The Way to Life John 4:43-54
The writer of this gospel, John, is answering the question, ‘How can I find the way to have a faith, a true reliable faith?’ He has collected a series of different stories that can lead us to trust in Jesus. Different stories help different people but together they are very convincing. This is why a good way to find faith is to read through John’s gospel and keep asking yourself, ‘Is this really true? Is John being honest?’
It is clear that the purpose of including this story about the healing of the royal official’s son is to help people believe in Jesus. This man had travelled 24 miles to ask Jesus to heal his son who was seriously ill and near to death. Jesus does eventually tell the man that his son will live but prior to this he emphasises what is really important. John uses the word ‘believe’ or its equivalent three times in this short story. People must believe in Jesus if they are going to be saved - that is the point.
“ . . . you will never believe.” John 4:48
“The man took Jesus at his word . . .” John 4:50
“So he and his household believed.” John 4:53
The previous story had ended,
“We no longer believe 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
Jesus continued his journey up through Samaria, where the people of Sychar had believed in him, and arrived at Cana in Galilee. This was where he and his disciples had attended a wedding so it is likely that there was a family connection there.
News of his arrival in Galilee must have travelled fast because a royal official, an officer in Herod’s service who lived in Capurnaum, was desperate to see Jesus. How he heard of Jesus we are not told but it could well be through official communications as by this time Jesus was having quite an effect on society. The distance between Capurnaum and Cana is 26.5 miles so to walk between the two towns would take four to five hours, but shorter if he went on horseback or by chariot. He was certainly determined to meet Jesus for just one reason, his reputation as an effective healer must have spread widely. The official’s son was dangerously ill and he was desperate for help.
“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.” John 5:47
A provocative statement
The response of Jesus to this request for help is striking, Jesus is addressing the attitude of the Jewish people as a whole but not that of the official. He is frustrated by the naive faith of people
“ ‘Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,’ Jesus told them, ‘you will never believe.’” John 5:48
The Greek word for ‘you’ is in the plural, so the request must have been made in a public place and Jesus was using the occasion to speak more widely. He does not want to be followed because of his healing powers but because of who he is, the very Son of God. Already Jesus was despairing of the superficiality of the people. There were ready to follow anyone so long as they are impressive. The same happens today. Earlier John had written about this problem.
“Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.” John 2:23-24
A recent example concerning how easy it is for people to believe superficially in someone concerns Alph Lukau who heads up Alleluia ministries in South Africa. He had a wide following as a healer. However when a video of him raising a dead man went viral, the fraud was exposed. A supposedly dead man was brought into the centre of a large meeting in a coffin and, after being prayed over, the man sat up and stepped out of the coffin. The undertaker who sold the coffin denies any knowledge of the supposedly dead man. Even members of Alleluia ministries have accused Lukau of fraud. At a previous meeting he had prayed for several people who were said to be wheel-chair bound and afterwards they all stood up. Another member, who has since left that ministry admitted that this was also staged. What is so incredible is that thousands of people are conned by such theatrical performances. Look at the massive following that many healing evangelists, who speak with great charisma and confidence, have obtained. People are truly gullible.
Jesus himself was able to perform remarkable miracles, the like of which have never been repeated. He raised dead people and healed the sick of conditions that we are not able to heal even with all our advances in modern science, the blind saw and the paralysed walk. However he was concerned that his miracles, that fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies identifying the Messiah would only result in a shallow emotional faith and not the sort of belief in him that is necessary for salvation. Being enthralled by the spectacular is not the same as being convinced about who Jesus is.
This, the second miraculous sign John records was intended to lead people to faith in Jesus as the giver of eternal life. Jesus repeatedly warns people not to be seduced by the spectacular.
“Watch out that no-one deceives you.” Mark 13:5
“For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible. So be on your guard.” Mark 13:22
The opening words of Jesus were,
“The time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” Mark 1:15
This is always the message of the true church. It is God’s eternal kingdom that is our concern. Only those who repent and turn to Christ by accepting that he is the Lord of the universe, God’s good news, God’s gospel, who will be saved. Healers and false teachers always emphasise health and prosperity in this life, not an eternal salvation through Jesus Christ being Lord of all we do and think.
In Jesus day, and ever since, there have been superficial peddlers of signs and wonders ministry. Simon Magus was one example. The pseudo-apostles troubling the church at Corinth were another.
Enquiries by school inspectors into Church of England schools show that most children have given up believing the gospel stories by the time they reach their early teens. There are many reasons for this but false teachers certainly do not help! However they do believe in Superman and superwoman, Batman and Flash Gordon, almost to the extent that they think this sort of world exists. Could this be why so many are duped by the so called miracle-working ministers? It says something of our age that people are more willing to believe in flying saucers than in the deity of Jesus Christ.
Joseph Smith was raised in a troubled family that were constantly looking for buried treasure to improve their lot in life. He had some links to a church but he then claimed to have come across two golden plates on a hill outside New York with hieroglyphics on them that nobody could understand. Significantly no-one was shown these plates. By chance he then comes across some angelic spectacles and, when he put these on, he could decipher the hieroglyphics which supposedly told the story about the early history of America. Needless to say there is no archeological or scientific evidence to support these stories. Yet this false prophet founded the Mormon Church, also called the Church of the Latter Day Saints and at the end of 2020 this had 16,663,663 members. Included in this group are many respectable people. The point is that people do not need much in the way of evidence to succumb to impressive rhetoric and presence.
In the real world many of us are used to reading the flashy Curriculum Vitae of job applicants. They tell of the remarkable gifts of the applicant and all that they can offer their prospective employer but the question needs to be asked why they lost their last job after just a few months! Yet those same people can so easily be duped by people making false spiritual claims. Shakespeare wisely said in ‘The Merchant of Venice’,
“All that glisters is not gold.”
Portia is a beautiful, virtuous, wealthy woman who is being wooed by numerous suitors. She is not free to decide on her own whom she will marry because her late father stipulated in his will that she must marry the man who correctly picks the one casket (out of three) that contains her picture. One casket is gold, another is silver, and the third is made of lead. The Prince of Morocco is one in a long line of suitors who tries to win Portia's hand, and he decides that it would demean Portia to have her picture in anything other than a gold casket, and so he chooses that one. As he unlocks it, he is dismayed to find a picture, not of Portia but of Death, with a message written in its hollow eye:
"All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told.
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold.
Gilded tombs do worms enfold."
With a grieving heart the Prince takes hasty leave of Portia, who is happy to see him go, saying, "A gentle riddance."
Oh that people today would not look for outward glory, health and wealth but for peace with God. Oh for that discernment that asks,
“Do I trust this person. Does his private life support his claim to godliness?”
Our decision about Jesus and all he did and said should not depend on flashy miracles but on the deeper question,
“Do I trust this man? Is he telling me the truth?”
Jesus made such extraordinary claims. He said he is equal to God and before entering his world was with God. He said that three days after being killed he will rise from the dead. He said that he teaches God truth for all people and that our eternal destiny is in his hands. The big picture is neither proved nor disproved by little miracles, signs and wonders!
What is happening in our country? Jos Ackland was the father of seven. In 1982 his son, Paul, died from chronic heroine abuse. The report about what happened is scary. When he was fourteen he was approached by the drug pusher outside his school gate in Highgate. The report says,
“Every single child in secondary school will be offered drugs in the next two years, if not already.”
If Christians stood at the school gates giving out a Christian booklet explaining the claims of Christ we would be criticised, but we would be offering life. So while the church sleeps these evil people stand there offering hell and death. It took fifteen years for Paul Ackland to die! The article ends,
“One of the few things that will bring men back to their senses is a discovery of God.”
This is similar to the statement by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn when receiving the Templeton Prize when he analysed what is going wrong both in Russia and in the West,
“Men have forgotten God!”
The official is not drawn by what Jesus has said. He has a real need and knows that Jesus can help him.
“Sir, come down before my child dies.” John 4:49
This does not sound like fiction. The official doesn’t try to defend or justify himself. This is simply the desperate cry of a father really concerned for his very sick son. Few will really find God until they become desperate.
A challenging statement
The official clearly thinks that the physical presence of Jesus meeting his son is what was needed. He is in for a shock. God is not limited to space and time and Jesus wants him to understand who he really is.
“Jesus replied, ‘You may go. Your son will live.” John 4:50
Did the man think ‘he is playing with me’! He, an official, had asked Jesus to come with him. He could have said,
“Don’t you know who I am!”
There are many today who think they are too important and special to believe Jesus. However Jesus surely means,
“You don’t need my physical presence. My spiritual presence is what is needed. I give you my word, ‘Your son will live.’”
John wrote his gospel after the resurrection, to answer people’s questions. He wanted to help those who ask,
“How can I put my trust in Jesus whom I have never met? It is so hard when I cannot talk with him ear him speak and follow him.”
One of the reasons John must have included this story is to help those who have this concern. Jesus is saying that all we need is the word of God. Today we can meet Jesus in the Scriptures, in both the Old and New Testaments. What I need to do is to trust that word. This is why John introduces Jesus as ‘The Word of God’,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1-2
A living faith
Faith is taking Jesus at his word and living my life in obedience to what he says. Faith is going to Jesus and acknowledging his authority over me and saying to him that I will start a new life obeying him. Faith for us starts in exactly the same way that it did for the official, he made a decision and acted on it.
It was listening to what Jesus said that changed his life. Later Jesus acknowledged that it was all too easy to see Jesus and even be impressed by him but not follow what he says:
“But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.” John 6:36
The official believed what Jesus had said to him and acted on it. He went home. It was only later that he received the evidence that what Jesus said was true.
“The man took Jesus at his word and departed.” John 4:50
What a wonderful verse this is – he took Jesus at his word. That is still the way to life. It was only as he was travelling home that his servants came to meet the official with the good news.
“The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”
The seventh hour was 1pm, the heat of the day.
“Then the father realised that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’” John 4:52-53
Jesus says the same to each of us. “If you come to me I won’t drive you away.” So I come to Jesus believing his word to me. Christians know that, in spite of being unacceptable to God because of the way we have lived, yet in Christ, we can be accepted into God’s family and into his eternity. This is a great example of living by faith.
What a joy it must have been for that official to reach home and see his healthy son, full of beans, coming out to greet him. What would he think of Jesus then?
The faith is passed on
John now gives us a wonderful insight that is easily overlooked. It demonstrates what a real faith will result in.
“So he and his household believed.” John 4:53
Any person who has faith in Jesus will want to share the news about who he is and what he offers. The official had heard God’s word and acted on it. The result was that he had become a believer. Similarly when we take Jesus at his word we experience a new life and we also have become believers.
So this passage is,
1. A challenge to superficiality – is it what God says that really interests me?
2. A test – will I believe God’s word about my sin and my need for Christ?
3. If I am now a believer, will I share what Jesus has done for me with my family and friends so that they also can become believers?
BVP
June 2021
