John 4:43-54 Believing without Seeing
A young man said,
“I would love to have your faith but it is just not happening.”
John’s gospel is all about helping people find faith in Jesus, becoming ‘believers’ in him. That this is the purpose of his book is clear from the number of times the word ‘believe’ is used. John the Baptist came teaching people with this specific end in sight,
“He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light . . . ” John 1:7
When Jesus himself came to his people they largely rejected him, but the Messiah was for people of all nations who become his followers,
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12
To help people believe, the apostle John brought together in his book a number of different accounts of people who came to put their trust in Jesus.
The first miracle that Jesus performed was at Cana in Galilee where he turned the water in six large water jars into top quality wine. The result of this was,
“ . . . and his disciples believed in him.” John 2:11
The next story John selected concerns an eminent Jewish scholar, Nicodemus, who was on the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews. Jesus explained to him how he could make a new start in life by accepting himself as his Lord and Saviour. The moral and religious behaviour of Nicodemus could never give him eternal life. It was what Jesus taught him that led to his becoming a believer. The good news about who Jesus is and how, by becoming his followers, people can be saved for eternity, is the recurrent theme of this book.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
The vital importance of having this faith is then spelt out,
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned alreadybecause they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18
John then tells the story of a Samaritan woman whose life left much to be desired, she had had five husbands and she was not even married to her present partner. Jesus explained to her that he alone could give her the living water she needs for eternal life. They had a discussion about how people must worship God, which leads to the question of the Messiah. Jesus explained,
“I, the one speaking to you, I am he.” John 4:26
She returned to the town and invited her friends to come and hear what Jesus had to say.
“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” John 4:39
They came to listen to Jesus,
“And because of his words many more became believers.” John 4:41
The Samaritans from Sychar then told the woman what had led them to believe that Jesus was God’s one and only Messiah,
“We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.” John 4:42
The differing stories that John recounts appeal in different ways to different people but the goal is always the same, that individuals should become believers in Jesus as God’s Messiah through what they hear.
The next story is striking.
Jesus heals an official’s son
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honour 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 ill 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 enquired 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 realised 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. John 4:43-54
The scene shifts back to Cana in Galilee, Jesus had returned there, possibly because he had family in that area. Whilst there he is approached by a royal official who has travelled the 16.5 miles from his home in Capernaum in order to talk urgently with Jesus. The time was around one o’clock in the afternoon. He had come out of concern for his son who was so ill that he was close to death and he asked Jesus to heal his son. The purpose of including this account is clear; it is again about how people come to believe in Jesus. Verse 50 reveals that the royal official ‘took Jesus at his word’ and the episode ends with the glorious statement,
“So he and his whole household believed.” John 4:53
The fascinating point is that the official had to believe before he saw the miracle he had heard that Jesus had done for others and that he longed to see heal his son.
A Warning
Immediately after the royal official makes his request, Jesus says something revealing a deep concern that Jesus has. He is not speaking personally to the official as the word ‘you’ is in the plural, he is speaking of people in general,
“‘Unless you people see signs and wonders,’ Jesus told them, ‘you will never believe.’”
Jesus is clearly despairing of the people who are following him. Their motives are wrong. They enjoy seeing the miracles but not the implications of what the miracles imply. The miracles were to confirm who Jesus is, as John confirms at the end of his book.
“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31
John realises that too much focus on the miracles can distract from true faith. Belief in Jesus is the object of his book. Religious excitement, through a fascination with miracles, is not the goal, people must become true disciples of Jesus, that is believers who follow and obey him.
Jesus is certainly not advocating that his followers should adopt a ‘signs and wonders ministry’ to help people to become his adherents. The New Testament repeatedly speaks against that sort of advertising to appeal for followers.
“Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:2
But equally there was no reluctance by Jesus and his disciples to give enough evidence to confirm his credentials to be God’s Messiah, his one and only Son and chosen king, who had entered this world as a human being.
This story is the second of seven ‘miraculous signs’ that John describes to give us enough evidence about Jesus.
The term ‘signs and wonders’ is used despairingly in the four gospels about the ministry of false teachers who emphasise signs and not the nature and teaching of Jesus. People are incredibly gullible and will follow anything. So often this is how sects develop. Elsewhere Jesus warned that even Christians can be seduced by such ministries. It did not take long for such superficial pedlars of a ‘signs and wonders ministry’ to start travelling around Asia Minor and Israel. Such pedlars still exist today, seducing people to give them money in exchange for their prayers.
“Jesus said to them, ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he’ and will deceive many.” Mark 13:5
“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard . . .” Mark 13:22-23
History teaches us that people of every nation will believe anything so long as it is attractively packaged and is impressive outwardly.
An enquiry by School Inspectors into Church of England schools revealed that most children, by their early teens, have given up believing the gospel stories but they still believe in ‘Batman’ and ‘Flash Gordon’ almost to the extent that they think that kind of world exists. They are typical of this age where people find it easier to believe in flying saucers, the Lock Ness Monster and Father Christmas than in the deity of Jesus Christ. It is as if evidence has no relevance to what people believe in today. However the Bible stresses that a true faith must both be evidence based and change the way we live.
Joseph Smith was a young lad in a troubled family that had a hobby of treasure seeking. Joseph even professed conversion to Christ. One day he claimed that, on a hill outside New York, he had come across two golden plates. These apparently had strange hieroglyphics written on them which were incomprehensible to him. But then, by chance, he came across a very large pair of angelic spectacles and, by putting these on his nose, he was able to decipher the hieroglyphics which Joseph called ‘Reformed Egyptian’. This text, he claimed, revealed the ancient history of America. He showed no-one the golden plates but he claimed to have copied the text. Professor Charles Anthon, a noted linguist was shown this copy and made the following comment,
“A very brief investigation convinced me that it was a mere hoax, and a very clumsy one too. The characters were arranged in columns like the Chinese mode of writing, and presented the most singular medley I have ever beheld. Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of letters more or less distorted, either through unskilfulness or from actual design, were intermingled with sundry delineations of half-moons, stars and other natural objects, and the whole ended in a crude representation of the Mexican zodiac.”
An analysis of the content of the book reveals similar fantasies. Genetic studies have shown that Red Indians are not related to the lost ten tribes of Israel but have a Mongolian origin. There is no evidence whatsoever that a people called the Nephites ever existed. So much more could be said, yet in 2012 there were an estimated 14.8 million Mormons, with roughly 57 percent living outside the United States. How can they believe this teaching? Many Mormons are upright well dressed citizens but the fact is that they have been deceived because they have not paid enough attention to evidence.
A similar critique can be made of the origin of Islam. There are no copies of the Qur'an and no quotes from it before about 693AD. Yet Muhammed, the soldier, was born in 571AD. The earliest mosques do not point to Mecca as the Qur'an dictates, but to Petra, the Nabotian capital. It is only after 725AD that mosques all point towards Mecca. Many stories in the Qur’an are taken from apocryphal Jewish writings. Such evidence strongly suggests that the religion of Islam was invented around 693AD and that it is not an ‘evidence based’ faith.
Other religious faiths such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Theosophy, Christian Science and Scientology similarly fall when their founding credentials are examined. This is not to say that there is not much of great value in different faiths; most advocate honesty, love and integrity, just as Jesus does. There may be some similarity in moral values but the question is whether following that creed can make us acceptable to Almighty God. In this, Jesus is unique because he alone is God. By believing in and following him, he gives his people his righteousness. Righteousness is the only ticket to heaven.
When interviewing people for employment posts, a wise interviewer looks behind the flashy C.V.’s that tell of all the benefits applicants say they offer, into seeing how long they stayed in past posts and how they relate to others and what a range of referees say about them. A wise man looks beyond flashy ‘signs and wonders’ and thinks, ‘Do I trust this person?’ Would I trust them to lead this group, would I want people to be like them? Similarly when looking for a life partner similar questions should be asked, just looking at the outward appearance can be a recipe for disaster.
Jesus stands there, with his honesty, integrity, gentleness and winsomeness. There is so much to support his claims. The decision to follow him should not be based on just the miracles but on, ‘Do I trust him?’ He makes such tremendous claims about himself. He says he is equal with His heavenly Father and should be similarly worshipped. He repeatedly foretold that he would be executed but would rise again, just as the Old Testament prophecies foretold, and he kept his word. Jesus’ claims are not substantiated just by his miracles but by everything else about him.
The Official’s Real Faith
The Royal official has clearly done his homework. He wouldn’t travel so far on just a whim. He simply asks Jesus,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.” John 4:49
He doesn’t question Jesus or debate with him, he is begging Jesus, whom he knows can change his life, to help him. He had a real need.
Paul Ackland, son of the actor Joss Ackland, died of a heroin overdose in 1982, aged 29. He started to experiment with drugs, when he was just 14 years old, after meeting a pusher outside his school gates in Highgate. His life became a mess, although drugs had promised much. If only he had investigated before getting involved and addicted. His father, Paul, made a worrying statement,
“Every single child in secondary school will be offered drugs in the next two years, if not already.”
It took fifteen years for his son to die. At the end of the article were these telling words,
“One of the few things that will bring men back to their senses is a discovery of God.”
Wouldn’t it be better, for our nation’s children, if our churches gave them all information about Jesus, who can really change their lives for the better. Some would oppose such a proposition as they want to live in a godless society where they can behave as they like. David Foster Wallace, an award winning post war author was giving a speech to a gathering of Kenyon College graduates in the United States. He is not a Christian, but he said,
“In the day to day trenches of adult life there isn’t such a thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping, we all worship, everyone worships. The only choice we get is what we worship. The compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of God is that pretty much everything else you worship will eat you alive.”
It is not whether we worship but who we worship! Most people worship themselves.
The Royal Official was not debating theories, he knew he needed help and he recognised that Jesus was uniquely able to help him. Why else would he travel so far to meet him? It is a truism that few turn to God without a real need being apparent to them. A faith based just on rationality and upbringing leads to theorising Christians who love to argue their case, whereas those who have had a real need met by Jesus will overflow with their love for him and that love is contagious.
The Word of Jesus is Enough
The official had asked Jesus to go with him but Jesus replied,
“Go, your son will live.” John 4:50
He could have argued his case, and said,
“I need more proof. Don’t you know who I am?”
The reality was that he recognised who Jesus was and consequently he did as Jesus said,
“The man took Jesus at his word and departed.” John 4:51
The word of a man of honour is enough and the official recognised this. He probably stayed listening to Jesus and it was then too late to travel back at night, so he started his return journey early in the next morning.
John wrote his book some time after the resurrection of Jesus and he wanted to answer enquirers’ questions. Here he is answering a question that remains a question for many today,
“How can I put my trust in Jesus without seeing him?”
Yet people put their trust in many things without seeing them or understanding them. Why do we trust our lives to a surgeon? Why do we travel by aeroplane? We are very happy to do these things because of the evidence so why are so many not happy to trust Jesus when his credentials are so impressive. In particular what he says, his word, resonates with all we are as human beings.
Faith in Christ means taking Christ at his word, just as the official in this story does. What we need is the ‘Word of God’ and this we have in Scripture. Faith is listening to Jesus and then living as he requires. We commence a life of faith when we say to Jesus,
‘Thank you for what you have done for me, take over my life so that, from now on, I live for you as you have taught in your Word.’
Jesus has given us many promises that we can depend on:
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24
We can depend on these promises of God.
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I have told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.’” John 6:35
Here again Jesus repeats his promise, people have seen him but this did not lead therm to faith. But Jesus gave his word to this official and that was sufficient for him, as it is for all Christians. He was told that when he got home his son would be well. The evidence only came later, he acted on faith just as we must. It does not matter how we have messed up in the past, he will always accept those of us who come to him on his terms. Jesus continued,
“All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John 6:37
This is the Christian good news. We all know that we are unacceptable to God, because we have all been rebels against him, yet we have been accepted because we now belong to the Lord Jesus. Doesn’t that thrill you? The response of all of us must be,
“I come to you, believing these promises that Christ has made.”
Faith at Work
Can you imagine what the royal official was thinking as he travelled the long journey home. I suspect he was full of excitement. Jesus has promised so all will work out alright. Can you not see the joy on his face when his servants come to meet him with the good news that God’s promise had been fulfilled. There must have been a dramatic improvement for them to come with such dramatic news.
Can you imagine the conversation he had with his servants? ‘At what time did my son get better?’
“Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” John 4:52
“Then the father realised that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, ‘You son will live.’ John 4:53
Our Lord gives us abundant evidence that we can trust his word, but that evidence nearly always comes after we have taken a step of faith. Can you not feel the excitement when he reached home and hugged his beloved son and can you imagine the conversation as the official told his family about Jesus? The man’s faith was contagious. The verse continues,
“So he and his whole household believed.” John 4:53
A person with convictions about Jesus, and what he does for us, will inevitably want to share the news with those around him. He had proved that God’s word gives life and he had become a believer. Whenever we take Jesus at his word we experience a new dimension to life and a longing to live it out faithfully.
So this short passage contains clear teaching for us all,
1. It challenges a naive, superficial faith that just wants excitements or to debate issues.
2. We are tested whether we are willing to live by the Word of Jesus. We must make a decision.
3. We will need to get to know the Bible well by reading it ourselves, meeting up with friends to study it and being disciplined in regularly attending a Bible teaching church that prioritises the teaching of the Bible. Discipline becomes the mark of a disciple.
4. Believers have the responsibility, as well as the joy, of sharing the news of new life in Christ with others around us.
Jesus has great sympathy with those who genuinely would like to believe. A little later in John’s book he explains the solution.
“My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” John 7:16-17
Again the emphasis is on the word of God. Jesus claims that he is giving us God’s message. Any person who makes the decision to live as Jesus teaches will quickly realise that these are the very words of God. The problem lies in that commitment to obey what God has said, not with the truth of those words.
We must listen to what Jesus says. Our biggest problem is that we do not listen to understand, we listen to reply. Biblical belief is to hear, accept and obey.
BVP
