Friday my sister sent me an email a young family in her church in Atlanta was asking for prayer from everywhere and just coming to a very rough situation They've taken their daughter Sophie Jane to the doctor for her regular checkup that morning. She's 20 months old The doctor saw something that he didn't like so they got an immediate MRI and discovered a Tennis ball sized tumor in the back of her brain. She's 20 months old. I mean her head's just not that big
Emergency surgery was scheduled for yesterday morning, and that's all I know at this point. You know as a pastor I Hear a lot of horrible stories like that families desperately seeking prayer Absolutely out of control. It can be overwhelming So if I'm honest with you a lot of times I keep it in an arm's length But my sister knows me well this little girl is only two months older than my boy It suddenly becomes much more than just another story. What do you do? When life gets desperate a desperate father came to see Jesus and John 4 That's where we're going this morning page 889 and your Pew Bible. I'm Continuing the series. I've been doing the miracles of Jesus in the gospel of John and we're picking up midstream. This is right after the famous Meeting of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well and the whole town's come out to hear him. So beginning at verse 39 Hear God's word Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did So when the Samaritans came to him They asked him to stay with them and he stayed there two days and many more believed because of his word They said to the woman it is no longer because of what you said that we believe for we have heard for ourselves And we know that this is indeed the savior of the world after the two days he departed for Galilee For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his hometown So when he came to Galilee the Galileeans welcomed him having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast or they too had gone to the feast So he came again to Cana and Galilee where he had made the water wine and It cappurnum there was an official whose son was ill When the man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee He went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death So Jesus said to him unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe The official said to him sir come down before my child dies Jesus said to him go Your son will live the man believe the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way As he was going down his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering So he asked them the hour when he began to get better and they said to him yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him The father knew that that was the hour Jesus had said to him your son will live and he himself believed in all his household This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he'd come from Judea to Galilee This is God's word let's pray
Heavenly Father desperate times Call for desperate measures Lord show us that there are no other kind of times Show us your face. We pray in your son's name a
Prophet has no honor in his hometown You know every time my mom asked me to move back home. That's what I say to her now I'm partly kidding, but I'm partly serious I mean those people back there remember who I was It's like going to a family reunion. Hey, I used to change your diapers How can you hear God speak through me when you've seen me make a mess like that? That's the kind of logic that Jesus is dealing with Here comes all Mary and Joseph's boy He's going out in the world and made something of a name for himself But we know who he really is just a carpenter's son Truth be told His parents weren't even married yet. Hey, but there was that thing he did a while back at the wedding turn the water into wine Would mind seeing a trick like that again. Why is it that Jesus has to go out of town? He has to go somewhere else To be taken seriously the people in his home territory Have made a serious mistake They think that they already know who he is no honor No honor in his hometown John reminds us of this in verse 44 But what does the very next sentence say? The Galilean Jews welcomed him Now either John is directly contradicting himself or he's up to something If you read the entire gospel of John enough you'll begin to get a sense of his writing style He's got a very ironic sense of humor and This verse is dripping with sarcasm It's very easy to miss, but that's why I included the end of the last section
Samaritans were outsiders. They were hated by the Jews and they hated the Jews in return But the Samaritans received Jesus a Jew They didn't just receive him they honored him Why well verse 41 tells us because of his word Now the Galileans also welcomed him But for a different reason and what was that if you look carefully in verse 45 having seen What he had done To catch that the Samaritans welcomed honored and believed in Jesus because of what he said The Galilean Jews welcomed him back because of what they had seen him do And that makes all the difference Otherwise you're going to get down to verse 48 when he responds to this desperate father and think Where did that come from? I mean what in the world is Jesus doing? Speaking a hard word like that only if you realize he's speaking to more than just this father He's speaking to all the Galileans the you in that sentence is plural. So let's read it in good Southern English and Less y'all see miraculous signs and wonders y'all will never believe
Jesus sees the Galilean response to him and he knows all These people want for me as to do tricks for them. They don't get it They don't get it See the Galileans didn't believe in Jesus. They just wanted the big show. They just wanted to be entertained They all gathered around Show me something Very different reason than why the Samaritans came out They had heard about him then they wanted to hear what he said and then because of what he said in Verse 42 they call him the Savior of the world. I want to draw this image out a little bit for you For you to get why this has got Jesus upset. I mean imagine you go to the ER to the emergency room And you go around you start talking to doctors asking them to do some magic tricks for you You know, hey like that stethoscope show me that trick again, you know, where's let me see that scalpel It's not gonna take very long before you get put in your place We're not here to entertain you There's more important work to be done Now that's exactly what Jesus is saying. I'm not here to entertain you This is not some TV sitcom I'm not here to make you feel good at night so you can laugh and unwind But sit back and turn me off after you've gotten what you want Let me press the hard question for you hauling for me this morning This is what I struggle with. Why do we go to Jesus? If you go to Jesus Why do you go to Jesus? Is it for who he is or what he can do? Let me put it another way is he your savior? Or your entertainment? I'm not asking what it should be I'm asking. How is it this morning for you Savior or entertainer. I mean the Galilean Jews had seen him perform miracles And if you were to look back at John 2 23 and following it says they believed in him But Jesus didn't entrust himself to them because he knew their hearts the only reason they believed is what they saw him do They didn't want Jesus They just wanted him because of what he could do Now it's with that backdrop That we can begin to talk about this desperate father Because Jesus seems to give him some really rough treatment But what's Jesus up to John tells us this dad is a royal official Which means he's probably a member of Herod's extended family. He's royal He's a man of some means both financially and probably militarily This guy walks down the street in the crowd's part But the crowd's probably also hated him. So here comes this official A man of money and power A man distrusted by the people But also a father knowing His son is near death Now what kind of father who cares about his son? Would walk away from him when he knows he's about to die only a desperate one I mean this man knows This is his last hope He's desperate He's leaving his son for what he knows might be the last time he sees him alive Because he's got to do the only thing left he knows to try He's heard about Jesus performing miracles and he's thinking if I can just get this guy to come see my son maybe So he goes Despite all his wealth and power He's been laid low by his circumstances and he comes with nothing to do but to beg and plead with Jesus And thankfully for him That's exactly the kind of clientele Jesus loves to work with but did you notice? It didn't go down that simply I mean this guy walks five or six hours to come find Jesus because his son's dying and When he finally gets to him and ask for help. What does Jesus say? All you people want is for me to do miracles I mean let's say after the service today One of you comes to seek out a pastor You come and you find me Your child's been in the hospital for a while It's really on the verge of death and you just wanted a pastor To come pray with you for healing You explain the situation to me and I turn I look back at you and I go all you people want is for God to do miracles I mean how are you gonna respond to that? Well, I guess Russ was just having a bad day. Let me ask that question again No, you're gonna say I Never been treated like that kind of pastor. Do you think he is no compassion there? And if you're a visitor, you're not coming back and if you're a member you've officially struck me off your pastors to talk to list So how's it any different? This is ridiculous Jesus pushes back on a man who comes begging he rebuffs a man who's pleading for his son's life Does God act like this? I mean we think God's supposed to be passionate a compassionate gracious patient Where's that? What if? What if that's God's character and that's exactly what Jesus is being here? What if everyone there Can't see in that moment how incredibly gracious and compassionate Christ is being I mean think with me John was obviously stunned by the circumstances. I mean you remembered it. He wrote it down Where does God get off like this? Telling people who are desperate who have no other place to go? They're begging for mercy Pushing back on all right, this is personal So I don't want you to hear me saying this lightly. Why would God do this? Some of you in this room have suffered like this and I want to be clear. I have no idea My God said no to you. I don't know But hear what Jesus says to this man He comes to him and says it is more important for you to understand this You do not dictate the terms to me. I do I Set the terms Now that is an incredibly aggravating answer But Jesus is making a very important point This guy is coming to God in the flesh He's coming to the author of life the hope of existence and all he's asking for is a temporary Reprieve on his son's death. That's it and God's agenda is so much bigger than that. It's as if Jesus is saying You are asking for so much less than I'm capable of. Do you really know who I am? Let me be clear. He's not saying your concerns are too petty for me to worry with no He's saying you are consumed with something That's not as important as what I want you to be consumed with. Let me change you. Now. That's grace people He's not being mean to this man. It would be a tragedy A tragedy if this man were to come ask Jesus for what he wanted to get it and to walk away I mean, he probably would think somewhere down deep By my sacrifices By my efforts. I've extended the life of my son on this planet I'm a man of means and I get what I want even if I have to stoop to begging bottom line. I get what I want by my efforts And Jesus came to kill that kind of thinking he's saying to us You are enslaved to lesser things You've got your focus on the wrong things and it's actually what is killing you I'm not some entertainer or a merchant of miracles that you can just come and buy with whatever currency You've got to offer with whatever need that you have at the time. You have nothing to offer me And we need to be clear on that or you're not going to understand anything else Grace, that's not me It's hard to hear Jesus cannot be coerced to serve. He chooses to serve We've got nothing that we can bargain with to manipulate him to get him to do what we want Understand he's after something much bigger than we can offer He's out to save us from ourselves to save us from our own self-reliance And only a man who knows he has nothing to offer will begin to abandon his self-dignity and start crying out for help I mean imagine if somebody had been standing on that airplane wing in the icy Hudson And afterward they came on TV and started complaining that their rescue boat wasn't a cruise liner Or that the guy who threw the ladder was said something rude when he threw it. He'd think they're out of their mind I mean no one who correctly understands his situation. That's just it do we Get the situation we're in I mean look why does this man persist in asking Jesus he doesn't think He wants to be entertained He doesn't think he's asking for entertainment. He's just out for his last hope But when push comes to shove He just wants to use Jesus to get what he wants and then he'd put him back on the shelf and Go back to life as it was
Even though this man is desperate. He's asking for the wrong thing sure. He's a devoted father He's made lots of sacrifices. He's giving up his own rights. He probably took days off work for his son But all of that He did to pursue what he thought was some backwoods holy man who might know a trick to keep his son alive longer and That was the thing that really mattered to him. See that's his problem He thought that Jesus was just a prophet and he thought his son was the reason that he needed to be there But he needed so much more But here comes the grace of God Look at this he stands before Jesus desperate with the wrong motives Someone you can't bargain with someone who sets their own terms But Jesus chooses to act anyway This is good news for you and me this morning. He doesn't wait on us or he'd be waiting forever So how does he act? This is where it really hurts He presses this question into the man I mean, do you really want me to do parlor tricks for you that'll fade in the coming years? Or do you want me to do what I came to do? To make you alive I mean, do you see the irony in what this man is asking for and
Notice he doesn't respond. How dare you insult me like that even though he might have wanted to Here's Jesus in the middle of this man's suffering Pressing a lesson home that he probably wouldn't hear if he wasn't in that kind of suffering a
Suffering he's actually led him to his real hope even though he hasn't figured it out yet. And did you notice that in Verse 50 he believes the word Jesus says to him, but it's not until later Not until verse 53 that he actually believes in Jesus Faith involves thinking don't throw your brains out. It's as if Jesus is saying Life is fragile, but I Don't come to me for fragile signs and then stop there Assigned the signs pointing to something It's a sign post. It's not your destination a sign points to your destination. It leads you to a goal If you want a sign just for the sake of a sign then you've missed the whole point The meaning the goal of the sign is what it's really about in the first place This is why John calls Jesus miracles signs They point to something. I mean imagine Imagine you're driving down the highway Down at 75 and it says Atlanta a hundred miles You stop the car hop out unpack kids were here Atlanta you missed it So what's the point of Jesus sign this morning? You know if we were to make a chart out of incredible signs List off what's really miraculous. This isn't especially miraculous sign. This guy is 25 miles away and he's healed Instantaneously, let me just compare that I mean think of modern day faith healers. I've always said if somebody's really got the gift of healing go to the hospital You walk around start healing people Folks are gonna get they're gonna pay attention, but a lot of these guys on TV. They got to have a service You got to come out give them some money then you come down front They've probably got screeners down there to make sure that your problem's not so big that they can't fix it up on stage Not so with Jesus He doesn't wait for us to come to him. He's out where the people are He's going places that good religious people wouldn't dare be seen And this man's heard about that and he's hoping maybe Jesus will make a house call Because he's thinking just like a doctor has to come see his son, but Jesus just Speaks this is real power. This is the kind of power That speaks a word and stops a storm It takes a small lunch and feeds 5,000 people that tells a dead man to get up and walk That speaks galaxies into existence It's as if Jesus is saying I'm not a medicine man. I'm not a prophet. I am God in the flesh and you have no idea How little you've asked me for My love and my power is so great. I'm going to give you something you haven't even asked for because if you knew who I am It's what you would have asked for. That's how I love That's how I use my power. I won't let you walk away unchanged I just Let's go Hollywood for a minute The exorcist that all movie the priest is trying so hard and He's drenched with sweat trying to cast out a demon. Let's go biblical Elisha trying to raise the chuno might woman's son has to try over and over again repeatedly But Jesus just says it And he doesn't even break a sweat, but there does come a day and he does break a sweat and drops of blood If we're gonna understand what Jesus is saying for those who are suffering That's where we got to go a garden of Gethsemane When he said father Your will be now we say that in the Lord's Prayer we say it every week But do you realize what you're saying? It's like Jesus coming and saying father Please hear this hear if it's at all possible Let this be And if not or to put it more bluntly father You know all things you know better than I do But I'm desperate and here is what I want But make my prayer what I would pray if I knew what you know Lord Take my prayer and make it your desire thy will be done No one demands no one makes demands of a savior You just throw yourself in his arms and say help that's why there's only one sign were meant to stop under Only one signpost where we need to unpack and stay and That's the cross It's here That I look at the cross and I see Lord I am more Desperately wicked than I ever wanted to say you had to die for me, but it's here at this very same place Where I see you love me more than I ever dared to dream You are willing to die for me here is where I want to stay That's not entertainment That's salvation I don't know what's gonna happen The Sophie Jane, let me share with you a story something that knocked me down over Christmas break Amanda and I were back in New Jersey visiting our old church And my pastor Was sharing about his grandson his oldest little Jake He's three years old and he's the pride of his grandpa But just like Sophie Jane. He's got a brain tumor. It's hard to be a piece When a child that little may die I mean it breaks our hearts Even the make-a-wish foundation has come to them and said how can we help what can we do we'll help however we can I mean, you know the make-a-wish foundation. This is the group that grants the biggest wish that a dying child might have You know they talk about a kid who wanted to go deep sea fish and so they took him out he called a blue Marlin One little girl wanted to be a princess So they got the whole town together and they came out and had a coronation and treated her like a princess for a day They do things like that So when they came to ask little three-year-old Jake what it is he wanted what it is he wished for he didn't hesitate He said I Want to see Jesus from the lips of children Lord God We are desperate And some of us don't even know it Or some of us came here this morning to be entertained Don't let us amuse ourselves to death Lord father show us who you are show us a father who is so devoted That he will kill death to save his children Lord show us the trade that you made on the cross as you demonstrated your love to us That we would be so enthralled with your beauty that everything else would become less important That money would just be money that family would be important, but it would just be Family not the reason we exist and live or let us love as you have loved and we could say with Paul to live as Christ To die as game show us your face this morning. We pray in your son's name We stand for the benediction May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ May the love of God the Father and May the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forever more It's going peace