The Word is Enough: Faith that Works from a Distance Text: John 4:46-54
Introduction: The Sensation Sickness
We live in an age that is desperately sick with a craving for the sensational. Our spiritual arteries are clogged with a demand for spectacle. We want the goosebumps, the dramatic intervention, the undeniable sign, the emotional surge. We want a faith that we can feel in our teeth, a faith propped up by crutches of the miraculous. We are not much different from the Galileans of Jesus' day. We want God to be a celestial vending machine: we put in our quarter of desperation, and we expect a tangible, visible, immediate miracle to drop into the tray.
But the kingdom of God does not advance by pyrotechnics. It advances by the still, small, and utterly authoritative voice of the Word. The faith that God demands, the faith that saves, is not a faith that leans on seeing. It is a faith that leans on hearing. It is a faith that takes God at His Word, even when, especially when, all visible evidence seems to be screaming the contrary. We want to see Jesus come down and touch our problems. We want to see the water turned to wine right before our eyes. But Jesus is in the business of graduating His people from a faith that needs to see, to a faith that is content to hear His command and obey.
This is precisely the lesson that unfolds in our text today. We have a desperate father, a dying son, and a Lord who seems, at first, to offer a stinging rebuke instead of a gentle comfort. But what He is doing is performing spiritual surgery. He is cutting away a weak, sign-demanding faith in order to graft in a robust, word-based faith. And in this account, we see the anatomy of true belief. It is a belief that is tested, a belief that trusts the bare word of Christ, and a belief that brings the entire household along with it. This is not just a story about a sick boy getting better. This is a story about a weak faith getting well.
The Text
Then He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was about to die. So Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe." The royal official said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. And while he was still going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was alive. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said 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, "Your son lives"; and he himself believed and his whole household. This is again a second sign that Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
(John 4:46-54 LSB)
A Desperate Request (v. 46-47)
We begin where John begins, with a return to Cana.
"Then He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was about to die." (John 4:46-47)
John wants us to connect the dots. He explicitly reminds us that Cana was the place of the first sign, where Jesus demonstrated His authority over the created order by turning water into wine. He is the Lord of creation. Now, in this second sign recorded by John, He will demonstrate His authority over life and death. This royal official, likely a courtier of Herod Antipas, is a man of some standing. But position and power are useless in the face of death. His son is sick, and not just with a sniffle. He was "about to die." This is the kind of crisis that strips away all pretense.
The man hears Jesus is in the area and he goes. He is desperate. And notice what he asks. He asks Jesus to "come down and heal his son." This is a natural request. He believes Jesus has the power to heal, which is a good start. But his faith is geographically constrained. He believes Jesus needs to be physically present. He wants Jesus to make the twenty-mile journey from Cana to Capernaum, lay hands on the boy, and do the miracle where everyone can see it. His faith is in a miracle-worker, but it is a faith that dictates the terms. It has a methodology. "Come down." This is a faith that needs proximity. It needs to see the healer at the bedside.
A Necessary Rebuke (v. 48)
Jesus' response must have landed like a bucket of cold water. It seems harsh, almost dismissive.
"So Jesus said to him, 'Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.'" (John 4:48 LSB)
Notice the plural: "you people." Jesus is not just addressing this one frantic father. He is addressing the entire Galilean mindset. They were chasing the spectacle. They had heard about the water-to-wine thing, and they wanted more of the same. They were miracle-mongers. Their "belief" was dependent on a steady diet of signs and wonders. It was a shallow, sensationalist faith that was always looking for the next big show.
This is a standing rebuke to every generation that elevates experience over Scripture. It is a rebuke to any form of Christianity that measures its health by the intensity of its emotional highs or the frequency of its alleged miracles. Jesus is saying that a faith which is dependent on signs is not true faith at all. True faith rests on the character and Word of God, not on supernatural theatrics. A sign-dependent faith is a demanding faith, a faith that says, "Show me, and then I'll believe." God says, "Believe Me, and then you will see." The order is crucial. Jesus is diagnosing a spiritual sickness, the demand to be entertained by God before you will trust Him.
Faith Stripped Bare (v. 49)
The official's response to this rebuke is the turning point. He doesn't argue theology. He doesn't get offended. His desperation is too raw for that.
"The royal official said to Him, 'Sir, come down before my child dies.'" (Genesis 4:49 LSB)
He simply repeats his plea. "Sir, come down." But the tone has changed. The rebuke has done its work. It has burned away his desire for a spectacle. All he wants now is his son's life. He is not asking for a show for the neighbors. He is a father at the end of his rope. This is not the persistence of unbelief; it is the persistence of a desperate man who has nowhere else to turn. He still thinks Jesus needs to be physically present, but his focus has been purified. It is no longer "Come and perform," but rather, "Lord, please, my son is dying." He has been humbled. And humility is the soil in which true faith can grow.
The Word is Sent Forth (v. 50)
Now that the man has been prepared, Jesus gives him the true test. He denies the man's method in order to grant his request.
"Jesus said to him, 'Go; your son lives.' The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way." (John 4:50 LSB)
Jesus does not go down to Capernaum. He stays in Cana. He does not give the man a sign to look at. He gives him a Word to believe. "Go; your son lives." This is the pinnacle of the story. The entire thing hinges on this moment. Will the man accept the bare, unadorned, unaccompanied Word of Christ? Or will he insist on his original plan? Will he demand that Jesus come down?
And here we see the birth of genuine faith. "The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him." He did not believe because he saw a sign. He believed the Word. He had no evidence. No proof. He had nothing but the promise of Christ. And on the basis of that Word alone, he turned around and "started on his way." He obeyed. This is what faith does. It hears the Word of God and it acts on that Word, even before the results are visible. He walked away from the miracle-worker, trusting not in the man's presence, but in His powerful Word. This is faith that honors God. It is faith in the divine fiat. Jesus speaks, and reality rearranges itself to obey.
Confirmation and Covenantal Blessing (v. 51-54)
The journey home was a walk of faith. And God, in His grace, meets the man with confirmation.
"And while he was still going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was alive. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said 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, 'Your son lives'; and he himself believed and his whole household." (John 4:51-53 LSB)
The confirmation of the miracle is not the foundation of his faith, but the reward of it. He already believed. The report from his slaves simply confirmed what he already held by faith. But notice the glorious precision. He asks for the exact time. "The seventh hour." That is one o'clock in the afternoon. It was the very moment that Jesus spoke the word, "Your son lives." The healing was instantaneous and it was accomplished from twenty miles away. This demonstrates that Christ's authority is not limited by space or time. His Word is sovereign. It does what He sends it to do.
And look at the result. "He himself believed and his whole household." This is not just an emotional contagion. This is the biblical principle of federal headship. The father, the head of the home, exercised true faith, and God blessed his entire household through him. This is the pattern throughout Scripture. Noah believed, and his household was saved. Abraham believed, and his household was brought into covenant. The Philippian jailer believed, and his household was baptized. When a father or mother truly believes the Word of God, it creates a covenantal atmosphere, a spiritual ecosystem, in which it is the most natural thing in the world for the children and servants to follow suit. God deals with families. He saves households. This man's faith, born of desperation, refined by rebuke, and resting on the Word, became the conduit of salvation for his entire house.
John concludes by reminding us that this was the "second sign." A sign is not an end in itself. It points beyond itself to a greater reality. This healing was not just about a fever breaking. It was a sign pointing to the glorious truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the sovereign Lord whose Word alone is sufficient to bring life out of death.
Conclusion: Living by the Word
The lesson for us is straightforward and sharp. We must graduate from a faith that demands to see, to a faith that is content to hear and obey the Word of Christ. We have something far greater than signs and wonders. We have the completed Word of God. We have the Scriptures. And the Word is enough.
Your life may be in crisis. Your child may be sick. Your finances may be collapsing. Your soul may be in turmoil. And you may be pleading with Jesus, "Come down here and fix this!" And His answer to you today is the same. "Go your way. Trust my Word." He has given us exceeding great and precious promises in the Bible. The promise of forgiveness. The promise of His presence. The promise of His provision. The promise of eternal life. The question is, will we believe the Word He has spoken?
True faith does not need a fresh sign. It rests on the old Word. It doesn't need a vision. It has the Scriptures. It doesn't need a feeling. It has the objective promise of God. When you are tempted to despair, when you want to demand a sign from God, you must do what this official did. You must take Jesus at His Word, turn around, and go your way in obedience. For it is in that walk of faith, trusting the bare Word of the Lord, that you will meet the confirmation of His faithfulness, and bring the blessing of salvation down upon your entire household.