The Gospel of John, chapter 4. I want to begin our reading at verse 39. Jesus is traveling from Jerusalem back to Galilee, and you remember He has stopped in Samaria and has met the woman at the well in Samaria and has done some very important teaching on the future and on worship and on the truth, and now He's soon going to be heading on to Galilee. So, we take up the story, John chapter 4, beginning at verse 39, and reading down to the end of the chapter. Let us hear God's own Word.
Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony. "He told me all that I ever did." And 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. And 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 Savior of the world."
After two days, he departed for Galilee, for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown. So, when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast. So, when he came to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water into wine. And at Capernaum, there was an official whose son was ill.
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, for 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.
And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 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." The father knew that that was the hour when Jesus said to him, "Your son will live." And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
So far the reading of God's word.
We began our service quoting those words of Jesus: "Come to me." And here we have a story of a man coming to Jesus. It's, at first glance, a quite simple story, a quite straightforward story. Here's a man with a very sick son who has come to Jesus for help, and Jesus gives him help. But at a somewhat deeper level, this is a story that challenges us to think about who Jesus really is, to think about what Jesus has come to do, what Jesus does do for His people. And I thought there really couldn't be a better topic for us to address at the beginning of a new year than that question: "Who is the real Jesus? Who is the Jesus we need to know? Who is the Jesus we need to trust and serve in this new year?"
And so, I want to look with you today at this text a little more closely. Maybe you noticed that this text is a little like driving a bumpy road. You're driving along, it's a simple story, and then there's a kind of bump.
The Father comes to Jesus. He comes from Capernaum. That's the town Jesus has made His sort of base of operations in Galilee. We don't know what connection the Father has had or hasn't had with Jesus. Somehow he's heard about Jesus. He's willing to make that trip, maybe a trip of 8 to 10 miles from Capernaum to Cana. He's urgent in his request. His son is dying. He wants Jesus to come right away and help. And what does Jesus say to him there in verse 48? "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe."
It's a strange response, isn't it? Now, see, you're all too pious to think there's anything strange in the Bible. But it's important to notice what Jesus is saying, how He's responding. It's as if He's kind of complaining that this man is looking for signs and wonders and power, yet Jesus is providing signs and wonders and power. So, how do these things relate to each other? What is Jesus saying about Himself here? What does Jesus want us to know about Himself here?
There's an emphasis on signs in this text, in this whole section of Scripture. We could look at the structure of John's gospel and see that this whole section begins in chapter 2 at Cana, and we're told there at the wedding feast at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. John reminds us here in John 4 about that, just in case we had forgotten. And there in chapter 2, we're told, "That's the first sign that Jesus did in Cana." And at the end of chapter 4, we're told, "This is the second sign that Jesus did in Cana." We're being called to think about signs, and the Father is asking for the sign of healing, and Jesus is responding by saying, "Unless you have signs, you won't believe."
Obviously, Jesus and John want us to think about signs and what they tell us about Jesus Tell us about who Jesus really is. And the first thing we can notice in this text is that signs are often misunderstood.
Signs are often misunderstood. That's why Jesus makes this somewhat frustrated statement: "Unless you see signs and wonders you won't believe." What's the misunderstanding that flows out of signs? What's the danger that signs can pose in the ministry of Jesus?
Well, I think it's pretty clear here. The danger is that signs as acts of power can get us thinking that Jesus is famous and is here primarily about power. Jesus has become famous. This text makes that clear. The Galileans welcome Him back to Galilee. Why? Because they had seen the signs He had done. They'd heard about the sign at Cana at the wedding feast. Then the Galileans had also gone down to Jerusalem to the feast of the Passover, and while they were in Jerusalem, they had heard more about signs Jesus had done. Jesus had cleansed the temple, a powerful sign. Jesus had healed other people, other signs, and Jesus has become famous, famous for power.
And this man has come from Capernaum. Why has he come? He's come because he's heard Jesus has power to help. But that fame, Jesus knows, is a kind of two-edged sword. It can help and draw attention to Jesus, but it can also draw the wrong kind of attention, attention only to the power of Jesus.
One of the interesting things that John does is, in the very next chapter, John 5, have Jesus back in Jerusalem healing a paralytic. We know that story: the man who'd been by the pool for years and wasn't strong enough to get into the pool when they believed that the angel moved the waters of the pool so that he could be healed, and Jesus heals that paralytic. And one of the things that's striking in that story is the paralytic is delighted to be healed and, as far as we know, walks away and never pays any attention to Jesus again. He got what he wanted. He got healing. He got the power to be healed. But that power did not connect him in any real way to Jesus.
And that's Jesus' concern here. That's Jesus' concern about how easily things can be misunderstood, how easily signs can become a way of ignoring Jesus or of using Jesus, of making Jesus a means to an end. And that's what Jesus is concerned here when He speaks to this Father. "You want a healing for your son. Your son is dying. I understand what you're feeling. I can understand your request. I have the power to do this, but do you really understand what that power means? Will it really ultimately do you good or not do you good? That's the question. Will it draw you to me? Or once you've gotten what you want, will you just move on away from me?"
That's what Jesus is concerned about. He's concerned that so much of his ministry has not been rightly understood and therefore has not correctly led to faith.
John has prepared us for this problem from that very first chapter of his gospel. John 1, verses 10 through 11, we read about Jesus: "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." This is part of the tragedy of the misunderstanding of Jesus' ministry. They don't understand him. They don't see him. They don't seek him.
And so, Jesus is drawing us to this question: Why has this man come? We're told this man is an official. I think that's a slightly weak translation of the word. He's, maybe we could translate the word a courtier. He's part of the government of Herod's rule. He is connected. He's a person of some importance. And he has recognized his powerlessness despite his position, and he's come to Jesus. And Jesus is now pressing with him this question: Has he come because of the fame? Has he come just for the power? Or is he prepared to honor Jesus?
That's another of the bumps in the road of this text. Did you notice that as we read it? Jesus departs for Galilee, and then the translators have to put it in parenthesis because they felt the bump in the road. "For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown." Well, they're welcoming him back. Isn't that honor? And Jesus says, "That's not the kind of honor I'm after. The honor I'm after is the honor that recognizes who I am and what I've really come for. A prophet is not without honor, except in his own hometown."
Who is Jesus? That's what Jesus wants to press. "Do you know who I am? I'm not just random power that you can plug into. I'm come that you might see that I am the Son of God. I'm come that you might see that I'm the Lamb of God. I'm come that you might see that I'm the Christ of God. I'm come that you might see that I'm the Savior of the world. I'm not a means to your end. I'm the one God has established to be the end of all things, the fulfillment of all things. And so, are you listening to me? Are you looking for me?"
And you notice that Jesus, I think, alerts us in that comment of verse 48, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe," that signs and wonders are not permanent. This is one of our fundamental disagreements with our Pentecostal friends. Our Pentecostal friends think signs and wonders are permanent. They make a case for that out of Scripture, but I don't think it's a case that holds when you look carefully.
Throughout the whole Scripture, miracles occur in the Bible at times of special revelation from God. The miracles accompany the revealing work of God. You don't have miracles all through the Old Testament, but at the special times of revelation, for example, in the days of Moses, you have miracles. And it's interesting that John ends his gospel, doesn't he, with words to Thomas. Thomas says, "I won't believe until I see." And Jesus shows him, and Thomas believes. That's a good thing. But Jesus goes on to say, "More blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." That surely is an indication that signs are not going to forever be present.
The signs point to the truth of Jesus Christ, and once they've done their pointing work in His days and in the days of His apostles, they have fulfilled their function. They're no longer needed. And of course, some people say, "Well, if there were only more miracles, more people would believe." But the truth is, in the day of miracles, plenty of people didn't believe. And so Jesus is challenging us to see the real message of signs, not the misunderstanding of signs.
The whole purpose of John's gospel is to call us to believe, and the message of the signs is to help us to see who Jesus really is. He is, to be sure, the divine Messiah with great power. When He did His first sign at Cana and turned the water into wine, what was the comment? In seeing that sign, we're told, John 2:11, "In seeing that sign, the disciples saw His glory and believed." They didn't just see His power, they saw His glory. His glory is His power at work for our good. That'd be a good description of glory. It's not just power in itself. There's huge power in a nuclear explosion, but there's very little good in a nuclear explosion for most of us. They saw His glory. They saw that His power came from God and came for the goodness of His people.
John wonderfully says in chapter 10, doesn't he, "He came that we might have life and might have it more abundantly." There's a glory, an abundance of glory in the ministry of Jesus Christ, and in the demonstration of His power, and that's what we see here in the signs that He does. He came also to show His love as a Savior. That's what we see in the words to this Father: "Go, your Son will live." He came as a Savior to bring life. That's the great message of this text. That's the great message of the gospel.
He came to bring life, and He shows that in the sign of healing. Now, if we step back, we know that this boy who was healed, wonderfully healed, amazingly healed, a boy at the very edge of death was brought back to life. We know that that boy sometime later died again. The message was not that this boy would forever live in the body he then had. The message was that Jesus is a life giver. That Jesus comes with life and love and care for his people. And this sign shows that Jesus is the one who in time will bring a new heaven and a new earth in which there is no death. That's the promise. That's what the sign points to.
You see, the mistake our Pentecostal friends make is that they think that that glory of the new heaven and new earth is sort of already here. But it's not yet. This is still the day of suffering. This is still the day of enduring a fallen world. This is still the day of knowing the misery of the fall among us. But that means this is still also the day of salvation. When Christ comes again in glory, it will be wonderful, but it will be the end of the day of salvation. And so, while these days are hard to live in with the misery of this fallen world, they are the days the Lord has appointed where the elect will be gathered, where the gospel will be preached, where people will come to faith and to newness of life. That's our hope. That's the promise. That's what we look forward to. And that's what Jesus is pointing to.
He has manifested His glory so that we can know who He is and that we can come to Him and find hope and life in Him.
Throughout this text, the sign is always linked to the Word. The sign, in a profound sense, has no clear meaning in itself. We always need the Word. It's always the Word that comes along. It's always the Word that is pointed to.
What does Jesus' mother say at the wedding feast at Cana? "Do whatever He tells you." Years ago, I saw a tract that had been printed that Protestants could give to Roman Catholic friends. And it said on the cover of the tract, "Do what the Virgin Mary tells you to do." And then you open the tract and it says, "The Virgin Mary says, do whatever He tells you to We're directed to the Word of Christ. We're directed to the Word of truth. We're directed to that gospel that is given to us, and the Word that we need. In Samaria, when Jesus spoke to the people, then it's recorded for us, John 4, 41, "Many more believe because of His Word." And then in our story here, the father hearing Jesus say, "Go, your son will live." John records, "The man believed the Word that Jesus spoke to him." It's the Word that we need more than the sign. The sign accompanies the Word, the sign helps the Word, but it's the Word that bears the message. It's the Word that bears the truth. It's the Word that tells us who Jesus is clearly and for sure. And it's the Word that calls us to believe.
That's the ultimate purpose of the sign and of the Word. It's a call to believe. And when you look at John's gospel as a whole, when you stand back and look at its character, what you discover is that from beginning to end, it's written to call people to faith. John 1:7 tells us about John the Baptist who came that all might believe. And at the end of John's Gospel, the end of chapter 20, John writes, "These things are written that you might believe."
From beginning to end, the ministry of the signs is that they call us to faith. The ministry of the Word is that we are called to faith, to trust in Jesus, to rely upon Him, to rely upon what He is really doing, to rely upon who He really is so that we might have life. And this healing of this very sick boy points us beyond that healing to the life that Jesus brings, which is ultimately eternal life. That's the great ministry of life that Jesus brings. Life not only in this world, but life in the life of the world to come.
Jesus brings eternal life. That's the repeated message of John's gospel. Life beyond this world, life beyond the grave, life beyond the misery of sickness and death, life everlasting in the Savior. That's what is promised to us in Jesus Christ.
And when we look at this section of John 2 through John 4 in John's gospel, what we discover is, yes, it's a chiasm. I knew you were waiting for that. I didn't want to disappoint you in the new year. And that means that the center is really important. We have a sign at Cana to begin this section. We have a sign at Cana to end this section. And what's at the center of this section? The most famous verse maybe in the Bible, John 3, 16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." There's the message. There's the promise. There's the encouragement. Eternal life through Jesus Christ. That's the word he promises. That's what the signs point to.
How wonderful, how blessed, how glorious. And all of this occurs through the death of Jesus Christ. He brings life to us through His death on the cross. That's the truth. He brings life to us through His death on the cross. And this text doesn't talk directly about this, but this text points indirectly to the death of Christ in a variety of ways.
This is all taking place in relation to the great feast of the Passover that Jesus attended in Jerusalem. And what is the Passover? It's the feast of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, so that the angel of death will pass over and the people of God will live. This little text also some six times mentions the dying son of this father. Think about that for a minute: a dying son whom the father loves. And I think John wants us to pause a minute and think, "This dying son could live because another son would die. Jesus comes to bring life through His death. That's our hope. That's our promise."
And so, this Father has come to Jesus for help. He's gotten the help that He wants, but He's gotten even more because Jesus comes that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He's come, Jesus has come, and this Father has believed. We don't know how much the Father believed when he first came, but as the Father begins to walk away, we're told that he believed Jesus' word. And then when the servants come and tell him that the Son is recovering, in John 4, 53, we read, "And then the father himself believed, and all his household." What a beautiful picture! What a beautiful word!
What that word means, of course, is that the dying son also believed, because he was part of the household. Jesus came with life. Yes, he could conquer death in our bodies in this fallen world for a time. But much more importantly, he comes with eternal life for those who will listen to his word, for those who will believe him and trust him. And that faithful witness of Jesus permeates not just individual hearts, but households where people come to faith.
And so my hope in preaching this sermon is that we begin this year thinking about who Jesus really is and what He really came to do so that we might be in this coming year those who are growing in faith, those who are more and more confident that Jesus is the Savior of the world, that Jesus is the Lamb of God, that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the life we enjoy in Him might shine brightly in this world to bring others to Him. May God grant us that blessing and that joy in this new year. Amen.
Let us pray.