Sermon on John 4:43-54, What It Means to Believe in Jesus

When I spoke to you last, I shared a bit of what we sometimes call our “testimony,” our recounting of our conversion experience. I told you how as a young person of 16 years I had been challenged by a classmate at school to consider how important it was to believe in God and not discount Him, and how later I attended a youth meeting at my church at which a young man gave his testimony and challenged us to believe in Jesus. I told you how I mysteriously felt compelled to believe in Jesus and ask him for forgiveness and how in this encounter with Christ I found myself transformed. I became an inconsistent follower of Jesus Christ.

What is interesting to me, and maybe to you, is that I had attended church all my life. My parents faithfully took us to church, and I learned things about God and about Jesus. I remember, for some reason, being in a Sunday school class in Pueblo, Colorado, where I grew up, and learning two things from a young man, a teacher, who had apparently studied in seminary:

1) I learned that in the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament there were no spaces between words. He gave an English sentence to us in the Greek style

GODISNOWHERE

and pointed out that it could read, “God is now here,” or “God is nowhere.” That was not a very encouraging message. It seemed rather designed to make us question the New Testament as to whether we really understood its message. Of course, I much later discovered that there is no such problem understanding the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, no such confusion of meaning like that. But wasn’t that a strange thing to be taught in Sunday school?

2) The second thing I remember learning was that Israel expected Messiah to come and overthrow the Roman government and establish their own sovereignty in Israel, but that Jesus did not come in that capacity and so some people had trouble believing he was the Messiah. That idea really stuck with me.

I learned other things about Jesus in church, and I guess in a sense I believed in Jesus as a child, but it wasn’t until I was sixteen that I really believed in Jesus. And that is similar to the encounter with Jesus we are looking at today in John 4, the encounter of the royal official with Jesus in Cana of Galilee. Let’s read the passage.

⁴³ After the two days he left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) ⁴⁵ When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.

⁴⁶ Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

⁴⁸ “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

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

⁵⁰ “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. ⁵¹ While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. ⁵² When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

⁵³ Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

⁵⁴ This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

⁴³ After the two days he left for Galilee. 

We’re told at the beginning of chapter four that Jesus had left Judea for Galilee “because the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John” (4:1). While there in Judea, and particularly in Jerusalem, Jesus had cleansed the temple, you know, overturned the tables of the money changers and drove out the sellers of livestock because they were defiling the purpose of the temple. And, we’re told,

“²³ While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. ²⁴ Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all ²⁵ and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus had met with one Pharisee, Nicodemus, who was relatively friendly toward Jesus, but the majority of the Pharisees were quite suspicious and anxious about Jesus. So, things had gotten a little hot in Judea and it seem prudent to get out of town. He leaves back for Galilee, and as you know, goes through Samaria to get there. Most Jews usually went the route from Judea to Galilee that more or less skirted Samaria. Jesus, instead, went right through it, stopping in Sychar where he met the woman who had come alone to the well, who believed in Jesus and told the whole town about him. Jesus ended up staying two days with the Samaritans to teach them and minister to them.

⁴³ After the two days [in Samaria] he left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)

Jesus makes a comment to his disciples as they are making their way to Galilee that “a prophet has no honor in his own country.” Why does he say this? Well, he had just been in Judea, where he had done many “signs,” and he had created quite a stir. But now, his expectation was that he would not be treated with any celebrity there, meaning there he would be less of a distraction and he could minister more freely.

⁴⁵ When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.

However, when they crossed over into Galilee, Jesus wasn’t as unfamous as he anticipated. This was because the Galilean Jews had done pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover and had seen all that Jesus did there, and they were impressed. So Jesus was well received and welcomed when he came into Galilee, his home country.

This doesn’t mean, on the other hand, that Jesus was totally honored here. The Galileans had a positive impression of Jesus and they were excited about his miracle working ability, but that does not mean that they recognized him as Messiah, that they really believed in him. We see evidence of this when Jesus reaches Cana.

⁴⁶ Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

Jesus comes back to Cana and stops there to visit, likely because he had relatives there (that is why he and his mother were invited to the wedding some days before). And there is a royal official, someone in the service of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch, or regional leader, of Galilee and Perea, who comes to Jesus needing a miracle for his son. He begs Jesus to come back to his home in Capernaum to heal his son. Capernaum was less than twenty miles from Cana, about an average day’s walk from the north shore of the Sea of Galilee to the hillier terrain of Cana. Somehow, he had heard Jesus was there and saw an opportunity.

Jesus’ response seems quite rude.

⁴⁸ “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

But we know that Jesus is never rude or inappropriate, never pettily impatient, never self-important. His response must have a purpose. Think about it. What is the only reason this man is here, speaking to Jesus? His only concern is for the healing of his son, who is apparently close to death. He’s heard that Jesus is a miracle worker and that is his only concern.

Could he or should he have other concerns? He could be interested in Jesus because the miracles and actions of Jesus strongly evidence that Jesus is the Messiah, Israel’s promised deliverer, the one they have all been looking for, for many years. Should this be his concern? It should, but we would understand that all he has bandwidth for right now is the desperate plight of his son. We would forgive his one-track mind, and I’m sure Jesus does also. But Jesus is more concerned about this man than we are and knows this man needs more than just a faith in Jesus as a miracle worker.

⁴⁸ “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

Jesus uses two words to describe his miracles, “signs” and “wonders.”  Signs are pointers, signs are direction signals telling the one who sees them to look to God as the origin of the miracle, to see that God is the more important factor, that His love and power are to be paid attention to. Jesus’ miracles are signs that Jesus is indeed the one sent from God, who does the Father’s will, who is the promised Messiah.

The other word Jesus uses is “wonders.” Wonders are amazing displays of power that produce wonder and awe in those who see them, but don’t necessarily lead the observer to anything deeper than that.

Jesus is telling this poor man that he is really only coming to Jesus as a wonder worker, seeking only a wonder producer to meet a specific need of his. The man is not recognizing that Jesus is the answer to way more of this man’s needs than the healing of his son. And to be fair, Jesus isn’t only pointing at this man but at all the people generally of Galilee, who think of him as nothing more than someone to satisfy their desire for amazement, and, if the occasion arises, to provide some tangible need for their survival. We see this in chapter 6 of John, where the crowds kind of goad Jesus into doing a miracle, particularly like the one where he multiplies food for them.

Jesus is calling this man to more, if he can receive it. Jesus wants more for this man than the man knows he needs. But it seems the man cannot focus on anything else than his son, and Jesus does not reject him for that.

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

⁵⁰ “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

What would you do at this point? Would you turn around and walk away? Would you think, “Oh, man, that was a bust. My son is a goner.” Would you believe that Jesus can heal from a distance? You probably haven’t heard of, or maybe it hasn’t happened yet, of the Centurion’s servant who was healed without Jesus having to visit him. It no doubt seems unlikely to you that your son can be healed without some in-person ministration. But look what this man does.

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. ⁵¹ While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. ⁵² When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

At the time when Jesus said, “Your son will live,” the son recovered, and the servants set out for Cana to tell their master the good news and they met the man on his way back home. They were thinking their master didn’t need to get Jesus to come anymore because the problem had been resolved, this boy, precious to his father, was well. No miracle worker needed to arrive at their house now. But the father now knew. He had taken Jesus at his word, he had exercised this bit of faith and left for home, and indeed Jesus’ word was good because Jesus had healed his son from afar.

⁵³ Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

The father of the sick son describes the whole thing to his servants and the rest of his household, how that Jesus made a statement about his son living at 1am the previous day and that is when his son recovered. Jesus was a miracle worker to be sure, but the man had been challenged to see Jesus as more than just a source of amazement. Jesus was doing more than “wonders,” he was performing “signs.” His miracles were pointing people to Jesus’ identification as Messiah.

• What is being challenged in the hearts of those for whom Jesus does miracles is not just faith in his miracle ability, but faith in him.

Jesus makes a point of this on several occasions:

John 10:38, But if I do them [the works he sees his Father doing], even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

There is a difference between believing in Jesus’ works and believing in Jesus. Believing in his works can be a step toward believing in him, but it is not yet believing in him. I believed in things about Jesus, and you might could say I believed that Jesus was something very special, but I didn’t really believe in him. He didn’t make any difference in my life. He wasn’t my go-to for everything. Jesus explains what believing in him means.

John 10: 24, The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

If the people of Israel are looking for the Messiah, the one who will usher in the new age, the age of the kingdom, the loving and perfect rule of God on earth and the transformation of all his people into loving law-keepers, then look no further. Jesus is “in the Father and the Father is in him,” Jesus is the good shepherd of Yahweh’s sheep, the promised Messiah, the Son of Man and Son of God to whom all authority has been given to rule God’s people. He’s the utopia maker, he is the kingdom builder, he is the one who gives eternal life and none can snatch his sheep out of his hand.

The question is, are you his sheep? Do you listen to his voice? Does his voice matter to you? Are you obsessed with Jesus’ voice, like a sheep would be with his shepherd’s voice? Do you follow him?

John 14:11, Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

Now, you don’t have to have a miracle to believe that the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father, that they are identified and at one with each other, the Father as the sender and Jesus as the goer, the Father as the sovereign and the Son as the perfect servant of the sovereign. But if you cannot see this in Jesus himself, see it in the evidence of the works he performs in the Father’s name. Believe!

John 15:24, If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.

But not everyone will believe in Jesus, even if they see the “signs” pointing directly at him. And they will not be guiltless for having not believed. They’ve seen the works Jesus has done but instead of loving him and being grateful to his Father, they have hated both Jesus and his Father. Their hatred moves them to play down the significance of the miracles he does, some even attributing them to the devil doing them through Jesus. There is a difference between believing in Jesus as a miracle worker, and believing in him.

• Jesus longs for you to believe in him, not just in his miracle-working ability.

“Unless you see signs and wonders you will never believe,” Jesus said. Is that true of you? Ask for your needed miracles, or don’t, but Jesus is more than his miracles. Believe in him.

• To believe in Jesus and is not just to believe in his miracle-working ability but is to trust that he the loving and ruling representative of our heavenly Father, the promised Messiah who ushers in the kingdom of God, and to lovingly and loyally follow him.

Do you believe in Jesus? Has your faith gone from believing about him to believing in him? Can you examine yourself in this regard? Whether he works a miracle for you or not, do you trust and believe in him? Do you loyally love him? Believing in him means he is the most important relationship in your life.

⁵⁴ This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Jesus has done enough signs for you to believe in him. The most amazing one was he rose from the dead. He is the living Savior who asks you to believe in him.