The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity

The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity – October 20, 2024

Psalm 119; Isaiah 25:6-9; Ephesians 6:10-17

St. John 4:46-54

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The nobleman in our text today went on a journey in three parts.[1] First was his trip from Capernaum to Cana to meet with our Lord. Second, he journeyed back to Capernaum after hearing of the promise that his son lives. Finally, there is the reunion in Capernaum. This three-fold journey will serve as the basis for our understanding of this text.

Although we don’t know for sure where Biblical Cana is located, Scripture indicates that it is about a day’s walk from Capernaum. The nobleman was desperate enough to leave his dying son behind and make a two-day trip to and from Cana to entreat Jesus. We know that this man had heard the Word of God sometime prior to making this trip. Perhaps he had been at the wedding in Cana and knew of Jesus from the miracle performed there. Perhaps he had even returned to Capernaum with Jesus after the wedding, hearing Him teach along the way.[2]

What we know for certain is that this nobleman had faith at the beginning of our text. If he didn’t, he would not have risked leaving his dying son in the care of servants. What kind of faith did he have? We can answer this in two ways.

The tiniest drop of faith is all sufficient for the salvation of man. The newly baptized child has the same faith as Elijah, the great prophet of God who was carried into heaven without experiencing death.[3] The young man newly converted to faith in Christ has the same faith as St. Paul, who endured scorn, beatings, prison, and martyrdom on behalf of Christ.[4] The lonely widow weeping over the death of her son has the same faith as Blessed Luther, risking his life to proclaim the purity of the Gospel against the Pope and his minions. This saving faith is one and the same. There is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”[5] It is not the work of man but the free gift of God, wrought in you by the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the Gospel – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

At the same time, this faith necessarily needs to grow and be strengthened.[6] It is one thing to possess something. It is something entirely different to care for it, use it, and benefit from it. This faith is exercised in three ways – meditation on the Word of God, prayer, and affliction.[7]

Meditation on the Word of God is best illustrated by a cow chewing her cud. She eats of the grass, chews and swallows into her first stomach, but only a small portion of her nutrition is gained. The grass is brought back into her mouth to be chewed a second time and swallowed again. More nutrition is gained. This continues over and over again until the full measure of nutrition is gained from the mouthful of grass. In this way, we are to chew the cud of the Word of God. The first eating of the grass is hearing and reading the Word of God. Each subsequent chewing is revisiting this Word in contemplation – reading the Word again and again and filling your mind with it. For the cow, there is an end to this process. For the Christian, it is a life-long endeavor.

Prayer exercises faith in taking the spiritual nutrition gained from the Word of God and turning it into action, into words given back to God. The Word of God forms our own words, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit of God gives form to our prayers.[8] Not only is prayer an act of turning our hearts and minds toward God and expecting all good things from Him, but it also trains our flesh to do the same. By turning to God in prayer, we train our flesh for all future times when we find ourselves needing Him. It trains us to turn to Him always; to expect all good things from Him always; and to trust whatever He delivers to us to be for our benefit.

Finally, there is affliction or suffering. Our Lord promised that all who follow Him would suffer in this world. In a sense, our suffering is doubled because we know that we deserve it. When we suffer in this world, we know that it is on account of our sin. We also know that we deserve this suffering because of our sin; even as the beloved children of God. In fact, because we are beloved children of God, we hate our sin and wish to be free from it. We desire that God would purge our bodies and souls of sin, of the love of sinning, and of sin’s effects. And we endure this suffering because we know that God chastens those whom He loves.[9] We know that the suffering of this present age is nothing compared to the joys of the world to come.[10] A wise man loves the rebuke of his Father because he knows by it, he will be wiser still.[11]

As the nobleman journeys to Cana, his faith is weak. He insists that Christ come to his son. He trusts enough to know that Christ’s presence is the one thing his son needs but his faith is weak because it believes that his son will not be healed without the physical presence of Jesus. This is why our Lord rebukes him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”[12] The nobleman wants a display of the power of God in signs and wonders. He is already suffering the sickness of his son and now he wants a great miracle of God in grand visible gestures.

But he will not receive it. Our Lord offers a second, albeit subtle, rebuke. “God your way; your son lives.”[13] It is as though Jesus is saying, “My Word is enough for you and for your son. Your weak faith needs to be nourished and to grow. Let it be nourished on My Word alone. Go in the promise of this Word and your soul shall be healed.”

The nobleman must now make the journey back to his son. This journey is fraught with more anxiety than the first. He now has a clear Word of God, but he does not necessarily know the meaning. He is like Martha after Jesus said to her, “You brother will rise again.” She answers, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”[14] The nobleman must be meditating over and over again on this Word of Jesus. “When I get home, will my son have breath in his body? Or will he live in the life eternal?”

It is not until the nobleman is almost home that he receives an answer. His servants meet him outside his home and announce the healing of his son. They even repeat the words of Jesus, “Your son lives!”[15] The father recognized that his son had been healed at the very Word of Jesus the night before. He receives confirmation of his joy, and his faith is now praised in the eternal Scriptures.

As we near the end of the Church year and the celebration of Advent, our minds begin to turn toward the last things, toward the time when Christ will reveal Himself to the world for the final time. The three-fold journey of the nobleman can be seen as an allegory for our journey in the church.

The journey from Capernaum to Cana signifies our faith in its infancy. It is complete unto salvation, but it is unformed by meditation, prayer, and affliction. When we encounter suffering, the only outcome we can imagine from God is according to our wishes. It does not occur to us that God’s ways are not our ways. We know what we want from God, and we demand that He give it to us in grand and splendid ways.

Then, as we mature in the Word of God and begin to be formed by meditation, prayer, and affliction, we join the man on his journey home. We know and hear the Words and promises of God, but we do not have visual confirmation of them. Faith has grown and it continues to grow. This is the majority of our life on this side of glory. This knowledge of the Word of God, while it exercises our faith and results in its strengthening, also leads to more frustration and anxiety. This is because Satan wants nothing more than to drive the Words and promises of God from your heart. I’d say the nobleman was in greater danger of losing his faith on the journey home than the journey to Cana. And yet the nobleman endures. He endures because he holds to the Word of God and continues to contemplate it in his heart.

The joyous reunion at Capernaum is the consummation of our faith. It is the glorious revelation of our Lord in glory. It is that day when faith will no longer be necessary because the promises of God will be manifest before your very eyes.[16] It is the reunion with all the faithful in heaven and the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.[17] In that day, there will be no tears, save tears of joy and rejoicing.[18] On that side of glory, you will look back at your time of affliction, your time of suffering, and realize that the joy and bliss of heaven was made yours at that very hour, before you ever set foot on the final leg of your journey home. It was in the Words and promises of God given to you from the very lips of Jesus. 

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] This outline of the text is loosely based on Fred H. Lindemann, The Sermon and The Propers, Volume 4 (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1962), 111-112.

[2] St. John 2:1-12.

[3] 2 Kings 2:11.

[4] 2 Corinthians 11:22-33.

[5] Ephesians 4:5-6.

[6] Hebrews 5:13-14; Proverbs 9.

[7] This is a reference to Martin Luther’s oratio, meditatio, and tentatio.

[8] Romans 8:26-27.

[9] Hebrews 12:6.

[10] Romans 8:18-19.

[11] Proverbs 9:8-9.

[12] St. John 4:48.

[13] St. John 4:50.

[14] St. John 11:23-24.

[15] St. John 4:51.

[16] Job 19:27.

[17] Revelation 19:6-9.

[18] Revelation 21:4.

The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity

 The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity – October 24, 2021

Psalm 119; Genesis 1-2:3; Ephesians 6:10-17

St. John 4:46-54

In the name of the Father, and of the T Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The account of the healing of the nobleman’s son is all about faith. The word “faith” is repeated three times, as is the consequence of faith – life. While we are accustomed to focusing on the object of faith, this portion of Scripture is focused on the development of faith. The nobleman approaches Christ in faith. He hears Jesus has come down from Judea into Galilee and so he quickly travels from Capernaum to Galilee to implore the Lord to heal his son who is on the brink of death.

The nobleman approaches in faith but it is undeveloped faith. He comes with the faith of an adult, not the faith of a child. He trusts that Christ can heal his son. He trusts that Christ desires to heal his son. He is also insistent that Christ travel to Capernaum to perform the healing. This reveals the weakness of his faith. He insists Christ follow his commands in the manner and timing of the miracle.

We might compare this nobleman to the Canaanite woman, who likewise was insistent that Christ answer her prayer.[1] Jesus seemed to ignore her pleas, but the woman was insistent that he exorcise the demons from her daughter. Although both the Canaanite woman and the nobleman approach Christ in faith, the woman did not dictate the time or place in which she expected the blessing to occur. She only expected her Lord to be faithful to his promise to care for her daughter in body and soul. The nobleman expects the Lord to fulfill his promises, but he is insistent that it be done on his own terms – “Come down to my house and heal my son before he dies!” Thus, Christ commends the great faith of the Canaanite woman and rebukes the nobleman.

That is not to say the nobleman is without faith. He certainly looks to Christ for the salvation of his son in body and soul. Yet his is an undeveloped faith. How then is his faith developed? How does he go from the milk-faith of a stubborn adult to the meat-faith of a newborn child?

This development does not come from praying harder. It does not come from introspection. It does not come from additional time in nature with God nor from intellectual pursuits of Scripture. It does not come from singing louder or mission trips. The faith of the nobleman is developed through suffering.

Perhaps faith was born in the nobleman at the wedding at Cana, where our Lord turned water into wine. Perhaps he heard Christ preach or witnessed the teaching of John the Baptist and the Baptism of our Lord. Sometime after faith was born within him, the son of the nobleman fell ill. His beloved son was thrown down by an invisible disease and brought to the point of death. When the Beloved Son of the Heavenly Father returned to the region, the nobleman sought him out and expected the Son of God to obey his demands for the sake of life. Then Jesus rebukes him.

“Unless you see signs and wonders, you will absolutely never believe!”[2] Of all the rebukes of our Lord, none is perhaps as complex as this one. One the one hand, he is rebuking the nobleman for demanding something of God which has not been promised, namely the temporal healing of his son.

At the same time, this rebuke is intended to teach the nobleman. There is a temptation within the flesh of man to think faith is an internal matter, as though it exists entirely apart from the physical, external world. This is the origin of that terrible phrase, “I’m spiritual but not religious.” Those who hold to this creed believe their faith is a private matter between themselves and an ambiguous god. Such enthusiasts raise their own thoughts and desires above the external Word of God. They deny the Sacraments or treat them as magic rituals in which blessings of their own imagination are imparted.

The weak faith of the nobleman fits this creed. He has faith in Christ but has not submitted himself to the external Word of God. Through this rebuke, Christ is pointing him outside of himself. It is as though our Lord is saying, “Where were you when I created the heavens and the earth? Where were you when I formed your son in your wife’s womb? Do you presume to tell me how I am to love you and your son? Do you presume to know better the salvation of man than I, the Son of God, who has taken on flesh for this exact purpose? Do not look inside your own thoughts, desires, or imagination for a sign of the love of God. Look to me. Look for the sign of Jonah, the three days in the earth and the coming of the Dawn on the third day. Look for the sign and wonder of your salvation found when I come into my own kingdom, enthroned on a cross and crowned with thorns. Look to the sign of your salvation in me – my blood, my flesh, my washing, and my Word.”

The nobleman’s response shows a growth in his faith. The Word of God has worked on his heart and developed his faith. “Lord, come down before my son dies.”[3] While it is unclear if the nobleman understands the fullness of the Incarnation, the Holy Ghost is certainly teaching us through these words how it is the Lord saves us all from death. The Son of God came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the Blessed Virgin, and was made man. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity descended from the Father so that he would be raised up in the sacrifice of the Cross in our place. The Incarnation is the beginning of the work of salvation of our Lord.

The nobleman likely doesn’t understand what he is saying and yet he is confessing that by coming down from the Father into our flesh, Jesus will save his son from death, eternal death. By coming down from the Father into our flesh, Jesus will raise the nobleman’s son on the last day in the very flesh which was thrown down by illness. By coming down from the Father, the Son of God will cause the son of this man to live life eternal.

It is at this time that Jesus tells the man his son lives, and the man believes the word of Jesus. He has not yet seen the sign and wonder and yet he believes. His faith has developed. His faith is strengthened. How did this happen? By the Word of God. By suffering. By crying out to the Lord for salvation and then trusting that the Lord is good and will answer. Jesus pressed the nobleman into a corner to force him to rely on the Word of God and trust that the Lord would hear his prayer.

When the servants of the nobleman report that the son was healed at the very hour in which Jesus said, ‘he lives,’ the nobleman’s faith is again strengthened. This is the sign and wonder which he sought, but it is not the sign or wonder which confirmed his faith. How else could his entire household believe if the nobleman had not preached to them the Word of God? He must’ve returned home with the psalms on his lips and cried out to them that the Son of God has come down that we all may live. The milk-faith by which the nobleman was barely clinging to life and now become a feast of meat-faith by which he is able to provide for his family, his man-servants and maid-servants.

The Son of God comes to you today in the same way. The Lord sends you affliction. You have children who have left the faith. You have sinned and are ashamed. You look around and see “perfect people” in the church and believe you don’t belong. You beloved faces life-threatening surgery. You face illness unto death and worry for the sake of your loved ones. These afflictions are sent to you for the strengthening of your faith. Repent of your little faith, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”[4]

Like the nobleman, demand that the Lord come down to be with you and then look for the sign. Not the sign of miraculous healing of a tumor or a bird suddenly appearing in your window. “What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, [perfect health, wealth, children, and home,] and loses his own soul?”[5] Look to the sign of the cross. Look to the Body of Jesus, exalted on high for your sake. See the miracle of your salvation in the chalice. Hear the Word of God as it enters your ears and strengthens faith. “God is superabundantly generous in His grace: First, through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the whole world. Second, through Baptism. Third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourth, through the Power of the Keys. Also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren, ‘Where two or three are gathered…’”[6]

These are the signs and wonders given by God for the strengthening of your faith. Faith is not an ephemeral, intellectual, or strictly “spiritual” possession. It is given and strengthened by things external to you, objectively present in the world. Faith is then displayed externally. First by driving you to continually seek the Lord. Faith desires to see the signs and wonders given by God. Faith drives you to the Church where you receive the things of God and gather for the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren in the flesh. Our God is not virtual. Faith is not virtual. Faith never drives you to be alone. Faith gathers you into the bosom of Abraham, to be gathered with all the saints around and within the Body of Christ.

Faith then springs forth in external works, just as the nobleman preached to his family. If you have seen and tasted that the Lord is good; if you know salvation is in his flesh; if you know the Son of God lives and by his life you have life; you will desire this same grace for all whom you love.

In T Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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[1] St. Matthew 15:21-28.

[2] St. John 4:48.

[3] St. John 4:49.

[4] St. Mark 9:24.

[5] St. Matthew 16:26.

[6] Smalcald Articles, III IV. Reader’s Edition.