John 4:43-54
Sunday Morning Bible Study
August 20, 1995
Introduction
Jesus had been ministering in the southern part of Israel, known as Judaea.
When the Jews started comparing Jesus' ministry with John the Baptists', Jesus moved up north to minister, in order to keep the sense of competition down.
On the way up north, He had to pass through a particular Samaritan town, where He met a woman.
We saw the woman come to know her Savior, and in the process, many from her home town also came to recognize Jesus as their Savior.
:43-54 Healing the nobleman's son
:43 after two days
These are the two days that Jesus decided to hang around in Samaria, ministering to the Samaritans.
»John 4:40-AV So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
:43 Galilee
The northern third of Israel, where Jesus spent most of His time during His three years in ministry.
:44 a prophet hath no honour in his own country
This is a kind of difficult verse to understand why it's used here.
There are several things we have to clear up to be able to put this together.
1. Jesus is referring to the kind of reception He is used to in His home town of Nazareth.
We have it recorded in three other places where Jesus spoke this phrase in some sort or other.
»Mark 6:4-AV But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
»Matthew 13:57-AV And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
»Luke 4:24-AV And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
In each instance, Jesus was referring to the lack of belief that there was in His home town of Nazareth.
2. Jesus has just had some pretty good responses to His ministry in both Judaea and in Samaria.
In Judaea, Jesus was beginning to attract more disciples than John, and rather than conflict with John, Jesus left.
In Samaria, Jesus started talking with one woman, and ended up with many people from a city believing in Him.
3. It is after these two strong ministry responses that Jesus heads toward Galilee, and the reason we are now given for His heading to Galilee is that He wasn't honored there.
This is the idea we see here.
In Judaea, Jesus decided to slow down the work that was happening by moving north.
In Samaria, though many in the city were coming to Him, He decided to move on after two days.
Why was Jesus heading north, away from a growing ministry?
Jesus didn't come to set up a large, earthly, empire.
We'll see this again in a few chapters:
»John 6:15-AV When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
Jesus came with one purpose, to lay down His life for our sins.
He came to die on the cross.
»Matthew 16:21-AV From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
It's important for us to know our purpose in life, and hold to God's call, and not get sidetracked with other things.
:45 then when he was come into Galilee ... received him
But instead of the Galilaeans being cool toward Jesus, they were receptive to Him.
Many of them had gone to Jerusalem when Jesus did, for the Passover, and they saw the miracles that He had done while there.
:46 Cana ... made the water wine
We saw this first public miracle of Jesus back in chapter 2.
Jesus had been invited to a wedding, and when they had run out of wine, Jesus made some more wine for them, turning 126 gallons of water into the best wine.
Cana is about 14 miles west of the Sea of Galilee
:46 a certain nobleman
basilikos - of or belong to a king, kingly, royal, regal
of a man, the officer or minister of a prince, a courtier
Gill: from the whole he seems to be one that belonged to the palace of Herod Antipas, and was one of his courtiers; who, though he was but tetrarch of Galilee, yet is sometimes called a king
:46 whose son was sick at Capernaum
Capernaum is a town on the northern coast Sea of Galilee.
It was kind of Jesus' headquarters in the northern part of Israel.
It was the hometown of Peter and Andrew.
It was nearly 17 miles from the city of Cana.
:47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea
The news had reached Capernaum that Jesus was coming north into the Galilee again.
This man found out where Jesus was going, and went to meet Him.
It would be roughly equivalent of him coming from the city of Corona to see Jesus.
:47 besought him
erotao - to question; to ask; to request, entreat, beg, beseech
imperfect - continual asking in the past, he was continually asking Jesus.
There's more here than the guy showing up and making a one time request.
Instead, there's the sense of pleading, of making a lengthy request.
:47 come down
Cana was up in the hills, about 1000 feet in elevation.
Capernaum was down by the Sea of Galilee, below sea level.
:47 heal
iaomai - to cure, heal; to make whole
aorist tense
:47 at the point of death
We're not talking a little head cold here.
The man was about to lose his son.
:48 Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe
This sounds kind of harsh for Jesus to be saying to this man.
In fact, Jesus is rebuking the man.
Gill: With some degree of roughness in his speech, and severity in his countenance, in a way of reproof for his unbelief, as if he could not heal his son without going down to Capernaum along with him.
The rebuke was not because the man was asking Jesus to heal his son, but in that he was thinking that Jesus had to come down to Capernaum to do it.
Jesus had to come down to Capernaum, where the man could actually watch and see Jesus do the miracle.
This issue of signs and believing was a characteristic of the Jews in general.
Paul wrote:
»1Corinthians 1:22-AV For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
It's kind of ironic that in Capernaum, Jesus would find a man who had a different kind of faith in Jesus:
»Matthew 8:5-10 AV And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this [man], Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth [it]. 10 When Jesus heard [it], he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Lesson:
Be careful about craving miracles.
»Matthew 12:38-41 AV Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas [is] here.
Jesus isn't looking for people who say, "Show me and I'll believe"
Instead, He would say, "Believe, and I'll show you".
Jesus and Thomas:
»John 20:24-29 AV But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: [then] came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace [be] unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [it] into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed [are] they that have not seen, and [yet] have believed.
Jesus is more pleased with a person's faith, who is able to trust Him even before the answer to prayer comes, it if comes at all.
Lesson:
Sometimes there's a hard word
We have this idea that Jesus was always this guy who said sweet, nice things to people.
Especially if the person was kind of needy and hurting.
But sometimes if we really love each other, we're going to have to say some hard things too, even when it doesn't seem appropriate.
A real friend is one who is willing to risk your friendship for the sake of telling you the truth.
»Proverbs 27:6-AV Faithful [are] the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy [are] deceitful.
If you're smart, you'll pay attention when a friend cares enough to tell you a hard thing.
»Proverbs 15:31-32 AV The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. 32 He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.
Note:
Just because Jesus has something harsh to say to this man, doesn't mean that He isn't going to respond to the man's request.Even though Jesus has rebuked the man, it's only for the sake of bringing him a little further along.
:49 the nobelman saith
present active indicative - continual request is still being made
He doesn't lose heart in asking Jesus for help.
He continues to keep on asking.
:49 Sir
The Greek word is kurios
def: he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
It's the word we usually translate "Lord".
The man is still basically asking the same thing, but he is stopping to address Jesus as his Lord.
The man can't see any other way that Jesus could heal the boy, other than coming down to Capernaum.
But he is realizing that Jesus is his Master, his Lord.
Jesus is the one who is making the decisions around here.
This is the turning point in this man's request with Jesus.
Lesson:
Get to the point of letting Him be Lord
Illustrations:
My understanding in high school.
It's more than Sundays and Wednesday nights.
Let Him be Lord of your life all the time.
Sometimes, this is the very thing that keeps us from receiving all that God wants to give us.
:50 Go thy way; thy son liveth
The man got his answer to prayer.
It didn't come in the way he was expecting, but it still came with the answer he hoped for.
:50 and the man believed the word ...
There's been a growth in this man's life.
He is no longer demanding that Jesus come back to Capernaum.
He now realizes that Jesus can do things differently than he can imagine.
Lessons:
1. Sometimes answered prayer comes after we grow a little.
Andrew Murray (With Christ in the School of Prayer, pg.120):
In pointing out that God, in loving us, and in being infinitely powerful, will not delay in answering our prayers one moment longer than is abosolutely necessary.
"But why - if this is true and God's power is infinite - does it often take so long to get an answer to prayer? And why must God's own elect so often, in the midst of suffering and conflict, cry day and night? "He is long-suffering over them." "Behold! the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being long-suffering over it, till he receive the early and the latter rain" (James 5:7). Of course the husbandman longs for his harvest. But he knows it must have its full term of sunshine and rain, so he has plenty of patience. A child so often wants to pick the half-ripe fruit, while the farmer knows to wait until the proper time."
"In his spiritual nature, man, too, is under the law of gradual growth that reigns in all created life. Only on the path of development can he reach his divine destiny. And only the Father, Who determines the times and seasons, knows the moment when the soul or the Church is ripened to that fullness of faith in which it can really take and keep a blessing. As a father who longs to have his only child home from school, and yet waits patiently until the time of training is completed, so it is with God and His children."
In other words, sometimes we just aren't in a place where we're ready and able to receive the answers that we're praying about.
But when we're grown up enough, or enough obstacles in our lives are removed, then God gives us our request as soon as possible.
2. Persevere and hold on until you get your answer
»Matthew 7:7-AV Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Each word (ask, seek, knock) is a command towards continuous action - we are to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.
But we too often lose heart and just give up.
Illustration:
A woman telephoned the manager of a large opera house and told him she had lost a valuable diamond pin the night before at the concert. The man asked her to hold the line. A search was made and the brooch was found; but when he got back to the phone, the woman had hung up. He waited for her to call again, and even put a notice in the paper, but he heard nothing further.
And sometimes, when we've received our answer, we almost don't want to believe that it really was our prayers.
Illustration:
The story is told of a small town in which there were no liquor stores. Eventually, however, a nightclub was built right on Main Street. Members of one of the churches in the area were so disturbed that they conducted several all night prayer meetings, and asked the Lord to burn down that den of iniquity. Lightning struck the tavern a short time later, and it was completely destroyed by fire. The owner, knowing how the church people had prayed, sued them for the damages. His attorney claimed that their prayers had caused the loss. The congregation, on the other hand, hired a lawyer and fought the charges. After much deliberation the judge declared, "It's the opinion of the court that wherever the guilt may lie, the tavern keeper is the one who really believes in prayer while the church members do not!"
:52 when he began to amend
or, "when he began to get better"
:52 Yesterday at the seventh hour
Roman time - 7:00 p.m.
:53 the father knew that it was at the same hour ...
He thought about when he was with Jesus.
It all checked out! At the time that Jesus said his son lived, the fever had left the child.
How many times have we had some great deliverance or breakthrough, and then found out that someone was praying at the very time of our help?
Lesson:
Pray when you're prompted!
Stories of people being prompted in the middle of the night to pray for their missionary friend.
Then hearing later that that was the very day and hour of some great deliverance.
:54 the second miracle
semeion - a sign, mark, token
An attesting miracle that showed us something special about Jesus.
John made a point of only recording some of the miracles, but being careful to pick out certain miracles which gave a special understanding about Jesus.
The first miracle that John recorded was when Jesus turned the water into wine.
It showed us how gracious and giving Jesus was.
It showed us how joyous it is to know Jesus.
Lesson:
This second miracle shows us:
Jesus is Lord (or, Sir, if you like)
Jesus is a healer
Jesus responds to perseverance in prayer.
Jesus is so powerful, He isn't limited by location.
Some of you may be listening to this tape in years down the road, and have been lying in bed thinking, if I could only get to church, I could be healed.
Yet Jesus only has to say the word from heaven, and you'll be healed.