Rev. Tom Harris

John 4:43-53

“Betting on Jesus”

January 3, 2010

          Today we begin some more study of the Gospel of John. We worked through the first four chapters of John back in April and May of last year. For the rest of January and some of February we’ll be looking at chapters 5 and 6. To review, so far in this Gospel, John began with the well known passage from Christmas, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” We can tell from this passage that the author of John has a very high view of the person of Jesus. He believes the Jesus was God in the flesh. After this sweeping introduction about the divine nature of Christ John moves to the baptism of Jesus and the calling of the first disciples who leave everything to follow. Then in chapter two we have the miracle story of turning water into wine. This is the only place in the four gospels where this story is told. After that Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover and immediately went to the temple and turned over the tables of the money changers. John is not unique in the telling of this story, is unique in that it happens this early in the ministry of  Jesus. In the other three Gospels the cleansing of the temple happens at the end of his ministry and during the only trip Jesus makes to Jerusalem as an adult. In John Jesus goes to Jerusalem as an adult three times and he cleanses the temple the first time he goes.

          In chapter 3, Jesus meets Nicodemus, a Pharisee and tells him a few things that we might find very familiar. He tells Nicodemus “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.” And he tells him “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.”

          Then Jesus leaves Jerusalem and goes through Samaria on his way to his hometown region of Galilee. In Samaria he meets the woman at the well and tells her, “Everyone who drinks of the water from this well will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” As a result of this meeting he stayed with the Samaritans for two days. That brings us to the verse we just read which begins, “when the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee,” eventually arriving again in Cana where he turned water into wine.

          Now we meet the royal official from Capernaum. This is an official of the Jewish King Herod who is a Jewish puppet King for the Roman Empire and is hated by his own people for the reason. Capernaum is a good 10 to 15 miles from Cana, so this official has come a long way to see Jesus. He comes we are told because he has a son who is about to die and he wants to bring Jesus back to Capernaum to heal his son. At first Jesus gives an odd response to this father who is clearly in desperate need. He does not speak directly to the man but to the crowd using the second person plural. He says, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official replies with increased urgency and sincerity, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” To that Jesus simply responds, “Go your son will live.” Then we have the key verse of the passage, “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way.” On his way home the official meets servants who inform him that his son recovered completely at precisely the hour Jesus spoke the word of healing. Then shortly after that the passage says a second time that the official believed this time along with his household. So, the second expression of belief must be different than the first or it wouldn’t be repeated. I suggest that the first time he simply believes that what Jesus says will happen will actually happen. His faith is still specific to this incident. It still revolves around his little world, his request, his need. If you have ever tried to believe or to think positive in a desperate situation you may know what he was feeling. You believe with your head even though your heart isn’t really sure.  You try to believe because you think it will help you. You believe because you are told to have faith and so you try to have faith. The second time he believes he realizes he is dealing with something much larger than his little world and his son and his problems. He realizes that in Christ he has found a power much greater than anything he had first imagined when he went looking for Jesus.

          There is a kind of poker called Texas Hold ‘em. It’s the kind of poker they play on TV. In Texas Hold ‘em poker every player gets two cards that belong to them. Then there are five cards placed face up on the table in the middle of the group. These belong to everyone. You are betting that between the five cards on the table and the two cards in your hand, between those seven cards, you will have the best five cards of anyone at the table. So if you are holding two aces and there are two aces on the table then you have four of kind which is really good. What makes it more interesting is that the five cards on the table are not dealt all at once. First you get your two cards and everyone bets. Then there are three cards dealt face up and then everyone bets. Then a fourth card is dealt face up and everyone bets and then the fifth card is dealt and everyone bets. Whoever is still betting by that time and has the best five cards wins the pot.

          But, in very rare circumstances the five cards face up on the table are the best of cards anybody has. So, for instance if there is on the table and ace of spades, a king of spades, a queen spades, a jack of spades and a ten of spades that’s a royal flush which is the best hand you can have in poker. At that point it does not matter what other two cards anybody is holding because the best five cards are on the table and everyone still betting will be splitting the pot.

          There is one more phrase I have to teach about poker before I can tell you where I’m going with all this. In poker you pay with chips which represent your money. If you have twenty chips and you bet one or two chips here and there you are chipping in. But, for various reasons you might want to bet everything you have. You might put all twenty chips in the center at the same time. If you do that you are going all in. You are betting everything that between the five cards on the table and the two in your hand, you will have the best five.

          I think the royal official walks away from Jesus thinking he has two pretty good cards in his hand. He has the promise of Jesus that his son will be well and he has his best effort to believe in the promise of Jesus. He is willing to keep chipping in to the faith game at this point. He still has doubts in his heart but he is willing to play along. But, when he finds out that his son has recovered completely exactly when Jesus said he would, he suddenly realizes that in Jesus he is dealing with a power much greater than he has ever imagined. He realizes that his best cards are not in his personal hand, his best cards are outside himself and beyond his own power, his best cards are in the person of Jesus Christ, his best cards are on the table. At that point the royal official goes all in. He believes with his head, with his heart, with his possessions, with his life.

          Now, I don’t want to get too corny here, but I’m going to anyway. If life is a game of Texas Hold ‘em poker, there is a royal flush face up on the table for everyone to share, so we might as well go all in. Because on the table there is an ace of hearts which represents the one God, a King, Queen and Jack of hearts which are the three person of the Trinity and you can assign which one is which and there is a ten hearts which is the church, the community of believers.  Those cards are on the table and everyone shares them. Therefore it does not matter what two cards you are holding in your little hand. It does not matter how righteous you are, or who you know, or even how much you study the bible or how much God has blessed you, or how great you kid is in football. The best cards in the spiritual game are already on the table. The best thing for us to do is go all in.

          Unfortunately, most of us in this room are not all in when it comes to God. Some of us are just betting the minimum so we can stay in the religious game. We come to church sometimes, we give a little in the plate, we serve refreshments if we are asked. We are willing to have some faith that maybe we can win the game of life if we play our cards right but we are still holding a pretty big pile of chips for ourselves. Others are playing the faith game a little more enthusiastically. Every Sunday is a church day, pledging is generous and regular, volunteering involves leadership and ownership of the ministry of the church, not just, chipping in. But even those people still don’t quite get it. They are still holding back because they still think they have better cards in their hand than other people. None of us really get what’s going on. None of us really believe that the one God, the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer along with the Church community, are the best cards any of us have and they are all on the table for everyone to share.  They don’t belong to any one of us, they belong to all of us.  If we believed that we would all be all in. The disciples of Jesus figured it out and they were all in. They left everything and followed Jesus. Mother Teresa went all in. With no possessions she walked up to a dying person on the streets of Calcutta and began giving the love of God.  She knew the best cards were outside of herself and on the table. The royal official was just figuring it out, when his son was healed and he believed not just with his head but with his heart, with his life, with his possessions and with everything he had.

So then how long will it take us? We are holding on to our two little cards. We think we might have something good, so we are chipping in a little here and a little there. But, in God, the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sustainer and in the Church Universal, we have a royal flush staring us all in the face. How long will it take us to realize the best cards in this life are shared? The best cards are on the table for everyone. How long will it take us to realize the best thing we can do is go all in?