THE HEALING OF THE OFFICIAL’S SON
John 4:43-54
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
March 21, 2021
Maplewood Manor March 25, 2021
Sermon 10 In 2021 Series on Gospel of John
Video Link: https://youtu.be/aCT27izOElU
INTRODUCTION:
1.) After Jesus encounter with the Samaritan woman and spending two days with the people of that town, Jesus continued his journey on to Galilee.
I. THE ARRIVAL IN GALILEE. (4:43-45)
1.) Earlier in Galilee, Jesus had said “A prophet is without honour in his home country.” (4:44)
A.) We find of this in Mark 6:1-6, and Matthew 13:54-58.
aa.) In those accounts, Jesus had gone back to his hometown and was preaching, great truths of God, and even performing miraculous signs and the people took offence at him and would not put their faith in him.
ab.) They could not accept the teachings and miracles of Jesus because he was a hometown boy. He was the son of a carpenter, and as such should not have been able to do what he was doing, or to teach what he was teaching.
aba.) Rather than to accept his teaching and miracles as from God they rejected Jesus.
ac.) This verse is kind of a prelude to us of verse 48 that we will look at in a few minutes.
2.) The Galileans had welcomed him. (4:45a.)
A.) “They had seen all that He had done in Jerusalem at the Passover feast.” (4:45b.)
aa.) At Jerusalem Jesus had become kind of a celebrity.
ab.) He had performed many miracles at the feast and now his home people were excited to see him not because they were ready to put faith in him, but because they wanted to see more of these miracles.
B.) “For they had been there.” (4:45c.)
ba.) This was not just based on hear say.
baa.) Some of this group had witnessed his miracles in Jerusalem.
3.) “Once more he visited Cana in Galilee” (4:46a.)
A.) “where he turned water into wine.” (4:46b.)
aa.) John is reminding us of this event because it was such a powerful miracle and should have brought everyone to faith in him.
ab.) Instead these people wanted to see more miracles but still had no desire to put their faith in him.
II. THE HEALING OF A ROYAL OFFICIAL’S SON.
1.) “And there was a certain royal official’s son who lay sick at Capernaum. (4:46c.)
A.) Royal official?
aa.) The Word used here is an adjective form of the word that is usually translated as king.
aaa.) Many feel he was an official to King Herod Antipas.
aab.) Certainly, this man was a man of prominence, power, and even a man of great wealth.
.01) He would have been one of the most influential and powerful men of the area.
ab.) Even with all these things going for the man he had no power over his boy’s health.
aba.) There are some things over which earthly power and prominence mean nothing.
B.) His son was sick.
2.) What would you do if you had a child who was sick?
A.) Certainly as a parent, the short answer to that question is that we would do whatever is in our power to do to help our sick child.
B.) “(47) When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him...” (4:47a.)
C.) Today we would go our local doctors and from there we would probably go to the I.W.K. in Halifax.
D.) When there are serious health issues with children today, we generally recognize that hospital as the best, or at least the most specialized hospital in our area for dealing with serious health issues in children.
E.) In the first century there were no specialized care centres such as that but in their midst was one who was far better than any hospital or medical staff.
3.) Here was Jesus.
A.) Jesus was and is the creator and sustainer of all life.
B.) I expect most of us have had times when our children were growing up that we may have had to face some serious situations in the lives of our children.
C.) Now today, many doctors are too professional or scientific to acknowledge the presence and power of God in the medical room, but there are still some who not only acknowledge him but seek him in their medical practice.
D.) There are still some Godly surgeons and medical personal who will pray before surgery.
E.) There are times when the medical field is at a loss when a healing has occurred if it was not expected.
ea.) Some of the medical field will humbly acknowledge the higher power of God in those situations.
4.) This man did the most he could do for his son: he went to Jesus.
A.) We may not have the physical presence of Jesus with us today, but he is still the first one we need to go to in times of sickness and crisis.
B.) That is not to say we do not also go to the doctors, but Jesus will always be our source of strength and healing even if he uses the hands and minds of the medical staff for that healing.
5.) This man did not just go for a casual visit to see Jesus.
A.) Whatever the nature of his son’s illness it was serious enough that it looked as though death was imminent.
B.) Scripture tells us: He begged him. (4:47b.)
C.) Here was a man of prestige, wealth, and power, but he came to Jesus as a beggar looking for a handout of mercy and deliverance in the realm of life itself.
ca.) This man knew that Jesus could do for his son what nobody else of that day could do.
cb.) He begged him to come (4:47c.)
cc.) This man felt Jesus had to be physically present to heal the child.
cca..) He begged him to heal his son who was close to death. (4:47d.)
ccb.) Whatever the nature of the boy’s illness only the intervention of God could deliver him from death.
6.) 2,000 years later we have many medical advancements but many times today that truth is still there.
A.) We have been there; We have all prayed for individuals whose time on this earth seemed extremely limited.
aa.) Some of those we have prayed for have been for a time restored to health.
ab.) There are others we have prayed for who have gone to the grave.
ac.) Sometimes we have even questioned why this is the case.
acb.) While we do not always have the answers to those questions, we know that God’s ways are above our ways, and there are somethings that we will not understand in this life.
7.) In the midst of this passage there is something rather peculiar.
A.) John 4:48
B.) Jesus took his attention from this man and his son’s life to rebuke the crowd.
ba.) Picture the scene: this man was begging for the life of his son, and Jesus turned away from him to address the crowd.
bb.) Jesus told the people of Cana, that they would not believe unless they saw miracles.
bba.) John 4:48
bbb.) It is possible that this crowd was trying to get Jesus to heal this boy so they could watch the spectacle or sideshow of him performing a miraculous event.
8.) The healing of the boy.
A.) Imagine if you will this father and what he was going through.
aa.) He has come to Jesus for healing, but Jesus seemed more interested in rebuking this crowd than hearing this man’s prayer for the healing of his son.
B.) The man’s cry for help becomes more desperate and pleading.
ba.) John 4:49
bb.) As we read this account of Scripture, we can feel the desperation in this man’s cry.
bc.) “Please sir, you have got to come, my son is dying.”
C.) Jesus turned his attention back to the man and answered him.
ca.) John 4:50
cb.) What was a desperate matter with this man was a comparatively small matter for Jesus.
cba.) I am not saying the man and his son were unimportant to Jesus, but that Jesus was in charge, and knew what he would do, and that this man’s son would live.
cbb.) When we read this 50th. verse it sounds like it was no big deal, but that was only because Jesus had the power and will to heal that boy.
.01) At some point either before that moment, during the moment, or when the man had headed for home Jesus provided a miraculous healing.
.02) The exact moment of the healing is not important; but what was important was:
9.) “The man took Jesus at his word and departed.” (4:51)
A.) The man believed Jesus and trusted in his word.
B.) “While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living.” (4:51)
C.) Have you ever prayed for something or someone and had your prayers answered, and later questioned if it was the work of God, of the doctor’s, or just a coincidence?
ca.) Sometimes even when God answers our prayers our lack of faith causes us to question and to doubt.
cb.) This man was no different than us.
cc.) He had prayed for Jesus to heal his son.
cd.) Yet in his doubts after the healing, he asked his servants for more details so he could know for sure.
cda.) John 4:52
.01) “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”
cdb.) This statement tells us first that the man lived a bit of a ways away.
cdc.) If it was yesterday and this man and the servants were travelling toward each other than it was at least a one- or two- day journey they had to make.
.04) “It was at the seventh hour.”
.041) Often when a fever breaks it will be a gradual dropping of the temperature and a specific time may not always be observable.
.042) In the case of this child it was at the seventh hour, which in our time would be 1:00 p.m. when the fever broke.
cdd.) John 5:53
.01) It was the exact time Jesus had spoken those words to him.
.02) It was not a gradual improvement, but at 1:00 p.m. the fever broke, and the boy got well.
.021) From our text it seems the healing was instant.
D.) The result of this miracle was exactly the goal in every miracle Jesus would perform, that they would come to have faith in Jesus Christ.
da.) Each of the miracles of Jesus were for that purpose, though some would come to faith, and others would not.
CONCLUSION:
1.) What can we take from this portion of Scripture?
A.) That Jesus performed a great miracle, but the purpose of the miracle like all miracles was to bring them to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
B.) The second thing we need to take from this passage of Scripture is that we need to have not only a saving faith, but a faith that will sustain us through whatever we encounter in life.
