46 So He came again to Cana in Galilee, where He had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Him and asked Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when He had come from Judea to Galilee.
A couple of weeks ago we looked at the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Sychar, and now Jesus had reached Cana in Galilee, the same town where He had earlier turned water into wine. While He was there a certain nobleman or official, who probably served in the court of Herod Antipas heard that Jesus was there. He lived in Capernaum, some 30km away - a long way in those days.
His son was gravely ill, at the point of death, as the text tells us. Jesus’ reputation had begun to spread far and wide, so the official was more than willing to make the dangerous 60 km return journey based on Jesus’ reputation.
He was a desperate man, and he went to Jesus and begged Him to travel back to Capernaum to heal his son, which makes Jesus’ reply to him (at first glance, at least) seem rather odd and even dismissive. “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
This answer seems strange to us, so we can only imagine how this poor father must have felt, but we need to take a closer look at exactly what Jesus said, and what He was implying. He was not answering the man personally, but instead was talking to the crowd of people around Him. We know this, because the word “you” in the original text is plural. A more accurate translation of verse 48 would be, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
This was another of Jesus’ gentle, yet firm rebukes. He was accusing them of wanting only more signs and wonders, but faith built only on the spectacular is not Biblical faith. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Look at the response of the Samaritans that the woman at the well had witnessed to from 2 weeks ago: “When the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.’” (John 4:40-42) They believed because of the word of Jesus. There is no mention of miracles or signs and wonders as Jesus travelled through Samaria. It was the word of Christ that brought saving faith.
It is the proclamation of the Gospel message, and hearing the word of truth that brings the lost to salvation, not signs and wonders.
The signs and wonders validate the claims that Jesus really is who He says He is, so they are important, but faith in the signs themselves do not save. The signs do exactly what their name implies - they point to Christ, that He is the God of salvation.
Signs and wonders have become so popular and the focus in certain charismatic circles today. Bethel Church in Redding, California even have a “School of Supernatural Ministry,” where they will teach you (according to their website) “how to live a supernatural lifestyle with sustainable rhythms.” That’s pure New Age philosophy, bordering on witchcraft. Bethel is a false Church which makes the same mistakes today as the royal official and the crowd we meet in Cana in John chapter 4. In their eyes, the signs and wonders were more important than Jesus Himself.
The point is that Jesus is not as pleased with a faith based on miracles as He is with faith based on His Word alone. It is more honouring to God when we believe the truth because He says it to be true, rather than because He gives us some visible proof. Seeing is believing is how the world works.
How do we teach little children that 2+2=4? By demonstrating with objects that we can move around for them to see. We want to see things before we believe, but the definition of faith is believing in order to see and believe. But still God shows grace to this desperate father, as He does to us. That is the nature of our loving, compassionate and long-suffering God. Despite our weak and misplaced faith, God is still good, and He still blesses us - not because of us, but in spite of us. That’s what grace is all about.
In the conversation between Jesus and the royal official, we see an unsure faith, and a firm, yet ultimately gracious response from Jesus.
“When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Him and asked Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ The official said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” (John 4:47-50)
This man was mistaken in at least two ways about the power of Jesus. Firstly, he believed that Jesus would need to travel from Cana to Capernaum in order to heal his son, and secondly, although he believed that Jesus could heal his son, he had yet to learn that Jesus had power not only over illness, but death itself. He said in verse 49, “Come down before my child dies.” He was implying the same thing that that Mary and Martha said on two separate occasions to Jesus when their brother Lazarus died. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21,32).
The royal official and Lazarus’ sisters believed that Jesus could heal the sick, but they had yet to learn that He also had the power to raise the dead. Of course, this points us to a greater truth. Physical death comes to us all. Lazarus is no longer physically alive. His grave is still in Bethany, because he went through death a second time. Death is sin’s curse over us, and it is the awful penalty we all pay in this life. Death is our greatest enemy, but it is a defeated enemy, because the resurrection of believers in Christ to eternal life is the promise we have in Him.
This reality helps us to see that Jesus’ reply to the man and those around Him was not really as heartless or callous as we might think at first. He was teaching them a hard, yet important lesson.
On the surface we see a rebuke because they wanted to see another miracle, but listen to what Jesus says in verse 50: “Go, your son will live.” The NKJV says, “Go your way; your son lives.” What an amazing, gracious response from the God of grace!
Jesus wants a faith from us built on dedication and obedience, rather than emotionalism and amazement, but, as in this case, if a healing miracle is what is needed in order to bring this royal official to faith, then so be it. We must never forget that God is sovereign, and He will do whatever He wants to do in order to draw His elect to Himself.
By all means, we must pray for healing and the salvation of our friends and family, but we have no right to prescribe what God should or shouldn’t do. There is far too much “decreeing and declaring” in certain Christian circles these days. God is sovereign - not us. He is God, and we are not, and we would do well to remember that. If Jesus, in His humanity, prayed “not my will, but yours be done,” how much more should we?
And so Jesus performs a miracle, not for the sake of merely performing a miracle, but in order to bring about repentance, faith and salvation.
The NIV translation is an excellent English translation of the original texts of the Bible, but every now and then we come across some kind of hiccup, and the way Jesus’ words are translated in verse 50 is one of them. “You may go. Your son will live.” The implication here is that Jesus is giving the man permission to leave, but all other faithful English translations say the same (or similar) to the ESV’s rendition of verse 50: “Go; your son will live.” The word go is an imperative, or a commandment, and we find this in the KJV, NKJV, NASB, and in paraphrases like the NLT and GNB. Even the Afrikaans Bible says, “Gaan, jou seun lewe.” Now, this may seem like a minor detail, but in this case it is not. The word go in verse 50 is an imperative. It was an instruction, so the man has been commanded by the Saviour of the world with a promise of life for his son. Jesus gave this man the gift of faith, but the challenge to him was to put that faith into action, by taking Jesus at His word.
There are times when we don’t understand God’s purposes. Some verses in the Bible really challenge us, but we have to learn to trust God and act in faith, and leave the details to Him.
This poor father, whose son was at the point of death, was pleading with Jesus to rush down to Capernaum, but Jesus demanded that his faith be desperate enough to simply trust Him, and He remained in Cana. We can only imagine what must have been going through this man’s mind as he made his way home, but he did believe, as we’re told in verse 50. “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” Wonders may produce awe, but words produce faith.
We live in a world where everything must be tested by science, explained with logic, or personally experienced. When and if it passes those tests, it can be identified as reality, but the Christian faith is radically different. Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
This man obeyed, persisted, and he received the promise of a miracle, because he took Jesus at His word. This kind of faith God constantly rewarded in the New Testament, particularly in the Gospels. When Jesus said, “Your son will live,” or “your son lives” as some translations put it, this is a word with power to heal, not merely a prophecy that he would get better.
Initially this man had asked Jesus to go with him. But when Jesus simply said, “Go; your son will live,” he obeyed without question. He believed and went.
He didn’t insist on seeing the miracle. He didn’t complain when Jesus would not go with him. He simply left, believing, because he saw something more than a miracle-worker.
Again, we can only imagine just how traumatic that trip home must have been, but his servants met him with the good news before he arrived home. The father asked about the timing of his son’s recovery, and his faith was confirmed. And now we see a dramatic change in his faith. He went with an uncertain faith to Cana. He went in desperation, probably with his fingers crossed, hoping against hope there was at least something that Jesus could do. His faith was vague and weak, but now it was firm and it was real. In one sense, his faith was defective, because he thought that Jesus would have to travel all the way to Capernaum before He could heal his son. Jesus though, didn’t rebuke him for this but rewarded him for the measure of faith which he did show.
Here we see the man’s faith growing. He exercised what faith he had, and the Lord gave him more. Jesus sent him home with the promise, “Your son lives.” His son had been healed. Without any miracle or visible proof, the man believed the word of Jesus and headed for home.
The lesson to us here is obvious. Our faith is often weak or misplaced, and if the truth be told, there are always some doubts lurking in the back of our minds, but the promises of God don’t depend on the strength of our faith. It is the faithfulness of God toward us that matters. Faith to believe in God and His promises is not something we have to work at. Faith is a gift from God.
It’s interesting that in this account we see twice that the man believed, in verse 50, when Jesus told him his son would live, and again in verse 53, when he realised the timing of his son’s healing. We’re told in verse 54 that this was the second sign that Jesus performed, and why did He perform signs and wonders? In order to validate His claims that He was indeed, the Son of God - God Himself in human form.
Here is another picture of the grace of God. Don’t forget how Jesus criticised the people in verse 48: “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” And yet, He performs a sign anyway. The greatest miracle Jesus performed was walking out of that tomb on the third day, and this is what validates the Christian faith and the claims of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation. The historical resurrection of Christ is the clincher. We don’t become Christians because “it works for me,” or because Jesus makes us better people. No. We believe because He claimed to be God in human flesh, and He proved His claims to be true by resurrecting from the dead. Our faith is based on facts, not feelings or emotions.
Believing that Jesus can and will heal is not enough to save. This is what He meant when He said, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” We need to believe in His word, and who He is. The signs were performed so that people would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing they might have life, as John writes in chapter 20. When the Jewish nobleman realised that his son had been healed, he knew that Jesus was more than a mere mortal.
As he was nearing home, his servants came out to meet him with the wonderful news that his son was well. An important detail in the text was that he didn’t seem surprised at all, and the first question he asked was about the timing of his son’s recovery. He had believed the promise that Jesus gave him, and having believed, he would now see the evidence. He asked his servants when his son got better, and their answer revealed that the healing was not gradual - it had taken place instantly. They said in verse 52, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
Now there was no doubt in this man’s mind. At first he believed Jesus was a miracle worker - he believed in His works, but now he believed in His word. At the same time Jesus told him that his son lives, he was healed, and the fever left him. A lesson the father learned here was that it was not necessary for Jesus to be physically present to work a miracle or answer prayer. This should serve to encourage us in our prayer lives. We serve a mighty God who hears our requests and who is able to work out His purposes in any way, in any place and at any time. God is not restricted by time and space as we are.
At the end of John chapter 4 we see the story of a man who moved from desperate faith to deliberate faith. Jesus came to save us from sin. But He doesn’t want us to trust Him just because we are desperate and we have no other choice. He wants us to believe in His word and trust Him because He is the God of salvation.
When I was a youngster most cars didn’t have seat belts. My dad drove a station wagon so my sisters and I had lots of space to play in, especially on those long trips when children become bored so easily. It would be unthinkable to let young children romp around in the back of a car as it hurtles down the highway now, but back then we didn’t know any better. Even when seat belts became mandatory in the late 70’s, it took a long time for people to use them.
By the time I began driving I had become used to buckling up, mainly because it was the law, which was just as well, because in 1988 I was involved in a serious accident, but I walked away from it because I was wearing my seat belt. Ever since then I have worn my seat belt, not because it is the law, but because I know first-hand that it saved my life.
Jesus came to save us from the deadly consequences of our sin, but He doesn’t want us to trust Him just because it is the law or because we’re supposed to follow certain religious traditions. He doesn’t even want us to trust Him because we’re desperate and we have no other alternative.
No, the Saviour of the world wants us to trust Him because we believe His promises are true, and that because of His atoning death on the cross, we will be raised to eternal life with Him. He has promised us eternity with Him, not because we deserve it, but because of His great love for us. He wants us to trust Him, because of His goodness and His grace shown to us.
You might remember the question we asked on Christmas Day: What child is this? The point is that you can call Jesus the greatest miracle worker that ever lived, and the greatest teacher that ever lived, but that’s not enough. In order to be saved, you have to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, believing in Him, in who He is, and trusting that what He did on the cross for you is the only way to have eternal life.