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There remains one sto- in the record of our Lord's first journey to Jerusalem and back again. There remains one story that we haven't considered so far. That is, of course, the last story, which is the healing of the court officials, the nobleman, as the authorized version has him, the court official's son. As a matter of interest, gentlemen, any of you, have you ever preached on this story?
No, yes, there's a good man there who preached on it, yes? Would you like to come and take my place here now, please? No, you wouldn't. Yes. So, amongst this, uh, uh, collection of people, uh, not often preached upon. The healing of the nobleman's son. So that our task is to understand the story in itself, of course. What is the point of it? And secondly, to see if, uh, in any way it is related to the other stories that we have considered this morning. So, um, uh, let us, uh, notice then, first of all, the way scripture, uh, describes the story.
And take our first clue from what scripture actually says. So let me read the, uh, account. This is the old-fashioned revised version, verse forty six of chapter four. He that is our Lord came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water wine. There was a certain nobleman, certain court official, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
Jesus therefore said unto him, except you see signs and wonders, you will in no wise believe. So we ought to ponder that now for the moment. This is our Lord's reaction, his statement as the nobleman comes to him. And whatever is- else it is, because it is the Lord's statement, we must consider it and its implications, do see. Notice, shall we, that except you see signs, it's plural you. He's not saying just to the man himself, except you personally see signs and wonders, you personally will in no wise believe.
It's plural, except you, you all round here, you people in general. Except you see signs and wonders, you will in no wise believe. It raises the question, gentlemen, of the relation of signs and wonders to faith. Mm-hmm. Um, anywhere else in this first journey that that topic is talked about, a- as you remember? Jerusalem at the start. Yeah, Jerusalem at the start? Be so kind as to read it in a loud stentorian voice, whatever it is that you have to read.
Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles, which he did, but Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. Yes, and I'd care to read, uh, verse two, of chapter three? The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these signs that thou doest except God be with him. Yes. So the relation of signs to faith is going to be an important thing in this whole, um, uh, first journey, of course, but it is in general. We have to put that alongside, do we not, what the gospel itself tells us i- in its often quoted words in chapter twenty.
The signs are written that you might believe. Uh, look, let's quote the whole thing. Chapter twenty, verse thirty. uh, uh, verse thirty. Many other signs, therefore, did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the s- Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. It seems to me we have to be careful, gentlemen, that we do not disparage signs and wonders. Some commentators will say that John didn't think very much of signs because faith built on signs isn't always very good.
You'll see. And they base their remarks on those verses at the end of chapter two. They, uh, when he was in Jerusalem, many believed on him beholding the signs which he did. Jesus didn't commit himself to them. He knew what was in man. So obviously our Lord thought that that faith responding to those signs was inadequate. You'll see. Why it was inadequate, that is a matter to be pondered, isn't it? At the other extreme, of course, we're told, uh, in the verses we read from chapter twenty that the gospel deliberately records certain signs that Jesus did in order that you may believe.
This raises the whole matter of the relation of signs to faith. Some people hold that when we first come to Christ, our faith is a leap in the dark. That cannot be true. I quote again the words of chapter twenty. These signs are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in his name. It's a question of believing that, to start with, believing, believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That's a proposition, philosophically speaking.
The signs are evidence. I remember being in one of the Iron Curtain countries in the bad old days, and, uh, I had at the big, uh, it was a conference weekend, and at the final meeting it was said to be for young people, and I was asked to preach, and I preached on, uh, the water turned into wine, do you see? Afterwards, in the, at supper time in the hotel, I asked my interpreter, he was a very gifted man, young man, uh, do you see? I said, do you sometimes preach on the, on the signs of, of, of, uh, you know, to give people the evidence that he is the Son of God?
Uh, no, he said, no, I don't. I said, I see. Uh, what evidence do you give them? Don't, he said, I don't. Oh, I see, you don't give them any evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. You just say he is and expect them to believe. I said, what would then be the difference between believing Christ and believing the devil? He said, none to start with. But if faith is a leap in the dark, without any evidence, well, what would be the difference between believing the devil and believing Christ? Now, that isn't true. These signs are written, says chapter twenty, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
That's a bel- believing a proposition. And then, and believing that, and believing have life through his name. That's the next bits and side of believing. It is all too possible, however, as we see from chapter two, for people who witness a miracle, not being able to to deny it is a miracle, they they believe, but what they believe, you'll notice in chapter two it's not said, uh, do you see, uh, believed, uh, uh, on his name, believed that he was, uh, uh, uh, uh, Jesus of Nazareth, so now they believed him and he was okay.
But our Lord didn't commit himself to them. He knew what was in them. There are multitudes of believe- people that believe that Jesus is the Son of God, not yet born again. I expect you have met many of them, you see. So this matter of the relation of, uh, uh, science to faith is an important one. It is, uh, introduced here, uh, right at the beginning. You notice that when the Jews come in the first story to Christ, uh, do you see, they say, what sign showest thou, seeing thou doest these things?
Asking for a sign. So then now we come to the final story. We ought to pick up what our Lord comments. This is going to raise the question of the relation of signs to faith. Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. Yes? So what does that mean? And we may extend it to say, well, that's the story, it's simple enough to see what the story says, but, um, so what?
How would you apply it to anybody if you did preach this story? What is its lesson? How would you apply it? To help us, uh, get the facts into our head, let's notice another thing about the story. And we're dealing simply... with the facts of the story. It's always good to get all the facts onto one's head, if one can, uh, do you see, before you expound it. To maint- may be sure that you're expounding the story and not making up a few things of your own.
So notice what, uh, uh, the, uh, s- formal structure, what you might call the formal structure of the story, and notice its similarity in structure to the first story in the journey. We noticed it in going by this morning, that first story, that there are two parts to the first story, and they are marked by John, so that the first part, um, uh, is a comment of the, uh, apostles.
The disciples remembered that it was written. And then in part two, when the authorities ask Christ for a sign to show his authority to cleanse the temple, Christ gives them a sign, and that second part ends with another comment about the disciples. This is not me telling you arbitrarily that the story is in two parts. This is how John has written it. And we saw the importance of seeing that there are two parts to that story.
In the first part, our Lord reforms the old system. He thought it worth his while to reform the old temple, the old system of worship, and turned out the money changes and all the rest of it, and said, don't make money changes and all the rest of it, and said, don't make my father's house a house of merchandise. He called the old temple, the old system, his father's house, and thought it worthwhile reforming it. But he didn't simply reform it. The second half of the story says how Christ was going to replace the old system with a new kind of temple.
And that likewise is followed by a comment about the disciples. So it is, it's not making it up, it's not s- uh, you know, imagination. It's watching how the story is written. It has two parts, and the two parts are saying two distinct things about the temple, of course. But now we ought to notice about that first story what we didn't have time to notice this morning. In the second bit, the authorities come and ask him, what sign do you do to validate your cleansing of the temple like this?
Notice the sign that he gives. This is on his first journey to Jerusalem. And as a sign, he mentions something that wasn't going to happen for the next three years. Now, what sign, what evidence, what's your authority? He gives them the sign of his resurrection, but that wasn't going to happen, as I say, for the next three years. Interesting that, isn't it? Asking for evidence, and he gives them evidence, but it is delayed evidence.
They won't get the evidence till three years later, when they have crucified him. Destroy this temple. They would do it. Those very temple authorities would crucify, have him crucified. Destroy this temple, I'll raise it again within three days. It is talking of his resurrection. How was it valid? What sense does it make? I'm not questioning our Lord's wisdom, but I'm asking us to see what the sense is. What sense did it make for him at the beginning of his ses- uh, his journey, the very first journey, to cite as evidence of his authority something that wasn't going to happen for three years.
And you are Christians, of course, so you don't find the answer difficult. You say the final validation of our Lord was his resurrection from the dead. Of course it couldn't happen for three years, but that was going to be the, the, the final validation of his, uh, of his, uh, uh, uh, message and of himself indeed. As Romans chapter one tells you, as it outlines the very basis of your gospel, it is concerning God's Son who was on the side of humanity, uh, of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power by what? Yeah?
Yes, by the resurrection. So from the point of view of the temple authorities standing there, the evidence that he now cites is delayed evidence that they won't have until the resurrection takes place. Historical delay, of course, and you want, we understand why. They didn't understand it, of course. There's no record that he explained it. Destroy this temple, they said he was barmy. That particular temple took forty three years to build, wasn't quite finished even in the days of Christ. How could he destroy it and raise it again in three days?
Well, they didn't understand, neither did the apostles at the time. It was only after he rose from the dead, John explains, that they remembered that he had said this. In that sense, therefore, delayed evidence. Now we shall find that story two deals with that same principle, the question of delayed evidence and the relation to faith. So shall we notice that this story too is in two parts?
Just like the first story was. Uh, and it is divided into two parts by the comment that the nobleman, the of court official, believed. Let's read the first part of the story, therefore. He came again unto Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
Jesus therefore said unto him, except you see signs and wonders, you will in no wise believe. The nobleman says to him, sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus said to him, go thy way, thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke unto him, and he went his way. First part of the story, ending with the statement, the man believed. The second part of the story, as he was now going down, his servants met him saying that his son lived. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said unto him, they said therefore to him, yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, thy son liveth, and himself believed, and his whole house. You are allowed to believe more than once, gentlemen. Yeah. So this is a, a, a story in two parts, and each part is ended by a statement that the man believed. So let us now think the thing, if we can, through. The first part. This was a court official up in Galilee, and his son was desperately sick.
He obviously believed that the Lord could heal. Because, you see, when the Lord came back to Galilee, he went and asked him to heal him. So we perceive that the man believed that much about Christ, he could heal the sick. But when the boy got ill, our Lord was down in Jerusalem, and it was a long way off, and the man had no means of contacting him. And then he heard that Jesus had come back and was in Cana of Galilee. Well, now that was helpful because, or hopeful anyway, because yeah, it is some distance from Capernaum to that Cana, wherever that Cana was, but uh, it was worth trying.
And so with his son in that critical situation, the man having tried everything he knew how, I suspect, to heal his son, and with the son in that critical situation, he sets forth to find Jesus, because this was his only hope. So he comes to Jesus, and if you notice the exact phrase, he asked him not to just to heal his son, to come down and heal his son. What he was asking the Lord would do was to come right, leave Canaan and come to Capernaum and heal the boy, lay his hands on him or something, to come down and heal his son. And our Lord's reply was, the trouble with you around here, gentlemen, my good man, the trouble with you people around here is in the plural, you, plural, that unless you see signs and wonders, you won't believe.
Oh, said the man, look, look, please sir, don't let's talk theology. My boy is desperately ill. Come and heal him, and then we can talk about the theology. And our Lord said, you have mistaken me, my good man. Your son lives. What do you mean he lives? Well, you asked me, didn't you, to to heal your son? Well, I've healed him. What I was saying is the trouble with you chaps around here is that unless you see some sign and wonder, you're not prepared to believe. And if you're not prepared to believe without seeing a sign and wonder, you're going to have a hard time this next twenty four hours. But I'm telling you your son is well.
Well, that put the man on the spot, because he couldn't see his son was well. So what was he going to do now? What it shows to us, of course, is an interesting thing about our Lord. He is the Lord of space and time. And because of that, he is able to heal at a distance. And he was able to heal at a distance here on Earth.
You better say hallelujah to that and thank the Lord, because some of you are hoping to go to heaven, and you haven't seen heaven, and as far as I know, haven't been there. So how do you know it's there? Well, all you have to go on is the word of Christ, anyway. So that was the situation. The, the boy was healed, but the man couldn't see it, nor could he have the evidence it was so, there being no computers, cell phones, television, or iPods or whatever, there being none of those things.
He just couldn't see it, you see. It meant that he had to go blindly on believing the word of Christ. Now, gentlemen, you will see a balance, won't you? If you're confronted with the question, is Jesus or is he not the Christ, the Son of God, well, scripture will give you evidence, and evidence in the form of signs and wonders, if you want. These signs are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. It will give you evidence. But he promises that those who believe have eternal life.
Well, you believe, and you say you have eternal life. How do you know you've got eternal life? Which is the point at issue now, for the man was far from home. And the Lord was saying his son was, was, uh, healed. The son's live. And it's all credit to the man that he believed, and he went his way.
I think I wouldn't have done. I would have stayed there and said, oh Lord, if you really knew how much, how much danger my boy's in, you, you, you'd come down and heal him. No, I have healed him. Yes, but just to make sure. But the man believed. On the naked word of Christ, without seeing signs and wonders, he just believed. He didn't get home till the next day, you'll notice. I don't know where he stayed the night. He didn't get home to the next day. I don't know whether on the way home he had doubts and difficulties.
Was the boy really well? But then Christ said so. All he had to go on was the naked word of Christ. And gentlemen, when it comes to the fact that you have eternal life and there's a home prepared for you in heaven, you journey through life on those same terms. On the naked word of Christ. How do you know you have eternal life? You say, I get such marvelous feelings and sentiments of heaven. Well, thank the Lord for that. And when you're down in the dumps and you don't feel anything, how do you know you have eternal life? Because he said so.
Mm-hmm. And we journey like the nobleman on the naked word of Christ. Ah, but there's a second part to the story. When he got home, the servants met him and said, your boy's okay. But that wasn't enough for the dad. He then wanted to know at what exact hour did his boy began to mend. He asked the servants, and they said, oh, well, that was yesterday, about the seventh hour. And the man counted it up on his fingers or elsewhere in his diary or something, and uh, he counted it up, and he came to the conclusion, yes, it was at the very hour when, now don't look at scripture.
It was the very hour when, when he believed, of course, wasn't it? The boy was healed when he believed. Okay? No, indeed not. When what then? When exactly was the boy healed? You may look at the Bible and see what it says. When Jesus said. Pardon? When Jesus said. When Jesus said it. That was when the boy was healed. Now, gentlemen, if I'm mistake not, there is an exceedingly important principle at stake.
Let me tell you the story. Uh, the man came to the Lord and said, come and heal my son, and the Lord said, except you see signs and wonders, you'll not believe. And the man said, oh, come down. But our Lord said that your son lives. Now, what happened? The man came to Christ, did he? Said, Lord, come and heal my son. As you say, uh, uh, he's very desperately, you'll come down and heal him. And our Lord said, now you shall have to be very careful, because if I say thy son lives and the man doesn't believe, well, then I can't, I can't heal his son, you see. So I'll say your son lives, but then I won't, I won't cure him.
I just say your son lives, and and if he believes, I'll go on to cure him, but when I say your son lives, if the man doesn't believe, then I won't cure him. How is that? Or does it mean exactly what it says, that the son was healed when the Lord said, your son lives? You say, what are you making all that silly fuss about? Well, I'm anxious to know what is the relation, you see, to faith. Where did the man's faith come in? Because it says, uh, then the Lord said his son was healed, the man believed.
Not the man believed and then the son was healed. You say, why on earth are you making all this fuss? Well, gentlemen, I'm old in the truth. And I may tell you in my experience, there are many believers in middle life and a lot in later life who have heard ever since they knew anything, that salvation is by faith, and they trusted the Lord. And then, as time goes on, and the old body weakens, and the nervous system weakens, and all the rest of it, they fall to wondering, well, was I really saved then?
Uh, well, it depended on faith. Yes, I believe, but... was it the right kind of faith? You may smile at that. I've had various versions of this. I remember one person, so determined to believe the right way round, when he became unsure that he had believed the right way round to start with, that he wrote it out on a, on a piece of paper. Now, these are the words, and I'm going to pray the exact words so I can be absolutely sure that I believe the right way. So he wrote it down and got down on his knees.
Well, if I didn't believe the right way to start with all those years ago, this is terrible, you see. I should have to go to the elders of the church and confess I haven't been a believer all these years. And now I have believed, and I, I, and now, and I shall be b- have to be baptized over again, you see. Dear me, dear me, dear me. Well, I'm going to believe the right way around this time. So now, I mean, the devils believe, and they don't believe the right way, you see, they'll tell you. Now, now he's going to read it, so, so get down on his knees and, and, and believe the Lord. And that works for the first half a li- day or two. And then, but was I really concentrating on it, or was I just saying words and didn't actually mean it with my whole...
Oh dear, dear man, well, what dear. And you smile, may you never come into that situation. But if you preach on this story, you may find some older senior Christian women grip your hand going out and say, oh, thank you for that. You might find some younger ones as well. What is the relation of faith and evidence? When was the boy healed? For the passage only mentions the man's faith after the Lord said, thy son is well, and the man believed, to say.
Ah, but gentlemen, if I ask you, when did that man first believe? And when did he first repent, for that matter? I'm going to put it to you that that man had come to the end of all his possibilities, doctors and everything else. His son was dying. He'd heard of Jesus. Jesus was down in Jerusalem, unobtainable. When he heard he came back, this was his only hope. And left the dying boy, that was a difficult enough job to do, because this was his only hope.
That is repentance, you know. And he came to Christ, and he called on the Lord, heal my boy. And scripture says, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's Romans chapter ten, you know. He called. And the Lord responded by saying, your son lives. That is still true. It's true in a believer's life, you see.
You remember the story of Peter in the boat, won't you? According to Matthew. And when he saw the Lord walking on the water, and the Lord said, it's I, you needn't be afraid. Peter did a few jumps of logic and said, Lord, if it is you, bid me to come to you on the water. Now, what the logic of that thing was, I don't know. But anyway, the Lord said, come, you see, and he was responding to the invitation of the Lord. He had a word of the Lord for it. It wasn't silly nonsense, uh, uh, just br- bravery and so on. He had the Lord's word, and he got out of the boat. And then he looked round and, uh, saw the wind and the wave and began to seek.
What happened next? Well, he cried, Lord, save me, of course. And the Lord didn't say, you silly ditherer. No, no. Grabbed him, stood him up, and then said, O thou of little faith, why did you dither? Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. When the man asked the Lord to save his son, he healed, he saved his son. The question was the relation of faith to evidence.
The son was well, but the man couldn't see it. He had the sense there and then to believe on the basis of the naked word of Christ, and journeyed home having nothing more than the naked word of Christ. Of course, when he got home, there was evidence. The servants met him saying, your son lives, and of course he got in and saw the boy. Tremendous. It was real then. And he believed all over again. There's no harm in believing five or six times if you want to, you know. There should be evidence, shouldn't there, as we go on in life, that Christ's word is true, that we do have eternal life, and the Holy Spirit is our witness thereto.
So there is evidence, but that way round. Sometimes the evidence is delayed, isn't it? In life. There will be elements in our Christian walk where, right to the end of this life on earth, there are certain things we have to believe just because Christ says so, without any further evidence. Does that make any sense, gentlemen? Mm-hmm. Why does it come here? Because there are two sides to this delayed evidence matter.
Because this section is discussing to you the relation between signs and wonders and faith. It is raised in the second paragraph. Some people believe the signs and wonders and believed on his name, but he didn't commit himself because there was no repentance of sin, there was no genuine faith in him. Simply he did signs and wonders, so they said, okay. Different with Nicodemus, of course. He came because he was impressed by the signs and wonders. So I'm not inventing it out of my own head, but I say this first journey will raise the matter of signs and evidence, gentlemen.
What evidence do you show for cleansing the temple? The evidence delayed, for this was an historic matter. Christ couldn't give the evidence of his resurrection until his death. That was three years off. But the evidence of the resurrection becomes the absolute foundation of the Christian faith. It is the basis of the gospel. The historical evidence. It was a fact, and it happened. Yes? The evidence of history. Now the evidence of experience, the last story. The evidence of experience.
And now we start by taking the s- straight word of Christ, if you call on the name of the Lord, you're guaranteed you shall be saved. But now the evidence that you have been. You start by believing his word, sirs. Plain believing his word. And so you travel. As you travel, you will normally find the evidence. There are some things you'll not find the evidence for until you get home to glory. Yeah, any good? Let me ask you another question, therefore.
If that's crudely put, the message of the story, is it preachable, and is it worth preaching? What would you say to that? Yes, there's a chap over there's decided to preach it. Mm-hmm. Yes, we're not just playing literary puzzles with the word of God. This is right down to the heart of things. He can heal at a distance.
But just to make the point that when you're studying a gospel like this, eventually, over the years at any rate, you get into the habit of comparing one story with another and seeing things in their context. There's going to be another miracle, which is the raising of Lazarus. And when you first read it, it'll upset you a little bit. If you've got it into your head that Christ can heal at a distance, and then you start to read chapter eleven, and he was up north somewhere, and there came a message from Martha and Mary.
Lord, heal whom thou lovest is sick. Uh, unspoken invitation for him to come and heal Lazarus, of course. And when he heard that, he had, he stayed the same place where he was for two days. And you say, well, doesn't matter. We've learned he can heal at a distance, you know. So he'll just speak the word. He doesn't need to go to Bethany. He can heal at a distance. But two days later, he told the apostles, Lazarus is dead. And then added, I'm glad I wasn't. Now, what else has that got to do with it, whether he was there or not? He could have healed at a distance.
Ah, that's okay. He'll raise him at a distance. No, he didn't. When he got there, Lazarus had been dead four days and in the grave, and Martha went out to meet him, and she said, Lord, oh, tremendously poignant words. If you had been here, Lord, my brother hadn't died. You didn't come, did you? We sent you a note, you know. Did you get the note? Are we glad I wasn't there?
What is he saying? So then he came to the grave and and they said, take away the stone. Oh no, said Martha, don't take away that stone. Been all right if you'd have been here. He's four days in the grave and he stinks. What is it saying? Well, of course, the che- the the nobleman, the official son, is telling us about the relation of faith to experience. How do I know I have new life? The story of, um, raising of Lazarus is, of course, this is a parable, it is a miracle, of course, but it is also a prototype and a parable of the resurrection of the dead, physical resurrection of the dead.
It's not a story about how did Lazarus receive eternal life. It's how was Ra- Lazarus raised physically from the dead. Now, Christ is the resurrection and the life, but before he left his people, he was determined to lay down a pattern for them that that should follow, down the years, down the centuries. And all down the centuries, the Lord's people, when their relatives have got sick, have prayed to the Lord, and they've told the Lord, please, Lord, heal them. And sometimes he does. But sometimes he doesn't.
And the dead die. Is that a disaster? No, according to the story, it is in the plan of the Lord. You'll notice that he didn't raise Lazarus at a distance. The whole point of the story is that to raise Lazarus, he had to come. He came to Bethany. Didn't heal him at a distance. He healed the official's boy at a distance. Didn't raise Lazarus at a distance. Why? Because he's laying down the, the, the pattern of what it's going to be for the resurrection of the dead.
The Lord's gone away. Our loved ones get sick. We pray the Lord to heal them. Well, he may do, but in the end they die. Nor will they be raised until... Oh, have you got any idea of how it's going to happen? The r- pardon? They won't be raised until the Lord comes. That's right, the Lord himself shall come. He shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel at the trump of God. Two stories then. And one puts the one side and one puts the other. And it's helpful to compare them and contrast them.
For the wa- oh, by doing it, it brings out their meaning, yes. Good. Well, let's take a break there. Mm-hmm. Uh, there will be abounding with questions, if not with Thanksgiving, yes. With the questions? Yeah, if you have some questions, yes. I meant to ask this in the previous session. Oh, yes, yes. About chapter 2, you started chapter 2. Yes. 1 to 11, and uh, if you were giving people a basic outline, we would generally, I think most of us would go to chapter 20, verse 30, 31, and show that the signs and our evidences for belief. Yes. And then we talk about the seven signs in John's gospel. Yes. Um, and sometimes the seven I am sayings.
So that's, that's what a lot of us are brought up with. Marvelous. Brilliant. So we, we, the first one's John chapter two, to eleven. Yes. But in your scheme, uh, that you're presenting today, it's not even included. So it kind of interrupts my... uh, on these seven signs. It falls out your, outside your scheme of the trips up and down to Jerusalem and, and God's purposes. So how do, how does something as amazing as the first sign fall outside your scheme? If I can ask that question. Um. I've already asked the question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. How does, yeah, let me get this right. Uh, your scheme, your scheme is the I am sayings.
And the seven signs. And the seven signs. And your seven signs start where? John chapter 2. That's right. What, the wait, why didn't, uh, waiting, uh, yeah, well, of course it starts there, yes. Lovely. And what I'm saying demolishes your scheme? The Lord forbid. What? Uh, so the, the main structure of the book you're saying starts in chapter two verse twelve, um, but the structure that I normally play with is from the very start of chapter two. and the main, the main part of the book, um, doesn't actually have the first of the seven signs. That's just a little strange. Um, Yes.
Just wondering if any thoughts on that. Well, it must, must sound absolutely curious, a little bit deficient for me to start with the, uh, this, um, uh, uh, cleansing of the temple. Yes. Well, make a, may I make an observation too, sir? Uh, hold on to your, what you call your structure, the seven sayings. Mm-hmm. And the seven signs. Mm-hmm. Jolly good. Um, but if you'll permit me just to talk a little bit of technicalities, I would call that a dominant theme. The signs are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in his name.
There are seven such signs, uh, do you see, and the first of them is the w- wedding in Cana of Galilee and the turning of the water into wine. A dominant theme. I wouldn't call it a structure of the book for the simple reason that if you note, if you were to chart those seven signs, uh, on a table of contents in John's gospel, you would find that there is one of these signs in chapter two at the beginning, yes? Then there isn't another until chapter four, The healing of the official son.
In chapters five and six, there are three in those two chapters. Healing of the paralytic, the feeding of the five thousand, and the walking on the water. Three all in grouped. There's nothing in chapter seven, nothing in chapter eight. There is the miracle of giving sight to the man born blind in chapter nine. There is no sign in chapter ten. Then chapter eleven, there is the raising of Lazarus, and then twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, no signs at all. Nor in eighteen.
So as far as being the structure of a book, it would, if you, um, uh, using that term in a technical sense, I would say that not quite, it doesn't account for the whole book, and no end of chapters miss that out all completely. I would say it was one of the dominant themes, a very important dominant theme, and what is more, if you look at those, uh, uh, miracles, evidence of the power of Christ and that he is the Son of God, they're not only a dominant theme, but they form a pattern. What do I mean by that? Well, take the miracle in chapter five.
Here was a man, uh, for thirty eight years, on and off, he'd been trying to get into this pool when the waters were troubled. Yes? And the Lord came along and said to the good man, would you like to be made well? And he said, didn't say yes like a sensible man, yes, of course I would. He said, but I have no one to help me into the pool. He couldn't think of any other way of getting better than to get into this pool, and had the notion that Christ perhaps had come to give him a helping hand to get into the pool. And the Lord replied, in effect, pool, man, I don't need any pool. Get up.
And the man was healed forthwith. Didn't use the pool. Heard you say to your congregation, the Lord doesn't need any pools, you know, he never uses any pool, but huffin it. There's a story in chapter nine of a blind man. He'd never seen. He wasn't thinking of going to any pool in particular. The Lord spat on the ground, made clay, put it on his eyes and said, go wash in the pool of sight. How will you account for this? We've just seen the other one, this miracle of the nobleman's son, our Lord heals at a distance. Lazarus? He could have healed at a distance, he didn't.
Why didn't he? Yeah? So these, if you put them out, they form a, a set. The only correction is that there are eight miracles in John instead of seven. You'll see, it is perfectly true that the first seven are referred to in chapter twenty. These signs are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life in his name. All the first seven uh, have that same purpose. The eighth was another miracle, but it didn't have that purpose.
It wasn't to encourage non-believers to believe. It was for the encouragement of Christian workers about the Lord's guidance, do you see? Yes? The miraculous draft of fishes. And if you attend to the actual wordage of the miracles, in the first miracle, turning of water to wine, the comment is made at the end that the Lord manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him. When it comes to the miracle in chapter twenty one, Jesus manifested, but not his glory.
Jesus manifested himself. Very, very deliberate language because at this time our Lord was dead, buried, risen, and was on the other side of death, so to speak, now in risen life. How did he come and stand on the shore so they could see him. And where on earth did he get the fish from and the coals of fire, so that when they brought the fish to land, he'd already got the breakfast cooked and said, come and dine and I can break your fast, and uh, he had some fish there on a fire. Where did he get the stuff from?
He had promised to do to before he left them. Do you see? So, yes, those, as to come back to you, sir, there are seven signs, there are eight miracles. If you chart the eight miracles, you will find they form a pattern, such as I indicate. The second one heals at a distance. The second last one, he doesn't heal at a distance, deliberately doesn't.
In the third one, he refuses to use a pool. In the third last one, he uses the pool. So? And then, if you, uh, you won't be upset with me if I tell you this. Your signs carry ca- uh, keep hold of them, I wouldn't destroy it at all. Are genuine, do you see? They are s- they are dominant theme, they are a pattern.
But there's another dominant theme in the Gospel of John, which is that John has a number of stories about women, in which women are very prominent. Those are stories which no other gospel writer has, or if they have some of it, they have it nowhere near the same extent as John does. There are six such stories. Mm-hmm. They also are a dominant theme.
Marvelously good topic for women's meetings, uh, you'll see. But anyway, the first one, of course, is the same story, the turning of water to wine at Cana. That happens to be the first miracle recorded, the first sign. But from another point of view, it's the first in another series of dominant themes, because in the course of that miracle, Mary comes to Jesus and says they have no wine, and he says to her, woman, what have I to do with you? Yes?
No one else tells you that story. And then there is the woman in chapter four. Very prominent, the Samaritan woman. Nobody else has the story at all. Mm-hmm. Uh, what was wrong with that woman? What marked her out? No satisfaction. Yeah, no satisfaction, yes. And what else? Go call your... Ha.
She'd had five, and the man she was living with now was not her husband. Relationship not satisfactory, yes? Chapter eight, there's a famous story, and people say it shouldn't be in the Gospel of John. It's a later edition. That's an authentic story, but John didn't include it. Well, thank the Lord for the man who did include it later on, whoever that was, because that's the story of a woman. What was wrong with her? Yes. Yes. And then there's the story of Martha and Mary at the death of their brother.
Yes? No one else has that story. At the cross, there's a thing, a detail that only John has, and it is this, our Lord sees his mother standing, and he says to his mother, woman, behold thy son. And he says to John, son, behold thy mother. And from that hour he took her to his own home. Mary at the death of her son. And there's a final story, chapter, uh, twenty, of Mary...
in the garden on the morning of the resurrection. Now, other gospels mention she was present, but only John tells you what happened and what our Lord said to her. When she looked round and thought he was the gardener, and she said, if you've taken him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will remove him. And it was our Lord, and he said, Mary. She recognized him. Six stories in which women are prominent, peculiar to John. You, you mustn't get ex- uh, upset if the first story is one in your other series.
There's no law against it. You'll say, ha ha. Uh, Six stories in which women are prominent, and if you notice, gentlemen, they all have a common theme. It is sparked off, of course, by our Lord's word to Mary at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Woman, what have I to do with you? It's a question of relationship. And you who are expert in these things, if I asked you, would tell me what weddings are about. What are they about, anyway? Anybody here know what weddings are about? Nobody, no, no, so nobody would admit it, you see.
Weddings are about what? A relationship, yes, hombre. There is a public celebration of a new relationship. It's an extraordinary story of a wedding. You know, the bride isn't mentioned, nor what she wore. How can it be? We're inspired. I mean, nothing is said about the dear lady. What is said is Jesus was invited to a wedding, and the mother of Jesus was there. Who was she really? That's his closest human relative. And she came and said, they have no wine.
He said, woman, what have I to do with you? Relationship, isn't it? And the woman in chapter four, between her and the man she was living wi- with, there was no true relationship. And the woman in chapter eight, she had been unfaithful to relationship. There was Martha and Mary. And you see, notice how she talks to the Lord. If you'd been here, she doesn't say Lazarus wouldn't have died. She said, if you'd have been here, my, my brother wouldn't have died. And our Lord replies, your brother shall rise again, not Lazarus shall rise again.
This is what death, ordinary physical death, does to human relationships. Oh. And then there's Mary at the death of her son. This is what the cross does to relationships. You see, not just physical death, but the world's enmity, taking this son from his mother. But then the compensation, of course, of being fellow believers, a new family.
He said to Mary, behold your son, and to John, behold your mother. A new family relationship. Yes. And to Mary in the garden. Oh, come on, do tell me. The last dear lady in the garden, and the Lord said to her what? Pardon? Don't ca- don't, don't. My father or your father. Yes. Don't, stop clinging to me.
Go and tell my... Brethren. My brethren, yes, my brothers. I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. Relationship, hombre. And that, when he was already the other side of the grave, the other side of death, mentioning and making real to Mary the reality of this new relationship that goes across death. I send to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. Which accounts for the fact that the women never turned the grave of Christ into a shrine.
You needn't argue which is the right place for the burial of Christ in Jerusalem. You don't need to ask about that, really. The early Christians forgot, so for centuries it wasn't known where he was buried, and for the simple reason you don't make a shrine to somebody who is alive, you do, do you now? It was the reality of that new relationship between Christ and his people that stopped the Christian women from making any shrine of the tomb of Christ. No, that all came about your suggestion. Do you see how it's not a question of either author?
Yeah. Mm-hmm. No more questions? Well, let's take ten minutes and e- ease, and then I'll have a short session just to set some homework.
