Faith Should not depend on miraculous signs (John 4:43-54)

Scripture reading:
43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.
46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When 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 miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.
54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.


Observations:
· Why is Jesus so harsh on the Galilians?

At first, the approach of Jesus in this case appears to be a little puzzling.

The warm welcome which Jesus received, along with the request of the royal official would at first appear to indicate a positive response on behalf of the Galileans in terms of receiving the gospel.

Yet Jesus is particularly skeptical of these people. Why?

The answer would not appear to have anything to do with his previous visit to the region (refer John chapter 2), during which time the performance of his first miracle saw him turn water into wine. There did not appear to be anything which stood out about that encounter in particular which would have suggested any special degree of hostility toward him.

To be sure, immediately after leaving the region on the previous occasion, Jesus had encountered a degree of resistance from the Jews in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival. (After Jesus had overturned the table of moneychangers, the Jews who were in attendance at the festival had demanded from him the production of some form of miraculous sign in order to prove his authenticity – refer John chapter 2).

But this occurred in Jerusalem not Galilee, and there is nothing in particular found in the gospel to indicate that Jesus had, at this point, been subjected to any abnormal degree of resistance and hostility from the Galileans in particular.

So why then was Jesus so scathing of them?

There is no doubt in my mind that the answer lies in future events, which Jesus would have no doubt foreseen at the time of this event.

Whilst no abnormal degree of hostility was apparent Jesus’ previous visit to the region, the same cannot be said for later events, in which the gospels do appear to describe a significant level of resistance toward his message.

Chapter 6 in the book of John, for example, describes how the Jews of Capernicum demanded to see additional miraculous signs in order to authenticate his claims about himself, and how many of his followers were unable to accept some of the more controversial aspects of his teaching.

At the time of this passage, Jesus would have been well aware about how these future events would occur, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is what explains his behavior in this passage.


Prayer:
Lord, you can see through into the future.

In particular, you can see into each and every one of our hearts. You can tell who truly has faith in you from who does not. You can tell those whose hearts toward you are hard from those whose are not. You can distinguish without a shadow of a doubt those who have truly accepted your offer of forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ from those who have not.

Lord, I pray that you may cleanse my own heart along with any of those who may happen to share in this prayer. Yes, lord, we ask for miracles especially in times of adversity. But lord whenever we ask for miracles, let it be because we have absolutely no doubt in our own hearts about what you are capable of, not because our hearts are hard and we are demanding some form of proof.

In these things I pray.

In your great name.

Amen.