The Holy Spirit never wastes His breath. Everything He inspired the prophets and apostles to write on the pages of Holy Scripture testifies in some way of Jesus Christ, so that you, O sinful man, might have hope.

It is with that truth in mind that I direct you to these words, which the Holy Spirit breathed into St. John as an introduction to our Gospel for this Sunday: “So Jesus came to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.” This is so much more than a simple transitional statement. The water that was contained in six stone pots was to be used at this wedding feast for ceremonial purification in accordance with the Law of Moses. As such, it proclaimed to everyone who passed by those six stone pots, every time he passed them by, that he was filthy—not with dirt, but with sin—and needed to be purified. By miraculously turning that water into wine to keep this wedding feast going, Jesus declared that He had come to fulfill this Law, that He would cleanse sinful man of this filth by the shedding of His holy, precious blood, so that he could live in a blessed union with Him, as a wife to her husband.

But why did the Holy Spirit inspire St. John to use that miracle as an introduction to this one? What connection can there be between Jesus changing water into wine and His healing of the nobleman’s son? Understanding that the Holy Spirit never wastes His breath, the connection between the two has something to do with Christ and the salvation that comes through Him.

Perhaps you know from your own experiences just how helpless this nobleman, who was an official in the court of the Roman governor Herod, felt. It could very well have been caused by the illness of a loved one who was also near death, or it could have been something else, such as the loss of a job, the betrayal of a friend, or adversity within your own family. Perhaps some sin you committed in the past is weighing you down with such great guilt that you, figuratively speaking, are still feeling the flames of hell licking at your feet. Regardless of what caused you—or is still causing you—to realize that you are not at all in control of your life, the Apostle Paul tells you how to deal with it: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

That’s what this nobleman did. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down to Capernaum and heal his dying son. This he would not have done had he not believed that Jesus could heal him. But his faith was not strong enough to trust solely on a promise. He asked Jesus to come to Capernaum so that he could witness this miracle; thus the rebuke: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

Seeing is not believing. The sacred writer to the Hebrew Christians defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” And therein lies the problem—not only with this nobleman, but also with you and me. It’s easy to believe that God cares for me when I’m healthy, but much harder when I get sick. It’s easy to believe that God provides for me when my bills are all paid up, but much harder when the math in my checkbook doesn’t add up. It’s easy to believe that God is good when He answers my prayer with “Yes,” but so much harder when He says “No.” And I have no problem believing that God forgives me my sins for Jesus’ sake—until I am racked with guilt over something I’ve done. Such is the nature of sinful man: he wants proof before he will trust; he wants to see before he believes.

But we don’t need proof or sight. We have God’s Word, which is an almighty word. When Jesus told this nobleman, “Go your way; your son lives,” he went—and on his way home learned from his servants, who met him on the way, that his son did get better, and at the very same hour Jesus told him he would.

It’s no different today. Jesus never promised to deliver you from every evil of this life, but He did promise to use all things in your life—both blessing and suffering—to lead you to everlasting life. And He has kept His promise. He spoke, and you who were conceived dead in sin were raised to a new life through faith in Him. He spoke, and His Word of promise, connected to the water in which you were baptized, washed and cleansed you of all your sins. He spoke to you today after you confessed your sins to Him, and your sins were forgiven. And on the night He was betrayed, Jesus spoke this word of blessing over bread and wine: “Take and eat. This is my body, which is given for you… Drink of it… This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.” And when you, after this sermon, feast on His Holy Supper, you will be nourished with and strengthened in the forgiveness of your sins, just as He said.

But beware! Your adversary, the devil, also speaks to you—not the truth, but lies that can destroy your faith. When suffering comes, he says, “God is cruel to allow this,” and listening to the lie, you become angry rather than confident of His mercy. In times of temptation, he says, “Give in; sin is fun,” and listening to the lie, you give in to the temptation, only to discover once again how much suffering sin actually brings. When presented with a choice between the two, Satan says, “This life is all that matters,” and listening to the lie, you live for it rather than for the better life to come.

It is because we so often listen to Satan’s lies rather than to God’s Word that the Holy Spirit inspired St. John to record this miracle for us in the Gospel that bears his name. It is a sign, he says. As such, its purpose is to point not to itself—it’s not really about the healing of this nobleman’s son—but to something, or rather someone, else. This miraculous sign points us to Jesus, just as did His first miraculous sign. That sign declares that Jesus came to purify us from the filth of our sin, so that we can live in a blessed union with Him. This sign shows how we will. The nobleman, who at first wanted to see, was blessed with faith through the power of Jesus’ word to believe his son would live. And whoever believes that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness, will live eternally.

By the grace of God you, dear Christian, have been blessed with such a faith. Your presence in God’s house this day testifies of that. But the desire of your sinful flesh to see rather than believe testifies of something else—that your faith is susceptible to Satan’s lies, and that the only way it will survive against his attacks is for you to do what St. Paul declares: “Take up the whole armor of God (which is the almighty Word of God), that you may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.