John 4:43-54
Welcome at Galilee
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to 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 He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
A Nobleman's Son Healed
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."
49 The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"
50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household.
54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
Jesus left His own area of His childhood and went to Galilee because they refused to accept and honor who He is even after witnessing the miraculous works He did to prove His divine nature (John:1, 14, 2:23, 3:2) to them. He truly had no honor in His own country just as all the prophets before Him of which He was the final and far superior one (Hebrews 1:1-3) because He is God’s own Son as the final messenger bringing God’s word in the gospel of absolute deliverance from the penalty of sin. The Galileans gladly welcomed Jesus to Cana once more and listened to Him, but they also wanted further signs and wonders as when He turned the water into wedding wine. The Lord chastised them for requiring the miraculous to be able and willing to believe. Their faith was based on what they received for themselves and not in receiving Him (John 1:12) by taking Him at His word alone (1 Corinthians 1:22-23, Galatians 3:22, Hebrews 11:6) by faith and trust. Jesus healed the man’s son anyway and the father and that household all saw God’s mighty hand at work and trusted His word by faith as a result. The sign proved Jesus was whom he claimed and once they accepted He was the Messiah, they entrusted themselves to Him in that faith in both Him and His work they had personally witnessed. Do we wait for a sign or miracle to take good at His word and rely on His word, or do we take these things on faith borne out of an inner conviction of His Spirit demonstrating the truth we rely on for salvation, life, and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)? Honoring God should not be based on or defined by the expectation of miracles of signs and wonders, but by the belief that everything we need is in His word and that leads us to rely on and trust His good providence and provision in all things. Do we rely on or demand these or do we walk by faith? When the Son comes, will He really find faith (Luke 18:8, Hebrews 10:38) on earth?
No comments:
Post a Comment