23

John 4:43-54 JESUS HEALING A NOBLEMANS SON

Introduction:

At the first of this chapter Jesus was having great success

preaching in the Judea. This was relatively close to Jerusalem

and His great success there was stirring up much opposition from

the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem. Since it was not yet time for

Him to allow their opposition to be stirred to its peak, Jesus

left Judea and started toward Galilee through Samaria.

He stopped briefly in Samaria at the city of Sychar and

preached there. Many people were saved.

In our text today, Jesus and His disciples depart from Sychar

and go to Galilee where the event in our text takes place.

I. Why Jesus went into Cana instead of Nazareth

V. 43, "Now after two days he departed thence, and went into

Galilee." After a stay of only two days in Sychar, Jesus and His

disciples move on to Galilee, which was their destination when

they left Judea. This verse does not tell us what place in

Galilee they went to. We will be told down in verse 46 that they

went to Cana of Galilee. This is the city where Jesus had

performed His very first miracle. It was there that He turned

water into wine at a wedding feast.

V. 44, "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no

honour in his own country." This statement is made by John, the

writer of this book, in order to explain why Jesus chose not to

go to Nazareth, where He had grown up, but chose rather to go to

Cana. The reason He did not go to Nazareth is because when He

went there earlier the people became to hostile that they tried

to cast Him off a bluff to His death. At that time Jesus pointed

out the truthfulness of an old saying: "A prophet is not without

honor except in his own country." Its truthfulness was made

evident by the hostility of the people at Nazareth and that is

exactly the reason that Jesus did not go to Nazareth when He

returned to Galilee from Judea. So He went to Cana instead.

II. A good reception in Cana

V. 45, "Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans

received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem

at the feast: for they also went unto the feast." The people at

Cana received Jesus gladly. They did not rise up against Him as

had the Jewish leaders at Jerusalem. They did not rise up

against Him as had people of Nazareth.

This, of course, does not mean that they received Him as the

promised Christ. Rather, it means that they received Him with

kindness and an eagerness to hear Him again.

The chief reason that they received Him so eagerly is that

most of them had been at Jerusalem at the time of Passover when

Jesus was working miracles among the people. They had been

especially impressed by the miracles which they had seen Jesus

perform and were anxious to see and hear Him again.

III. The coming of a nobleman from Capernaum

V. 46, "So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he

made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son

was sick at Capernaum." The word, nobleman, means "A kinsman or

officer of a king or ruler." Since this nobleman lived at

Capernaum, we know that he was a kinsman or officer of Herod

Antipas, who ruled over all Galilee. Herod Antipas had made his

headquarters at Tiberious. Apparently this nobleman was the

chief officer in charge of all governmental affairs in and about

the city of Capernaum. He had been placed there by Herod Antipas

and served under Herod Antipas.

This nobleman faced a very grievous personal problem. He had

a son who was at the point of death. We can be sure that he had

sought the aid of physicians, but to no avail. It seems that

there was nothing that they were able to do. This nobleman was

at his wit's end.

V. 47, "When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into

Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come

down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death." This

nobleman had heard about Jesus. There was no way that he could

keep from hearing about Jesus. Jesus had been at Capernaum at an

earlier time and had made Capernaum His headquarters even before

He went down into Judea. It was this man's business to know what

was going on in Capernaum. So he knew about Jesus.

Furthermore, he had heard about the miracle that Jesus had

done at the city of Cana at the wedding feast. Cana was only

about twenty miles from Capernaum and he would certainly know

about that miracle.

He had also heard about the miracles that Jesus had performed

at Jerusalem. A great many of the people of Capernaum had been

there and had personally witnessed some of those miracles. Jesus

and the miracles He had performed at Jerusalem were the talk of

the town in Capernaum. So when he heard that Jesus was back in

Cana, he headed out to Cana as fast as he could. He came to Cana

and besought Jesus that He would come and heal his sin.

IV. A rebuke from Jesus

V. 48, "Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and

wonders, ye will not believe." Jesus, before all the people,

gave the nobleman a mild rebuke. He knew that the chief reason

that this man had come to Him was because he had heard of the

miracles that He had done. He rebuked him for not recognizing

Him as being sent from God except for the miracles.

This rebuke was evidently intended for all of the people.

There were numerous prophecies in the Old Testament that would

identify Jesus as the Christ to those who were very perceptive in

spiritual matters. Furthermore, John the Baptist had said

plainly that Jesus is the Christ, the very Son of God. If this

man and these people had understood the Scriptures and if they

had believed God's man, John the Baptist, they would have

understood that He is the Christ and they would not have needed

the miracles to convince them.

V. The Lord's promise of healing and the nobleman's faith

V. 49, "The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my

child die." The nobleman did not deny that he was impressed by

the miracles and that he had been slow in recognizing that Jesus

is sent from God. But what was most important to him was for

Jesus to come to his house as quickly as possible lest his son

should die before they could get there. It was a full day's

travel to Capernaum and he wanted to get started quickly.

V. 50, "Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth..."

What the nobleman had in mind was for Jesus to go to Capernaum

and heal his son. But Jesus did not agree to go. Jesus said,

"You just go your way. Your son is going to be all right. He

will get well."

But listen. That man did believe Jesus and the words of

Jesus brought him comfort. (V. 50), "...And the man believed the

word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way." He

was convinced that Jesus had told him the truth. Yea, more than

that. He was convinced that Jesus was going make his son be all

right. He believed that Jesus could make his son well even

without going to his home. Jesus did not have to lay hands on

the boy to make him well. He could just say the word and his boy

would be well. Jesus had said the word and he believed what

Jesus said. Oh, what an example for us. Whatever Jesus has

said, that is what we ought to believe.

VI. The confirmation of the man's faith

V. 51, "And as he was now going down, his servants met him,

and told him, saying, Thy son liveth." Can you imagine what good

news that must have been. That was the kind of news he was

expecting, because he believed the promise that Jesus had made.

V. 52, "Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to

amend..." He did believe, but his faith still had room for

improvement. He was thinking that his son had a turning point

and began to amend. Even that would have been good news to him.

But that is not what really happened.

(V. 52), "...And they said unto him, Yesterday at the

seventh hour the fever left him." His son did not just start

getting better at a given point of time. Rather, he got well at

a given time. The fever did not start going down and continue

until it was normal. The fever suddenly left him. It was

suddenly normal.

VII. Saving faith

V. 53, "So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in

the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself

believed, and his whole house." Now notice this. The man had a

certain amount of faith in Jesus before he left Capernaum and

went to Cana in search of Jesus. He already believed that Jesus

had the power to heal his son. That was not saving faith. It

was not the kind of faith that it would take to save his soul and

keep him out of hell, but it was a faith that he had in Jesus.

Then when Jesus told him to go his way and promised him that

his son would be well, his faith in Jesus increased. He believed

the promise of Jesus. He now believed that Jesus could heal his

son without even going to his home. His faith had increased

tremendously, but it was still not saving faith. It still was

not the kind of faith that would keep him out of hell and take

him to heaven.

But now that Jesus had healed his son and now that he knew

that the healing took place at the same time that Jesus told him

that his son would be well, his faith in Jesus increased

tremendously again. He now believed what John the Baptist had

said about Jesus. He believed in Jesus that He is the Lamb of

God that takes away the sin of the world. He believed that Jesus

is the Son of God. He now believed what the Samaritan woman said

about Jesus that Jesus is the Christ. He believed that Jesus is

the Savior of men. He now had the kind of faith that would keep

him out of hell and take him to heaven.

Let me tell you that this man got more out of his trip to

Cana than he had expected. He went to Cana to get his son

healed. He got that and more. He got the salvation of his soul.

Not only that, but the son who had been sick also got saved. And

not only that, but his whole family got saved. He and all his

family would stay out of hell and go to heaven.

John concludes his account of this event with a simple

statement. V. 54, "This is again the second miracle that Jesus

did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee." This does not

mean that the total number of His miracles was limited to only

two. He had performed one miracle at Cana before going to

Jerusalem. He had performed numerous miracles at Jerusalem. Now

He performs His second miracle in Galilee. He had performed many

miracles, but this was only His second miracle in Galilee.

VIII. The chief matters of concern to us

But right now it is not the miracles that Jesus performed

that claims our greatest attention. It is not even the salvation

of this nobleman of Capernaun nor the salvation of His family.

What I am concerned about and what I think we are all concerned

about is the lives of people who are in this congregation this

morning. There are Christian people here who are in need of the

Lord to help with some very heavy burden and only the Lord can

give the help that is necessary. There are mothers and fathers

here who are concerned about the physical and material well being

of their family. There are mothers and fathers here who are

concerned about the spiritual well being of their children.

There may be unsaved people here who are concerned about their

eternal destiny. Jesus is the only one who can save.

Conclusion:

I am going to ask you to come and place your faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ.