How I Love His Healing
John 4:43-54
Introduction
Oh, How I Love Jesus! The more we know about Him, the greater our love for him grows. His love for us is steady and unchanging. Today’s text takes us full circle back to Cana, where he did his first miracle - the first of John’s signs pointing to Jesus as Messiah. Here John will give us the second sign - another of the works of Jesus that keep pointing us to who He is. Word about miraculous works of Jesus was spreading. Here he meets a man who may have heard about that first sign. He has a personal request, and the faith to go along with it.
John 4:43-54 ESV
43 After the two days he departed for Galilee.
44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.)
45 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.
46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.
47 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.
48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.
52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour[c] the fever left him.”
53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.
54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
This second sign is a healing miracle - and when we read about the healing works of Jesus, we are moved to love him more.
1. The Healing of the Official’s Son
He was Humble (46-47). This man had high standing, and Jesus had almost none. Swindoll: He was a man of influence, wealth, and privilege, who wielded significant authority. But he cast off all of this dignity and kept on begging the Lord to come and heal his son. There probably could not be a more improbable scene than this important court official running 20 miles to ask a favor of a village carpenter. Before he was an aristocrat, an official, or a person of importance, he was a father with a sick son.
He Was Persistent (48-49). He was met at first with a kind of bleak statement! 48 AMP “Then Jesus said to him, Unless you see signs and miracles happen, you [people] never will believe (trust, have faith) at all.” Jesus didn’t want to be followed as a miracle worker! But this man could not be deterred!
He Took Jesus at His Word (50-54). Jesus gave his word - The official did not immediately return home! The result was that the boy was better – and at the same hour that Jesus said he would be. (52) The sign produced faith in Jesus Christ for him and his household. (53)
These are the qualities we should have as we seek healing.
-Qualities of dependence - the healing is beyond our ability.
-Qualities of faith - persistence comes from believing Jesus is able.
-Qualities of acceptance - no matter the outcome, we trust Jesus.
Healing stories like this raise significant questions. Why isn’t everyone healed? Why aren’t our healing prayers enough? Do the healing stories mean anything to us today?
2. Ten Truths From the Healing Power of Jesus
Jesus knows our human frailty.
Jesus is moved by our suffering.
Jesus has the power to heal.
Jesus has both wisdom and foresight in healing.
Jesus Healed as a sign - not only to bless one person - but to demonstrate to all who He really was.
Jesus has called us to have faith in Him.
Jesus heals many by virtue of entering eternal life.
Jesus did not heal everyone in his day.
Jesus’ ultimate healing is the sin-sickness only He can cure.
Jesus is the Wounded Healer, healing out of his own pain.
- What he gave up to come to earth
- What he endured as a human
- What he experienced at the cross
- What he defeated when he arose from the dead
- What he promises in the Return
3. How Can We Be Agents of Healing in the Name of Jesus?
Healing Words - kind words heal our own broken hearts, shouldn’t we be offering kind words to a broken world?
(Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits
the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.)
Healing Behaviors - do what is in your power to bring healing to your relationships. (Romans 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.)
Healing Offenses - (John 20:23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”)
Healing Wrongs (Micah 6:3 what does the Lord require of you? but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?) Healing also takes place in communities when people work for justice.
Healing Hurts (Galatians 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.)
“The question is not can we heal? The question, the only question, is will we let the healing power of the risen Jesus flow through us to reach and touch others, so that they may dream and fight and bear and run where the brave dare not go?” Brennan Manning
Conclusion
This is a simple yet powerful story of the ability of Jesus to heal over great distances, but so much more. It is the description of Jesus as a healer for all of our hurts and troubles.
Today Jesus is still healing …
-In answer to prayer for those we love.
-In the Gospel that cleanses from sin.
-In the Words and Outreaching of His Church.
“Healing becomes the opportunity to pass off to another human being what I have received from the Lord Jesus; namely His unconditional acceptance of me as I am, not as I should be. He loves me whether in a state of grace or disgrace, whether I live up to the lofty expectations of His gospel or I don’t. He comes to me where I live and loves me as I am.” -Brennan Manning
Oh How I Love Jesus, I love His healing.
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Video of this message will be available on the Forsythe Church of Christ YouTube Channel located at https://www.youtube.com/c/ForsytheChurchofChrist
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Discussion Questions for John 4:43-54
1. What are some reasons talking about healing can make us uncomfortable?
2. Can you think of some reasons “a prophet has no honor in his own country” (4:44)? Why would this apply even to Jesus?
3. What had the Galileans seen Jesus do in Jerusalem (4:45) and why did that make them welcome him with openness and gladness?
4. Jesus seems to address those gathered around him in 4:48 (the ‘you’ is plural in both instances). The Amplified Bible notes this: 48 AMP “Then Jesus said to him, Unless you see signs and miracles happen, you [people] never will believe (trust, have faith) at all.” Why do you think Jesus addresses the crowd when the official is begging (vs 47 NIV) him specifically for his help?
5. One of the ‘truths from the healing power of Jesus’ in the sermon was “Jesus has both wisdom and foresight in
healing.” Why is this hard to accept when we feel God is not answering our prayers for healing?
6. In what way should we consider Jesus a ‘Wounded Healer’? Henri Nouwen said, ““The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.” How do our wounds help us to become healers?
7. Name some ways one may grow in allowing the healing we receive from Jesus to flow into the lives of others through words, behaviors, forgiveness, justice, and bearing burdens. How can we grow in these areas?
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Resources
Barclay, William. Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John.
Ketepa, Michelle. https://spiritandtruthpublishing.com/blog/waiting-for-a-miracle-john-4
Manning, Brennan. The Furious Longing of God
Swindoll, Charles. Swindoll’s Living Insights: John.
