had the power to restore men and knew that Jesus was merciful and wanted to help men. His faith was right, and his faith did what a right faith always does in time of need: it fled to Jesus for help.
But there is something lacking in the man’s faith. “He went to [Jesus] and asked Him to come down and heal his son” (Jn. 4:47). “Come down.” The official supposes that the only way Jesus can help is if He’s present. This shows a weakness of faith, which would place some limit on Jesus’ power and then insist that there’s only one solution. We’ve all been where that man was. Some misconceived notion of God’s nature or ability leads us to expect that things can only go one way if they’re going to be ok. To be clear, it wasn’t wrong for the official to lay his care before Jesus, “My son is ill and at the point of death.” Jesus wants us to cast our cares upon Him. It also wasn’t wrong for the official to pray, “Heal my son.” Jesus says, “Ask, seek knock” (Mt. 7:7). What was wrong was to limit the scope of Jesus’ power. He “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20), and “with God nothing will be impossible” (Lk. 1:37). The Israelites were trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea, and the Lord opened a way through the sea. “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” (Mk. 8:4), and Jesus multiplied loaves and fishes. A strong faith knows that Jesus can always make the best way. A weak faith suffers, and Jesus seeks to refine it.
Jesus laments the man’s weak faith, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe” (Jn. 4:48). Now this is no favorable answer, at least not on the surface. Jesus sounds more like an enemy than a friend. The Lord will sometimes present Himself as an enemy in order to test faith, that is, to expose and remove what is lacking. So the Lord told Abraham to sacrifice his son, and He wrestled with Jacob, and He said to the Canaanite woman, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mt. 15:26). By acting like an enemy to his face, Jesus is teaching the official, “Don’t live life by appearances, but by what you’ve heard about Me. You know the signs I did. You know I’m merciful and gracious. Hold onto that. Even if I seem to be rejecting you, I’m not. I’m refining your faith and making it rest on it’s true foundation, namely, the Word. You walk by faith and not by sight.” Remember this when Jesus seems to have cast you off, because He never casts off His saints. He strips away appearances so that you’re left with nothing but His Word.
The official makes one last desperate plea, “Lord, come down before my child dies” (Jn. 4:49). But that’s not going to happen. Jesus isn’t going to do that, because it’s not what the official or his son need. Jesus doesn’t rebuke the man a second time, but instead gives His Word: “Go; your son lives” (Jn. 4:49). And a miraculous change comes over the man. Jesus had deprived the man of any outward sense of help, and, whether the man knew it or not, Jesus had left him longing for faith’s only nourishment: the Word of God. And then Jesus gave that Word, and the man’s faith grabbed it, not with the feeble grasp of a baby playing with a toy, but with the death grip of a drowning man grabbing a life ring. The grip of his faith tightened and grew stronger. “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way” (Jn. 4:50). When the official arrived to Jesus, he had his mind made up that he was not going back to Capernaum until Jesus was willing to come with him. And now with perfect contentment the man goes back home, because He has Jesus’ Word, and that is always enough for faith.
There are times when Jesus will seem to be your enemy, when it seems like your prayers are falling on deaf ears, and you’re hurting, and your loved ones are sick and dying, and men hate you without cause, and you’re weak and falling and it seems like no one cares and that Jesus Himself has turned away from you. In such times, take heart. Jesus has not rejected you. He is strengthening your faith. He is passing your faith through the fire and removing the dross and perfecting it so that you will not be shaken. When that happens, cling to the Word. It will be the most natural Christian thing to do. You’ve probably experienced it before, when life is tough and it feels like everything else is gone, you come to church and find that Jesus’ Word hits home and you hang on the Word and listen even more attentively and find solace and refuge in it. When all else fails, remember that all else was bound to fail. Everything fails, except the Word. And if you need to hear it more, come to Pastor Preus, come to me, come to some of the many chapel services that happen at Mount Hope and Luther Classical College. As when a baby cries and then immediately settles down when his mother nurses him, so the pure milk of God’s Word will content you.
As the official is returning home, he meets some of his servants, who have come to tell him that his son is recovering. The man realizes that his son began to recover at the very moment Jesus said, “Go; your son lives.” “And he himself believed, and all his household” (Jn. 4:53). The man believed in the first place; it’s why He came to Jesus for help. The man believed again when Jesus spoke His Word. And now the man believes again when he sees that Jesus’ Word proved true. This involved looking back. He heard that his son was well, and he looked back to his prayer, looked back to Jesus’ Word, and he sees that his prayer has been answered and Jesus’ promise has become reality. It is good for us to reflect and look back after coming out of a hard time. We tend to be glad that we’re out of the woods and are only looking forward. It seems undesirable to look back into the dark and tangled mess out of which we just came. But looking back, we see things that we didn’t while we were in the thick of it. In the thick of it, the man felt like Jesus was rejecting him. But looking back he realized that wasn’t true. Jesus was seeking his good the whole time. Jesus’ seemingly-harsh answer was exactly what he needed so that his weak faith would realize its weakness and long for the nourishment of the Word. In love, Jesus gave that Word. And now looking back, the man sees that the only reliable and right thing in the midst of his affliction was the Word of Jesus. This retrospection, this looking back, is good for faith and strengthens faith, because looking back we realize the importance of Jesus’ Word and the truth of Jesus’ Word, and in the next trial faith values the Word even more highly.
It is good for us to have a strong faith. Jesus wants us to have peace in the midst of tribulation. He wants us to be able to stand against the devil’s attacks. He wants us to be firm until the end, because He wants us to be saved. Jesus Himself sets about strengthening our faith by testing faith and nourishing it with His Word. This isn’t always pleasant, but it is always good, and we praise Christ that He cares so dearly for us. May our Lord continue to strengthen your faith and in the end grant your faith to become sight as you see all His promises fulfilled. In His holy name. Amen.