43 After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 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.
Jesus stays two days with the Samaritans. What started as a stop for water and food turned into a two-day teaching seminar by the Messiah. What is missing is interesting. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John does not record anything Jesus says to them. All we know is what they testified about that they now believed him to be the Savior of the World (vs. 42).
Why John inserts the parenthetical statement about a prophet being without honor in his own country is beyond me. There is nothing in the immediate context that would indicate why this is inserted. It is only in the Synoptic Gospels that we can find the details (Matt 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24). Luke provides the most details of his rejection at Nazareth. Luke 4:16-30 describes Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, teaching from Isaiah that he is fulfilling the Scripture. Each version express that they were astonished at his teaching but viewed him as someone unworthy of being able to teach because he was one of them. They didn’t believe. But Luke tells that they actually tried to kill him. All of this apparently happened before he leaves Nazareth and heads off to Cana.
One of the important things about these accounts is that the people had seen Jesus doing miracles in Jerusalem. They had expectations but these expectations were limited by their perceived concept that a local couldn’t be someone special.
Do we do the same thing. Sometimes being too familiar with someone often lets us see their weaknesses instead of what they have overcome and become. Sometimes it is jealousy that we aren’t endowed with the same gifts.
46 Therefore 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. 47 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. 48 So Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe." 49 The royal official said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." 50 Jesus said to him, "Go; your son lives."
Cana is about five miles north of Nazareth and it is about sixteen miles from Capernaum. So Jesus is far from where he was almost killed. The royal official must have also been in Jerusalem or had heard from the people what Jesus had done. He takes the trip to Cana to save his son. As a royal official, he is not the type to go begging anyone for anything. He comes to Jesus in humility, not demanding as a royal might, but begging. He has the right attitude and is coming to the right person. (We need to come to Jesus with the right attitude and belief.) At this point, he must have believed that Jesus could heal him. So what happens when he asks Jesus to come and heal his son?
Jesus rebukes the people for only believing after seeing signs. Put yourself in this guy’s position. Your son is dying, and Jesus stops to tell everyone around him that they are shallow in their faith. How would you react to that? Would we give up and walk away? Is that the way we react when we pray for something and don’t get it? Or do we change our prayer? Should we change our prayer or our attitude? According to James, we may have to do both (James 4:1-3). This guy is still begging Jesus to go to Capernaum.
In this case, Jesus shows that he is more than a healer who must go to the ill to heal them. This is both a testing of the man’s faith to go and believe or stay and continue to beg. It is also a demonstration that he is much more than who the sign-seekers believed him to be.
How often do we pray and continue to pray for something when God has clearly provided a different answer, but we don’t move on? Our faith needs to be more like the royal official.
50b The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. 51 As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. 52 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."
He took Jesus at his word. This is belief. This is what we are doing when we read the Bible and believe what it says. Jesus is the Word. Every word of God is true. We have no reason to doubt what is in the Bible. The miracles were given to show that Jesus is the Word. What he says happens (Isa 46:10).
Rabbit trail. The seventh hour is about 1:00 PM. The time it takes to walk from Cana to Capernaum is about 8 hours. Why didn’t the man leave to go home as soon as Jesus told him his son would live? He would have been home by 9:00 PM. Which answer would you pick?
a. It would have been dark before getting home so it would have been too dangerous.
b. He did start home but had to stop along the way (see #1).
c. He was a royal official and couldn’t leave.
d. He believed and was in no hurry to get home, he knew his son was well.
I think I would answer with d.
53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives"; and he himself believed and his whole household.
It is interesting that it states that he believed. I thought he already believed. His faith may have been strengthened but the big point is that his household believed. His household would not have believed if he had not shared what had happened. It is important for us to give credit to the Lord for the good things he has done for us. It helps other believe and strengthens our own faith.
54 This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
Just an FYI, this can be read a couple of ways. This was Jesus’ second miracle but verse fort-five would indicate he did some miracles in Jerusalem. It could mean it was the second miracle he did in Galilee, turning wine into water being the first. This is possible but there is also the possibility and the New Living Translation explains it as the second miracle after coming back from Jerusalem. None of this is terribly significant. The important part is to see that many people would only believe after seeing miracles and some of them, as in Nazareth, would not believe even when a miracle occurred.
No comments:
Post a Comment