John 4:43-54
In the earlier part of John chapter 4, a Samaritan woman, through conversation with Jesus, came to believe that He was indeed the Messiah. She was transformed as completely as water had been turned into wine; her once dark, lonely spirit became bright and filled with joy. She shared her encounter with Jesus throughout her town. Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of her testimony. The Samaritans went out to meet Jesus in person and urged him to stay with them. Jesus stayed with them two days, and through their time with Him, many more became believers. They confessed, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Today’s passage is about what happened after Jesus left Samaria to Galilee. It’s about Jesus’ second sign in John’s gospel. I pray that we may learn what faith is really about and how Jesus helps us grow our faith today.
Let’s pray.
Look at verse 43. “After the two days he left for Galilee.”
After his stay in Samaria, Jesus left for Galilee.
Look at verse 44. “(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)”
What did Jesus mean by this saying?
In Luke's gospel appears a more detailed explanation. (Luke 4:14-28)
Jesus went to Nazareth, and on the Sabbath day he went into their synagogues. It says “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips (Lk 4:22).” At that moment some people asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
Why did these people not accept Jesus?
In a recent college group Bible study, students shared examples related to this theme. One student mentioned that he and his brother, despite being close, sometimes struggle to recognize and appreciate each other.
Similarly, the people in Jesus’ hometown likely found it challenging to see Him as anything more than the familiar guy they had known from His youth. They would have known Jesus as Mary and Joseph’s first son, and perhaps even heard rumors that Mary conceived before marriage. Joseph, a humble carpenter, held no prestigious position in society. So, the hometown people saw Jesus’ family as quite ordinary and may have struggled to view the son of Joseph as the promised Messiah. This familiarity might have blinded them to His true identity.
How can we apply this verse to us?
Many of us have heard about Jesus since we were young, and for many, church has been part of life from an early age. We may have heard the Gospel of John multiple times and, because of this, might sometimes feel there’s nothing new to learn. But as Hebrews 4:12 reminds us, the word of Jesus is alive and active, penetrating soul and spirit and judging our thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
If we approach Jesus' words with preconceived ideas, relying on familiarity, past experiences, or our own limited expectations, we can miss the fullness of His message and the power it holds. Only with an open, expectant heart can we truly embrace Jesus’ words and experience their transformative power in our lives.
Look at verse 46, 47.
“46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.”
Now Jesus visited Cana in Galilee again, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. There is little information about this royal official. He was probably an official of Herod Antipas.
Capernaum is about 20 miles away from Cana—roughly the same distance from here to Buda, where Cymone lives. Google Maps estimates that walking from here to Buda would take around 8 hours. Additionally, Capernaum lies about 700 feet below sea level, while Cana is nearly 1000 feet above it, meaning this royal official faced a long, challenging, uphill journey. He likely had to travel for days to reach Jesus.
So, what motivated him to make such a difficult trip? He came because his son was sick and close to death. He must have been desperate. How did Jesus respond to his request?
Verse 48. ““Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
Jesus’ criticism is not of this official alone, but of the general attitude people have toward faith. What Jesus said implies that the people do not believe in Jesus at this point.
Look at verse 45. “When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.”
The Galileans had seen and heard Jesus perform miracles, and that’s why the Galileans welcomed. However, what the people had was knowledge of Jesus, not genuine faith. Their focus was not on Jesus Himself, but rather on the miracles He performed. They welcomed Him, but with hopes like, “Maybe this time He’ll turn my water into wine,” or “Perhaps He’ll come to my home and perform a miracle,” or “If only He would heal my sick family member.”
Similarly, this royal official had heard of Jesus’ miracles, and when he learned that Jesus was in Cana of Galilee, he decided to go meet Him and bring Him back to heal his son. Based on what he’d heard, he hoped that Jesus might be able to heal his child. His journey to Jesus was driven by desperation rather than a sincere faith in who Jesus truly was.
In verse 49, the royal official kept urging Jesus, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus replied in verse 50, “Go, your son will live.”
This must have been a huge challenge for the man. How would he have felt after hearing Jesus’ response? He had traveled difficult mountain paths for several days to finally meet Jesus. But Jesus simply spoke a word and sent him back home. After such a long and exhausting journey, Jesus sent him back in a few seconds.
The man likely wanted more certainty, perhaps proof. He wanted to take Jesus back with him to his home, to see Jesus perform the miracle with his own eyes. As a royal official, he could have even forced Jesus to come with him if he wished. Yet, Jesus asked him to trust without any visible proof. Jesus was testing if he would be willing to trust Jesus only based on what he said.
Let’s look at verse 50b “The man took Jesus at his word and departed.” Surprisingly, the man took Jesus at his word and went down home. While he was still on the way, he ran into his servants with the news that his son was living. He asked his servants when his son began to get better. They said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
Look at verse 53. “Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.”
Such a beautiful story.
Through this event, we can learn what faith is really about. Faith is different from simply knowing about Jesus and hoping his miracle will happen in my life. Rather, faith requires an act of trust and obedience.
Initially, the father came to Jesus with a desperate hope that He might be able to heal his son, but this was not an act of faith. He was driven by sheer desperation in a last attempt to save his child.
Yet, surprisingly, he chose to believe Jesus’ words and returned home without any visible assurance. He took Jesus at His word and set out on the long journey back.
Faith is to choose to rely on Jesus’ word based on what we know, despite what we don’t know. Christians are to have neither blind faith nor faith that requires absolute proof.
We also see that the boy was healed exactly when Jesus said "your son will live.” Jesus’ word has powers not limited by space or distance.
Furthermore, this event teaches us that God may answer our prayers without making us aware. The man's son was healed at the very moment Jesus spoke, but he didn't find out until the next day (John 5:52). Simply because we haven't seen proof of God's work does not mean He's done nothing.
Look at verse 54. “This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.”
What was the first sign Jesus performed? Yes, it was at Cana when Jesus turned the water into wine. Now, Jesus healing the official’s son was the second sign.
I found that the first and second signs share an important characteristic.
After the first sign, Jesus’ disciples believed in him. (2:11b)
After the second sign, the official and his whole household believed. (4:53b)
John 20:30,31 “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
As we learned earlier, the purpose of John’s gospel is to help people believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and have eternal life in his name. The purpose of Jesus’ signs is to help people understand who He is and to lead them to believe in Him as the Messiah, Savior.
We can see that, on his journey home, the official has already changed to some extent. When he first came to Jesus, his main concern was his son’s life. But when his servants met him with the news that his son had recovered, he didn’t rush home immediately in a burst of joy. Instead, he asked them exactly when his son began to get better.
If his focus had still been solely on his son’s recovery, he might have simply celebrated and hurried home. But now, he seemed to be thinking deeply about who Jesus truly was. He likely contemplated Jesus’ words as he made his way back. Finally, when he learned that his son got better at the very moment Jesus said, “Your son will live,” he realized Jesus’ divine power. Then he testified who Jesus was with his household, leading to their belief in Jesus.
Jesus’ words, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe,” are also true today. Many people seek Jesus in hard times, but once their prayers are answered, they often stop there. What Jesus wants is a faith that goes beyond just solving problems.
To believe in Jesus means to trust His words, even when they don’t make sense to me. Sometimes, His words may seem hard to understand or don’t fit what I’m going through. But true faith is letting go of my own idea and choosing to obey. When we do this, we often see Jesus work in amazing ways. Then, our faith is no longer about solving problems but about building a strong relationship with Him.
It’s not about knowing a lot of Bible verses. Many Jewish leaders knew the Old Testament by heart but still rejected Jesus. It’s more important to trust and obey even a single word from Him. When we experience God’s word in our own lives, we don’t just know it in our minds—we believe it in our hearts.
We do not know exactly how this man came to believe Jesus’ words and returned home. But one thing is clear: faith is not something we gain by our own will or effort. Faith is a gift from God. As Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
This doesn’t mean that faith grows if we just sit back and wait. Faith grows as we treasure God’s words given to us, try to obey them fully, and try to live by them. Each week, through Bible study, Sunday worship service and through personal Bible reading, we receive words from God. I pray that we may make an attempt to 100% obey each verse God gives us. When we do this, God will help us experience His word in our lives and will give us a deeper, stronger faith in Jesus.
In the past, I believed that if I obeyed God’s word, then all my prayers should be answered the way I wanted. Often, I used Scripture as a way to get what I wanted, focusing my prayers mainly on solving problems in my life.
In today’s passage, the official likely wanted to bring Jesus to his son with him. Yet Jesus’ response was so simple. The official might have thought, That’s it? But instead of questioning, he chose to obey Jesus’ word and returned home. Just by trusting Jesus’ word, his son was healed.
The result of this obedience was exactly what he’d hoped for—his son’s recovery. Yet the conclusion of this passage isn’t that the family was simply happy or filled with joy. Instead, it says, “he and his whole household believed.” I think this conclusion is significant. The man didn’t stop at the miracle; he came to truly believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God.
From that point on, what do you think this man did whenever he faced a hard time? He probably didn’t run back to Jesus asking for miracles. Rather, he would rely on Him in prayer, in joy and in sorrow, making Jesus the Lord of his life.
Some people experience miracles yet treat them as a one-time event and don’t come to believe in Jesus. Others might keep seeking more miracles without a deeper faith. But the key purpose of a miracle—or of any answer to prayer—is to lead us to Jesus who performs it. The true question is: through this event, do I receive Jesus as God and as the Lord of my life?
For me, the real miracle in my life is that I’ve become a completely different person. I used to be very self-centered, focused only on my success, in my studies, sports, or any area where I wanted to be good at. I cared only about my own achievements and had little concern for others. Now, I am deeply interested in the salvation of others. I believe that the salvation of souls is the most beautiful thing in the world. Just as my life has been transformed, I want others to experience this kind of transformation in their lives. For me, the fact that I now have this heart and a desire to share the gospel is itself a miracle.
This year, I had hard times at work in the first half of the year. My research was not going well. My boss often said that if I did not write a second paper by the end of the year, she could not keep supporting me. No paper, no salary. I felt a lot of stress. I was stuck and unsure if I could write a paper. During tough times at work, I prayed to God. I asked Him to guide me with His word. I wanted to live by word of God, just like before.
At that time, I was preparing a Sunday sermon about Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane from the Mark’s gospel. I learned from Jesus praying earnestly to surrender to God’s will. This summer, I learned from the book of Galatians that my salvation and eternal life come only from God’s grace. Even when things are tough now, I felt that the Holy Spirit would guide my steps. Instead of feeling helpless and complaining, I started each day by thanksgiving to God being with me. I was also grateful that I was still working. Then, starting in mid-June, I got new ideas. I changed my research direction and began to write a paper. My life still has many challenges, both big and small, and surely will have many hard times again and again. But instead of focusing on those problems, I pray that I may choose to rely on Jesus. Jesus is my Lord and Savior who has saved me from my sin and gave eternal life.
In conclusion, knowing about Jesus and trusting Jesus are different. The faith that Jesus desires for us grows as we trust and obey his words. May we wholeheartedly trust and obey the word of Jesus given to us each week and every moment of our lives. May we experience his word deeply, truly realize who Jesus is, and put our trust in him alone. Amen.