Bible Study series: John 4:43-54. The official had a deep faith in the Messiah. As the Messiah, he could heal his son.

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John 4

At that link, I provide a lot more commentary.

In this post, links are provided for further study.

Let’s begin.

Scripture: John 4:43-54

⁴³ After two days, he left from there for Galilee, ⁴⁴ for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own home country. ⁴⁵ When he came then to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, when they saw everything which he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they themselves were also at the feast.

⁴⁶ He came back to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus came from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and kept asking that he would come down and heal his son, for he was about to die. ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “If you did not see the signs and wonders, you would certainly not believe.” ⁴⁹ The royal official said to him, “Lord, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go. Your son lives.” The man believed the word which Jesus said to him and started to go. ⁵¹ While he was coming down, his servants met him, saying that his child lives. ⁵² So he inquired of them as to the hour when he got better. So they told him that the fever left yesterday at the seventh hour. ⁵³ Then the father knew that this was that hour when Jesus told him, “Your son lives.” He himself believed, along with his entire household. ⁵⁴ Jesus again did this second sign, coming from Judea to Galilee. (John 4:43-54)

Comments

43-45:

Here is another example, found in the prologue, which contains the themes of the rest of the Gospel: ¹¹ “He came to his own people, but his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who received him, to the ones who believe in his name, he gave the authority to become children of God” (John 1:11-12). So also here.

As for John 1:12, the royal official is about to believe, along with all of his household. They became children of God.

All three synoptic writers quote this proverb (Matt. 13:57 // Mark 6:4 // Luke 4:24) and apply it to his hometown, Nazareth. John expands it to include the Judeans and the Jerusalemites. He cleared out part of the temple because this area too was his “own” place or sacred place, his Father’s house. In contrast, the Galileans temporarily welcome him. At a later time, the Nazarenes, in Galilee, will look down on him.

“come down”: Capernaum was on the Lake of Galilee, which was 695 feet (212m) below sea level.

“testified”: see v. 39 for more comments.

46-54:

First, let me say that in v. 48, the two verbs are plural, so we could translate it: “If you (people) did not see the signs and wonders, you (people) would certainly not believe.” Or let’s use the wonderful and useful “y’all” (a southern contraction of “you” and “all,” which adds up to a second person plural). “If y’all did not see the signs and wonders, y’all would certainly not believe.” Jesus must have turned towards a crowd when he said those words.

This is a separate event from the centurion’s dying servant (Matt. 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10). The man here in John was a royal official, not a Gentile centurion. The royal official did not speak words of startling faith, as the centurion did. In fact, the royal official seemed desperate or at least did not focus on his lack of faith or presence of faith. Some speculate that he may have been Chuza, who was a manager in Herod Antipas’s household. (Luke 8:3) (Bruce, comment on vv. 46-47). This makes sense and explains why his wife Joanna supported Jesus in his ministry.

As Jesus did for the centurion, so also he does for the royal official. He heals from a distance. He can perform similar miracles for two different men.

“seventh hour”: = 1:00 p.m. or 13:00.

Here is a table of the signs, but John also clarifies in various places that Jesus performed many other signs. So now we see that John’s narrative is highly stylized and edited, to suit his purpose.

THE EIGHT SIGNS OF JOHN’S GOSPEL
	Sign	Verses
1	Turning water into wine	2:1-11, the “beginning” or “first” sign
2	Healing an official’s son	4:43-54 “the second sign”
3	Healing a disabled man at a pool	5:1-15; see 6:2, where many healings are summarized
4	Feeding 5000	6:1-14 (see 6:14 and 6:26)
5	Walking on water	6:16-21
6	Healing a man born blind	9:1-12 (see 9:16 and “such signs”)
7	Raising Lazarus from dead	11:1-44 (see “signs” in 11:47 and “this sign” in 12:18)
8	Rising from the dead	20:1-31 (see many other signs in 20:30)
Source: BTSB, p. 2141, slightly edited

And here is the purpose of the signs, without a complicated commentary:

³⁰ So then Jesus performed many other signs in front of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ These were written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

The signs are for us to believe that he is the Messiah (or Christ), the Son of God. They are signposts, which point to Jesus and his glory. Evidently, Messiahship and Sonship are interchangeable here.

The household includes his wife and children and servants. They all believed, because the royal official calculated the time Jesus spoke his word and the time his son recovered. There is no distance in the spirit realm, when Jesus issues a command.

Jesus performed signs in Jerusalem (John 2:23), but they do not figure in to John’s calculation right now. John is thinking of the Galilean signs at this point (Bruce, comment on v. 54).

I defined “believing” and “faith” as total trust in Christ. It seems this official and his household had deep faith in the Messiah. And as the Messiah, he could heal his son.

GrowApp for John 4:43-54

1. Have you even been rejected by your own hometown or family or even one family member? How did you respond? Did you move on with Jesus? Or did you reconcile?

2. Do you have a testimony of healing? Tell your story.

RELATED

14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels

12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel

4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel

3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel

SOURCES

For the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:

John 4