Bible Study Notes - John 4:43-54

Bible Study Notes – John 4:43-54

In this week’s passage, we witness the second significant sign (miracle) that Jesus performs in The Book of Signs, John chapters one to twelve.  A royal official approaches Jesus to secure the healing of the official’s son, possibly his only male heir.  Emotionally, we identify with this desperate father’s plea.  Conceivably, his appeal to Jesus is his final attempt to save his dying son.  Saving the son means saving the posterity of the father’s name and family.  The son’s need for physical healing represents more than a biological disease.  The survival of the son’s life equates with the future life of his entire family.  The means of material wealth and social status could not spare the nobleman son’s life.  In stark contrast to his normal way of resolving adversities, this royal man ironically appeals to Jesus Christ for help.

As you study the text, allow the Holy Spirit to reveal new insights to you.  Often when reviewing a familiar passage of scripture, it is easy to assume we have it “pegged.”  Because we have heard several sermons on the passage and studied it previously, we can easily believe there is nothing new we can glean.  On the contrary as the Bible is the “active, living Word of God” (Hebrews 4:12), the Holy Spirit graciously yields new revelation each time we study a passage.  More practically, as our daily challenges and circumstances change, we view Scripture through an evolving “prism of experience.” 

Each week, I ask as we dissect a text, what new insights did you receive during the reading?  Did any words leap off the page?  What details particularly caught your attention?  Have you been overlooking any details in your previous study of this passage?  What did you see this time that you fail to recognize in previous readings?  What fundamental lessons about Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ did you glean this time?

Additionally, utilizing the rudimentary techniques of literary criticism, let’s detail the plot embedded in the passage, depict the setting with vivid and exacting description, describe the characters, speculate about their motives and analyze the interrelationship of the people who appear within the text.

As our study of the gospel of John continues, I marvel consistently about one of its major themes, the love of Almighty God as revealed and embodied in Jesus Christ.  As the great apostle of love, John singularly emphasizes agape, divine selfless, sacrificial and redemptive love.  Anyone who encounters Jesus automatically receives this divine love which liberates from fear, shame and guilt, redeems past pain, nullifies sin and judgment, erases mistakes and scars of riotous living, heals broken souls and graciously gives wholeness.  Beyond an amazing physical healing, Jesus offers the miracle of God’s love to this royal official and his son.

Consider the following thoughts, ideas and questions as you study the text.

• In the forty-third verse, John records Jesus’ departure for Galilee in accordance with the synoptic teaching that a prophet fails to receive honor amongst his hometown crowd.  Family and friends rarely allow people to mature into respected, beloved and venerable celebrities.  They retain their very subjective and selective memories of embarrassing childhood situations and limitations of famous people whom other revere.  “I remember you when you were a snotty nose kid.”  “I played with him and his siblings.  No one in the old neighborhood ever thought he would make it big.”  Elsewhere, John records “even His brothers did not believe in Him” as it relates to the ministry of Jesus.
• Interestingly, the Galileans welcome Jesus as they witnessed the miraculous signs in Jerusalem during the recent perennial Passover Feast which they attended.  One wonders whether they seek exclusive access for free healings of anyone and everyone whom they know.  After all, Jesus is one of them and should share His fame and divine power with the people who knew Him when.  “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the carpenter, whom we knew when he was a little boy?”  Possibly, they assured people in the surrounding Decapolis that they could gain access for them to Jesus’ healing power because of this relationship.
• Curiously, Jesus actually returns to the sight of the first sign He offers to the crowd of God’s visitation amongst them.  At Cana in Galilee where He turned water in wine, an unnamed royal official seeks Jesus and begs Him to come to Judea and heal his son who lies close to death.  Was Cana in Galilee a particularly spiritual place where faith exists bountifully thus yielding unimaginable miracles?
• Please note the desperation of the royal official who condescends to seek Jesus’ help.  Ordinarily, this official would not travel to this poor region of “backwater, illiterate” and uncultured people.  He lives in the cosmopolitan and developed area of Judea. 
• In the forty-eighth verse, Jesus scolds the audience for desiring a miraculous sign or some type of supernatural wonder as a prerequisite for belief in Him and His teachings about the kingdom of God.  The danger of being a “sign-seeker” is your faith rests ultimately in empirical evidence which fades in time.  As the memories of witnessing a miracle recedes with time, the certainty of your faith will decrease commensurately.  Consider the eyewitness testimony of four observers of an accident.  As time passes, the details become sketchier as to what each person exactly recalls about the cause of the accident.  Thus, faith cannot rest on the sinking sands of a personal experience which may become questionable as the years proceed.  Rather as the Wesleyan quadrangle posits, intellectually respectable faith rests upon the combination of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience.
• In the next verse, this desperate father articulates his plea in asking Jesus to come to Judea before his son dies.  His request ignores any relevant theological, ideological, political, philosophical, social or economic questions.  The royal official focuses wholeheartedly upon his son’s immediate need of healing and restoration.
• Please note Jesus equally disregards these questions and attentively listens to the official’s request.  In so doing, Jesus loves the royal official and his son.  He extends Almighty God’s unfailing love and unquestionable faithfulness to them.  Although they are Gentiles and conceivably undeserving of the blessings of the people of the covenant, they receive God’s love.  Actually, anyone who genuinely encounters Jesus equally receives God’s unconditional love. 
• Parenthetically, at the Last Supper, Jesus instructs the disciples that love is the distinguishing characteristic of His disciples.  “By love will the world know that you are my disciples; by the love that you show one toward another.”  (John 13:34-35)  As the Church evangelizes, we must demonstrate to the secular world and persons seeking God the power of sharing His love.  How tragic it would be if we are known for exhilarating worship, effective programs, massive budgets, excellent administration and other superlative achievements but receive criticism and condemnation because we lack love.
• Jesus assures the royal official of his son’s healing and directs the man to leave and return home.  Notice the faith of the royal official who “takes Jesus at His word” and departs for home.  Later, the man learns his son was healed at exactly the time Jesus spoke the words, “You son will live.”  Arguably, the royal official’s faith is incomplete and immature yet he exercises the faith he has with authenticity.  Perhaps, you are in a crisis.  I encourage you to utilize the measure of faith you have.  The author of Hebrews suggests we draw near to God with a sincere heart and the full assurance of faith which enables us to triumph over daily challenges and personal adversities. (Hebrews 10:22)