Sermon: "Mythbusters"
Introduction
His answer was short and sweet- “You may go. Your son will live.”
That's all he said. He never promised a follow-up visit, he never asked for a confirmation report, nothing. But the father turned and left.
What would you have done?
What would it take for you to believe an answer like that?
Now remember, he wasn't just promising to get the man a phone number. If he forgot that, you would just send him an e-mail and ask for it again. He wasn't even promising something as important as sending a check for a purchase he had made. If you didn't get the money you could always count it as a business loss and write it off on your taxes.
He was talking about the life of a child. What if it was your child? So it mattered more than anything else whether or not he was right. Would you have believed him?
What would it take for you to believe? Would his word have been enough for you? What does it take for you to believe something?
MythBusters
There is a popular show on TV now called “MythBusters.” Some of you know it. The hosts of the show challenge various myths or statements that have been held to be true, for, perhaps generations. They try to bust the myths. Myths like:
Will a cat always land on its feet no matter how close to the ground you drop it?
Or: if you drive your car into a lake, is it really impossible to get out because of the water pressure on the doors?
After a series of tests, they always provide a conclusion-“busted” or not.
On one show they challenged the widely held statement: It is impossible to fold a piece of paper in half more than seven times. It does not matter how thin the paper or how large the paper. You cannot fold a piece of paper exactly in half more than seven times.
Countless people have tried to bust that myth sitting at a table in a restaurant waiting for their food to come and using just one ply of the two-ply a napkin. Some have used part of a roll of toilet paper. Mathematicians have reportedly calculated, using calculus of course that very few of us can challenge, that it is impossible to do it. One researcher used a large piece of gold foil, which you can make very thin so it folds easier.
The guys on MythBusters ended up using a piece of paper the size of a football field, so it wouldn't get small too quickly, as they folded it in half time and again.
What would it take for you to believe that statement about folding paper? How much proof would you need? Would you have to see it for yourself or try it for yourself before you believed it? Or will you take my word for it?
What would it take for you to believe?
The Apostle John sets the stage for the event he wants to highlight and we are going to investigate this morning.
Setting the Stage
At the beginning of Chapter 4 in John's gospel, we find Jesus in Judea, near Jerusalem, just after the Passover celebration. Because of his, and his disciples’ activity, he begins to attract more attention from the Pharisees than he wants. They are the powerful religious leaders. He doesn't want that attention so he decides to go back to Galilee, his home area.
Galilee is about 60+ miles to the north of Jerusalem. The journey on foot would take the best part of two days. His route would take him through Samaria. The Samaritans were despised by most Jews who would try to get through the area without stopping, or at least with as little contact as possible with the people there.
But Jesus, unlike most Jews, stopped to speak with a woman when she came to get water. Jesus ended up speaking to many Samaritans from the town nearby and delayed his journey by another two days.
Verse 43, of John chapter 4, finds Jesus resuming his journey to Galilee and we will pick up the story there.
After two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there. Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.
John 4:43 to 46
Jesus arrived in Galilee to an enthusiastic welcome. Imagine with me.
I can just see him and his small band of disciples approaching in the distance. Their feet raise small clouds of dust, more than the usual amount of a solitary traveler. It must be the teacher coming back from Jerusalem. He's from the town nearby, Nazareth, but he's visiting Cana again today.
Word spreads quickly through the town. The children run by the houses calling out, “The rabbi, that miracle worker, he's coming.” I wonder, 'what he'll do this time?'
Two women hurrying along comment to each other, "Remember how he turned that water into wine last time he was here. That was the best wine we ever had. I wonder what he'll do this time?"
One tailor, dropping his garment in midst stitch, jumped off his stool, called to his son, “Let's go meet the teacher. He’s back.”
Now the enthusiasm seems a little unwarranted. After all, we know where he's from. We know his family. Some people say he must be a prophet. But I wouldn't go that far.
Ah, what does that matter now? That's a debate for another day. We were amazed at the things he said when he taught in Jerusalem though. He seems so wise and has a new way of thinking about things.
“Did you see how he took it to those money changes in the temple? Well, they deserved it. Every time we go down there and have to buy animals for the sacrifices, they charge us three-four-five times the amount the animals are worth. They know it. We know it. They know we know it, but what can you do? You just have to pay.”
Well, he came in there and tore that place apart. He made a whip and ran those guys out of there like he was a fox and they were chickens in a henhouse. I've never seen such a ruckus. I just wish I would've been close enough to grab some of that loose change that was flying around.
I don't know what he was talking about but I heard him say something about his Father's house being turned into a den of thieves. But I think he must be on our side. He seems to stick up for the underdog and the poor.
Well, let's go see what tricks he has up his sleeve today.
A Royal Official with a Problem (verses 46-47)
As we were jostling each other in the growing crowd, everyone was trying to get closer to Jesus. We wanted to hear what Jesus would say. But most of all we were hoping to be right there when he did another miracle. I heard he once spit on the ground, made some mud, put it on the eyes of a blind man, and immediately the man was able to see.
Another time, they say, he spoke with a crippled man, then just took him by the hand, helped him to his feet, and the guy was able to run and jump right there. I'm afraid I'm going to have to see that to believe it.
While we were all trying to get closer, suddenly we heard people behind us shouting, “Hey look out, move aside, make way.”
I turned around as the crowd began parting slowly and one of King Herod's officers came pushing his way through the throng. He was obviously on a mission. He didn't seem angry. He seemed distraught. No, he seemed desperate. We recognized him as one of the officers from Capernaum, a town about 20 miles away, down close to the sea.
As he got closer to Jesus he began begging Jesus to come with him and heal his son who was close to death. You could tell this guy wasn't faking. He wasn't just trying to get Jesus to come to his house, no, he was desperate. Something was wrong.
I don't know what was wrong with his son. But it sounded like he may have had that mysterious fever that just came so quickly and seemed to snatch the life right out of a person. Most people hardly even have time to get to a doctor before the patient dies. This was obviously serious.
Jesus' 1st Response is Surprising (verses 48-49)
At first it seemed like Jesus either didn't hear him or just ignored him. Because Jesus kept giving his attention to others, talking to them, answering their questions, but no miracle just yet, at least not that we could see.
The officer was only a few people away from Jesus, when Jesus looked up, paused for a moment, and the crowd just silenced, almost in an instant, with anticipation.
Then Jesus said something that shocked us. He looked around at the officer and all of us and said,
“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders you will never believe.”
Whoa that stung. But we knew he was speaking the truth. It was like he knew what we were thinking. We knew most of us were there just because we wanted to see something amazing. We knew about the water into wine trick. Could he do any better than that? We just wanted to be amazed. Who cares who he is?
It's kind of like when you go to the lake shore in the evening and see that amazing sunset across the water. It is enough to take your breath away. The colors are phenomenal. You gaze at them for a while. You are totally amazed. Then the sun goes down and you go home. The next morning you get up and go to work as usual. You are really no different than before you saw the sunset. You just like being amazed by phenomenal stuff. That’s all we wanted from Jesus. We wanted him to amaze us like he did the first time he was here.
In fact, when we first heard the officer plead for Jesus to heal his son, I heard someone in the crowd say, “Yeah. Let's see if you can handle this one. If you can bring someone back from the brink of death, then we’ll believe you really are a prophet.” And then he and his friends just started laughing. Even then I don’t think they would have believed he was a prophet. I’m not sure I would have.
Momentarily I thought, 'what would it take for me to believe in him?'
In those moments as we waited for someone to respond, it was like Jesus was asking the officer, “what will it take for you to believe in me?”
Upon hearing Jesus’ words, the officer fell to his knees weeping. “Sir,” he said, “come down before my child dies.”
He didn't defend himself. He didn't debate with Jesus. They didn't even discuss Jesus’ statement about miracles. He wasn't looking to be amazed. He was pleading for the life of his child.
And the way he said, “child,” reminded me of when my own daughter had active hepatitis and she was only two years old. We knew the probable prognosis. That disease destroys your liver when it’s active and you die. Oh how we pleaded with God for the life of my daughter. We could hardly think about anything else. Nothing else seemed very important. We just pleaded and kept pleading with God.
That's how the officer was pleading. He may not have had the highest type of faith in Jesus, but Jesus did not reject him because of that.
Evidently he had enough of what it took for him to believe in Jesus.
Jesus Shows His Compassion – (vv 50-53)
Because Jesus simply said, “You may go. Your son will live.”
That sounds too easy. But what a difficult test Jesus gave the officer. Essentially Jesus said to him, “You have my word, now go.”
Could this officer trust Jesus at his word? Can Jesus, just with a word, speak across the miles to his home in Capernaum and heal his son? Would he pass the test? Would Jesus’ word be enough for him to believe and obey?
John doesn't hold us in suspense any longer. He writes:
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. (Jn 4:50)
John continues the story for those of us who need more proof.
While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, the fever left him yesterday at the seventh our. Then the father realized that this was the exact time Jesus had said to him, “your son will live.” John 4:51-53
Evidently the man did not go straight home. It would've only been a four or five hour journey. He could have arrived by nightfall that same evening. But he didn't arrive until the next day. But this man wanted to know for sure, and John wants us to know for sure that what happened to the boy was the work of Jesus. So he checked on the time.
The healing of the boy took place exactly at the same time that Jesus spoke the word. But we are not to be amazed at the details of the time. Jesus was no more limited by the time than he was by the place. He could have healed the boy from anywhere, anytime, just by saying a word.
John wants us to notice how Jesus works.
Three times the boy’s hopeless condition is mentioned before Jesus spoke the word.
he lay sick v 46
he was close to death v 47
"my child dies" v 49
Three times after Jesus spoke we are told of the boy's condition.
Jesus said, “Your son will live.”
The servants said, “The boy was living.”
The officer remembered that Jesus said, “Your son will live.”
John wants us to know that when Jesus works, the boy's future changes from death to life. So what does John highlight in the middle of these statements? Jesus’ indictment of the people.
“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe.”
John is commenting on the relationship between faith and miracles. Faith founded only in miracles is not the best faith. It is not rejected by God, but there is something much better.
Notice John's conclusion: vv 53-54
So he, (the officer), and all his household believed. This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed having come from Judea to Galilee. John 4:53-54
It is clear by John's designation of this being the second sign, that the officer and his household had come to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. We would say today, They became Christians.
Conclusion:
The question is still out there for us today.
What will it take for you and I to believe in Jesus? Do you take him at his word, and obey him – even when the test is most difficult?
You remember the mythbusters? And how it's impossible to fold a piece of paper more than seven times? They busted that myth. They folded their huge piece of paper 13 times.
Well, here is another myth: “If I see a miracle then I know I will believe and obey.
This myth is busted too. The officer took Jesus at his word, before he witnessed the miracle of his son being healed. His faith was not complete by any means when he approached Jesus. But his faith rose to the occasion when Jesus gave him a command to obey. When Jesus worked, the boy received life.
Miracles are part of Jesus Ministry. I guess you could say he can't help it, since he is supernatural. But he is much more than just a miracle worker to amaze people.
Gary Burge, in his comments on this story, writes:
“Jesus is looking for men and women, not only to believe in his ability to work a miracle, but to believe in him.”
In very practical terms that means: to obey him and then have life. John wrote in his first letter:
“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. I John 2:3
When I was pleading for my daughter's life, when she had hepatitis, I would promise God and myself that I would stop doing the things I shouldn't and I would do all the things I should. God performed a miracle and healed my daughter. So that every trace of hepatitis has been removed from her body. But to my shame, I still find myself disobeying God.
What will it take for me to believe-to really believe to the point of complete obedience?
What will it take for you to believe-to really believe?
Don't wait for a miracle. Take him at his word today, right now and you will find yourself living, really living.