“THE WORD”
Saint John 4: 46-54
21st Sunday After Trinity: 25 October Anno Domini 2015
Father Jay Watson SSP
Cana was the town where The Lord took one thing and made it something else. Water, a staple of life which He Himself created, was turned into delicious wine—a gift of gladness and the toast of nuptial joy! And today He will take wine and turn it into The Water of Eternal life when it becomes His true Blood—shed for the forgiveness of your sins.
The nobleman’s son was dying. He was from our Lord’s own base-of-operations the town of Capernaum. He knew that this Nazarene Rabbi could do great works—could heal. His nobility meant nothing in the face of the death of his son. All your good deeds are filthy rags. There is not one good man among us, not one true noble man, save Christ The Lord.
Like all of Christ’s healing miracles, this one too demonstrated Who He was/is. Only God can heal, bring someone back from the brink of certain death, by a simple Word. Jesus is The Word made Flesh and His words of creating, sustaining and performing—do and make what they say. He did not heal every sick and dying person. He was not then and not now a science-fiction land utopia or a Divine & Perfect Health Care (with no deductable). He made your parents perfect and eternal in Eden but they, like you, chose to live life in “the fast lane” instead of in the house of their Loving Father.
Christ drew the “certain nobleman” to Himself to help him and his child. The physical life He gave by an utterance was indeed a sign and harbinger of what you confessed in the Creed—“…I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” These miracles showed the beginning of the eternal beginning. These miracles showed that where The Word of God was, there would be the forever Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is still where Christ is “for you.” He is in His Word.
When you seek feelings, emotional tingles and “highs” you are calling God a liar and a hold-out. When you demand instant gratification whether it be in recovery from sickness or protection from struggle and heartache you are calling God a fraud and a cheat.
“In the beginning was the Word…the Word was God…all things were made by Him…that was the true Light” [Jn. 1] “God created the heaven and the earth…God said ‘let there be light.’” [Gen. 1]
Stop doubting. The God that brought all of this, and all of you, into being, is the same God/Man that brought you into His sheepfold at the water of rebirth: “He saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of The Holy Ghost.” [Titus 3.5] He Who is the Light of all men is also the Life of all men. Where there is forgiveness—washing, cleansing, absolving—FORGIVING, there is also life.
The problem, your problem, your sin, is that you don’t want to be like the nobleman “believing the word that Jesus had spoken…and going your way.” You want either empirical proof, certitude of “heart” (?) or some special dispensation where nothing ever bad or challenging happens. Your fallen heart craves only the sickeningly sweet and seductive sugary-sinful lies of the Devil. But Christ gives you His Word—His Bond—His pledge—His very Body and Blood: Take Eat This Is My Body, Take Drink This Is My Blood; Peace to you.
The nobleman’s son lived because of Christ. The son and the father both eventually died and their souls went to be with The Lord to await the Final Advent. They will live eternally with glorified bodies because Jesus let His Body be captured, bound, tortured, and crucified. You will live forever because Jesus died for you trespasses. The fever left the young man at the “seventh hour” because that is when The Word spoke the Word. The Lord rested the Seventh Day in the tomb so that you now have the beginning of the everlasting in the 8th Day of His resurrection—His first fruits of your heavenly banquet.
The Word of Jesus is all there is and all that matters. He speaks to you: “repent and believe.” And His Word works; it gives what it asks for.
In the Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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