Sermon Tone Analysis

You’ve heard the saying, “Seeing is believing”, right?

Meaning that my sense of sight is more important than any other sense when it comes to proving or disproving something.

Calvin and Hobbes Cartoon

Today we are going to look at the first of two stories about Jesus healing people

Both of them unique

Different towns

Different types of people

Both of them, of course the focus is on Jesus and how He works

The story today deals with some people whose motto seemed to be “Seeing is believing”.

And we are going to see what Jesus thought about that.

(ESV)

43 After the two days he departed for Galilee.

44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.)

45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast.

For they too had gone to the feast.

I just want to pause here for a bit.

Remember that Jesus is on his way from Judea to Galilee.

And on the way, he stops over in Samaria to have a divine appointment with first, a woman who comes to the well, and then with the people of that village.

We have already discussed this story for a number of weeks.

After spending two days with the people of this town and seeing them come to faith in him, it is time for Him to continue on to Galilee.

And that is where John gives us this interesting little “side note”.

But I don’t think it is really a side note.

I think that John means to set us up for what happens next.

And at first glance it seems a little confusing:

John says on one hand that Jesus had said that a prophet has no honor in His own hometown.

And on the other hand he says that the Galileans, Jesus’ own countrymen, welcomed Him.

How are we meant to interpret this?

Well, there is one incident in which might shed some light on it.

Jesus had been teaching by the Sea of Galilee and from there he heads back to his home town and begins teaching in the Synagogue.

And the people there are astonished at his wisdom and authority.

And they say, “Wait a minute!

Isn’t this Jesus?

Aren’t his parents Mary and Joseph?

Dont’ we know his brothers?

Haven’t we known Him since he was a little tyke?”

And they welcome him back.

That is, until Jesus gets pointed with them.

And then they took offense at him.

In fact, in we read that they are ready to throw him off a cliff.

That’s because, as we see on a number of occasions, everybody was impressed by what Jesus could do.

They weren’t so impressed with what He said.

They were impressed with how He could change water into wine.

They weren’t so impressed with how He addressed their hypocrisy.

They weren’t so impressed with how He addressed their hypocrisy.

They were impressed when he healed a sick person.

They weren’t so impressed with His claims of being equal with God

And so here in this passage, John sets up this next story by letting us know that There were Jews who had seen what He could do because they were with him in Jerusalem at the feast.

And they were impressed.

And because Jesus had spent two days in Samaria, His fellow Galilleans had beat Him back home and had spread the news about these cool things that Jesus could do.

Jesus had been teaching by the sea of Galilee and had told a number of parables: The Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Weeds sown among the wheat, the Parable of the Hidden Treasure, the Parable of the Pearl of Great Value, etc.

Jesus knew that word had already reached Galilee about what had happened in Jerusalem and were going to be excited to see Him.

and were going to be excited to see Him.

Then it says that he went away from there and back to his own town, and began to teach in the synagogue there.

But He also knew that they were not really prepared to honor Him and declare Him to be the Savior of the World as the Samaritans had done.

And it says that the people there were astonished at his wisdom.

They said, “Where did this guy get such wisdom?

Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph the carpenter?

Isn’t his mom’s name Mary? Doesn’t he have some brothers named James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

They wanted to see what He could do, but not listen to what He said.

Because as we saw with the Samaritans

“We know this guy.

We’ve known him ever since he was a little tyke.”

I believe that Jesus realized that the Jews in Galilee were not ready to listen to him and believe in what He said.

All they wanted was to see what He could do.

He knew that they were not ready to honor Him.

They welcomed him back.

However, it goes on to say that they took offense at Him.

What He did and what He taught they found offensive.

He made them mad!

In fact, on one occasion, recorded in , Jesus made the folks in Nazareth, his home town, so mad that they tried to throw him off a cliff.

The people in his own home town were ready to kill him!

Well, it says that the Jews had seen all that Jesus had done in Jerusalem when he was there for the feast.

And because Jesus had delayed his return to Galilee and had spent some time in Samaria, these Jews had beat him back to Galilee and had spread the news that Jesus was doing some pretty incredible things.

And it got people excited and amazed.

And so when Jesus comes back to Galilee, you can bet that they were excited to see him

They knew him.

He was a home town guy

He was doing some incredible things and they wanted to see him work some of his magic, so to speak.

But Jesus knew what was in their hearts.

He knew that all they wanted was to see him work signs and wonders.

They weren’t interested in hearing him teach about the Kingdom of Heaven.

They weren’t interested in hearing Him talk about being right with God and repentance.

He knew that they weren’t ready to accept Him as Savior of the World as the Samaritans had done.

And so really, they were not ready to truly honor him.

They welcomed him, yes, but they weren’t really ready to honor him for who He is.

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(ESV)

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine.

And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.

47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”

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

51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.

52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”

53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”

And he himself believed, and all his household.

54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

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So here’s the scene: