John 4:46-54 (Why Share Jesus?)
Why Share Jesus?
For Jesus to lodge there, eating Samaritan food and teaching Samaritans (v. 40) would be roughly equivalent to defying segregation in the United States during the 1950s or apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s—shocking, extremely difficult, somewhat dangerous. The Jesus of the Gospels is more concerned with people than with custom.
Some of us may be experiencing emotions similar to those of the nobleman—a sense of closing darkness or a feeling of futility in life. If this is your experience, you may be on the verge of great blessing—if you turn to God. You have heard, as the nobleman did, that there is One who can meet your need. Fly to his feet
The man’s journey probably would have been between eighteen and twenty-two miles depending on the exact route and site of the Cana encounter. The fact that the servant reported the healing as being on the previous day would certainly suggest a walking trip rather than a riding trip by the official. The healing event would seem to have taken place either in the early afternoon at one o’clock (if according to some by Hellenistic time the seventh hour were counted from 6:00 a.m.) or about sundown (if counted by Roman time from noon).
The imperfect tense of the verb erōtaō (was imploring) indicates that he repeatedly begged Jesus to cure his son’s disease. Swallowing his pride, this respected member of Herod’s court begged for help from a carpenter’s son (cf. Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3).
Antipas was a son of Herod the Great, who ruled Palestine at the time of Christ’s birth. After his father’s death, Antipas was made ruler of Galilee.
First, unlike the centurion (Luke 7:6–7) and the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24–30), he assumed Jesus had to be physically present to heal his son. Second, he hoped Jesus had the power to heal his son’s illness, but had no hope that He could raise him from the dead.
flawed faith disregarded His message and mission of salvation and focused instead on the sensational miracles He performed on their behalf.
By healing his son physically, the Great Physician moved to heal the father spiritually.
His son had been sick, and undoubtedly he had exhausted all the local means at his disposal. Failure of position and money to solve his problem drove him from Capernaum to the village of Cana, 20 to 25 miles away, hoping that the Healer would save his son from death.
There are many things money cannot buy. Money can buy a king-sized bed, but it cannot buy sleep! Money can buy a great house, but it cannot buy a home! Money can buy a companion, but it cannot buy a close friend! Money can buy books, but it cannot buy brains! Money can buy a church building, but it cannot buy entrance into heaven! And as our text suggests, money cannot buy life and health. Wealth cannot buy the life of a loved one. The basilikos was in agony. Nothing could relieve him. Nothing! The end appeared inevitable.
I like that nobleman. He went himself! He did not send a servant. He did not send his wife. In that nobleman we see a man who was involved with his family, who was so wrapped up in his children’s destiny that he did not send someone else but went himself.
probably means that this man is one of Herod Antipas’s court officials, although Herod’s official title was tetrarch rather than king. Jesus was extremely unfavorable toward Antipas (Lk 13:32; 23:9; for reasons, cf. Mk 6:17–29); this man who comes to Jesus would be a wealthy aristocrat, probably much influenced by Greco-Roman culture and not very religious by general Palestinian Jewish standards.
The use of the aorist tense of “die” (apothanein) to describe the impending crisis is in contrast with the present tense in v. 47 (apothnēskein), which describes the progress of the illness. This indicates that the case was desperate.
Jesus’ response was confronting: ‘Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,’ Jesus told him, ‘you will never believe.’ Though he was speaking to the royal official (‘Jesus told him’), Jesus’ criticism was intended not only for him but for the Galileans in general (‘unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders … you will never believe’). Jesus knew they would not believe in him, just as the evangelist foreshadowed (44).
Jesus persisted with his demand for true faith (that did not have to see miracles before believing), while at the same time responding to the man’s desperation with compassion:
He desired a belief characterized by dedication rather than amazement, and the second half of the episode shows that his aim was to inculcate a genuine commitment rather than merely to perform a cure.
The attitude of the Galileans is the issue here. As noted at 2:11, the word “sign” describes a revelatory unveiling of God that may be worked through a miracle. When John links “sign” with “wonder” (Gk. teras), he is describing a different phenomenon. The Galileans want Jesus to prove himself with an act of power. The same attitude surfaces in Galilee in 6:30 after Jesus feeds the five thousand. In this case, the Galileans miss the revelatory sign Jesus has given and press him to do something spectacular so that they can believe. Jesus’ point is sharp: They simply want miracles, but they do not want to see what God is really doing among them (6:26).
They would always describe how many sons and daughters they had, with emphasis on the former. In fact, the father in our story uses a Greek term of endearment to describe his “little boy” (4:49). The phrase tells us that this is not merely one of the man’s “sons.” This is a child, a little boy whose illness has torn his father’s heart.
a man of power, a man who is linked to politics, much like Nicodemus was linked to religion. Even though this man at first insists and then orders Jesus to do what he wants, Jesus complies.
One of the curious themes in the Fourth Gospel is the “absence of Jesus.” On more than one occasion, Jesus chooses not to be where he is expected. Sometimes Jesus is sought by officials (9:12) or crowds (7:11) who cannot find him. Nathanael is perplexed (1:48) because Jesus can see things when he is not there. Jesus suddenly appears across the Sea of Galilee when the crowds are looking for him elsewhere (6:22ff.). Jesus must explain that not only is his origin a mystery but his destination will be unexpected (7:28–29, 33–36; 8:21). When he is expected in Bethany for the ailing Lazarus, he chooses to be absent (11:21). And of course, when the women look for him at his tomb, he is absent as well (20:1–2).
John’s gospel is preeminently the gospel of belief. He wrote his inspired record so that his readers “may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing [they] may have life in His name” (20:31). The verb pisteuō (“believe”) appears nearly 100 times in this gospel, and the overwhelming majority of its occurrences refer to believing savingly in the Lord Jesus Christ (e.g., 1:12; 6:29; 8:30; 12:44; 14:1; 17:20)
Through believing in Him people become children of God (1:12; 12:36), obtain eternal life (3:15–16, 36; 6:40, 47), avoid judgment (3:18; 5:24), partake in the resurrection of life (11:25; cf. 5:29), possess the indwelling Holy Spirit (7:38–39), are delivered from spiritual darkness (12:46), and find empowerment for spiritual service (14:12).
Unbelief is the damning sin. It is the sin for which people are ultimately sentenced to hell, since all other sins are forgiven for those who repent and believe in Christ.
Unbelief is a rejection of Jesus Christ, who is the truth of God incarnate (John 14:6). “
The royal official has given an order; Jesus now does the same.
But there was a fourth level of unbelief found in the extremely religious and self-righteous—namely, unbelief due to deliberate hardheartedness
“The royal official said, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies’ ” (v. 49). He did not deny Jesus’ charge. More than that, he did not assert his own position. In fact, he seemed to maintain something of the spirit of the Syrophoenician woman—“even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27).
These interesting words contain a partial granting and a partial denial. Jesus granted the healing, but he refused to go down to Cana. And he gave the man no sign!
By faith they “saw” the promises! Notice verse 27, speaking of Moses: “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.” Moses’ faith enabled him to see the unseen. He saw God by faith. Now look at the words with which that chapter begins, in verse 1:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (NASB)
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV)
And what is faith? Faith gives substance to our hopes, and makes us certain of realities we do not see. (NEB)
Now faith means that we have full confidence in the things we hope for; it means being certain of things we cannot see. (Phillips)
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. (New Living Translation)
Jesus’ calm reply to the official’s desperate request created a crisis. Jesus announced, You may go. Your son will live. If the official really believed that Jesus could make a difference in Capernaum, he must also believe Him now in Cana. So he took Jesus at His word and left.
On the way back the official must have pondered Jesus’ promise every step of his journey. His servants met him with good news. His boy was living. The official asked when his son recovered.
His Word has power to work; people are simply to believe His Word.
Long-distance miracles were rare by Old Testament, other Jewish and Greco-Roman standards; people generally believed prophets and Greek magicians more easily if they were present in person. The rare stories of long-distance miracles suggested to ancient readers that these miracle workers had extraordinary power. For Jesus, the only prerequisite for such miracles is seekers’ faith in his power.
The man was desperate and did not want to argue with Jesus: The royal official said, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ Jesus persisted with his demand for true faith (that did not have to see miracles before believing), while at the same time responding to the man’s desperation with compassion: Jesus replied, ‘You may go. Your son will live.’ By translating Jesus’ reply as ‘you may go’ the NIV softens the original, which is a strong imperative, ‘go’ (poreuou). Attached to the command to go was the promise ‘your son will live’. Jesus was both demanding unquestioning faith in his word and promising the healing for which the man asked.
This sort of faith is found in several places in the Gospel (1:47–49; 2:5–10; 4:39–42, 50; 9:35–38) and was explicitly praised by Jesus: ‘blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’ (20:29).
Then to his amazement, God healed her—completely. And with the physicians shaking their heads, she was sent home from the hospital. Next Sunday, the entire family was there in the front pew, dressed and sparkling. The young woman gave her testimony, praising God for his goodness. The following Sunday, the family was there again. In four weeks, it was only the woman and her husband. And after that, attendance was sporadic until they dropped into their previous pattern. Before long, the woman rationalized the entire incident. She had experienced the most dramatic sign God could give her: healing, bathed in prayer and surrounded by the church. But after only two months, its power dimmed to nothing.
In the ancient world miracles and acts of power were linked to the presence of the miracle worker, but here the healer refused to be present. The story therefore is an important illustration of the purpose for which John wrote the Gospel. Here believing the word is linked with not immediately seeing the sign (cf. 20:30–31; but note 20:29 also).
That clinched it. Not only he but his entire household believed. This was now the second sign Jesus gave after having come from Judea into Galilee.
Both signs in Galilee (changing the water into wine [2:1–11] and healing the official’s son) demonstrate that Jesus is the Promised One. Yet both signs had a certain hidden aspect to them. Only the disciples and some servants saw His miracle at the wedding, and this healing was not in public view.
(4) Here was a courtier who surrendered. He was not a man who got out of Christ what he wanted and then went away to forget. He and all his household believed. That would not be easy for him, for the idea of Jesus as the Anointed One of God must have cut across all his preconceived notions. Nor would it be easy at the court of Herod to profess faith in Jesus. He would have mockery and laughter to endure; and no doubt there would be those who thought that he had gone slightly mad.
But this courtier was a man who faced and accepted the facts. He had seen what Jesus could do; he had experienced it; and there was nothing left for it but surrender. He had begun with a sense of desperate need; that need had been supplied; and his sense of need had turned into an overwhelming love. That must always be the story of the Christian life.
The fact that the healing of the official’s son is designated as the second sign and none of the other signs in the Gospel are numbered also seems to indicate that the evangelist wanted these two signs to be seen as related to each other in a special way
Notice especially here the word “yesterday.” I find this absolutely amazing because if the nobleman had left town at “the seventh hour” (1 in the afternoon) and hurried back to Capernaum
Some people postulate that Cuza in Luke 8:3, a steward in the household of Herod, may be the very man who was converted here since Cuza’s wife is mentioned as supporting the Lord’s work.
Some have speculated that this royal official was “Chuza, Herod’s steward” (Luke 8:3), whose wife was one of the women who accompanied Jesus. Others think he might have been the “Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch,” who was one of Paul’s co-pastors at Antioch (Acts 13:1). Such identifications, however, are merely speculative.