JOHN 4:46-54 - A Fearful Father and a Rescuing Christ

Introduction

(Read John 4:46-49)

How many of you remember the old AAA Travel Planning service? Back in the days before smartphones and Google Maps, if you had a AAA membership you could call them and have them provide a free travel planner if you were making a road trip. I remember back in the day I was travelling from Passaic Park, New Jersey to Buffalo, NY for a friend’s wedding, and I requested a trip planner from AAA. I got a packet in the mail with New York/New Jersey roadmap with a bright orange highlight tracing the route for me, along with travel guide books and some other helpful materials. So I had a map all marked out to get me to my destination.

Nowadays we just turn on our phones and say “Take me to 317 Linden Avenue” and the phone tells you where an when to turn and how long you have to go. But back in those days you had to be constantly watching the road, the map and (most importantly) the road signs in order to keep from getting lost. And when you did get lost, you searched out those road signs and read them like your life depended on it!

We are studying the “signs” that the Apostle John compiled for us in his Gospel—demonstrations of Jesus’ identity as Messiah and as God in human flesh. John wrote this Gospel in order to create and sustain faith in his readers. And in today’s account we find a man who was desperately seeking help from Jesus; he was lost in his fear and anxiety over his son’s illness:

John 4:49 LSB

The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

He was searching for any sign he could find that his son might live, and so he sought out Jesus. And what we will see here in this sign that Jesus performs tells us something that we need to hear over and over again as we walk through the fears and anxieties that we meet in this world—here in this sign from Jesus, John shows us that

Christ wills more GOOD for you than you can ASK Him for

When this royal official came seeking out Jesus, all he wanted is for his son’s fever to break; he was afraid that his boy was going to die. But Jesus not only answered his plea for his son’s life; Jesus also gave this man and his household eternal life.

It is so often this way with us, isn’t it? People who come to Christ because of something they want from Him: Healing, peace, rescue from their darkness. But the good that people seek from Jesus is far outstripped by the good of having Jesus Himself as Savior and Lord. The sign Jesus performs in this man’s life, as we will see, went far beyond the mere good of his son’s physical life; Jesus brought his entire family eternal life.

As we move through these verses we can trace this royal official’s growing understanding of Who Jesus is; we see his response to Jesus changing over time from just wanting what Jesus can do for him, to taking Him at His word, and finally responding with saving faith in Christ as Messiah and God. The sign Jesus provides here does what John says—it creates and sustains faith in those who witness them.

So let’s work our way through these verses to see the way this man responds to what he learns of Jesus at each turn. The first thing we see about the good Christ means to do in us is that

I. His POWER sparks HOPE in us (John 4:46-47)

Look at Verses 47-47:

John 4:46–47 LSB

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 who is the man at the center of this sign? The Scripture calls him “a royal official” (NASB, LSB) or “nobleman” (KJV) or “official” (ESV). The Greek word John uses refers to someone who is serving in a king’s court. Put this together with the information in Verse 46 that his home was in Capernaum, and we can deduce that this was a man who served in King Herod Antipas’ court. (Antipas was the son of Herod the Great, who was king when Jesus was born—the Herods weren’t really kings, but Roman governors who called themselves “kings”).

He is only mentioned by title, never by name—John wants us to see that all the power and wealth and influence and connections in the world cannot save us from death. This royal court official would have had access to the best physicians, the best care and medicine that the world at the time had to offer—but he was helpless to save his son from dying.

But when he heard that Jesus had come back to Galilee from Jerusalem, he had a spark of hope to cling to—there had been rumors swirling around this young rabbi; perhaps He would know what to do. This is the way so many people first turn toward Jesus, holding out hope that

He can RESCUE us in our DISTRESS

So many people are initially drawn to Jesus because they want Him to heal them or a loved one, or because they are miserable in the consequences of their sin, or because they are struggling with disappointment or anxiety or hopelessness. And what they want is for Christ to just fix this one specific point in their lives—heal me from this cancer, help me get this job, save my marriage, and that’s all I’m asking you to do… This man was coming to Jesus to fix one bad thing in his life. But Jesus aims to do us far more good than we ask Him for.

John makes sure to point out that Jesus has returned to the site of His first sign—Cana, where He turned the water into wine. He wants us to see the connection here, that there is another sign coming. The nobleman comes to Cana from Capernaum to find Jesus—a fifteen-mile walk from the lakeshore city of Capernaum up into the hills of Galilee; about the same distance as walking from Sykesville to Brookville on foot. It would have been about a seven-hour walk, but for this man it was worth it. When we are in that distress that drives us to seek out Jesus,

He is WORTH all of our EFFORT

Imagine this man’s desperation that he would leave his little boy’s bedside and make this journey to find Jesus. In his capacity as a member of Herod’s court, he could have sent messengers to find Him—he would never have had to leave his son’s side. But he had to be the one to find Jesus; he wanted to be the one to plead with Him to come. He didn’t know if Jesus would demand money, he didn’t know if Jesus wouldn’t come unless he knew how important this man was; he didn’t trust messengers to have the sense of urgency about this errand that he did. It didn’t matter how far he had to go or what he had to do—he just had to get to Jesus because Jesus was the only hope he had left.

All this nobleman wanted was for this Jesus to come to Capernaum and heal his son—he didn’t care what he had to do, so long as his boy would live. His focus was on Jesus only so far as he believed Jesus could get him what he wanted. Who Jesus was or how He was doing the signs He was doing didn’t matter to him—so long as his son didn’t die.

But Jesus wills far more good for us than we can ask Him for. Word of Jesus’ power had sparked some hope in this man, and so he made the day-long trip to find Him and ask that He return to Capernaum with him to heal his son. It wasn’t about Jesus, it wasn’t about becoming His disciple, it wasn’t about the glory of God or His purposes—it was about a father trying to keep his little boy from dying of fever.

John tells us this story so that we might see how Jesus’ power sparks hope in us; and in the next three verses we see how

II. His WORD grants PEACE in us (John 4:48-50)

The nobleman finally gets to Cana and comes and finds Jesus and makes his request to come back with him to Capernaum to heal his son—and he makes it clear, “If you don’t he is going to die!”

Jesus’ response to him had to have stopped him cold, though—whatever he was expecting Jesus to say, he didn’t expect Him to say what He said in Verse 48:

John 4:48 LSB

So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

It kind of makes us take a step back, doesn’t it? Here is this man making a last-ditch, desperate attempt to save his little boy’s life, and Jesus puts his request to come to Capernaum with him in the same category as all the thrill-seeking Judeans He had just been dealing with down in Jerusalem:

John 2:23–25 LSB

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, when they saw His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He had no need that anyone bear witness concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

Here in our text, when Jesus said to the nobleman that he was just like all the others, demanding to see signs and miracles before he would believe, He was doing what He does with everyone who comes to Him:

He reveals the TRUTH about our HEARTS (v. 49)

When He said this to this nobleman, He wasn’t trying to figure out what this man wanted—He had no need that anyone bear witness concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man (John 2:25). When Jesus told this man, “All you want is signs and wonders or you’ll never believe in Me”, his response was, “Sir, I don’t know anything about all of that; I don’t know Who you are or what You are doing—I just want you to come and save my little boy! Please come with me to Capernaum before he dies.”

And then Jesus speaks just four words in reply:

“Go; your son lives” (v. 50).

That was it; no promise to come back to Capernaum—He wasn’t going to come see his boy at all. And yet, look at the nobleman’s response:

John 4:50 LSB

...The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way.

This is what Jesus does—His Word grants peace in us; after Jesus reveals the truth about our hearts,

He silences our FEARS with His WORD (v. 50)

This was far more than the royal official had been expecting. He thought he would get Jesus to make the seven-hour trip back with him; he had naturally assumed that Jesus would have to come and be in the room with the boy and lay His hands on him or do whatever He had to do with him physically present. And all of that would take time that he knew his son did not have. He was on the point of death when he left Capernaum; for all he knew, his son had already died before he even caught up with Jesus.

But look at what happens to him at this moment—Jesus merely says to him, “Go—your son lives!” and that was enough for him! Jesus had tested him to see if he needed signs and wonders to believe—and now this man believes Jesus without seeing a sign! Jesus didn’t do anything extraordinary; no supernatural displays of power or might, just four simple words that “calmed his fears; that bid his sorrows cease”. Jesus’s word was enough for him.

And in that peace, he turned around and started back to Capernaum. And when he gets home in Verse 51, we see the final step in the good that Jesus did for this man—far more than he had the capacity to ask for. Jesus’ power sparked hope in him, His word granted peace in him—and in Verses 51-5 we see how

III. His WORK creates FAITH in us (John 4:51-54)

Now consider: If he had left Capernaum first thing in the morning, it would have taken him seven hours to get to Cana; figure a couple of hours to find Jesus in town and make his request. So it would have been going on seven in the evening when he started on his way back to Capernaum. He would likely have had to stop at an inn along the way and finish his trip the next morning.

And as he gets closer to Capernaum, he meets some of his servants who were out looking for him (v. 51). You still have to wonder what went through his mind when he saw them coming toward him on the road—what news were they going to bring him?

John 4:51 LSB

And while he was still going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was alive.

Jesus didn’t have to come to Capernaum; He didn’t have to be in the same room with the boy; His word was enough. But it is interesting, isn’t it, that the nobleman still wanted to know—was this a coincidence? Was there another physician that saw the boy while he was away and provided a remedy that worked? He had to know that this was Jesus:

John 4:52–53 LSB

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 then the Scriptures tell us that “he himself believed and his whole household...” By the work of Christ alone

We are DELIVERED from DEATH

There was no other explanation for the fever leaving his son at the exact moment Jesus said he lived. The whole household had seen this boy’s fever; they all knew a death-bed when they saw one. The nobleman left his house knowing that he was very likely never going to see his son alive again, and yet Jesus healed him instantly and completely!

The signs that John records for us are all responses to desperate situations; they are all demonstrations of power that only God can have. Only God could heal instantly with a word from fifteen miles away; only God could deliver that little boy from the brink of death; only God could instantly calm that father’s fears and grant him peace as he believed His word.

Here is a man that started off only wanting one thing from Jesus—to heal his son. And by the end of this passage Christ has done far more good to him than just giving life to his son: He and his entire household have been given eternal life by faith in Christ. The sign Jesus performed created faith in the royal official’s life and the lives of everyone in his household. By Christ’s work we are delivered from death and

We are GIVEN a new LIFE

As we said earlier, John never gives us this man’s name; he is referred to only as “The Nobleman” or “The Royal Official” throughout this passage. But we may have some clues elsewhere in the New Testament that indicate that this man’s life was forever changed; that he became a lifelong follower of Christ as a result of this sign.

In Luke 8, we are told that one of the women that were financially supporting Jesus’ ministry was Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s manager (Luke 8:3). Chuza would certainly have been considered “a royal official” in Herod’s court. Was it Chuza who came to Cana that day to bring Jesus back to his home in Capernaum? Did Joanna commit herself to providing for Jesus because He had healed her son?

There is another member of Herod’s household mentioned later in Acts 13 who was a member of the church in Antioch:

Acts 13:1 LSB

Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

Historians tell us that Manaen was a foster-brother of Herod Antipas that was raised and educated alongside him and would have lived in his household in Caesarea—he would certainly have been considered a “nobleman” by John as he recorded these events. Did Manaen, Herod’s foster brother, come to Cana and beg for Jesus to heal his son, and then come to faith in Christ such that he became a part of the church in Antioch and was one of the elders who fasted and prayed and ordained the Apostle Paul for ministry?

Or was this man simply an unnamed member of Herod’s court whose encounter with Jesus transformed him in such a way that Chuza and Manaen and everyone who knew him also saw this sign and believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and found new life in His Name?

These things have been written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life in His Name. What does this sign in this chapter point to in your life? Have you come to Jesus simply for what you want from Him? Listen to the way you pray—do you pray in such a way that you are asking Jesus to “lend you a hand”, as if you just need Him to give you a boost so you can do the rest yourself? “Lord, just let me land this job interview...” “Help me find a spouse...” “Help my marriage stay together...” “Please Lord help our country to stop all the fighting and mistrust...” If you sense that posture in your prayers, that you just want Jesus to help you with your difficulties, consider that that’s all the nobleman wanted from Jesus—to “help” his son not die.

But Jesus willed far more good for that man than just helping his son live! Christ did not just want to help this man, He aimed to become the greatest and most precious treasure of his entire life! Christ aimed not just to grant that little boy another seventy years of earthly life full of more disease, disaster and eventual death; He aimed to overflow that entire household with eternal life in His glorious presence!

What does this sign in this passage point to in your life? See how this nobleman simply heard and believed Christ’s word. That incredible transformation in his heart took place before he saw any outward sign of Christ’s power. How often we want to see some remarkable providence, some clear sign from God that somehow accompanies or validates His Word? Far too many Christians demand “signs” from God today; that there simply have to be supernatural demonstrations from God; that just His Word is not enough. That believers who believe that this Word is utterly and completely sufficient for our faith are practicing a “dead” faith, or are turning the Bible into an idol somehow.

But what do we see here in this sign? What did Jesus accompany His words with when He said “Go; your son lives”? Flashing lights? Peals of thunder? Golden glitter raining down from the sky? Did the nobleman fall flat on his back at the manifest presence of YHWH? None of that; he simply heard Christ’s word and believed it. And that belief brought peace and obedience in his life. He did as Jesus said; he went home and found his son was alive, just as Jesus said. Christian, you can trust in the word that Christ has spoken. His Word is enough.

What does this sign point out in your life? See the transformation this man and his entire household experienced—they saw this sign and were completely transformed. Whoever this was; Chuza the steward of Herod’s household whose wife Joanna gave of their substance for Christ’s ministry, Manaen the foster brother of Herod who walked away from his royal privileges to join the church at Antioch, or even an unknown and unnamed member of the royal court whose encounter with the power of Christ transformed them and everyone who witnessed it: Christ aims to do you far more good than you can possibly ask Him for!

If you are here this morning and this sign has revealed in your heart that you have only been coming to Jesus for what He can give you; that you are looking to something besides the all-sufficient Word of God to put your faith in; see here that whatever good you were seeking by coming here this morning is no match for the Good that Christ aims to do for you today.

This sign has been presented for you this morning so that you might believe and have life in the Name of Christ. He is the One Who is not only Lord over fevers and illness, but over Death itself. He is the One Who does not just offer you “help” to make your life better or make you feel better about yourself—He is the One Who will open your eyes to see the truth about yourself, that you are dying from a fever of self-righteousness and pride and hypocrisy and rebellion that is going to kill you if you do not find healing.

You may have come here this morning asking Jesus to just validate that you are a good person because you got up on Sunday morning to go to church—even though to be honest you really don’t “get much out of it”. But being here and going along lets you tell yourself that you are in pretty good spiritual shape. But if you are only here for what you think you can get from Jesus, you are utterly missing the eternal good that He is offering you. He aims not just to give you what you want from Him; He aims to rescue you from the death that is stalking you.

The only remedy from the fever of self-righteousness and pride and rebellion that you are suffering from is through the work that Christ came to do on the Cross; He suffered and bled and died under the curse of God in order to absorb all of that punishment in your place. And then He rose three days later from the dead in order to bring that new life to you as His own son, His own daughter.

God’s Word tells you

Romans 10:9–11 LSB

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes upon Him will not be put to shame.”

The nobleman was not put to shame when he believed Jesus and turned for home; his son lived just as Jesus said he would. And you will not be put to shame when you call on Christ for salvation; He will save you just as He said He would, and you will trade your anxiety, your guilt, your shame, your disgrace, your hatred, your anger and bitterness and pride for peace and joy and contentment and never-ending life purchased for you by the blood of your Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

Ephesians 3:20–21 LSB

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________