Read John 4:43-54. Jesus leaves Samaria and returns to Galilee, probably to Nazareth. From here, He makes a trip to Cana, which was located about ten miles north of Nazareth. In Cana, a government official, probably an official in Herod’s court, approaches our Lord. This man did not live here, but probably in Capernaum since this is where his son was. We can safely assume he had heard that Jesus had returned to His home in Nazareth and had traveled there and then to Cana to see if He would help him.
1. What request did a government official make of our Lord?
Come, heal my son; he is about to die. It is notable that the man asked Jesus to COME with him to heal his son. This reflected the common idea of that day that a person should physically be present and touch the sick or ill person in some way for healing to be effected.
2. Why do you think this man would believe Jesus could help him?
He might have heard of the changing of water into wine. He also no doubt had heard stories of what Jesus had done earlier in Jerusalem at the Passover and then in Judea, where he ministered unofficially before John the Baptizer was imprisoned.
3. What was Jesus’ response to this man’s initial request?
He said, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.’ This was addressed not just to this man but to all those who were with him or listening. (This is a plural you in Greek.) Perhaps this is a rebuke of the man who had heard stories of these signs and wonders and had believed based on these things rather than trusting God simply at His word. It certainly was a rebuke of the Jewish audience who required miraculous actions before they would believe the message of our Lord (I Corinthians 1:22).
4. When Jesus told the man to go his way, his son lives, what was the man’s response?
The man believed and left.
5. How was this man’s faith confirmed?
He found out that the boy’s recovery began at the same time Jesus told him his son lives.
Read Matthew 4:13-17, Mark 1:14b-15 and Luke 4:15-31. After Jesus returned from Jerusalem to Galilee, He began to proclaim the same message John the Baptizer had proclaimed before his imprisonment. He began doing this in His hometown of Nazareth. We do not know if the trip to Cana occurred before or following this incident in Nazareth, but they happened within a short period of each other. While Matthew and Mark do not tell us why He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum, a town about twenty miles northeast on the shore of the Lake of Galilee, Luke does tell us.
6. Describe what happened in Jesus’ hometown synagogue that prompted His move to Capernaum.
He read a passage from Isaiah about the Messiah’s coming and said he was fulfilling this. This was a clear claim to be the Messiah. When they did not believe, He pointed out this unbelief. He noted how God had turned to Gentiles when the His own people had failed to believe. This angered them, and they attempted to kill Him. He escaped in what no doubt was a miraculous event.
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. Jesus had told the royal official and those with him that unless they saw signs and wonders, they would not believe. Much the same could be said of many believers in our day as well. We make a request of God, and when we see no outward sign of that request being answered, we become discouraged and fail to believe that God is answering us. It is easy to believe when, upon making a request, we see immediate results; it is much more difficult to believe when we ask, and there is no outward sign that God has even heard our request. But that is the caliber of faith needed today. He will answer even when, to all appearances, nothing has changed.
Just as it took this man some time to see the evidence of God’s answer, so also it often takes time, sometimes a lot of time, for us to see the evidence of God’s answer in our lives. Imagine, if you can, that man’s journey back to his home. He believed our Lord when he left to return, but how often in that long journey before he was met by servants coming from his home with the good news, did he start to doubt. As his trip took him step by step back home, there must have been a continual struggle to trust God and not doubt. Our journeys step by step are often the same, with the same struggle of faith.
2. In Matthew’s Gospel, we read that Jesus left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy. Luke gives us the details of how this all came about. The people of His hometown tried to kill Him because they thought He was blasphemous in His claims to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of the coming Messiah. The question then might be raised; did He move away because it was predestined that He should in order to fulfill the prophecy, or did He move away to avoid further attempts on His life by these people? The answer is YES! Both answers are valid. It is true that He moved away because it was foreordained and predestined. It is also true that the immediate cause was the opposition He had from those in His own hometown.
The omnipotent, omniscient creator of our universe uses the free choices of men to achieve His purposes. While men might make choices which are seeming opposed to God’s plan and purpose, choices which are in themselves evil and malicious, God’s plan and purpose cannot be frustrated or denied. He works all things together for good to those who love Him and who are the called according to His purpose, and He works all things together for His own glory.