‘steps Of Faith’

Ill:

• Faith is central to all of life.

• For example, you go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce.

• And whose degrees you have never verified.

• He gives you a prescription you cannot read.

• You take it to a pharmacist you have never seen before.

• He gives you a chemical compound you do not understand.

• You then go home and take the pill or medicine as per instructions.

• All the time, trusting and having faith in others!

• TRANSITION: Faith of course is only as good as the person we place it in.

• That is why we go to a reputable doctor and pharmacist,

• And not somebody we find on the internet!

In this story we have a turn up for the books (British expression for an unusual or unexpected event):

• An official (probably wealthy, a somebody),

• Coming to Jesus who humanly speaking was a nobody (carpenter turned preacher).

• The official comes asking a former carpenter for help!

• Again, humanly speaking that did not make sense.

• But Jesus as we know, was more than a carpenter,

• And this official and those present were also about to find that out!

(1). The beginnings of faith (vs 46).

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.”.

• The first miracle that Jesus performed was turning water into wine.

• The Quran and apocryphal gospels (rejected by the Church Fathers),

• Have Jesus doing miracles as a baby and also as a child.

• But John in his gospel makes it very clear (chapter 2 verse 11),

• This was the first miracle that Jesus performed.

“What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

• That first miracle was the request of his mother Mary (chapter 2 verses 3&5),

• This second miracle at Cana in Galilee.

• It is a request that comes from a desperate father (vs 47).

Question: Who was the nobleman?

Answer:

• If we are honest, we don’t know!

• But we can have a good guess!

• This man is called a nobleman, a nobleman.

• Translated from the Greek word, ‘basilikos’.

• You will have heard of a basilica?

• Which is a medieval church or a medieval worship canter structure.

• But the original term,, ‘basilikos’.

• Means one who belongs to a king, one who belongs to a king.

• So this nobleman, this , ‘basilikos’., is one who belonged to a king.

• Question: Which king?

• Answer: It was probably Herod Antipas.

• If you remember the Christmas story, the baddy in the story was Herod the Great

• He lived in Jerusalem in the South,

• And he was the one who killed the babies in Bethlehem,

• He's now dead.

• One of his sons, Herod Antipas, ruled in Galilee (in the North).

• So, this nobleman probably worked for Herod Antipas.

• This position would have given the man great influence and power.

• It would also mean that he would have been a man of great wealth.

• Many people would have envied him,

• He probably had everything he needed to live a very comfortable life.

And yet he had a need that his position and wealth could not meet:

• As a man of means.

• He has no doubt tried every solution money could buy.

• But we all know that there are many needs and problems that money just can’t solve.

• Money can buy medicine.

• Money can hire doctors.

• Money can buy the very best health care.

• But money cannot buy life and health.

Like many of us who have stood next to a loved one dying:

• I was on the phone on Friday talking to a friend whose husband has brain tumours,

• He is back home waiting to die; doctors and medicine can no longer help him.

• This nobleman, this father was willing to try anything that might restore his son to health,

• But his situation seemed hopeless!

Ill:

• Years ago, an S-4 submarine was rammed by a ship off the coast of Massachusetts;

• It sank immediately.

• The entire crew was trapped in a prison house of death.

• Every effort was made to rescue the crew.

• But ultimately failed.

• Near the end of the ordeal, a deep sea diver,

• Who was doing everything in his power to find a way for the crew’s release,

• Thought he heard tapping on the steel wall of the sunken sub.