“THE SON LIVES-AND YOU LIVE IN HIM”
Saint John 4. 46-54
The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity: 12 October Anno Domini 2008
Fr Watson SSP
"So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine." But you have it even better because you have far, far more visits by the God/Man. Jesus comes again this morning to Augsburg of Shawnee where He makes cheap wine into the very and true Blood of God-the living Blood of the Paschal Lamb!
Jesus is the great physician of soul and body. He comes to find the lost lambs yes, but He is the victorious veterinarian who comes to heal the diseased and dying sheep as well; to breathe life back into their broken dead little carcasses.
Jesus went to Cana not to turn water into wine but to turn dying, disease and eternal death into Life, that is, in to His own Person and Work. Those in Christ will never die. Jesus come to this church not to perform a miracle that will physically quench thirsty members of an earthly wedding party but to eternally satisfy His called family with Water that is immortal and with Body and Blood that is Divine.
The nobleman had faith that Messiah would help him and would come and heal his dying son. The man's faith was weaker than the famous Roman Centurion's in that the nobleman desired Jesus to come in person, to his home, and perform the healing for all to see. This is normal. But the Lord is not visible for all to see with the human eyes any longer. Even then Jesus knew that His plan called for Him to visibly ascend to be present to the naked eye no more. If the Savior was constantly "beaming in and out" of your vision like a over-active genie, there would never be any need for faith and trust. God desires your belief and reliance not your carnal expectation of flash and mirrors and ho-hum acceptance of your five senses of empirical verification. Faith does not come by sight and emotion but by hearing-by hearing the Word of God.
You may or may not have a child at home dying, but you do have earthly burdens that are weighing you down and making your fearful. The Lord is with you-He will not abandon you, rather He will strengthen you and see you through whatever your particular ordeal may be-He will see you through all the way to Eternal Rest and Joy.
Repent that you too may need to be rebuked by the Lord for your weak faith that demands signs and miracles. Take heart that the Lord gives you something better than periodic wonders and occasional demonstrations. Jesus gives you Himself, God for you, wherever His preaching is located. Yes you can always read His Word in your homes…but do you? You do know that the early church in the Book of Acts correctly identifies the church not in the home of the nuclear family but in the gathering together of all the Saints, all your brothers & sisters in Jesus; no solo sinners but rather a clan of Christians wearing not tartan but the Sign + of the Crucifix. Jesus give you Himself, God in the Flesh for you, wherever His Body and Blood are placed on your tongue by His servants. Jesus gives you His own Word of Forgiveness and Peace wherever He speaks it into your ears through those called by Him and placed into His stead.
Yes Jesus restored to health the son of the nobleman. But better than that Jesus lived a perfect life of obedience to the Law so that the son and the nobleman could receive credit too-for perfection. Yes Jesus took away the young man's disease that seventh hour. But better than that Jesus took away eternal torment in Hades by Himself suffering the damning fire of hell and the bitter agony of their sin when He hung on the Cross. Jesus lived perfectly for you too! Jesus died in agony for your trespasses too! That son lives forever with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his own earthly father, the nobleman of Capernaum, because Jesus lives. He is risen; He is risen indeed, Hallelujah!
When you feel feverish because your sinful flesh is burning up in "old Adam" heat, The Lord douses you cool again with the living reality and daily presence of your Baptism-even as He does it publicly in the Divine Service with the Holy Absolution. When you faint from weariness the Spirit fills you with living words and light supernal in Christ's preachment from this pulpit. When you body aches for lack of real nourishment and your throat is parched from the world's swill, Jesus pours Himself into you at this Altar, this Rail, and this banquet table.
How do you know Jesus really forgives you? How do you know that all your sins are wiped away forever? Jesus died for you…look to the bloody cross and His pain racked body and know that there is nothing you've done, will do, or could do, that hasn't been atoned for by the God/Man! How do you know that the fever of this flesh, your flesh, will leave you and that you will recover in His Righteousness and live forever? Jesus lives. The Son Lives and you do to. Your sins are no more.
In the Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost