This morning we have reached a transition text. These three verses mark a transition from the wonderful revival that just happened in Samaria… to the time when Jesus went back home to Galilee. In one way, you can think of what has happened in chapter four up to this point as a stopover. Remember back in verse 3, the Bible laid out the itinerary. Jesus and the disciples were heading from Judea back home to Galilee. In Judea they had been baptizing people right down the river from John the Baptist. That happened after a time in Jerusalem where Jesus cleansed the temple and performed many miracles. Right before that, Jesus performed the first miracle of his ministry when He turned the water into wine at Cana of Galilee. So if you were to plot Jesus’ movement so far through the book of John, it would look like this. His first miracle was at Cana of Galilee. Then He went down to Jerusalem in Judea. Then He went up a little bit to a more rural area of Judea just south of where John the Baptist was, where his disciples baptized. Then, 4:3 says that they left Judea and headed to Galilee. But verse 4 says that they went through Samaria, which specifically was the town of Sychar. Now, our passage this morning says that they spent two days in Sychar. Then they continued their journey on to Galilee. I have to admit that the temptation is to breeze right past this transition passage and tack it on to the upcoming miracle. But that wouldn’t do the Text the justice that it deserves. This transition isn’t just here to add fluff to the passage or make the reading flow better. Some liberal scholars have even said that somebody came in and added these after John originally wrote it. That’s not true. As you study this book, you begin to see these wonderful transition passages in several places. And each one provides a key to seeing the events the way they’re supposed to be seen. We talk all the time about the danger of pulling Scripture out of context. Seeing these transitions in this book will help keep us from doing that. They’ll keep us from doing that because we will see the purpose John has in including the events that he does in the order that he does. Do you remember the reason that the Holy Spirit inspired John to write this book? Even though it’s historically accurate, it wasn’t written to give us a complete blow-by-blow historical account of Jesus’ life. John himself said as much in the last verse of the book. He said, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” The Holy Spirit didn’t inspire John to write the book as a comprehensive history. John says that wouldn’t have been possible. He didn’t even attempt to include all of Jesus’ miracles. Instead, he chose a handful of events and miracles and linked them together to prove a point. And he told us what that point was in 20:30-31. “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Every event, every miracle, every transition is meant to point to the fact that Jesus is the Christ. Every event, every miracle, every transition is meant to point to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. And every event, every miracle, every transition is meant to point you to belief in Him. So the question for us this morning is, How does this transitional passage do that? It does that by showing us two contrasting gospels. It shows us the gospel of wonders that people were eager to accept. And it shows us the gospel of Word that the people rejected.
Why did Jesus do miracles during His ministry on earth? All too often, Jesus is portrayed as having come to earth to heal everybody of all sickness and diseases. When Jesus came, did He give sight to the blind? Yes. Did He make the lame to walk? Yes. Did He cause the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak? Yes. But think about this. How many more blind people did Jesus not heal? How many more deaf people still couldn’t hear after Jesus walked by? Did Jesus heal everybody? No. But we know that Jesus is the almighty, all powerful creator and sustainer of the universe. So if that’s the case, and He still didn’t heal everybody, there had to be a reason that He didn’t. There had to be a reason that Jesus healed some and didn’t heal others. The healing that Jesus did was to show that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The healing that Jesus did not do was to show that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That’s hard to understand, isn’t it? Because the first thing that we want to say is, “If Jesus wants people to believe that He’s God, all He has to do is show everybody.” “All He has to do is do miracles and everybody will believe.” Don’t we hear the same argument today? If there really is a God, why doesn’t He just come down and stop all war and strife and disease and poverty and crime? If God is all good and all powerful, why do all those bad things happen? Why doesn’t He just come down and make it all good. He will—just not yet. And when He does, there will be millions of people who will want Him to stop. The book of Revelation says that they will try to hide themselves in caves and under rocks. They will beg for the mountains to fall on them so they don’t have to endure the cleansing wrath of the Lamb of God. There will be a time when a holy Jesus makes all things right. It’s just not now. Jesus did not do miracles in order to fix a fallen and cursed world. Sickness and sin and disease and death are a result of the curse. The curse is a result of Adam’s original sin. Jesus didn’t do miracles to lift the curse. He did miracles to show people that He is God in the flesh. He did them to demonstrate His power. They weren’t a side show designed to attract a crowd. He performed the signs to show the divine authority behind His words. Did the miracles that Jesus performed save people? No—people were saved when they believed His words and trusted Him as their Lord. When He said, go and sin no more—those that were saved, obeyed. Those who didn’t believe left and were not even thankful. Faith was not required for Jesus to heal people. Some had faith, some didn’t. Most didn’t believe until after Jesus healed them. They saw the power of God on display and were saved when they believed His Word. Look at the Galileans in our passage. Galilee was Jesus’ own country. It was His hometown. Even though He was born in Bethlehem down in Judea, He grew up in Nazareth which is in Galilee. Remember what Nathaniel said when Philip first told him about Jesus back in chapter 1? Philip introduced Jesus to him as Jesus of Nazareth and Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Galilee was Jesus’ hometown. That was where He and the disciples were heading. And when they got there, verse 45 says that the Galileans received Jesus. The word for received literally means to eagerly welcome someone. When Jesus came to town, they eagerly welcomed Him. But why did they roll out the red carpet? Did they fall down and worship Jesus as their Lord and Master and King? No. They rolled out the red carpet and welcomed Jesus because He was their homeboy who had done some really cool things. Remember that it was a requirement for all good Jews to go to Jerusalem during the Passover. So most of the Galileans had been in Jerusalem when Jesus did what 2:23 says He did. John 2:23 says, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.” After Jesus cleansed the temple, He did a lot of miracles. John doesn’t bother to tell us what all they were. He doesn’t tell us, because that wasn’t the point. But the folks from Galilee thought they were the point. They saw all that really cool stuff that Jesus was doing and wanted Him to do the same thing in Galilee. So they rolled out the red carpet. They “received” Him. But what happened when Jesus got there? Turn over to Mark 6.
MARK 6:1-6
When Jesus got into town, He began to teach. He began to preach the Gospel. But that wasn’t what they wanted to hear, was it? What did they want? They wanted to see some cool stuff. How different their attitude was from the Samaritans of Sychar. Remember what their reaction was? Jesus didn’t heal anybody in Sychar. He didn’t do any miracles there, did He? But what was the people’s reaction to Jesus after the woman at the well led them to Him? John 4:40-41 says, “So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word.” Jesus didn’t do a single physical miracle in their midst. But still they wanted Him to stay with them. Why? Just so they could hear His Word. And when they heard it, they believed. The people from Galilee heard Jesus Word but rejected it. They took offense at it. Because they weren’t much interested in having Jesus as their Lord, were they? They weren’t much interested in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, were they? No, they were looking for a sideshow. They were looking for someone who would do some tricks for them. They were looking for someone who could fix them up and make them feel better. But they were perfectly content with their heart. They were perfectly content sitting on the throne of their own life. They weren’t looking for a Savior. They were looking for a stuntman. That’s why Jesus would testify in all four Gospels that a prophet has no honor in his own country. That was a popular proverb of the day. But it was sadly appropriate in this case.
It was appropriate because of what Jesus was doing during His ministry on earth. Jesus performed miracles to show the divine authority behind His Word. The apostles were granted that same ability in the early church. They were able to perform miracles to show that God had given them authority to speak and write His Word. Once the Bible was completed, that ability is for the most part no longer needed. But the people still didn’t want to see Jesus as Lord. They wanted Him to meet their personal needs without submitting their lives to Him. They were perfectly willing to welcome Jesus for the good things He could do for them, but they refused to honor Him as Lord by submitting to His Word. Do you know anybody like that today? Are you like that?
How many people do you know that are perfectly willing for you to pray for Jesus to heal them… but if you ask them to serve Him… well, that’s asking way too much. Why do you think that so-called healing services and miracle crusades are able to cram tens of thousands of people into stadiums across the country? Those places are standing room only while Bible believing, Bible teaching churches all across the country are emptier than this one. Why do you think that is? Because people are eager to welcome a Jesus who will do stuff for them. But they want nothing to do with a Jesus who asks for something in return. And Jesus does ask for something in return.
In one sense, your salvation costs you absolutely nothing. It could cost you nothing, because you had nothing to pay. There is nothing in and of you that is worthy to pay the price of offending a holy God. The only thing you could offer would be your life. But even that’s not sufficient because your life is limited. Your sin has offended a limitless, eternal God. And because it has offended a limitless, eternal God, it has limitless, eternal consequences. The only one who could pay that steep of a price is an eternal limitless being. A being that is every bit as limitless as God and is every bit as holy as God. The only one who could pay that price is God Himself. God the Son, come in the flesh, died to pay the price that you couldn’t pay. The debt is paid. The price is paid for you to be redeemed. You could pay nothing. The price has been paid for you. That’s the sense in which your salvation costs you nothing.
But at the same time, your salvation costs you everything. When Jesus saves you, you die to yourself. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The life you lived before Jesus saved you cannot be the same life you live now. You were living as a dead person. You were a walking corpse. The only thing that mattered was what made your king happy. And as a lost person, your king was yourself. But when Jesus saves you, your old self is crucified with Him on the cross. Galatians 2:20 puts it like this, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” There has been a hostile takeover of the kingdom of your life. You have been evicted from your throne. Jesus now rules in your place. He rules which means that you serve. You serve His Word by submitting to how it directs your life. You serve His body by serving His church. You serve His kingdom by adding to it daily those who would be saved.
The question is, How have you received Jesus? Have you received Him like the Galileans? Have you rolled out the red carpet so that He will do some really neat things for you? Have you received Jesus just so that He will make you feel well? Just so that He’ll make your marriage work? Just so that He’ll make you a better parent? Have you received Jesus just so that He’ll help you with your finances? Just so that He’ll give you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside? Just so that He’ll give you a nice place to live when you die? If those are the only reasons you’ve invited Jesus into your life, you’re being like Galilee. And how did Jesus respond to the way Galilee wanted to receive Him? Mark 6:5-6 says, “And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.” They came to Jesus for the things He could do for them. But He refused. He refused, and He left them. And with a few exceptions, when He left them, they were lost. Why were they lost? Because they only wanted a Jesus who could do things for them. They didn’t want a Jesus who would kill them. They didn’t want a Jesus who would hang them on the cross with Him in order that He could raise them to walk a new life with Him. What kind of Jesus are you looking for? Are you looking for a Jesus like the Galileans were? Or are you looking for a Jesus like the Samaritans were. A Jesus who is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Savior of the world.
That is the Jesus who is looking for you this morning. He has died for you and will save you if you will just welcome Him for who He is this morning. Will you welcome Him as your Lord and Master and Savior and King?
