John 4:43-54: The Second Sign at Cana

(1) Bible Study Questions

Acknowledgement: This study was inspired by and expanded from a study written by Ray Galea, the senior pastor of my home church, MBM Rooty Hill Anglican. I have edited and augmented his study. I thank Ray for his partnership in the gospel and permission to do so, but responsibility for the final product here is mine.

Discuss: Do you work from home in your job? What jobs could a person do from home? What jobs really couldn’t be done from home?

Do you know many doctors, nurses, health professionals, or emergency service personnel that work from home? Can you explain this?

1. What is the significance of the place/s where this incident happens? (vv. 43-46, cf. 2:1-11)

2. What response does Jesus receive from the locals and why? (v. 45)

3. What do you think that Jesus’ assessment of the locals’ response to him would be? (v. 48, cf. 44-45, 1:11)

Note: The ‘you’ that appears twice in John 4:48 is not a singular ‘you’, but a plural ‘you’: ‘youse’ (in western Sydney idiom), ‘you lot’, ‘you people’.

4. What does the official want Jesus to do? (v. 47)

5. How serious is the illness? (vv. 47, 49)

6. What is motivating Jesus’ sharp statement in verse 48 in response to the royal official’s request?

Research: There are some similarities between this account and an incident recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. Contrast this other incident with that recorded in Matthew and Luke by listing the differences between them.

7. What did Jesus do in response to the royal official’s desperate request? (vv. 50, 53)

8. What was the royal official’s response to Jesus? (vv. 50, cf. 53) What can we learn from this? (cf. Rom 10:17)

Discuss: Faith is about trusting the word of God. It is important to work out which words of God are promises for you and which are not for you. Think of examples where you or others mistake your own wishful thinking for the promises of God? What are the dangers in doing this?

9. Is this particular word of Jesus in verse 50 given to (a) the royal official only or (b) to every believer in general?

10. If you answered (a) above, what can we learn from John’s account that applies to us? If you answered (b) above, on what basis do we appropriate statements to individuals in the Scriptures to ourselves? Is there any limit or control?

11. Read the two promises found in John 3:16, 36. What actually is promised? Are they different to what Jesus said to the royal official? Are they directly applicable to you? Give reasons for your answer.

12. The royal official had to wait a day before he could see himself the results of his mercy mission. In what way is this similar to us who believe the promise of Jesus for eternal life?

13. The apostle Paul describes the gospel of Jesus Christ as “the power of God for the salvation of all who believe” (Rom 1:16). Too often the words of the gospel do not seem all that powerful. When will its power be truly seen?

14. Given that Jesus has ascended to the Father and now ‘works from home’, how can this account encourage us with our desperate requests?

(2) Sermon Script

Introduction: Remote Control

We are used to being able to do things remotely, at long distances. For a couple of centuries, we’ve had the penny post, the mail. For over a century we’ve had long distance telegraphs. We’ve had electricity travelling long distances from the power station to our homes for over a hundred years. For decades, we’ve had long distance radio and television transmission.

In the last decade, we’ve had a different sort of long distance connection with each other. We have ‘wi-fi’ in our homes. Our computers and mobile devices have wireless broadband, or blue tooth. Our smart phones have connection to the internet via mobile phone networks. We can work from home. Our kids can skype their friends or cousins, and we think nothing of it. We can be contacted wherever and whenever. Long distance is no problem anymore.

But generally speaking, long distance hasn’t worked for doctors and healing. We don’t do operations over the internet. “Hey, I can’t come in for the open heart surgery, can’t we do it on facebook? Sure, I need to visit the physio, but can’t we skype it?” You don’t have life savers saying, “Hey, I’ll just work from home today.” Or ambulance drivers or firies saying, “I don’t really need to come in to do this work!”

But it works for Jesus as both a healer and a lifesaver. For in this account that we are looking at, Jesus saved from sickness and death: he healed a young boy, and saved a family that came to believe in him without them having seen him.

Context

At the beginning of John chapter 4, Jesus was in Samaria, under the midday sun, with a Samaritan women by a well. Jesus asked for water from a women rejected by her town, and he himself offered her “living water”, that is, eternal life, and revealed to her in the clearest possible terms that he was the Messiah, the saviour of the world.

Jesus remained with the Samaritans two days (John 4:40), and many more Samaritans came to believe in him as well. The Samaritans came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is the saviour of the world. He is not just the saviour of the Jews. He is also saviour of the Samaritans, the hated heretical half-castes.

When the Samaritans said Jesus was the saviour of the world, they got it right. For the very next thing that happens in John's account is that Jesus saves a gentile boy and his family. In the New Testament, gentiles are described as people “without God and without hope in the world”. They are strangers to God’s promises and they live in darkness and blindness. And indeed that was most of us, indeed, all of us. But Jesus Christ has come for the world. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Since meeting the woman at the well, Jesus has travelled another three days north. After travelling, Jesus arrives in Jewish territory, to Galilee, his home region. In verse 45, we read he arrived at Cana in Galilee.

Now, do you remember what sign Jesus has already done in Cana of Galilee? What thing has Jesus already done in John’s gospel in Cana?

[Chapter 2:1-11: turned the water in 6 stone water jars, containing between 480 and 720 litres, into the best wine, and in so doing revealed his glory to his disciples.]

Now the Galileans in Cana at some level believe in Jesus. But we need to be suspicious about their acceptance of Jesus. For John reports in chapter 4 verse 44, that Jesus has taught that no prophet is ever received in his home town. Familiarity breeds contempt. The other Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, report that Jesus said the same thing, and he soon upsets the crowds in his home regions. As John tells us at the very beginning of his Gospel, in chapter 1 verse 11, “Jesus came to his own, and his own did not receive him”.

It seems that the welcome Jesus received in Galilee is only because of the signs, that is, the miracles that the people have seen, first at the wedding in Cana, and then at the feast in Jerusalem (v. 45). Someone might think, “Jesus is someone special, perhaps a prophet”, and follow him for a time. But then Jesus will say things that upset them. The same thing happened after Jesus told the parables in Mark 4, and after the feeding of the five thousand in John 6, or his entry into Jerusalem in the week before he died (John 12:12-26). People go with him for a short time, and love him as the ‘latest you-beaut thing’, the best thing since sliced bread, but later they fall away because of Jesus' hard teaching, or some other factor, like Jesus being unpopular. Jesus tells a whole parable, the parable of the soils, to warn us about that (Mark 4:1-20).

Sometimes initial ‘faith’ is shown over time to be inadequate. It is inadequate because it is shown not to be real faith at all. That’s why Jesus says what he says in verse 48.

So Jesus said to him, “If you people do not see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

So Jesus’ returns to the place where he has already done a great sign. But the people have not had a deep conversion. Their acceptance of Jesus Christ is widespread, but not deep. Many have accepted him, but it is a shallow acceptance. Some people just like the show. They like the magic tricks. They are fair weather friends, who stay with Jesus during the good times, but when the hard times come, they quickly fall away. They take Jesus’ miracles and wonders, and are happy enough to have the heaven he promises. But they don’t want Jesus' person and the demands that he makes. They are happy with Jesus as savior. But they won’t have Jesus as Lord. And so for them, Jesus will be neither saviour nor Lord. For Jesus is Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all.

Don’t think, “If I had only seen Jesus in the flesh, if I was there when he changed water to wine, I would have a strong faith.” The people of Cana saw that and experienced it first hand. But they are rebuked for their lack of faith. Seeing is over-rated. For Jesus, it is believing that counts.

In fact, so poor is the people of Cana’s response to Jesus on his return, that the only recorded sign that Jesus did during this second visit involves a ‘certain royal official’. He doesn’t even live in Cana. And he probably isn’t even a Jew. This royal official was a servant of Herod Antipas. He was probably a gentile. We can’t prove it, but it is likely, because Herod wasn’t a Jew. So in chapter 4, Jesus serves both an unnamed Samaritan woman and an unnamed royal officer who was probably a gentile. Even though Jesus came first to the Jews, even then we see he is the saviour of the whole world, just as the Samaritans said (v. 42).

The royal servant has come from Capernaum, another town in Galilee. And he is very worried, for he has a son back in Capernaum who is sick, very sick. In fact, we read in verse 49 how sick the boy or young man was. How sick was he? Look at verse 49:

The officer of the king said to him, “Lord, come down before my child dies.”

Verse 52 tells us the boy had a fever. Fevers were a common cause of death in ancient times, particularly for the very young and very old. They still are really serious for the very young and the very old.

Now Jesus was in Cana in Galilee. The sick boy was in Capernaum in Galilee, about 20km away. It would have been about a day's walk to get there. It would have been a long walk, but a reasonably fit person could do it in about five hours.

If he hasn’t ridden a horse, the royal official has more than likely put in a good five hours walk to get to Jesus. He would have walked all morning from Capernaum, and got to Cana at 1pm, the seventh hour.

Now, those of you who know your Bibles well know that there is a similar story in Matthew and Luke (though not in Mark), concerning a centurion and his servant (Matt 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10). But in John, this royal servant who is worried about his son is a different person to the centurion worried about his servant, recorded in Matthew and Luke. The centurion in Matthew and Luke said that he didn’t deserve to have Jesus come under his roof, but the royal servant in John 4 wanted Jesus to come to his house (v. 47), and asked him to come to Capernaum (v. 49). The centurion met Jesus in Capernaum, but this royal servant meets Jesus in Cana. The centurion worries about his servant, but this official worries about his son. So these are two different events about two different sets of supplicants.

Now, Jesus’ first response to the official’s request is somewhat surprising. Chapter 4 verse 48:

So Jesus said to him, “If you people do not see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

What do you think about Jesus’ response to the desperate father’s request? Jesus’ response sounds a bit harsh. But there is a factor that softens it a bit. The ‘you’ that appears in verse 48 twice, is not a singular ‘you’, but a plural ‘you’. It is ‘youse’, ‘you lot’, ‘you people’. Jesus isn’t just talking to the royal official. He is also talking to the people in Cana who are more interested in signs and miracles than in Jesus’ teaching about himself. They do not believe unless they say miracles and wonders. And Jesus is clearly not happy with that.

Jesus wants us to believe in him without seeing signs and miracles. Jesus wants us to trust his word, which for us is the Bible, and his goodness.

So the royal official is not deterred. He persists with his request. Verse 49, “Lord, come down before my child dies.” And Jesus simply says, “Go, your son lives”.

No magic words, no waving of the magic wand, but just like Jesus did at the beginning of creation (John 1:1-3), when the word was “Let there be light”, and there was light, so here Jesus says, “your son lives”, and reality and human history reflects that word and conforms to it.

That is real power: to speak and it happens. And it is real faith to believe such words. The royal servant in fact believed Jesus’ words. We know the man believed Jesus’ words because he didn’t go home straight away. The man probably could have made it home to Capernaum that afternoon. It was, after all, only 20 kilometres, and he came to Cana to bring Jesus back to Capernaum and his sick son. He probably could have walked it in four hours. Jesus said these things to him about 1pm on the day he left home for Cana.

But it is not until the next day that the royal official met his servants. Perhaps he felt he didn’t need to rush home, because he knew that Jesus had taken care of everything. Maybe he stopped on the way, because he didn’t have to worry. Jesus had it all in hand.

Verse 50 makes it clear that the man believed when Jesus spoke to him. Verse 53 makes it clear that the man believed when he realized the time of his son’s healing was the same time that Jesus spoke. The man had faith to have his son healed. And his faith was confirmed and strengthened when he saw that God was faithful to his promises.

And friends, it’s the same with us. We need to trust God’s word as soon as we hear it. But when we see it fulfilled, we also need to have our faith confirmed. We need to say to ourselves, “Yes, God is faithful to his word. I always need to trust him.”

And so not only did the royal official believe, but all his household too. Jesus not only saved the son from perishing from sickness, but he also saved the son from perishing eternally. The son of the official, as part of his father’s family, also believed in Jesus. And whoever believes in Jesus, to those who receive him, Jesus gives the right to become children of God. The son and the father in this account, and indeed their whole household, were not condemned. God’s wrath did not remain on him. They had all crossed over from death to life. Jesus not only saved the Son by healing him of his fever. He saved the whole household through their faith in him from God's wrath, condemnation, and perishing.

Conclusion

In John chapter 3, Jesus has ministered to Nicodemus, the Pharisee and Jew. We read that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. And by the end of John’s Gospel, Nicodemus believes.

Earlier in John chapter 4, the Samaritan woman and her village believes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour of the World.

And here, at the end of John chapter 4, what is probably a gentile household in Galilee believes that Jesus is saviour, and their son is restored to life to prove it.

I hope you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, because the Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, everyone who puts their trust in him will never be put to shame.” (Rom 10:9-13)

We too are people who need to believe that Jesus saves despite long distance, that Jesus saves by remote control. If you are sick or have a loved one sick, pray to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is away in heaven. He can heal long distance, as shown in this account. Or if you want to be saved from condemnation and hell, to not perish but have eternal life, put your trust in Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world and the Messiah who was to come. He came for all who would receive him. And by faith, you can become a child of God, and Jesus’ brother.

Let’s pray.

(3) English Translation

(4) Exegetical Notes

The account of the healing in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10 seems to be a different incident, involving a centurion’s servant, not the child of an officer of the king. While both incidents occur at Capernaum, and are healings from a distance, there are substantial differences.

The saying in verse 44 has parallels in Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, and Luke 4:24. The reference to Jesus’ hometown occasioned so much discussion (Carson 1991: 235-6).

For Jesus himself testified that a prophet does not have honour in his own fatherland. Therefore, when he went into Galilee the Galileans greeted him.

There is a paradox in that Jesus seems to return to his own ‘fatherland’, and has said that such prophets do not have honour, and yet the Galileans greeted him.

The noun πατρίς can mean ‘one’s own, one’s fatherland, homeland, or home town’. In the Synoptics, πατρίς denotes the town of Nazareth, but that doesn’t seem to apply here. If by πατρίς John means Galilee, why do they receive him if a prophet is without honour in his own country? There are two common solutions: First, πατρίς refers to Judea or Jerusalem, since Jesus was born in Judah. But in John, Jesus comes from Nazareth (e.g. John 1:45-6). Second, some consider πατρίς refers to heaven, but is it seriously suggested that Jesus has no honour in heaven? Carson suggests rightly suggests a third solution, that πατρίς refers to Galilee as against Samaria. Jesus has been openly and widely accepted as the savior of the world in Samaria, but his hometown only believes if they see signs. Jesus’ welcome by the Galileans is not viewed by John as a positive response of faith, but the deficient response of faith in miracles: they only believe because of the signs they have seen.

Regarding Jesus’ movements in verses 45-46, it is 79km from Sychar in Samaria to Cana of Galilee, which is approximately a three-day journey on foot.

In verse 46, John takes care to remind us that Jesus has returned to Cana. “The one who transformed water into wine, eclipsing the old rites of purification and announcing the dawning joy of the messianic banquet, is the one who continues his messianic work, whether he is rightly trusted or not, by bringing healing and snatching life back from the brink of death” (Carson 1991: 238).

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