At the church where I serve, we are spending the
weeks leading up to Easter looking at seven unexplainable events from history
in the life of Jesus that are recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in
the Bible called the gospel of John. The
gospel of John was written the person who had perhaps the closest relationship
with Jesus while He was on earth, a man named John. And it is in the gospel of
John that we see John, as he looked in the rearview mirror of his life, record
for us seven events from history in the life of Jesus that are unexplainable.
And as John gives us a front row
seat to these events from history that seemed to be unexplainable, our hope and
our prayer during this series is that as we look at these unexplainable events
from history in the life of Jesus, we would discover several timeless truths
about Jesus that have the potential to powerfully impact how we view Jesus.
This week, I would like for us to spend our time
together by looking at the second of these
events from history in the life of Jesus that seem to be unexplainable. And as
John gives us a front row seat to this event from history, we will discover
another timeless truth about Jesus that have the potential to powerfully impact
how we view Jesus. So let’s look at this event from history together, beginning
in John 4:43:
After the
two days He went forth from there into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the
Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at
the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
John brings us into this unexplainable event from
history in Jesus life by proving for us the context for which this unexplainable
event would take place. John tells us that two days after Jesus had an unlikely
encounter with a Samaritan woman who was an ostracized outsider that was far
from God and far from others that resulted in many Samaritans placing their
confident trust in Jesus as Lord and Leader, Jesus continued on His journey
from Judea, which is in Southern Israel, to Galilee, which is in Northern
Israel.
John then proceeds to make two statements that seem
to be contradictory to one another. On the one hand, John tells us that Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in
his own country. In other words, Jesus proclaimed that no spokesperson for God
who proclaims the truth about God is respected or honored by his fellow
countryman, in this case the Jewish people. On the other hand, John tells us
that when Jesus came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him. In other words,
the Galileans, who were Jesus fellow Jews, welcomed and accepted Him.
Now an immediate question that
arises here is “well Dave which one is it? Did they respect Jesus or not? Did
they accept Jesus or not?” John here is revealing for us the reality that while
the Samaritans responded by giving Jesus respect and
honor for who He was, that would not be the case for those who were Jewish and
should respect and honor Him for who He was. John unpacks this reality by
explaining that the reason why the Galileans welcomed and accepted Him was due
to having seen all the things that
He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
When John refers to the feast
here, he is referring to the feast of the Passover, which was one of the times
that every Jewish person had to travel to Jerusalem in order to attend church
at the temple. And in the second chapter of the gospel of John, John had
recorded for us how Jesus had responded to the greed of the moneylenders that
were in the temple courtyards by turning over their tables and confronting the
self righteous religious leaders of the day. John also records for us that
Jesus also preached in the Temple during the Passover and said and did many
things that weekend that were designed to reveal the reality that He was God in
a bod who had come to earth as the Messiah.
However, while those who lived
in Galilee had seen Jesus turn over the tables, while those who lived in
Galilee had heard Jesus confront the self righteous religious leaders; while
those in Galilee had seen what Jesus had said and done, they missed the point
of what He had said and done. While the Samaritans responded to what Jesus said
and done by recognizing and accepting Him as the Messiah, the Jewish residents
of Galilee welcomed and accepted Jesus simply as someone who could do the
spectacular. The Jewish residents of Galilee welcomed and accepted Jesus with
the expectation that He would do in Galilee what He had done in Jerusalem. And
it is in that context that John brings us into this unexplainable event from
history, beginning in John 4:46:
Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee
where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was
sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee,
he went to Him and was imploring Him to
come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.
Now to fully understand what is happening here, we
first need to understand a few things. The first thing that we need to
understand is the significance of the city of Cana in Galilee. John helps us
understand the significance of this town by reminding us that Cana in Galilee
is where Jesus had previously done the unexplainable by miraculously changing
between 120 and 180 gallons of water from the garden hose into high quality
wine. Cana is where Jesus had miraculously turned a potentially embarrassing
situation into an abundant blessing for a poor couple.
John tells us that upon returning to Cana of
Galilee, Jesus was approached by a royal official who was a Jewish government
official who worked for King Herod Antipas. Now King Herod ruled the northern
region of what is now modern day Israel from 4 B.C. to 39 A.D. under the
auspices of the Roman Empire. As a royal official for the king, this would have
been a man who had the position, the power, and the resources to get things
done. John explains that this royal official had a son who was sick in a town
called Capernaum.
Now that leads us to the second thing that we need
to understand, which is where Capernaum is located in relation to Cana.
Capernaum was located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. By contrast, Cana was
located on central Galilee. Now the distance between Capernaum and Cana was
between 20-25 miles. However, this was not 20-25 flat miles to travel. Instead
this was 20-25 miles of changing elevation. To give you a little bit of
perspective, this would be like traveling from Bullhead City Arizona to Kingman
Arizona. Without a car. In the dessert. Most likely in the summer. Without air
conditioning.
John tells us that when this royal official heard
that Jesus was in Galilee, he decided to travel from Capernaum to Galilee in
order to implore Jesus to come back with him to Capernaum in order to heal his
son. What is so interesting is that the word implore here, in the language that
this letter was originally written in, implies a continual and persistent
request.
You see, the son of the royal official was suffering
from a severe fever that had brought him to the point of death. And this royal
official was desperate. This royal
official had probably exhausted all of the options that were available in
Capernaum. And this royal official had heard about Jesus. This royal official
heard that Jesus had performed the miraculous in the past.
And in his desperation, this royal official made the
decision the leave his son, who was on his deathbed, to travel the 20-25
mountainous miles in order to ask Jesus to do the miraculous for him. Now I
want us to place ourselves in this story as the royal official. Can you imagine
what he was thinking as he traveled on that mountainous road to Cana? Can you
imagine what he was feeling? Can you
imagine the desperation?
This man’s position, power, and resources to get
things done were not getting it done. Can you imagine the determination that
was driving him? “If I can only get to
Jesus. If my son can just hold on. Please hold on.” Can you imagine the scene
as this royal official begins to implore Jesus to return with him to Capernaum
to heal his son? If you were this royal official and if this was your child,
can you imagine what you would be saying at this point? What you would be
feeling? What you would be thinking?
Tomorrow, we will see Jesus response to this man’s
desperation…
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