THE TESTING AT CANA: DO YOU MEASURE UP?
John 4:39-54
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. There was a man in prison for robbery of a bank. He’d never told the police where he’d hidden the money.
2. His old father wrote him a letter, “Son, I wish you were here. I’d like to have a garden this year, but I’ve grown too feeble to plow it myself. Do you know someone who could do it for me?”
3. The prisoner read his letter and thought. Finally, he wrote back, “Dear dad. Whatever you do, don’t get anyone to dig in that garden. That’s where I’ve hidden the money!”
4. A week later the prisoner got another letter, “Thanks Son for having all those law enforcement officers come over and till my garden for me. I hope they didn’t charge you too much!”
B. TEXT
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him... 42 “we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” 43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. 46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” 49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
C. THESIS
1. Cana was the site of the first TWO miracles of Jesus in Galilee. The first was the changing of water into wine. God used Jesus’ mother to move Him into the miraculous. That miracle symbolized that Jesus can take the plain, worthless water of your life and transform it into something marvelous and valuable.
2. The master of the banquet told the Groom, “You’ve saved the best until last!” This means that not only does God restore to us what we’ve lost, but He also makes our lives better than they ever were before! God gives us Brighter Dreams, Better Marriages, and a Walk with God closer than ever before! Praise God for His transforming power!
3. Today we’re looking at the second miracle and what led up to it. The title of this message is “The Testing at Cana: Do You Measure Up?”
I. JESUS LOOKING FOR GENUINE FAITH
A. CONTRAST: SYCHAR Vs GOD’S PEOPLE
1. Jesus has just spent two days in Samaria, and finally left for Galilee. His time in Samaria was spectacularly successful: the whole town of Sychar turned to Jesus as the Messiah. Their faith was focused – not on His miracle-working power – but on His word. “We have heard him for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world,” John 4:42. This is a better response than Jesus had gotten from his own Jewish people.
2. As Jesus entered Galilee, He was returning to his own stomping grounds, where he’d grown up in Nazareth. He knew how they would respond, “A prophet has no honor in his own hometown.” Jesus said this to contrast His reception in Samaria, with how His own people would receive Him.
3. At first, it appears that the Galileans welcomed Him (vs. 45): they wanted Him there because it was exciting – it made them feel important and because they wanted to see a miracle. In contrast, the Samaritans put their trust in Jesus because of who He was & what He said, not because of any miracles.
So I believe Cana was a test.
B. CANA: THE PLACE OF MEASUREMENT
1. The name “Cana” comes from the Hebrew word Qaneh (Strong’s #7070) which means “a reed or rod, especially for measuring.” Jesus’ question was – would the Jews “measure-up?” Jesus said, “I have not seen such great faith – not in all Israel!” Do WE measure-up?
2. Into this picture comes the Nobleman, the royal official, whose son lay sick in Capernaum. This man was one of Herod Antipas’ officers. He didn’t come seeking Jesus because he had faith in Him, but only out of desperation. That’s why Jesus responded, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe” (vs. 48).
3. The Nobleman’s faith was being measured. HOW?
a. He had to leave his town & come to Cana – the place of measurement.
b. He expected Jesus to be like other Rabbis, limited to their physical presence. That’s why he wanted Jesus to come back with him.
c. But Jesus refused to go to Capernaum. What would the Nobleman do – trust or rebel?
C. ILLUSTRATION
1. During the terrible days when London was bombed during WW2, a father and small son ran from a building that had just been struck by a bomb. In their front yard was a deep bomb crater. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father's voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, "I can't see you!"
2. The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, "But I can see you. Jump!" The boy jumped, because he trusted his father.
3. Sometimes we have to navigate the Christian life without seeing where we’re going, but knowing that our Father can see us. Can we trust Him who’s promised to take care of us?
II. THE TRYING OF YOUR FAITH – LIKE GOLD
A. A DESPERATE FATHER
1. Money and position cannot protect the rich and powerful from the normal trials of life and death that effect every person and family. An ARAB PROVERB says: “Grief is a black camel that kneels at every tent.”
2. The man ‘implored’ or ‘begged’ Jesus to heal his son. He’d probably already had the best doctors do all that they could. Concern for our kids brings out the best in us.
3. What a horrible place to be – with a child slowly slipping away and in desperation, grasping for any solution you can find. This father’s desperation developed something in him he’d probably never had before. He became 3 things...
a. A PERSON WILLING TO RISK HIS REPUTATION: He was willing to go in search of Jesus however long it took, and humble himself to ask Jesus to heal his child.
b. A PERSON WILLING TO EXERCISE FAITH: Faith is vital; it’s the medium of exchange in the kingdom of heaven. No faith? “Without faith it’s impossible to please God!”
1). Jesus healed people in many different ways. He avoided setting a uniform pattern, lest we start seeing the methods as the source of power. He made mud from spit, had one wash in a pool, He forgave another’s sins, told another to get up and walk, He let Lazarus die & then raised him, and sent 10 lepers walking to the priests. We need to be flexible on how God’s going to work!
2). With the Nobleman’s son, He called this father to faith, ‘Go, your son lives.” Jesus didn’t give the crowd the miracle they wanting, but He gave the miracle to this man struggling to believe.
c. THE NOBLEMAN BECAME WILLING TO PLACE THE OUTCOME IN GOD’S HANDS; he believed & started off. Meanwhile, 17 miles away in Capernaum, in a room crowded with people around a dying boy – a miracle occurred! His fever suddenly left, his symptoms suddenly began to disappeared, he woke up and wanted something to eat, and to go out & play. The family all began to weep!
B. THE NOBLEMAN A SYMBOL OF THE JEWISH NATION
1. WHY didn’t Jesus go back with the man? He was testing or provoking the man’s faith; would he believe Jesus’ word, even at a distance?
2. Strangely, there’s 2 other times Jesus healed from a distance: both foreigners! The Roman Centurion (Mt. 8:8-9) who believed Jesus could heal his servant from a distance, and the Syrophenician woman (Mk. 7:26) who believed for her daughter’s healing at a distance.
3. HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD? IS HE BIG ENOUGH TO...
a. work around your most intractable problems?
b. big enough to manipulate corporations or governments to do His will?
c. big enough to heal you in spite of doctor’s prediction?
d. big enough to turn your enemy, into your friend?
4. Jesus put the Nobleman to the test – saying, “Go your way; your son lives” (vs. 50).
5. At last we begin to see gold shining through this man. As the Nobleman beheld Jesus and talked with Him, faith was kindled in his heart. Just being around Jesus inspires you to faith. He who can walk-on-water inspires us to give it a try!
III. THE NOBLEMAN MEASURED UP
A. WHAT HE SAW IN JESUS
1. John says, “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” What a remarkable turnaround. Before, he’d thought Jesus must go with him, but now he trusted & obeyed.
2. In that moment, when he felt the presence of God and saw Jesus speak with divine authority, something awakened in the man. He saw more than a miracle-worker; he saw the Word made flesh! He saw the image of the invisible God!
3. There are moments, when your perception can be altered, moments when your future can be rewritten; Your life doesn’t have to stay stuck in a rut. You can have a face-to-face with God! William Barclay once wrote that “… there are two great days in a person’s life, ‘the day we are born and the day we discover why.'” God wants you to be “born again” and discover why you’re here!
B. CONFIRMATION OF HIS FAITH
1. As the Nobleman was traveling home, he met his servants, who were coming to tell him the good news his son was healed.
2. Often the devil tells us, when we experience a miracle, that it was just an accident. The Nobleman asked them the hour when his son began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” That was the very hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”
3. So his faith was confirmed. He went home and led his household into faith in Christ! What a happy ending (vss. 51–53).
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Hope found in a Miraculous Healing
1. Dr. Eric McLaughlin is a missionary doctor in Burundi, one of the poorest nations on the planet. After years of watching one out of seven of his patients die, it’s hard for him to hold onto hope. He tells the story of Odette, a young woman who was hospitalized with terrible kidney failure.
2. Odette’s family pooled their money to send her to a kidney specialist in the city, but Dr. McLaughlin doubted if the expense would change anything for her.
3. Dr. McLaughlin wrote in his journal, “I fear to hope sometimes. My recent weeks have been filled with tragedies like Odette’s and some who looked like they’d recover, then suddenly died. ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick,’ says Proverbs 13:12. Exactly, my heart is sick.”
4. In the midst of his discouragement, his phone rang. The call was from one of his former students, now a coworker, named Onesphore. This man works at a hospital in the city.
5. “Good morning doctor. I wanted to let you know that we have been caring for Odette. We have not been able to do much; just some fluids and careful observation. But suddenly her kidneys have returned almost to normal! We’re sending her home today. I just thought you would want to know. Praise God!”
6. Not only was Odette healed, but McLaughlin heard more good news from another doctor he’d helped train. All this good news came precisely when he was thinking about being afraid to hope.
7. In that moment, God reminded him his faith wasn’t theoretical, but real, and that God Himself was working with him. McLaughlin was filled with tearful joy and a renewed hope. C T
8. The Lord Jesus once said, “When I return will I find faith on the earth?” That’s the challenge for us, not to accept our natural circumstances, but believe God for the miraculous!
B. THE CALL
1. Have some of you, like Dr. McLaughlin, lost your hope?
2. Others of you, the Lord is asking you to believe without any sign or proof. Will you trust Him?
3. Some of you need a face-to-face with Jesus. He’s here to alter you perception and future, if you’ll let Him. PRAYER
[This message incorporated some thoughts from “Go, Your Son Will Live” by John Piper]
