In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines the second sign-miracle of John’s Gospel in John 4:43-54. John presents Jesus’ healing of a royal official’s sick son so that you will not merely look for temporal deliverance but instead believe in Jesus.
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let’s pray Lord God we want to know you and to know you more and the primary way we do that is by studying your word this is how you show yourself to us but you must open our eyes you must open our hearts to understand and to put it into practice so I pray that you do that I did that this morning use me as your instrument bring glory to yourself in Jesus name amen preparation from the message today I’ve been thinking about a basic question having to do with prayer and that question is when in your life have you found yourself praying the most in all your years and all your experiences when do you find that you pray the most to God surely the most common answer to that question is I prayed most when someone I love or I myself was in serious trouble problems indeed have a tendency to drive us to our knees in prayer and this isn’t just the reality for Christians most people around the world no matter their religion or their irreligion pray even if they do not pray often they do feel driven to pray in moments of danger times of crisis and why is that well it’s pretty obvious people become afraid people feel desperate they realize their fundamental lack of power their inability to change their situation and so they reach out to God or to some other supernatural being who may have the power and the will to do for those persons what they cannot do for themselves so they ask very basic requests in those times of danger in crisis they ask for help they ask for deliverance they ask for provision they ask for temporal salvation God please help me to do well on this exam God please give me success in this important job interview God please allow us to get home safely through this bad weather God please heal me of this serious illness God please Grant a breakthrough in my failing marriage God please save my life as I enter the battlefield God please don’t let my child die now is it wrong for people to pay pray more fervently amid troubles and to ask God for deliverance no not at all we see similar kinds of prayer responses in the Bible and God we see answers such prayers furthermore these kinds of prayers can be true expressions of dependence and worship to God however if you find yourself only praying to God when you are in serious trouble or if you see temporal salvation the fixing of your problems even the preservation of your loved ones if you see those things as the greatest good you can receive from God well then not only are you missing out on the truly Abundant Life that belongs to those in Jesus but you likely do not really know God at all and thus you’re in danger of perishing forever away from his love and under his Wrath and our next passage in the Gospel of John we’re going to see a man come to Jesus seeking healing for that man’s dying son though Jesus has the power and the compassion to heal he does not simply Grant the man’s request the way the man asks it rather Jesus speaks and acts in such a way that even as the man’s son is healed the man and his whole household realized that there is something or rather someone much more precious than physical healing or any kind of temporal Deliverance a holy spirit has put this passage before us today so that we also might come to that realization take your Bibles please and turn to John Chapter 4 verses 43 to 54.
our sermon title is Jesus heals the sick son from afar Jesus heals the sick son from afar John 4 verses 43 to 54 few Bible page 1063 if you’re using the Bibles we’ve provided let’s read our passage starting from verse 43.
after the two days he as Jesus went forth from there into Galilee for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country so when he came to Galilee the galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at The Feast for they themselves also went to the feast therefore he came again to Cana of Galilee or 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 imploring him to come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death so Jesus said to him unless you people see signs and wonders you simply will not 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 off as he was now going down his slaves met him saying that his son was living so he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better and they said to him yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him so the father knew it was 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 performed when he came out of Judea into Galilee with this final part of John chapter 4 we come to the end of the first large narrative Arc in this gospel recall the outline I presented to you at the end of my book introduction sermon I know there may have been a while ago so maybe you don’t remember The Book of John begins with this marvelous provocative prologue in John 1 verses 1 to 18 but then it is quickly followed in John 1 19 to the end of chapter 4 verse 54 here and what can be summarized as the presentation of the Son of God the presentation of the Son of God because that’s really what we’ve seen up to this point Jesus is presented to the Jewish people and to the reader as the world’s long-awaited savior Messiah so that they might believe in him and find eternal life in him first Jesus was presented by way of John the Baptist testimony that’s John 1 verses 19 to 34. then by the testimony of Jesus first disciples that’s John 1 verses 35 to 51 then by Jesus first sign miracle in Galilee turning water into wine at Cana John 2 verses 1 to 11.
then by the dramatic trip to Jerusalem during Passover in which Jesus confronted corrupted worship and did many sign Miracles that’s John 2 verses 12 to 25.
Jesus was further presented by his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 verses 1 to 21. then by another final testimony of John the Baptist in John 3 Verses 22 to 36 and then by the unexpected testimony of the Samaritans at sikar and John 4 verses 1 to 42.
now as we arrive in John 4 43-54 Jesus has literally come full circle in his first presentation phase of his ministry he has unveiled himself both in Galilee and in Jerusalem and now he returns to Galilee but what have been the results of Jesus presentation to the people of Israel as their Messiah as the Son of God and Messiah Jesus certainly has generated much excitement and many people we have been told have believed yet we’ve seen along the way that there’s something off about the way the Jews characteristically believe in Jesus in Jesus arrival back to Galilee and in a second sign Miracle there our author John is about to underline for us the fundamental problem of the Jews with Jesus and it’s the same Soul damning heart problem that Many religious people today have with Jesus and what’s that heart problem it’s believing in Jesus only as a temporal deliverer a fixer of your problems and a bringer of prosperity rather than as The God Who is eternal life in himself for his people we can summarize the main idea of our new passage in this way and John 4 verses 43-54 John presents Jesus healing of a royal official sick son so that you will not merely look for temporal Deliverance but instead believe in Jesus John presents Jesus healing of a royal official six Sons so that you will not merely look to Jesus for temporal Deliverance but instead believe in Jesus himself and thereby find eternal life our passage just divides structurally into four parts so we’ll move to this passage under four headings our first heading covers verses 43 to 45.
number one of our sermon outline then is Jesus arrives in Galilee with low expectations Jesus arrives in Galilee with low expectations work our way through the text starting in verse 43.
after the two days he went forth from there into Galilee well this verse is pretty straightforward explains the connection of our new passage with the previous one where was Jesus previously spending two days of time oh with the Samaritans at sidecar who invited him to stay and after that short but wonderful time of Salvation Harvest Jesus resumes his originally intended plans of going forth from Judea North to Galilee now we saw previously in John 4 1 that Jesus wanted to make this move due to the increased attention he was getting from the Pharisees as Jesus ministry was beginning to supersede the ministry of John the Baptist but in verse 44 our author now reveals another reason that Jesus wanted to complete the journey to Galilee look at verse 44.
for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his home in his own country hmm the phrase in the second half of this verse a prophet has no honor in his own country this appears to be a another proverb or common saying of Jesus day we capture much of the same idea in our phrase familiarity breeds contempt the idea in Jesus phrase is that a prophet or teacher often doesn’t seem all that special to you if you know him well or think you do if you see or hear him all the time or if you grew up with him I think of how we Americans often subconsciously attribute more Authority and credibility to a pastor Professor or expert if he speaks with a British accent I mean he’s got to be smarter and more special than in the American teacher listen to the way he talks a similar concept of familiarity explains why many times the family members of a teacher maybe even a great teacher they just don’t take his words as seriously as other people do hey you may be special to your students but I grew up with you I changed your diapers don’t tell me you have something significant and authoritative to say unfortunately that’s often the way the world works Jesus here testifies of the truthfulness of such a proverb in his own case though Jesus is the most special teacher the world has ever seen he is as we learned in John 1 the Eternal Word made flesh he is the Son of God he is the only one who has descended from heaven he is the Christ all that being true to those who thought they knew Jesus best he wasn’t that special he’s not worthy of particular honor which people does Jesus have in mind well the people of his own country it says that is the people of his hometown or home region where was Jesus hometown where did he grow up Nazareth Nazareth and Galilee and we heard earlier in the service as we read from Luke 4 24 that Jesus actually quotes the same proverb he does here in Nazareth in his hometown you knew he didn’t have honor in his hometown but the reality surely extended from the strict boundaries of Nazareth town to really the whole home region for Jesus of Galilee which is why we see the proverb appear here John tells us as Jesus travels back to Galilee Jesus mentions this proverb but now notice the word for at the beginning of verse 44.
four is a transition word indicating reason or purpose in context verse 44 is giving a reason it must be giving a reason why Jesus completes his journey to Galilee and the reason supplied is this proverb about a prophet not having honor in his home region so what is our author John telling us in verse 44.
that one of the main reasons why Jesus returned to Galilee was to demonstrate the tragic truthfulness of this particular proverb in Jesus own case in Galilee in the very region in which people should have known Jesus best should have given him the honor of which he was worthy as Messiah and Son of God Jesus not only did not find that honor but was treated worse there than he was elsewhere like in Samaria as we’ve already learned Jesus knows all things so he knows the hearts of the people of Galilee he travels to Galilee knowing full well his reception there will be disappointing in fact he goes to demonstrate how even his home region won’t honor him the way that he deserves but then verse 45.
look the first part of it so when he came to Galilee the galileans received him sustainment surprise you because that sounds like the opposite of what was just proclaimed in verse 44.
far from rejecting or mocking Jesus verse 45 says the galileans received him or we could translate that the godlings welcomed him isn’t that an act that honors Jesus but also the transition word at the start of this verse and ask me 95 says so or we could also use the word therefore now this kind of transition word it indicates cause and effect the results of something that was stated just before therefore because of the reality that was just stated in verse 44 Jesus our author tells us encounters a glad welcome in Galilee what that doesn’t seem to follow you’re not going to be honored in your home region so they received you how does that follow some theologically liberal Bible interpreters see in these two verses such a great contradiction that this represents an error in the Bible even that a later writer added something silly in verse 45 that just didn’t fit with what came before and I couldn’t make these two textual Traditions mix he just left it there and it’s a big mess but that’s not the answer of course that’s not the answer rather the answer is here in the text look again at verse 45.
why did the galileans receive or welcome Jesus the rest of the verse tells us having seen all the things that did in Jerusalem at the feast for they themselves also went to the feast why specifically did the galileans welcome Jesus it was because of the dramatic acts and the wondrous Miracles that they saw Jesus do recently at the Passover feast in Jerusalem in other words they welcomed him as a religious reformer as a skillful teacher as a miracle worker even one who has been sent from God and that’s good right aren’t those the kind of things that Jesus is looking for absolutely not why not because those kind of conclusions fall far short of who Jesus actually is do you remember Jesus conversation with Nicodemus and how Nicodemus opened that conversation with Jesus John 3 2.
Rabbi we know we Jews know that you have come from God as a teacher for no one can do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him that’s a great confession right but just 10 verses later Jesus says to Nicodemus John 3 11 to 12 truly truly I say to you we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen and you you Jews do not accept our testimony if I told you Earthly things and you do not believe how will you believe if I tell you Heavenly things do you see as Jesus proves in this conversation with Nicodemus to receive Jesus merely as a good teacher and a miracle worker even one sent from God is not good enough that is essentially not receiving Jesus at all Nicodemus wouldn’t accept what Jesus taught nor would he believe in Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah and Nicodemus is just like the rest of the Jews even the Jews in Galilee and brethren this same kind of falling short tragically is still happening everywhere today there are many religious people many professing Christians who have great things to say about Jesus Jesus was a good teacher oh yes he was a prophet oh yes he was a great miracle worker he is our Supreme example he is our savior they may even sing songs to Jesus they may pray to Jesus they may do good works for Jesus they may identify themselves as Jesus followers but if those same people do not actually believe Jesus words and what Jesus said and demonstrated about himself if they only believe in what Jesus can do for them rather than who Jesus is to them as God and despite the honor they think they give Jesus they haven’t honored him at all they have fallen far short they haven’t believed in him not really they do not know him and therefore they do not no God they are still lost and they will still die in their sins his Brethren one of the reasons I bring this up is because it’s something that we need to ask about ourselves is that you you cannot let it be cannot afford to fall short of who Jesus really is you must turn to him in true faith for who he actually is do not merely look for temporal deliverance from Jesus but believe in him as your life and treasure now you might ask what do these first verses have to do with what follows in our passage this healing miracle well the man who comes to Jesus for healing help is just like the rest of the Jews a man whose belief in Jesus does not yet go far enough he does believe but he does not really believe so Jesus and perfect wisdom and gracious compassion he’s going to move this man he’s going to eventually move this man to embrace Jesus for real come now to our second heading covering verses 46 to 47.
number two an official seeks healing for his son an official seeks healing for his son look at verse 46.
therefore he came again again to Cana of Galilee where he had made the water wine and there was a royal official whose son was sick at caprinium all right so here we got another scene change sometime after Jesus is welcomed back into the Galilee region he chooses to go to a town that we’ve seen before he goes to Cana that small out of the way town in the Hills of Galilee north of Nazareth notice the description of the town in this verse to Cana of Galilee where he had made the water wine now this town only appeared two chapters ago in John’s gospel we heard all about this John gives us a full reminder about this place here to emphasize that Jesus is about to do a miracle in the very same place he did one before but this new Miracle involves someone who’s not from Cana notice in the second half of the verse that we’re introduced to a royal official literally Royal one in the Greek most likely this refers to someone who serves in the court of the ruler of Galilee who is heron Antipas this hair technically was not a king but he was often referred to in that way kind of acted like a king and thus herod’s officials could be called royal ones it’s probably who he is so somebody with some position probably some wealth too anyways at the end of verse 46 we learned that this Royal official has a son who sick at Capernaum now we’ve heard of Capernaum already in this gospel Capernaum is that bustling town on the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee and the town in which Jesus stopped on his way to the Passover feast in Jerusalem in John 2.
capronium became like a second home to Jesus and it served as his main base of operations for his ministry in Galilee he also did many miracles in Capernaum well this official has a son who is sick in Capernaum which probably means that the man himself lived at Capernaum with his son and with the rest of his family maybe the man travels around but his family lives in Capernaum this information in verse 46 it helps sets the stage for what we see take place in verse 47 so go there now when he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee he went to him and was imploring him to come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death do you see what’s happening here this official with a sick son he hears that Jesus The Miracle Worker has come back into the area from Judea and that’s great news because this official needs a miracle we’ll learn at the end of verse 47 that his son is so sick that the sun is about to die any sick child is a source of sorrow and concern for his parents I don’t like to see their child suffer like that but when a child is severely sick or dying the anguish of the parents must be overwhelming there’s much we don’t know about the child his deadly sickness the rest of the child’s family we can infer that this official is probably wealthy he’s already tried a number of ways to cure his boy and they haven’t been successful but one thing we surely know about this man is that he is desperate to see his son’s life saved hearing that Jesus The Miracle Worker is in the area he knows what he’s going to do he gets up first thing in the morning trials the approximately 25 miles uphill from Capernaum at the Sea of Galilee to Cana and the Galilean Hill Country he finds Jesus and it says he was imploring him notice the verb tense there continual action he was asking him he was begging him again and again to come down to Capernaum and heal the boy before he dies does this official believe that Jesus has the power to heal and save his son clearly or else the man wouldn’t be asking so humbly and insistently and such a belief is good it is a good start in coming to Jesus Brethren if you are in crisis it is good that you go to help for the only one who really has the power to rescue you from your difficulties you’ve got to go to God you’ve got to go to Jesus you’ve got to go to the Lord of all the Heaven and Earth he’s the one who can really make things happen and he has a Compassionate Heart go to God in crisis but even in those moments is temporal salvation the thing that you need most from God is it what this desperate father needs most from Jesus come now to our third heading where we find Jesus surprising response to the Royal officials please this is verses 48 to 50.
where we see number three Jesus pronounces healing and the man believes Jesus pronounces healing and a man believes look at verse 48.
so Jesus said to him unless you people see signs and wonders you simply will not believe hmm at first this response from Jesus may seem kind of harsh little unfeeling seriously Jesus this Father’s Heart Is in pieces and he chide him for seeking a miracle let’s look more closely at Jesus statement notice that Jesus reply is a negative conditional sentence if there is not this then there won’t be this notice also the pronouns in Jesus statement Jesus is not speaking today you singular even though he addresses the man but he is speaking to the you plural which is what we see indicated in our new American Standard 95 translation with the addition of the word people people’s not there literally in the Greek text but that’s the sense you all you people which people is Jesus addressing well considering where he is the answer must be the Jews in other words Jesus sees in this one man’s approach an opportunity to address the problem of the Jews even the Jews in Galilee that they have when it comes to Jesus and this is a serious problem if Jesus really loves his people and really loves this man he needs to address this problem notice the word see comes next in this phrase It’s a simple word we all know what it means to see but in this case notice it’s in the present tense this indicates that the verb is to be taken in the sense of a continuous or a characteristic action this man and the Jews generally they must see something continually in order to avoid the second half of what Jesus says in this conditional statement unless you see we’re not going to see the second part now what is it that the Jews must continually see it says signs and wonders signs and wonders now this is the only place the word wonders appears in the Gospel of John though it does appear elsewhere in the New Testament and it’s always paired with the word signs what are signs and wonders well they’re miraculous Works they’re Miracles the word wonders though is added and it emphasizes the awesomeness and the amazingness of the miraculous Works accomplished it’s it’s truly wondrous it makes you wonder so up to this point what we hear Jesus saying is without a continual never ending supply of dazzling miracles the Jews will not do something what won’t the Jews do now we see the second half they won’t believe new America standard 95 says you simply will not believe NIV here says you will never believe those are both good translations of the emphatic double negative in the Greek remember we talked about this a few weeks ago we saw the double negative the Greek double negative in John 4 14.
when Jesus said that those who drink of his living water will be not not thirsty forever remember the double negative doesn’t work in Greek like it does in English it doesn’t cancel each other out this is for extra emphasis so Jesus was saying you absolutely won’t be thirsty with my water you will never be thirsty it’s the same idea here but as you can see the meaning is much more depressing Jesus says unless you Jews he continually wondrous signs um you will not not believe you absolutely won’t believe you will never believe what believe in whom believe in Jesus as the Messiah and the son of God but wait someone will say I thought Jesus signed Miracles were given so that people would believe isn’t that the whole point of the Miracles why is Jesus rebuking people now for believing based on those provided miracles well answer in two parts first signs and wonders should not be necessary for people to believe in Jesus they’re a bonus they shouldn’t be necessary notably up to this point in this gospel we have seen both Jesus first disciples and the Samaritans at sikar believe in Jesus truly without any miracles no signs and wonders for them now yes both groups heard Jesus speak and even display his Supernatural knowledge but there were no Miracles no signs and wonders yet these people believed they believed in a true and full way a transforming way so that shows us the dazzling Miracles aren’t necessary so that’s the first part of the answer but second signs and wonders should not have to be continuous for someone to believe in Jesus really Jesus doing just one miracle for just one person should be more than enough for all the Jews to believe I mean really because if he can do one miracle that’s impossible unless he has the power of God and he is exactly who he proclaims himself to be the Son of God and Messiah just one Miracle should be enough more than enough but it’s not enough not for the Jews in fact no amount of Miracles satisfies that we’ve already seen this a little bit but we’re going to see this more every time Jesus heals one disease or delivers one person out of crisis well guess what someone gets sick again and now there’s a new crisis so Jesus what are you going to do now aren’t you gonna deliver me again if you won’t miraculously deliver me every time I call upon you well what good is it in believing in you it was a parallel attitude today and how many people approach God and Jesus a person calls upon God in crisis so it turns out that God graciously delivers that person from the crisis but does this cause that person to repent and believe committing the rest of his life to follow and Trust Jesus most the time no person forgets about God until the next Crisis I once knew a man who survived three near-death experiences you should have died three times but God providentially maybe even miraculously I don’t know he spared this man’s life each time people told him that God had spared him he himself acknowledged that there was no way he could be alive if it wasn’t for the intervention of God but even after these three instances of merciful rescue to the man repents and believe in Jesus he tried but no it didn’t stick he loved himself and he loved his sin too much so to this day despite receiving these three wondrous miracles in his life this man tragically is still on his way to hell you see brethren this is the problem with seeking God and Jesus for miracles or from your temporal Deliverance God heal my family member God bring back my wayward spouse God please make this next work or Ministry project successful don’t let me be ruined if God gives you what you want it won’t be enough to make you believe in him and if God doesn’t give you what you want well you’ll use that as an excuse to reject him I tried God didn’t work God didn’t hear my prayers the truth of the Bible is God is a God who can deliver you from your pain and problems but that’s not ultimately what you need what do you need Jesus has been telling us and he’s going to tell us more you need to know and have a relationship with the god of the universe you need to believe in Jesus Christ you need to be saved from the wrath of God that is due your sin and you need to inherit eternal life this is why biblical Christianity does not teach the Prosperity Gospel we do not teach the Bible does not teach that Jesus came to make you happy healthy and wealthy and deliver you from all your problems no Jesus came to give you God which is the greatest and most loving gift that God could give you and that is also the gift God is also the gift that enables you to endure with joy and peace no matter whether you are delivered from your problems in your life or not sure want this thing to change this is so hard but I I have God so I can endure I can endure as long as it takes make no mistake brethren true Faith saving faith doesn’t need more miracles to believe and doesn’t need more deliverances to believe it believes based on what God has already provided especially in his word because that is way more than enough and this is the truth that Jesus needed to show his people his hard-hearted people so Jesus says what he does but what about the Royal official does he get what Jesus is saying look at verse 49.
the Royal official said to him sir come down before my child dies the man still can’t see beyond his current crisis despite what Jesus just said and the man goes right back to asking Jesus for immediate temporal Deliverance sir please come down and heal my little child so what will Jesus do would Jesus give in out of compassion go with the desperate official to heal a child and risk this man never coming to real faith or will Jesus coldly refuse to go with the man in order to reinforce the man what’s truly important you need God more than you need your son healed but we find out what Jesus does in the first part of verse 50.
Jesus said to him go your son lives and you have to love this this is so typical of our Lord Jesus when given a choice between A and B Jesus chooses C Jesus is not calloused toward this man rather Jesus abounds in steadfast love and mercy because Jesus is God nevertheless Jesus is intent on moving this man away from his shallow faith to a faith that saves so Jesus test the man’s faith by doing a miracle from a distance your son lives Jesus proclaims note that this is not a prophecy this is not I predict that your son will live so that you can go this is a pronouncement by my word by my command your son is now better now this isn’t very flashy is it no bright lights no having the boy jump up with a start at Jesus touch and to those present the miracle is completely invisible yet this mode of healing is dramatic is a dramatic demonstration of the power and authority of Jesus because who heals with a word from afar but will this official trust in Jesus word 25 miles back to Capernaum and if a man gets back to Capernaum without Jesus and the child isn’t better well what then will there be time to come back and get Jesus before the child dies that’s 50 more miles how much more time is that going to take the boy’s already at the point of death believing Jesus word means putting the boy’s life on the line what will the Royal official do well we learn in the rest of verse 15.
the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off this man has just taken a big step of faith he has chosen to trust Jesus word over his own reasoning and his own fears the man is not yet at saving faith but he’s already progressed far beyond most of the other Jews of his day will the man’s Faith be Vindicated we come to our final heading that covers verses 51 to 54.
number four a whole household truly believes in Jesus a whole household truly believes in Jesus look at verses 51-53 well the first part of 53.
he was now going down his slaves met him saying that his son was living so he inquired to them the hour when he began to get better and 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 foreign 18 says the word of the Lord proves true doesn’t it it is tried and tested notice the significant but surprising timeline here from these three verses we learned that Jesus and the officials spoke together the day before at the seventh hour that would be at the seventh hour after sunrise sun rises at about 6 a.m that’s what they considered so seven hours after that would be about 1 pm but that raises the question if Jesus and the Royal official spoke at only 1 pm why didn’t the official return to Capernaum that same day or why didn’t the slaves come to meet him that same day with the good news well we don’t know for sure but probably the answer is there wasn’t enough time to make the truck or make the trip Before Sunset so the Royal official sets out for home the next morning and the slaves operating under the same limitations they set out the next morning to tell their master that their son was better and thus the master and his slaves end up meeting somewhere in the middle between Cana and capronium notice those are the significance of the royal officials question to his slaves without telling the slaves about his conversation with Jesus the official asks his slaves at what hour his dying son suddenly got better and their answer coincided with what only the official already knew that the sun got better at the very hour that Jesus pronounced to the official that the boy lives the man thus knew that the boy’s sudden recovery was no coincidence it was an incredible healing of a sick son from afar by someone with unique Power Authority and compassion from God and this realization produced a profound response in the man which is what we hear about at the end of verse 53 and he himself believed and his whole household now what’s this I thought the man already believed that’s what we read right and wasn’t his belief already Vindicated by the confirmed healing what is there to believe in now well as one Pastor put it the man first came to Jesus believing in Jesus power and the man then left Jesus believing in Jesus word but now with the healing confirmed the man believes in Jesus person even that Jesus is the Christ and there is eternal life in his name we can tell there’s something different something full about the man’s belief now as compared to previously notice the emphatic pronoun in verse at the end of verse 53 he himself believed why is that there is this meant to contrast him with someone else who’s not believing they didn’t believe but he himself believed and that’s not the idea there’s no one else really to contrast with here this is to emphasize the completeness the full entrusting of the man’s whole self now to Jesus as wonderful as it was that the young boy was healed reality is that boy was still going to die someday and so was his father the Royal official he was going to die they both needed a savior from sin and from death this man found that savior or rather the Savior found him and revealed himself to this unnamed Royal official we don’t know what his name was but the Savior revealed himself to this man so that this man would know God and be saved and it wasn’t just that man it says his whole household believed that is they believed in Jesus obviously that didn’t happen instantly the man isn’t isn’t even with his whole household at this precise moment but sometime later probably soon after the man returned home to his son he told the others in his household about this wondrous man who is somehow more than just a man this one must be the Messiah this Jesus must be the Savior that we’ve been waiting for and it turns out that the man’s wife Man’s children man’s slaves or whoever else were in the household they believed they believed in a saving way what an unexpected and glorious Harvest and it only came after Jesus showed that he himself is more important more precious than any temporal Deliverance any of this world Kind of Rescue but what about the rest of the Jews in Galilee verse 54 ends the passage with a ponderous statement verse 54.
this is again a second time that Jesus a second sign that Jesus performed when he had come out of Judea into Galilee why is this verse here organizationally yes this verse closes the ark begun in John 1 19 and it emphasizes the Symmetry between Jesus first miracle at Cana and Jesus second Miracle back at Cana but is that the only reason stylistic organizational device curious that none of the other sign miracles in this gospel are numbered there are special sign Miracles that the author gives us probably seven if you don’t count Jesus own Resurrection but why only number the first two why only number the first two signs that are done in Cana at Galilee and what’s with the word again this is again a second sign isn’t that a little redundant why is that there what does that emphasize the answer is this verse should cause us to reflect on how few people have responded to Jesus and the true kind of faith that this man displays up to this point especially in Galilee how few people have responded to Jesus with saving faith I mean here’s another incredible miracle two in the same town and not too far apart not to mention all the Miracles that Jesus did in Jerusalem all those things have taken place but who has believed who’s really believed well up to this point a few of John the Baptist disciples most of the town of Samaritans fi car and this Royal officials household that’s it how can the messiah’s own people even those in his home region fail to believe in him they knew him best they saw him most how can they fail to believe in him that’s the question John our author wants us to ask and the answer of course is that there’s nothing wrong with Jesus there’s nothing wrong with Jesus presentation to Israel but there was something very wrong with the people who refused to receive him astoundingly the Jews didn’t want their Messiah not really they wanted the temporal deliverance and the prosperity that the Messiah seemed to represent for them but they didn’t really want him thus they missed out on Abundant Life they missed out on God and they remain doomed doomed in sin yet it wasn’t all the Jews and it wasn’t all the non-jews a Remnant believed Outsiders believed and they got to receive God and they beheld his glory John is essentially saying to his original readers and to us today by the Holy Spirit what about you having seen and heard Jesus presented to you do you believe in his name do you believe in all that he is do you entrust yourself to him your whole self do you love him do you follow him do you worship Him as the truth the life now does your belief only go so far do you only seek him for the temporal blessing and deliverance that he seems to offer you the former attitude believing in him it honors Jesus the way he ought to be honored as God but the latter attitude believing in Jesus only for what he can do to make your life comfortable that is disgusting to Jesus and it will not lead to life it leads to death so the takeaway is don’t stop short don’t hold to Jesus as just a good teacher a good example a miracle worker a life helper he’s much more than that believe in him as your life your lord your God not only the one who can save you from sin but the one who gives you God and the eternal life that is in God Jesus knows how to take care of your temporal life the father knows how to take care of your temporal life he says you don’t have to worry you can trust him but God wants you to focus on what is the true treasure him so don’t stop don’t stop until you have God don’t stop until you have Jesus to you yourself like this man you yourself believe in Jesus once you’ve done that keep treasuring him keep following him and become his faithful witness so that the world too others in the world that Remnant whoever it is that God has chosen they also may know and love Jesus well John 1 to 4 was really Jesus honeymoon period with the Jews in Israel in John 5 to 12 things are going to change opposition to Jesus is going to gradually increase we’re going to see more and more debates we’re going to see anger we’re going to see people try to kill Jesus until eventually Jesus is lifted up on the cross so we’re entering a second phase of this book a second phase of Jesus ministry the period of opposition many lessons to learn along the way about what it means to truly believe in Jesus and to be his disciple and we’ll begin looking at those in John 5 next time that’s closing prayer Lord Jesus how amazing again is your word and your truth compared to all the lies that are offered by the religions of the world it is as we have seen and discussed previously all the other world religions even those That masquerade as Christianity they’re really about the worshiper it’s really about what God can do for you to make your life go the way that you want and secure the afterlife that would be most comfortable for you it’s not really about you it is a man-centered kind of religion not a god-centered one certainly not a christ-centered one but that just makes the truth stand out all the more clearly it could not be any other way if you are the only true God and you are and if all life and joy is found in you then of course salvation the Christian religion it must be about knowing you it must be about believing in you you as the life not merely what you can do for us in our Earthly lives father son Holy Spirit you are so good to us in our Earthly lives you do Deliver Us you do provide for us you show us mercies Beyond we could ever ask Hope or think and yet that is not where our treasure is or at least ought not to be you are our treasure eternal life with you in your kingdom is our treasure not so much because there will be good things in your kingdom but because that’s where you will be Jesus you are our life you are our joy so Lord forgive us for where we do make it about something else especially when we make it about ourselves or forgive us where we doubt you we aren’t willing to come to you in trouble or when you do things that are not according to our thinking our way we resent you or we doubt you even further no God we can trust you but you are intense just as you were intent to show this man this man who didn’t desire something bad to see his son healed you were intent to show him as your intent to show us there’s something much more important and precious I pray that that would be the experience of the people who’ve heard your word today they’d say yes Jesus is the truly precious one other things can go well or not go well I’d like them to go well but if they don’t I have Jesus Jesus is the precious one the Son of God is the precious one and I am forever secure in him he walks with me he’s never going to leave me he’s always going to help me and I can always drink from him as the source of my living water pray that’s true for everyone here if it’s not true yet that it would become true because those people repent and believe thank you for this time amen