Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 4:54
This [is] again the second miracle [that] Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee.
54. This is again the second, &c.] Rather, This again as a second miracle (or sign) did Jesus, after He had come out of Judaea into Galilee. Both first and second had similar results: the first confirmed the faith of the disciples, the second that of this official.
The question whether this foregoing narrative is a discordant account of the healing of the centurion’s servant (Mat 8:5; Luk 7:2) has been discussed from very early times, for Origen and Chrysostom contend against it. Irenaeus seems to be in favour of the identification, but we cannot be sure that he is. He says, ‘He healed the son of the centurion though absent with a word, saying, Go, thy son liveth.’ Irenaeus may have supposed that this official was a centurion, or ‘centurion’ may be a slip. Eight very marked points of difference between the two narratives have been noted. Together they amount to something like proof that the two narratives cannot refer to one and the same fact, unless we are to attribute an astonishing amount of carelessness or misinformation either to the Synoptists or to S. John.
(1) Here a ‘king’s man’ pleads for his son; there a centurion for his servant.
(2) Here he pleads in person; there the Jewish elders plead for him.
(3) Here the father is probably a Jew; there the centurion is certainly a Gentile.
(4) Here the healing words are spoken at Cana; there at Capernaum.
(5) Here the malady is fever; there paralysis.
(6) Here the father wishes Jesus to come; there the centurion begs him not to come.
(7) Here Christ does not go; there apparently he does.
(8) Here the father has weak faith and is blamed ( Joh 4:48); there the centurion has strong faith and is commended.
And what difficulty is there in supposing two somewhat similar miracles? Christ’s miracles were ‘signs;’ they were vehicles for conveying the spiritual truths which Christ came to teach. If, as is almost certain, He often repeated the same instructive sayings, may He not sometimes have repeated the same instructive acts? Here, therefore, as in the case of the cleansing of the Temple (Joh 2:13-17), it seems wisest to believe that S. John and the Synoptists record different events.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 54. This – second miracle] The first miracle which Christ performed was in this same city of Cana, just after his baptism; and this second took place after his arrival here from Jerusalem, whence, we have seen, he was driven by the persecution raised against him by the scribes and Pharisees. By construing the word , again, with , he came, that confusion which is evident in the common version is entirely removed.
Bishop Pearce says: “It seems probable to me that John, when he wrote this verse, either joined the word to , as he had done in Joh 4:46, or meant that it should be so joined in the construction.”
John does not mention here the miracles which our Lord did at Capernaum on his first journey, Joh 2:11, nor those which he did at Jerusalem on the feast of the passover. See Joh 2:12; Lu 4:23.
THERE are several particulars in the preceding history of the Samaritan woman which confirm the doctrine of a particular providence, and show how God manages the most common occurrences in order to accomplish the designs of his mercy and love.
The Gospel must be preached to the Samaritans: this is God’s purpose; and in this case, the wrath of man is caused to praise him.
1. Christ finds it necessary to quit Judea because of the persecution raised up against him by the scribes and Pharisees, Joh 4:1-3. How worthy of admiration is that Divine providence that presses every thing into the accomplishment of its own designs! The doctors of Jerusalem oblige the Saviour to leave their city; and a simple woman persuades all the inhabitants of a Samaritan city to open their gates and their hearts, and entreat the Redeemer of the world to enter in.
2. Christ must pass through Samaria, Joh 4:4. He was so situated in Judea that he could not reach Galilee except through Samaria, without taking a large circuit, which the necessities of the present case could not admit. Thus, while he appears to fly only from the fury of his persecutors, he is in reality seeking the lost, and fully accomplishing the work he came into the world to perform.
3. Christ being weary finds it necessary to sit down to rest himself by Jacob’s well, Joh 4:5-6, spent with fatigue and hunger. How energetic was this fatigue? how active was this rest! Nothing can happen to Christ in vain-nothing can turn him out of the way of his mercy-his great work he continues to carry on, without the smallest interruption, where we would have thought it must have been necessarily suspended.
4. The disciples are obliged to go to the city to buy victuals, Joh 4:8, and Jesus was left alone. Even this circumstance was not only favourable to the conversion of the Samaritan woman, but even essentially necessary, as, without it, she could not have had that opportunity of conversing freely with our Lord; nor would it have been proper for him to have made that discovery of himself, in their presence, which we find he did during their absence. See the note on Joh 4:26.
5. The Samaritan woman is induced at that very time to go and draw water. Even so small a circumstance as this becomes a necessary part in the economy of her salvation. There is not a circumstance in our life not an occurrence in our business, but God will make it subservient to our salvation, if we have a simple heart and a teachable spirit. The steps of a good man especially are ordered of the Lord; and, while he acknowledges his Maker in all his ways, he will direct all his steps. A proper consideration of this great truth will produce both confidence and humility.
6. But this blessed doctrine may be abused; for some may suppose that God always acts according to a fixed necessity, through which, whatsoever was, is, or will be, has had its existence, mode of being, operation, and direction, according to predetermined irrevocable laws. This system makes God himself the necessary agent of eternal fate, as it supposes him to be constantly employed in doing what eternal necessity obliges him to perform; and thus his infinite freedom is bounded or acted upon by uncontrollable necessity. Perdition is not farther from glory than necessitating decrees are from a particular and gracious providence, by which the means of salvation are placed within the reach of every human being.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
His turning water into wine Joh 2:1-25 was the first, this was the second, and so in order of time before any of those miracles which he wrought in Galilee, of which we read, Mat 4:23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
This [is] again the second miracle [that] Jesus did,…. That is, in that place, in Cana of Galilee; for otherwise, in Jerusalem and Judea, he had done many miracles, between the former and this; see Joh 2:23; and so the following words explain it:
when he was come out of Judea into Galilee; this was the first he wrought, after his coming out of Judea into Galilee, this time, and was the second that he wrought in Cana of Galilee; see Joh 2:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The second sign that ( ). No article, simply predicate accusative, “This again a second sign did Jesus having come out of Judea into Galilee.” The first one was also in Cana (2:1ff.), but many were wrought in Jerusalem also (2:23).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1 ) “This is again the second miracle that Jesus did,” (touto de palin deuteron semeton epoiesen ho lesous) “This then is again the second miracle that Jesus did,” or performed. The former is recounted Joh 2:11.
2) “When he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.” (elthon ek tes loudaias eis ten Galilaian) “While coming out of Judea and into Galilee,” from His visit at the feast in Jerusalem, and His stay in Samaria, as recounted in this chapter, Joh 4:3-45.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(54) This is again the second.The English version has inserted the article, which is not found in the Greek, and has added in italics is and that. Omitting these additions, and remembering that in St. Johns language every miracle has its deeper teaching, the verse will read, This again, a second sign, did Jesus when he was come out of Juda into Galilee. His first presence in Galilee was marked by a sign (Joh. 2:1-11), and this visit is also. There the individual disciples, who were to leave home and follow him, read the lesson the sign was meant to teach. Now for the first time the family is the unit in the Christian life, and the father, himself taught to read the sign, becomes the first teacher, and representative, of the first Christian household.
This miracle of healing naturally brings to the thoughts the healing of the centurions servant. See Notes on Mat. 8:5 et seq., and Luk. 7:2 et seq. To some minds, from Irenus downwards, the resemblance has seemed so striking that nothing short of identification could explain it. But there is no a priori reason why two miracles should not be performed under circumstances in some respects analogous, and the knowledge of the healing in this case may well have led to the faith in that. If we bear in mind that the miracle is ever to be regarded as the parable in act, it is probable that the acts of Christ would be repeated. Repetition is a part of the method of every great teacher, and formed a large part in the Rabbinic systems Jesus Christ was, it is true, infinitely above .all human teachers, but His hearers were ordinary men, and His teaching and working must have adapted itself to the constitution of the human mind. A comparison of the present narratives will establish the following points of difference, which in their totality amount, it is believed, to little short of proof, that St. John has added the history of a sign which is not recorded in the earlier Gospels.
(1) It is here a nobleman who pleads for his son; there a centurion for his servant (Mat. 8:6; Luk. 7:2).
(2) Here the pleading is in person; there the elders of the Jews intercede (Luk. 7:3).
(3) Here the nobleman is almost certainly a Jew; there the centurion is certainly a Gentile (Mat. 8:10 et seq.; Luk. 7:9).
(4) Here the words of miracle are spoken at Cana; there at Capernaum (Mat. 8:5; Luk. 7:1).
(5) Here the illness is a fever; there paralysis (Mat. 8:6).
(6) Here the father pleads that Jesus will go down with him; there the centurion deprecates His going, and asks Him to command with a word only (Mat. 8:7; Luk. 7:7).
(7) Here the Lord speaks the word only, and does not go down; there apparently He does both (Mat. 8:13; Luk. 7:6).
(8) Here the Lord blames the half-faith which demands signs and wonders; there He marvels at the fulness of faith, and, it may be in reference to this very nobleman, says, In no one have I found so great faith in Israel (Mat. 8:10).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
54. This the second miracle Twice did our blessed Saviour perform a miracle, coming at each time from Judea into Galilee. The first supplied the wedding wine, the second saved the nobleman’s son.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘This is again the second sign that Jesus did when He had come from Judea to Galilee.’
Up to this point Galilee had not been the scene of His miracles. Judea had been given the first chance to respond to its Messiah. They had been His prime target, His own country. Indeed even as a young teenager He had recognised Jerusalem as the centre of His ministry (Luk 2:46). Now He will bring the good news to His adopted home. The first sign in Galilee had revealed that Jesus had come to bring in the ‘good things’ of the age to come. The second revealed the power of His word to act instantaneously even at a distance, and the need to accept it and respond in full faith. Both revealed that He only had to think and it was done. It was then made clear by being followed by a word of power from the One Who is the Word. Jesus was being revealed as the Son of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 4:54. The second miracle Some render it, A second. Others translate it, This second miracle Jesus performed, when he came out of Judea; for it is manifest that the words must be taken with this limitation, as Christ had wrought many miracles in other places.
Inferences drawn from the cure of the ruler’s son, Joh 4:46-54. The divine mercies are as comfortable in their issue, as in themselves; seldom or ever do blessings go alone: where our Saviour supplied the bridegroom’s wine, there he heals the ruler’s son: he had not in all the coasts of Galilee done any miracle but there.
We do not find Christ often attended with nobility; here he is: it was some noted courtier that was now a suitor to him for his dying son: earthly greatness is no defence against afflictions: we men pay homage to the mighty; disease and death know no faces of lords or monarchs: could these be bribed, they would be too rich: why should we murmur at not being privileged, when we see that there is no indulgence toward the greatest?
This noble ruler listens to hear of Christ’s return into Galilee. Happy was it for him that his son was sick; he would not perhaps otherwise have been acquainted with his Saviour: his soul might have continued sick of ignorance and unbelief. Why does our God send us pain, losses, opposition, but that he may be sought to? Are we afflicted,whither should we go, but to Cana, to seek Christ? Whither but to the Cana of heaven, where our water of sorrows shall be changed into the wine of gladness; to that omnipotent Physician, who healeth all our infirmities; that we may at once say, It is good for me that I was afflicted.
It was about a day’s journey from Capernaum to Cana; thence did this courtier come hither for the cure of his son’s fever. What pains even the greatest can be content to take for bodily health!No way is long, no labour is tedious to the desirous. Our souls are sick of a spiritual fever, labouring under the cold fit of unbelief, and the hot fit of self-love; and we sit still at home, and see them languish unto death.
This ruler was neither faithless nor faithful; had he been quite faithless, he had not taken such pains to come to Christ. Had he been faithful, he had not made this suit to Christ, when he was come, Joh 4:47; Joh 4:49. Come down, and heal my son ere he die.
“Come down;” as if Christ could not have cured him absent; “ere he die;”as if that power could not have raised him being dead: How great a difference was there between the centurion (Matthew 8. Luke 7.) and the ruler! The one came for his servant, the other for his son. This son was not more above the servant, than the faith which sued for the servant, surpassed that which sued for the son: the one can say, Master, come not under my roof, for I am not worthy; only speak the word, and my servant shall be whole. The other can only say, “Master, either come under my roof, or my son cannot be whole.” Heal my son, had been a good suit; for Christ is the only physician for all diseases; but, come down and heal him, was to teach God how to work.
There is good reason why he should challenge the right of prescribing to us, who are every way his own: it is presumption to limit him to our forms. What expert workman can endure to be taught by a novice? how much less shall the all-wise God be directed by his creatures! This is more egregious, than if the patient should take upon him to give a recipe to his physician: that God would give us grace, is a becoming suit; but to say, “Give it me by prosperity,” is a saucy motive.
As there is faithfulness in desiring the end, so is there a modesty and patience in referring the means to the author. In spiritual things, God hath acquainted us with the means whereby he will work even his own sacred ordinances: upon these, because they have his own promise, we may call absolutely for a blessing. In all others, there is no reason that beggars should be choosers. He who doth whatsoever he will, must do it how he will: it is for us to receive, not to appoint.
He who came to complain of his son’s sickness, hears of his own; except ye see signs and wonders, (Joh 4:48.) ye will not believe. This nobleman, probably, was of Capernaum: there had Christ often preached; there was one of his chief residences; either this man had heard our Saviour often, or might have so done. Incredulity was the common disease of the Jews; which no receipt could heal, but wonders. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh signs. Had they not been wilfully graceless, there was already proof enough of the Messiah: the miraculous conception and life of the forerunner, Zachary’s dumbness, the attestation of angels, the appearance of the star, the journey of the sages, the vision of the shepherds, the testimonies of Anna and Simeon, the prophesies fulfilled, the voice from heaven at his baptism, the divine words which he spake:and yet, they must have all made up with miracles; which though he be not unwilling to give at his own time, he will not be tied to at theirs. Not to believe without signs, was a sign of stubborn hearts.
It was a fond fault and a dangerous one; Ye will not believe. What is it that shall condemn the world, but unbelief? What can condemn us without it? No sin will condemn the penitent believer; where then true faith is, there can be no condemnation.
Oh what shall become of us, who reel and fall in the clearer sunshine that ever looked forth from heaven upon any people! Be thou merciful unto our sins, O God, and say any thing of us, rather than, Ye will not believe.
Our Lord tells this nobleman of his unbelief: he feels not himself sick of that disease: all his mind is on his dying son.Yet, O the meekness and mercy of this Lamb of God! when we might have expected that he would have punished this suitor for not believing, he condescends to him, that he may believe, Joh 4:50. Go thy way; thy son liveth. If we should measure our hopes by our own worthiness, there could be no expectation of blessings; but if we measure them by his bounty and compassion, there can be no doubt of prevailing. As some tender mother, who gives the breast to her unquiet child, instead of the rod, so frequently deals the Saviour of sinners with our perversenesses.
How evidently doth God distinguish men according to the genuine living faith which they have in him! The centurion’s servant was sick, so was the ruler’s son; the centurion does not sue to Christ to come; he only says, My servant is sick of the palsy: Christ answers him, I will come and heal him. The ruler sues to Christ, that he would come and heal his son; Christ will not go; he only says, Go thy way; thy son liveth: outward things carry no respect with God; the image of that divine majesty shining inwardly in the graces of the soul, is that which wins love from him, in the meanest estate: the centurion’s faith, therefore, could do more than the ruler’s greatness; and that faithful man’s servant has more regard, than this great man’s son.
The ruler’s request was, come and heal; Christ’s answer was, Go thy way; thy son liveth. How sweetly does he correct our prayers! and while he does not give us what we ask, he gives us better than we could hope to obtain.
Justly doth he forbear to go down with this ruler, lest he should confirm him in an opinion of measuring his power by conceits of locality and distance; but he doth that in absence, for which his presence was required with a repulse; thy son liveth; giving a greater demonstration of his onmipotency than was desired: how often doth he refrain to hearken to our will, that he may hear us to our advantage! The believer sometimes would be rid of temptations,he hears of a supply of grace; the sick man asks release, he receives patience: let us ask what we think best; let him give what he knows best.
With one word doth Christ heal two patients, the son and the father; the son’s fever, the father’s unbelief: that operative word of our Saviour was not without the intention of a trial. Had not the ruler gone home satisfied with that intimation of his son’s life and recovery, neither of them had been blessed with success; now the news of performance meets him one half of the way; and he that believed somewhat ere he came, and more when he went, grew to more faith in the way; and when he came home, enlarged his faith to all the skirts of his family. A weak faith may be true, but a true faith is growing: he that boasts of a full stature in the first moment of his ascent, may presume, but he does not believe.
Great men cannot want clients; their example sways some, their authority more: they cannot go to either of the other worlds alone: in vain do they pretend to power over others, who labour not to draw their families to God.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Judea being now become a dangerous abode, through the malice of the Pharisees, our Lord retires into Galilee, that he might be farther removed from Jerusalem, where his bitter enemies chiefly resided: his preaching in Judea having been very successful, and great multitudes having followed him, who were admitted by baptism into the number of his professing disciples, he knew the wicked designs that his Pharisaical enemies had formed, on the information which they received concerning his growing fame and interest among the people; as if he far exceeded John in his popularity and number of converts, and therefore was to be apprehended as a more dangerous rival than the Baptist; though, in some particulars, the information given to the Pharisees seems to be false; for as it is not probable that they who were baptized by the disciples of Jesus, were more than those whom John had baptized; so it is certain, that Jesus baptized not, but his disciples, maintaining the dignity of his character, as sent to baptize with the Holy Ghost, and far superior to John, or any others: this also might have been designed to remove all emulation from his disciples, which might arise, if he baptized some, and his servants others; or to shew, that the validity of the ordinance depended not on the worthiness of the ministry, but on his blessing and institution. Note; (1.) The enemies of the gospel are ever envious and exasperated at its success. (2.) When danger threatens, it is prudent to avoid the storm by flight, where duty does not require us to stand and suffer.
2nd, As Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee, he must necessarily pass through it on his way thither, unless he took a large compass about. That country was inhabited by the posterity of the colonies which the king of Assyria had planted there after the captivity; who, being mingled with many apostate Jews, became a mixed race, who, though retaining many heathen idolatries and superstitions, professed themselves worshippers of Israel’s God, and received the books of Moses; were circumcised, and erected a temple on mount Gerizim, in opposition to that at Jerusalem, pretending that this was the spot where God ought to be worshipped. Hence arose the bitterest animosity between the Samaritans and the Jews, the latter regarding the former as the most abominable of mankind. In this journey we are told,
1. The place where our Lord stayed to rest himself awhile, being wearied with his journey. It was by a well-side belonging to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, which bordered on a piece of land that Jacob, having purchased of the sons of Hamor, had given to his son Joseph. The well was called Jacob’s, either because he dug it, or used it for himself and family. Our Lord here appears truly man, subject to our sinless infirmities, weariness, thirst, and hunger; for it became him in all things to become like unto his brethren, sin only excepted. It was about the sixth hour, or six in the evening, if we follow the Roman method of reckoning.
2. The discourse which passed between Jesus and a woman of Samaria. She happened just at that time to come to draw water: so divine Providence ordered it, leading her to Christ in a way that she knew not. The disciples being gone into the city to buy meat, he was alone, and is pleased graciously to improve that moment’s leisure for the benefit of this poor stranger’s soul.
[1.] He addressed her first, begging a little water to drink; for though he was rich, for our sakes he became thus poor, and condescends to ask a cup of cold water. Yet he had a farther end in view, even to engage her in conversation, and thereby to make to her the gracious offer of salvation. Occasional discourse with strangers has been often found to have a blessed and abiding influence, and should encourage us, when travelling, to open our mouths, and speak a word for God, and for immortal souls.
[2.] The woman expressed her surprise, that he, who appeared to be a Jew, should deign to receive an act of kindness at the hands of a Samaritan; or that he should expect the least favour would be granted from one to the other, where the enmity between the two nations was so bitter and irreconcileable, as to cut off all manner of friendly intercourse between them. Religious quarrels are thus usually seen to be the most implacable; but where the spirit of bigotry and uncharitableness dwells, which-ever side is right in the point disputed, the spirit of both is wrong, and utterly opposite to pure and undefiled religion.
[3.] Waving the subject of the controversy between the Jews and Samaritans, Christ designed to lead her to the knowledge of himself, and therefore replied, If thou knewest the gift of God, what an amazing instance of his love he has given in sending his own Son into the world; and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; even that divine Person now become incarnate; thou wouldst have laid aside all these national prejudices, and have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water; those gifts of grace, and comforts of his Spirit, which to the sinner’s soul are more desirable than the coolest and most refreshing stream to the parched throat and weary traveller. Note; (1.) Christ is the fountain of gardens, and well of living waters, open for every poor sinner, and freely given, that whoever will, may come unto him, and drink of the riches of his grace. (2.) Many carelessly disregard the invaluable blessings of the gospel, because they are wilfully ignorant of their excellence, and of their want of them. (3.) They who would obtain the blessings of grace from Jesus, and his holy Spirit, must seek them in importunate prayer; and he who is faithful and true, hath promised, that none such shall ask in vain.
[4.] The woman, mistaking Christ’s meaning, and taking his discourse literally, answered, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? and therefore concludes that his boasts were absurd. They who are wholly taken up with the objects of sense, have no understanding of spiritual things; they are foolishness to them: the hidden springs of grace in Christ, being unseen, are disbelieved by such. Besides, she regards it as a great piece of presumption in him, to prefer any other waters before those of a well so highly distinguished. Art thou greater than our father Jacob, from whom we Samaritans, as well as you Jews, claim our descent; which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Vain boasts these! when they had so poor a title to claim kindred with the patriarch, and were no better than usurpers of that country, which they pretended came to them by gift from Jacob to Joseph, and so in a right line of descent to them. The bitterest enemies of the church thus often usurp, and would monopolize its privileges.
[5.] Though she had spoken foolishly, Christ kindly bore with her, and continued his discourse, saying, Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again; this was but common water, and could only slake the present thirst, which must soon return: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst. All the comforts of the world are insufficient to give any abiding satisfaction; Christ alone can bestow the substantial portion on the soul. They who pant after the earth, and its enjoyments, drink and thirst again; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Such is Christ, when formed in the hearts of the faithful. [1.] He delivers the soul from the dominion of all the former unsatiable appetites and inclinations after sensual objects. [2.] He furnishes us with continual supplies of grace and consolation from himself, the everflowing overflowing fountain of mercies; so that in our heavenly journey we can never faint nor be weary, while we drink of these living streams, as of the water from the rock, which followed Israel’s camp through the desert. [3.] Wherever his grace is thus implanted in the soul, it bears the affections heavenward.
[6.] The woman, desiring what, could it be possessed, would save her so much trouble, replied, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
[7.] To impress deeper seriousness upon her soul, or to convince her of the dignity of his character, of which she was not at all apprized, Jesus turned the discourse to another topic, which he knew must nearly and deeply affect her; and, bringing her sin home to her conscience, might, through his blessing, engage her to embrace him as her Saviour. Therefore he says to her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. Conscious of the guilty state in which she at present lived, she wanted to conceal her shame, and said, I have no husband, conceiving it impossible for him to detect the lie. But, to her amazement, she finds him intimately acquainted with all the most secret transactions of her life, which he lays before her. Thou hast well said, I have no husband; so far is true; for thou hast had five husbands, from whom perhaps she had been successively divorced; and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly, the person with whom she now cohabited not being married to her, or her former husbands being yet living. He does not reproach her either for her evasion or lewdness, but rather leaves it to her conscience to make the application. Gentle reproofs, by insinuation, are often more effectual than more immediate rebuke.
[8.] Struck with what she heard, and convicted in her own conscience, she would willingly have turned off the discourse from so painful a subject; and persuaded, by what he had told her, of his more than human knowledge, she proposes to him the grand point in debate between the Jews and Samaritans: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; there Abraham built an altar; and there the tribe of Joseph stood, when the blessings and curses were pronounced by the tribes on mount Ebal and Gerizim; and therefore on this mountain Gerizim, the Samaritans insisted that sacrifices and offerings should alone be offered to God, in the temple which they built there: and ye who are Jews, say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship, at the temple on mount Zion, where alone the oblations of God’s altar are accepted: and therefore she wished, that he, who appeared so able, would resolve her in this important point. That God should be worshipped, there was no doubt: the question was, Where was the place of divine appointment? and herein she did well to improve the present opportunity in conversing about divine things, when she had with her so able an adviser.
[9.] Jesus kindly leads her even farther than her inquiry reached. He saith unto her, Woman, believe me, and, since you esteem me a prophet, weigh well what I am now about to declare, the hour cometh, when a final period shall be put to all ceremonial distinctions, and to the peculiar holiness of places set apart for the worship of the Divine Being; when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father; that is to say, exclusively; since under the gospel dispensation every place would be alike acceptable to God, where holy hands were lifted up without wrath or doubting; and shortly both the temple at Gerizim and that on mount Zion would be made desolate, and no sacrifices be any longer offered there. Indeed at present the Samaritans were wrong; Ye worship ye know not what (See the Annotations): we know what we worship; for God is known in Israel; and he, as one of that nation after the flesh, reckoned himself among the true worshippers, who paid their adorations according to the divine prescription, and were possessed of the whole of that revelation which he had been graciously pleased to make of himself in his sacred oracles. For salvation is of the Jews; the promises of salvation were peculiarly made to them; and he who came to be the salvation of the ends of the earth, sprang from them. But, though in this respect the Samaritans were wrong, and not to be compared with Abraham’s true descendants, yet these distinctions of nations and places were now about to cease; the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The place of worship is now become indifferent; the spirit and temper of the worshipper alone makes the acceptable service. All carnal ordinances are abolished, and a spiritual worship is introduced, where the heart, under the powerful influences of the Holy Ghost, must be lifted up in faith and love to God; and in truth, with simplicity and godly sincerity, according to the divine institution, and through Christ alone, who is the way, the truth, and the life; for the Father seeketh such to worship him: he will graciously accept their services, and can be pleased with no other. For God is a Spirit of infinite perfections, incorporeal, invisible, eternal, omniscient; requiring not the adoration of the lip or knee, but of the heart; and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth: without which, the place, the form, the manner of our religious worship, avail nothing, and are in his view of no account. And what Christ says to her, is an eternal truth and merits our most serious notice and regard; that so we may not mock God, and deceive ourselves, when we approach him in the ordinances of his worship.
[10.] The woman, though unable to object to the truths here advanced, yet professes to suspend her judgment till He should come, who would set all things right. She saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, (which is called in the Greek, Christ, or the anointed), this expectation being generally entertained by the Samaritans as well as the Jews. When he is come, whom we expect as ready to appear, he will tell us all things; will put an end to our controversies, clear up our doubts, and give us a distinct knowledge of all the will of God. Hereupon Jesus, in answer to her expectations of the Messiah’s coming, plainly declares to her his character: I that speak unto thee, am he: so much nearer to us is the Saviour often than we are aware. Speak, Lord, to my heart, and make me know that thou art with me, in me!
3rdly, Just as the Lord had so far advanced in his discourse, and manifested his glorious character to this poor Samaritan, we are told,
1. The interruption given to the conversation by the arrival of the disciples, who had been sent to procure provisions; and, influenced by the common Jewish prejudices, they wondered to see him thus engaged with a Samaritan woman. Yet, submitting to his will and wisdom, and with deepest reverence silent before him, none dared presume to ask him what he sought of the woman, or what he said to her. Note; We must not question the Lord concerning any of the dispensations of his providence or grace, but rest assured that he doth all things well.
2. Deeply convinced, by what Jesus had spoken, of his being indeed the Messiah, with eagerness and joy the woman ran back to the city, leaving her water-pot behind her, careless about that when greater concerns engaged her soul; and said to the men, the inhabitants of the place, Come, opportunity is precious, and not a moment to be lost: come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? He told me such secret passages of my life, as none but God could know; and has impressed such a sense of them on my conscience, as fully convinces me he is the promised Messiah; haste therefore to him, and judge for yourselves, that you may be convinced also. Note; (1.) They who run on Christ’s errands, gladly disencumber themselves of every thing which would retard their speed, and sit loose to all that they leave behind them. (2.) When we have ourselves tasted that the Lord is gracious, we cannot but delight to invite others to come and see how good he is, and to partake with us in his rich mercies. (3.) We never know Christ truly, till, experimentally feeling the convictions of his word and Spirit, and brought to a deep and humbling discovery of our sins, we feel the necessity of that salvation which he brings.
3. Multitudes, on this strange report, bad as the woman’s character had been, resolved to go and see for themselves.
4. Christ in the mean time improved the interval in profitable discourse with his disciples. So set was his mind on the blessed work before him, that, though hungry, he seemed to forget for a while to eat his bread. The disciples pressed him, as weary, and fasting too long, to eat of the provision which they had brought; but he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. The gracious work begun on the heart of this poor Samaritan woman, and the prospect of multitudes flocking towards him, were more delightful and refreshing to his soul, than the richest entertainment to his body. The disciples, who understood him literally, with surprise said one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? so dull were they of understanding. But their Master soon corrected their mistake, saying unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work; this is my greatest satisfaction, to be engaged in the blessed work of seeking and saving that which was lost, for which great end I came into the world: and what was his delight, should be theirs, as the husbandman labours with satisfaction in the view of the approaching harvest. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Does this joyous season please you in the prospect? Behold, an infinitely better is in view; I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields (where probably multitudes of the Samaritans now appeared in view), for they are white already to harvest; immortal souls are ready to be gathered into the gospel church; and therefore this is no time to eat and drink, but to rise and labour. And, for an inducement hereunto, he suggests the glorious recompense of reward, which would be the wages of their fidelity: He that reapeth, receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; the wages of present comfort, increasing strength and success in his labours, and, if faithful unto death, life everlasting in the world to come: and this not only for himself, but for many of those among whom he ministers; the blessed effects of which will be, that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together. The ministers who begin, and they who carry on the good work, will alike partake of the comforts of it. And herein is that proverbial saying true, One soweth and another reapeth: the apostles reaped what the prophets sowed; and, after their Master’s resurrection, gathered a plenteous harvest of souls. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours: the writings of the prophets, and the preaching of John, greatly facilitated their ministry and contributed to its success; and going forth with such advantages, they had peculiar encouragement, and double cause for their diligence. Note; (1.) Gospel ministers, like harvest-men, must labour diligently and cheerfully in the service of God, and of immortal souls. (2.) When the people appear eager and attentive to hear, it is a most powerful excitement to the minister, to preach with liveliness and zeal. (3.) Nothing will turn to so glorious an account in the day of God, as immortal souls gained to his kingdom through our ministry. (4.) The preachers of the gospel have different talents; some more adapted to break up the fallow ground, and sow the seed; others, to nourish up, and rear to maturity, the trees of righteousness: each are useful in their place, and, if faithful, will rejoice together at the last in the fruit of their joint labours.
5. Great was the effect of the woman’s testimony concerning Christ. Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. She was indeed a weak instrument; but God can work by the most unlikely means. Persuaded of his prophetical character, and receiving him as the Messiah, they humbly besought him to favour them with his company for a while, that they might enjoy his holy instructions. Nor did he disdain their request, but abode with them two days, teaching them concerning the things that made for their everlasting peace. And so powerful was his ministry among them, that many more believed, because of his own word: not only those who believed in him on the woman’s report, were confirmed in the faith; but those who had paid less regard to her, now felt the divine conviction of the Saviour’s discourses, and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, merely, but on the most unshaken authority of the word of Jesus himself; for we have heard him ourselves, and know, by the powerful energy of his word upon our consciences, that this is indeed the Christ, the so long promised and expected Saviour of the world; not of the Jews only, but of the Samaritans also, and of all the nations of the earth, who would receive his word of salvation. Note; (1.) The greatest fruit is often reaped where it was least expected. The Samaritans readily embraced that Saviour whom the Jews rejected. (2.) Christ is indeed the Saviour of the world; but we must believe in him, before we ourselves can be experimentally acquainted with his salvation.
4thly, Jesus made but a short visit to Sychar; he had other work to do, and therefore after two days he departed thence. Yet perhaps two more successful days passed not during his ministry; a gracious earnest of the success which his gospel should meet with in the heathen world.
1. Christ pursued his journey to Galilee, but went not to Nazareth; well knowing, as he had before observed and experienced, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country; those with whom we have been brought up from infancy, usually paying little respect to the person as their teacher, with whom they have been familiar, as their junior, their schoolfellow, or their companion.
2. The Galileans gladly received him, having seen his miracles at the feast of the passover; to celebrate which, distant as they were, they went up with the other Jews to Jerusalem. Note; They who love God’s ordinances, will not grudge to go far to enjoy them, and never will have reason to regret their pains.
3. He visited, among other places, Cana, where his first miracle was wrought of turning the water into wine; and there another notable miracle is wrought by him, which is not recorded by any of the other evangelists.
[1.] The person who made application to him, was a nobleman; probably, one of Herod’s courtiers, perhaps Chuza, (Luk 8:3.) or Manaen, (Act 13:1.) and the patient was the nobleman’s own son. Note; (1.) Greatness is no protection from disease, nor from any of the common calamities incident to humanity. (2.) Afflictions often drive those to Christ, who, otherwise, probably had never applied to him; and then indeed they are blessings in disguise.
[2.] His address was earnest, and bespoke his confidence in the power of Jesus. He came himself from Capernaum to Cana, to beg his help. The case was desperate, and past all other aid but his; for his child was at the point of death; and therefore he entreats him to hasten down without delay. He thought the presence of Jesus was needful to the cure, herein dishonourably limiting the holy One of Israel. Note; Our sins have reduced us all to the point of eternal death: unless Jesus save, we must inevitably perish.
[3.] Christ rebukes his confined notions of his almighty power, and the backwardness of the Jews in general to believe. The Samaritans believed as soon as he had preached among them; but they required repeated signs and wonders, not satisfied with those which they had already seen him work at Jerusalem, during the feast.
[4.] The nobleman renews his importunate request. Every moment of delay was, in his apprehension, imminently dangerous; for though he had faith in Christ, that he could cure his son if he was present with him; yet he seems to have no apprehension that he could heal at a distance, or, if the child was dead, restore him to life again.
[5.] Christ relieves him of his pain, saying, Go thy way; thy son liveth. Nothing more was needful to the cure: his word wrought as effectually at a distance, as if he had gone in person. He speaks, and it is done. O that we had but faith to trust him at all times!
[6.] The power which wrought the cure of the son, as effectually influenced the heart of the father; so that in full assurance of faith he departed, perfectly satisfied, that the word which Jesus had spoken was sure, and that he should find his son alive and well. He appeared thus a true son of Abraham, and none like him ever trusted the Lord, and was confounded.
[7.] His servants met him, as he returned, with the joyful news of his son’s recovery; and on inquiring when the happy change took place, they told him, at the seventh hour the fever left him; not gradually, but in a moment he recovered; and the father immediately remembered that that was precisely the hour when Jesus had spoken to him.
[8.] The effect of this miracle was the conversion of himself and his family. Himself believed and his whole house. He had begun to believe before; now his faith was more confirmed in Jesus as the Messiah, and he became a professed disciple; while his household, who were eye-witnesses of the miracle, followed his example. Note; (1.) One word of Jesus spoken to the heart, brings salvation with it. (2.) When the master of the family sets the gracious example, it is often greatly influential to all his house.
Lastly, The evangelist remarks this as the second miracle which Jesus had wrought in Cana of Galilee. Thus by two or three witnesses he established the authority of his mission; and probably the quality of the patient made the cure to be the more observed. When persons of a superior rank submit to be saved by grace through faith, the change wrought on them engages more particular attention.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
Reader! we have reason to believe, that the history of this woman of Samaria, handed down as it is, and hath been for ages past in the Church of God, hath been blessed to thousands. And what encouragement, indeed, doth such a record of grace hold forth, to poor sinners? Think how gracious the Lord dealt with this poor adulteress? How blessedly the view holds up Christ, to our love and adoration? Do not overlook what the Lord Jesus said to her as the sad cause Christ is so little regarded, and God’s love in Christ so little known. Men do not know the gift of God. They have no apprehension that Christ is the remedy of God’s own providing, for the wants of sinners. They neither know Christ in his Person, work, character, offices, and relationship to his Church; neither God’s love in the free and full gift, he hath made of him, to the Church. But when God the Holy Ghost, as in the case of this poor woman, opens to the sinner’s view, who Christ is, both in himself; and in the gift of his Father; the heart and affections are won: and the soul’s thirst for Christ is excited by the same power, and as blessedly assaged, in the knowledge and love of him. With the heart, (saith the Apostle) man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation!
Methinks I could long for parents, and all that are interested in the temporal and everlasting interests of children, to do as this nobleman did; hasten to Christ, for their little ones. Behold! what a sweet miracle is here held forth, for the encouragement of all such. But how blessedly doth it preach to the believing parents of soul-sick children! Dearest Lord Jesus! did thy people but know thee more; how would thy courts be thronged, from day to day, in sending in petitions to the king! Lord, be it my portion, not to wait for signs and wonders; but faithfully to believe in thee, and all thy gracious promises, to the salvation of my soul!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.
Ver. 54. This is again the second miracle ] God keeps count of what he doth for us, and will call us to a reckoning. Should not we keep a register? write up the noble acts of the Lord? make a catalogue of them, such a one as was that Jdg 10:11-12 . “Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites did oppress you, and ye cried unto me, and I delivered you out of their hand.” According to this form, and many the like in sacred Scripture, we should polish and garnish, embroider and embellish, the magnalia Dei, great works of God; for else we undervalue them, which he will not bear with.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
54. ] The meaning of the Evangelist clearly is, that this was the second Galilan miracle (see ch. Joh 3:2 , and Joh 4:45 ). But (1) how is that expressed in the words? The which He did at Jerusalem in the feast being omitted, the . naturally carries the thoughts back to a former one related; and the clause added ( . . .) shews, not that a miracle prior to this, during this return visit, has been passed over, but that as the scene of this second was in Galilee, so that former one, to which . refers, must be sought in Galilee also. And then (2) why should this so particularly be stated? Certainly, it seems to me, on account of the part which this miracle bore in the calling out and assuring of faith by the manifestation of His glory, as that first one had done before. By that (ch. Joh 2:11 ), His disciples had been convinced: by this, one (himself a type of the weak and unworthy in faith) outside the circle of His own. By both, half-belief was strengthened into faith in Him: but in each case it is of a different kind.
It is an interesting question, whether or not this miracle be the same as the healing of the centurion’s servant (or son , Matt.?) in Mat 8:5 ; Luk 7:1 . Irenus appears to hold the two narratives to be the same history ( appears only; for his words are, “Filium centurionis absens verbo curavit dicens Vade, filius tuus vivit,” Hr. ii. 22. 3, p. 147: which remark may be simply explained by his having cited from memory, and thus either made this a centurion, or, which is more probable, having understood the in Mat 8 as a son , and made our Lord there speak very similar words to those really uttered by Him, but which are in reality found here): so Eusebius also in his canons. Chrysostom notices, but opposes the view: and it has never in modern times gained many advocates, being only held by Semler, Seiffarth, and the interpreters of the Straussian school. Indeed, the internal evidence is all against it: not only (Chrys.) , , does the man in one case differ from the man in the other. The inner kernel of the history is, in our case here, the elevation of a weak and mere wonder-seeking faith into a deep conviction of the personal power and love of our Lord; in the other, the commendation of a noble confession of our Lord’s divine power, indicating great strength and grasp of faith, and inducing the greatest personal humility. And the external point brought out in the commendation, , is not only different from, but stands in absolute contrast with, the depreciating charge here, , .
Olshausen (whose commentary on John is far less elaborate than on the other Gospels, which may account for my referring less often to it) well remarks, that this narrative may be regarded as a sequel to the foregoing one.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 4:54 . . a common pleonasm, “again a second”; cf. Joh 21:16 . In Mat 26:42 , ; and Act 10:15 . By this note John connects this miracle with that at the wedding, Joh 2:1-10 , of which he said (Joh 2:11 ) . It does not mean that this was the second miracle after this return to Galilee, although the words might bear that interpretation. Why this note? Bengel thinks that attention is called to the fact that John relates three miracles wrought in Galilee and three in Judaea. Alford supposes that John wishes to note that as the former miracle had called forth the faith of the disciples, so this elicited faith from a wider circle.
Not only Strauss, Baur, and Keim but also Weiss and Sanday suppose that this is the same healing as is recorded in Mat 8:5-13 . But the differences are too great. In the one it is a Gentile centurion whose servant is paralysed; in the other it is the son of a (probably Jewish) court official who is at the point of death from fever. In the one the centurion insists that Jesus shall not come under his roof; in the other the supplicant beseeches Him to do so. The half-faith of the father is blamed; the extraordinary faith of the centurion is lauded.
Chapters 5 11 depict the growth of the unbelief of the Jews. In this part of the Gospel three Judaean miracles and one in Galilee are related in full, and the impulse given by each to the hatred of the Jews is pointed out. These miracles are the healing of the impotent man (chap. 5), the miraculous feeding (chap. 6), the cure of the man born blind (chap. 9), and the raising of Lazarus (chap. 11). This section of the Gospel may be divided thus:
1. Chaps. 5 and 6, Christ manifests Himself as the Life first in Judaea, then in Galilee, but is rejected in both places.
2. Chaps. 7 to Joh 10:21 , He attends the Feast of Tabernacles and manifests Himself by word and deed but is threatened both by the mob and by the authorities.
3. Chaps. Joh 10:22 to Joh 11:57 , Jesus withdraws from Jerusalem but returns to raise Lazarus, in consequence of which the authorities finally determine to slay Him.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
John
THE SECOND MIRACLE
Joh 4:54
The Evangelist evidently intends us to connect together the two miracles in Cana. His object may, possibly, be mainly chronological, and to mark the epochs in our Lord’s ministry. But we cannot fail to see how remarkably these two miracles are contrasted. The one takes place at a wedding, a homely scene of rural festivity and gladness. But life has deeper things in it than gladness, and a Saviour who preferred the house of feasting to the house of mourning would be no Saviour for us. The second miracle, then, turns to the darker side of human experience. The happiest home has its saddened hours; the truest marriage joy has associated with it many a care and many an anxiety. Therefore, He who began by breathing blessing over wedded joy goes on to answer the piteous pleading of parental anxiety. It was fitting that the first miracle should deal with gladness, for that is God’s purpose for His creatures, and that the second should deal with sicknesses and sorrows, which are additions to that purpose made needful by sin.
Again, the first miracle was wrought without intercession, as the outcome of Christ’s own determination that His hour for working it was come. The second miracle was drawn from Him by the imperfect faith and the agonising pleading of the father.
But the great peculiarity of this second miracle in Cana is that it is moulded throughout so as to develop and perfect a weak faith. Notice how there are three words in the narrative, each of which indicates a stage in the history. ‘Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe.’ . . . ‘The man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.’ . . . ‘Himself believed and his whole house.’
We have here, then, Christ manifested as the Discerner, the Rebuker, the Answerer, and therefore the Strengthener, of a very insufficient and ignorant faith. It is a lovely example of the truth of that ancient prophecy, ‘He will not quench the smoking flax.’ So these three stages, as it seems to me, are the three points to observe. We have, first of all, Christ lamenting over an imperfect faith. Then we have Him testing, and so strengthening, a growing faith. And then we have the absent Christ rewarding and crowning a tested faith. I think if we look at these three stages in the story we shall get the main points which the Evangelist intends us to observe.
I. First, then, we have here our Lord lamenting over an ignorant and sensuous faith.
It is the revelation, first of all, of Christ’s singular calmness and majestic leisure, which befitted Him who needed not to hurry, because He was conscious of absolute power. As when the pleading message was sent to Him: ‘He whom Thou lovest is sick, He abode still two days in the same place where He was’; because He loved Lazarus and Martha and Mary; and just as when Jairus is hurrying Him to the bed where his child lies dead, He pauses on the way to attend to the petition of another sufferer; so, in like calmness of majestic leisure, He here puts aside the apparently pressing and urgent necessity in order to deal with a far deeper, more pressing one.
For in the words there is not only a revelation of our Lord’s majestic leisure, but there is also an indication of what He thought of most importance in His dealing with men. It was worthy of His care to heal the boy; it was far more needful that He should train and lead the father to faith. The one can wait much better than the other.
And there is in the words, too, something like a sigh of profound sorrow. Christ is not so much rebuking as lamenting. It is His own pained heart that speaks; He sees in the man before Him more than the man’s words indicated; reading his heart with that divine omniscience which pierces beyond the surface, and beholding in him the very same evil which affected all his countrymen. So He speaks to him as one of a class, and thus somewhat softens the rebuke even while the answer to the nobleman’s petition seems thereby to become still less direct, and His own sorrowful gaze at the wide-reaching spirit of blindness seems thereby to become more absorbed and less conscious of the individual sufferer kneeling at His feet.
Christ had just come from Samaria, the scorn of the Jews, and there He had found people who needed no miracles, whose conception of the Messiah was not that of a mere wonder-worker, but of one who will ‘tell us all things,’ and who believed on Him not because of the portents which He wrought, but because they heard Him themselves, and His words touched their consciences and stirred strange longings in their hearts. On the other hand, this Evangelist has carefully pointed out in the preceding chapters how such recognition as Christ had thus far received ‘in His own country’ had been entirely owing to His miracles, and had been therefore regarded by Christ Himself as quite unreliable Joh 2:23 – Joh 2:25, while even Nicodemus, the Pharisee, had seen no better reason for regarding Him as a divinely sent Teacher than ‘these miracles that Thou doest.’ And now here He is no sooner across the border again than the same spirit meets Him. He hears it even in the pleading, tearful tones of the father’s voice, and that so clearly that it is for a moment more prominent even to His pity than the agony and the prayer. And over that Christ sorrows. Why? Because, to their own impoverishing, the nobleman and his fellows were blind to all the beauty of His character. The graciousness of His nature was nothing to them. They had no eyes for His tenderness and no ears for His wisdom; but if some vulgar sign had been wrought before them, then they would have run after Him with their worthless faith. And that struck a painful chord in Christ’s heart when He thought of how all the lavishing of His love, all the grace and truth which shone radiant and lambent in His life, fell upon blind eyes, incapable of beholding His beauty; and of how the manifest revelation of a Godlike character had no power to do what could be done by a mere outward wonder.
This is not to disparage the ‘miraculous evidence.’ It is only to put in its proper place the spirit, which was blind to the self-attesting glory of His character, which beheld it and did not recognise it as ‘the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father.’
That very same blindness to the divine which is in Jesus Christ, because material things alone occupy the heart and appeal to the mind, is still the disease of humanity. It still drives a knife into the loving heart of the pitying and helpful Christ. The special form which it takes in such a story as this before us is long since gone. The sense-bound people of this generation do not ask for signs. Miracles are rather a hindrance than a help to the reception of Christianity in many quarters. People are more willing to admire, after a fashion, the beauty of Christ’s character, and the exalted purity of His teaching meaning thereby, generally, the parts of it which are not exclusively His, than to accept His miracles. So far round has the turn in the wheel gone in these days.
But although the form is entirely different the spirit still remains. Are there not plenty of us to whom sense is the only certitude? We think that the only knowledge is the knowledge that comes to us from that which we can see and touch and handle, and the inferences that we may draw from these; and to many all that world of thought and beauty, all those divine manifestations of tenderness and grace, are but mist and cloudland. Intellectually, though in a somewhat modified sense, this generation has to take the rebuke: ‘Except ye see, ye will not believe.’
And practically do not the great mass of men regard the material world as all-important, and work done or progress achieved there as alone deserving the name of ‘work’ or ‘progress,’ while all the glories of a loving Christ are dim and unreal to their sense-bound eyes? Is it not true to-day, as it was in the old time, that if a man would come among you, and bring you material good, that would be the prophet for you? True wisdom, beauty, elevating thoughts, divine revelations; all these go over your heads. But when a man comes and multiplies loaves, then you say, ‘This is of a truth the prophet that should come into the world.’ ‘Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.’
And on the other side, is it not sadly true about those of us who have the purest and the loftiest faith, that we feel often as if it was very hard, almost impossible, to keep firm our grasp of One who never is manifested to our sense? Do we not often feel, ‘O that I could for once, for once only, hear a voice that would speak to my outward ear, or see some movement of a divine hand’? The loftiest faith still leans towards, and has an hankering after, some external and visible manifestation, and we need to subject ourselves to the illuminating rebuke of the Master who says, ‘Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe,’ and, therefore, your faith that craves the support of some outward thing, and often painfully feels that it is feeble without it, is as yet but very imperfect and rudimentary.
II. And so we have here, as the next stage of the narrative, our Lord testing, and thus strengthening, a growing faith.
Ah! dear brethren, any true man who has ever truly gone to Christ with a sense even of some outward and temporal need, and has ever really prayed at all, has often to pass through this experience, that the first result of his agonising cry shall be only the revelation to him of the unworthiness and imperfection of his own faith, and that there shall seem to be strange delay in the coming of the blessing so longed for. And the true attitude for a man to take when there is unveiled before him, in his consciousness, in answer to his cry for help, the startling revelation of his own unworthiness and imperfection-the true answer to such dealing is simply to reiterate the cry. And then the Master bends to the petition, and because He sees that the second prayer has in it less of sensuousness than the first, and that some little germ of a higher faith is beginning to open, He yields, and yet He does not yield. ‘Sir, come down ere my child die.’ Jesus saith unto him, ‘Go thy way, thy son liveth.’
Why did He not go with the suppliant? Why, in the act of granting, does He refuse? For the suppliant’s sake. The whole force and beauty of the story come out yet more vividly if we take the contrast between it and the other narrative, which presents some points of similarity with it-that of the healing of the centurion’s servant at Capernaum. There the centurion prays that Christ would but speak, and Christ says, ‘I will come.’ There the centurion does not feel that His presence is necessary, but that His word is enough. Here the nobleman says ‘Come,’ because it has never entered his mind that Christ can do anything unless He stands like a doctor by the boy’s bed. And he says, too, ‘Come, ere my child die,’ because it has never entered his mind that Christ can do anything if his boy has once passed the dark threshold.
And because his faith is thus feeble, Christ refuses its request, because He knows that so to refuse is to strengthen. Asked but to ‘speak’ by a strong faith, He rewards it by more than it prays, and offers to ‘come.’ Asked to ‘come’ by a weak faith, He rewards it by less, which yet is more, than it had requested; and refuses to come, that He may heal at a distance; and thus manifests still more wondrously His power and His grace.
His gentle and wise treatment is telling; and he who was so sense-bound that ‘unless he saw signs and wonders he would not believe,’ turns and goes away, bearing the blessing, as he trusts, in his hands, while yet there is no sign whatever that he has received it.
Think of what a change had passed upon that man in the few moments of his contact with Christ. When he ran to His feet, all hot and breathless and impatient, with his eager plea, he sought only for the deliverance of his boy, and sought it at the moment, and cared for nothing else. When he goes away from Him, a little while afterwards, he has risen to this height, that he believes the bare word, and turns his back upon the Healer, and sets his face to Capernaum in the confidence that he possesses the unseen gift. So has his faith grown.
And that is what you and I have to do. We have Christ’s bare word, and no more, to trust to for everything. We must be content to go out of the presence-chamber of the King with only His promise, and to cleave to that. A feeble faith requires the support of something sensuous and visible, as some poor trailing plant needs a prop round which it may twist its tendrils. A stronger faith strides away from the Master, happy and peaceful in its assured possession of a blessing for which it has nothing to rely upon but a simple bare word. That is the faith that we have to exercise. Christ has spoken. That was enough for this man, who from the babyhood of Christian experience sprang at once to its maturity. Is it enough for you? Are you content to say, ‘Thy word, Thy naked word, is all that I need, for Thou hast spoken, and Thou wilt do it’?
‘Go thy way; thy son liveth.’ What a test! Suppose the father had not gone his way, would his son have lived? No! The son’s life and the father’s reception from Christ of what he asked were suspended upon that one moment. Will he trust Him, or will he not? Will he linger, or will he depart? He departs, and in the act of trusting he gets the blessing, and his boy is saved.
And look how the narrative hints to us of the perfect confidence of the father now. Cana was only a few miles from Capernaum. The road from the little city upon the hill down to where the waters of the lake flashed in the sunshine by the quays of Capernaum was only a matter of a few hours; but it was the next day, and well on into the next day, before he met the servants that came to him with the news of his boy’s recovery. So sure was he that his petition was answered that he did not hurry to return home, but leisurely and quietly went onwards the next day to his child. Think of the difference between the breathless rush up to Cana, and the quiet return from it. ‘He that believeth shall not make haste.’
III. And so, lastly, we have here the absent Christ crowning and rewarding the faith which has been tested.
Why was the miracle wrought in that strange fashion? Why did our Lord fling out His power as from a distance rather than go and stand at the boy’s bedside? We have already seen the reason in the peculiar condition of the father’s mind; but now notice what it was that he had learned by such a method of healing, not only the fact of Christ’s healing power, but also the fact that the bare utterance of His will, whether He were present or absent, had power. And so a loftier conception of Christ would begin to dawn on him.
And for us that working of Christ at a distance is prophetic. It represents to us His action to-day. Still He answers our cries that He would come down to our help by sending forth from the city on the hills, the city of the wedding feast, His healing power to descend upon the sick-beds and the sorrows and the sins that afflict the villages beneath. ‘He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth, His word runneth very swiftly.’
This new experience enlarged and confirmed the man’s faith. The second stage to which he had been led by Christ’s treatment was simply belief in our Lord’s specific promise, an immense advance on his first position of belief which needed sight as its basis.
But he had not yet come to the full belief of, and reliance upon, that Healer recognised as Messiah. But the experience which he now has had, though it be an experience based upon miracle, is the parent of a faith which is not merely the child of wonder, nor the result of beholding an outward sign. And so we read:-’So the father knew that it was at the same hour in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth. And himself believed and his whole house.’
A partial faith brings experience which confirms and enlarges faith; and they who dimly apprehend Him, and yet humbly love Him, and imperfectly trust Him, will receive into their bosoms such large gifts of His love and gracious Spirit that their faith will be strengthened, and they will grow into the full stature of peaceful confidence.
The way to increase faith is to exercise faith. And the true parent of perfect faith is the experience of the blessings that come from the crudest, rudest, narrowest, blindest, feeblest faith that a man can exercise. Trust Him as you can, do not be afraid of inadequate conceptions, or of a feeble grasp. Trust Him as you can, and He will give you so much more than you expected that you will trust Him more, and be able to say: ‘Now I believe, because I have heard Him myself, and know that this is the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
the second miracle = a second sign. Having thus begun to number the signs in this Gospel, we may continue to do so, and complete the whole (eight). See App-176. See note on Joh 2:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
54.] The meaning of the Evangelist clearly is, that this was the second Galilan miracle (see ch. Joh 3:2, and Joh 4:45). But (1) how is that expressed in the words? The which He did at Jerusalem in the feast being omitted, the . naturally carries the thoughts back to a former one related; and the clause added ( …) shews, not that a miracle prior to this, during this return visit, has been passed over,-but that as the scene of this second was in Galilee, so that former one, to which . refers, must be sought in Galilee also. And then (2) why should this so particularly be stated? Certainly, it seems to me, on account of the part which this miracle bore in the calling out and assuring of faith by the manifestation of His glory, as that first one had done before. By that (ch. Joh 2:11), His disciples had been convinced: by this, one (himself a type of the weak and unworthy in faith) outside the circle of His own. By both, half-belief was strengthened into faith in Him: but in each case it is of a different kind.
It is an interesting question, whether or not this miracle be the same as the healing of the centurions servant (or son, Matt.?) in Mat 8:5; Luk 7:1. Irenus appears to hold the two narratives to be the same history (appears only; for his words are, Filium centurionis absens verbo curavit dicens Vade, filius tuus vivit, Hr. ii. 22. 3, p. 147: which remark may be simply explained by his having cited from memory, and thus either made this a centurion,-or, which is more probable, having understood the in Matthew 8 as a son, and made our Lord there speak very similar words to those really uttered by Him, but which are in reality found here): so Eusebius also in his canons. Chrysostom notices, but opposes the view:-and it has never in modern times gained many advocates, being only held by Semler, Seiffarth, and the interpreters of the Straussian school. Indeed, the internal evidence is all against it: not only (Chrys.) , , does the man in one case differ from the man in the other. The inner kernel of the history is, in our case here,-the elevation of a weak and mere wonder-seeking faith into a deep conviction of the personal power and love of our Lord; in the other, the commendation of a noble confession of our Lords divine power, indicating great strength and grasp of faith, and inducing the greatest personal humility. And the external point brought out in the commendation, , is not only different from, but stands in absolute contrast with, the depreciating charge here, , .
Olshausen (whose commentary on John is far less elaborate than on the other Gospels, which may account for my referring less often to it) well remarks, that this narrative may be regarded as a sequel to the foregoing one.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 4:54. [95] [96] , the second) He had wrought miracles at Jerusalem, ch. Joh 2:23. This, therefore, is the second, which was wrought in Galilee, when He had come thither out of Judea. [This it seems is the method of John, that he moves in a ternary way [selecting incidents by threes]. He relates three miracles accomplished in Galilee: first, at the marriage, ch. 2; the second, on the noblemans son, in this passage; the third, in feeding five thousand men, ch. 6. Three also in Judea: the first at the feast of Pentecost, on the impotent man at Bethesda, ch. 5; the second, after the feast of tabernacles, on the blind man, ch. 9; the third, on the dead man Lazarus, before the Passover, ch. 11. So also after the Ascension, he has described in all three appearances, in which the Saviour exhibited Himself to the disciples: ch. Joh 21:14, This is now the third time, that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead.-Harm., p. 174, etc.]
[95] , the seventh) Immediately after mid-day. And one cannot suppose that either the nobleman or his servants delayed: therefore he had set out a long journey to Jesus.-V. g.
[96] Ver. 53. , and his whole house) What can be imagined more gratifying than such an announcement!-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 4:54
Joh 4:54
This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judaea into Galilee.-The miracle at Cana had occurred on his coming out of Galilee, and this was under the same conditions. [Jesus had worked miracles in Judea, but this was the second worked in Galilee. The first was in Cana; he was at Cana when he worked the second, but the beneficiary was at Capernaum.]
This was a physical not a spiritual healing. In spiritual healing the spirit, the soul, the heart, the inner man, must enter into the service, must be molded into the likeness of God. This is done by faith in God. Faith is the medium between the heart of man and God, who is a Spirit. Then the teacher of the word must come into, and be accepted and conformed to by, the spirit in man before his influence can be brought to bear on the spirit of man to mold and influence the mans spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in the church only to the extent that the word of God dwells in, is cherished by, and controls the heart of man. Being in the church, unless he cherishes the word of God, does not secure to him the presence of the Spirit of God. We are the temples of the Spirit of God only as the word of God dwells in and controls our hearts. The Spirit of God dwelling in the heart makes us Christians. When the Spirit of God dwells in the heart, we will obey the Lord Jesus Christ, not before. The truth saves by molding the heart, the soul, the character of man, into the likeness of Christ, into a fitness to dwell with him and his congenial spirits in the world of glory forever.
Questions on John Chapter Four
E.M. Zerr
1. What had the Pharisees heard?
2. Through what means did Jesus baptize?
3. Where was John baptizing?
5. What unselfish thing did Jesus do?
6. Through what section must he go?
7. To what city did he come?
8. Identify the location.
9. What was there?
10. State his condition.
11. At what time of day?
12. Who came to this place?
13. Where were the disciples?
14. Tell the character of this woman.
15. What did Jesus request of her?
16. State what astonished her.
17. What was it that she did not know?
18. Of what water did she think he spoke?
19. From whom had they received this well?
20. State the defect of this water.
21. What water is different?
22. Unto what will it spring?
23. State the woman’s request.
24. With whom did he bid her share the favor?
25. At this what did she state?
26. Was her statement admitted?
27. What was Jesus’ explanation of her situation?
28. Of what did such knowledge convince her?
29. Who are the “fathers” in Joh 4:20?
30. Why the two places of worship?
31. Tell what change Jesus predicted.
32. Of what nation did salvation come?
33. Why does God seek for spiritual worshipers?
34. To what prophesied person did she refer?
35. What favor did she expect from him?
36. Tell what he then said to her.
37. When the disciples returned why did they marvel?
38. Did they criticize him?
39. What did the woman then do?
40. How did she speak of Jesus?
41. What did the people then do?
42. Mean time what concerned the disciples?
43. State his declaration to them.
44. What did they think he meant?
45. Give the explanation he made to them.
46. What work did he say was on hand?
47. To whom does he promise reward?
48. Who might be reapers in this case?
49. Tell who were the “other men” in Joh 4:38.
50. What made believers of many Samaritans?
51. How did they show their appreciation?
52. What furlher fruits did his word produce?
53. Tell what they confessed to the woman.
54. Where did Jesus go in two days?
55. Where is a prophet honored?
56. What caused his good reception in Galilee?
57. To what city did he corne?
58. What had occurred here?
59. Who came to him now for a favor?
60. ‘[‘ell what showed his faith in J csus.
61. How did Jesus heal the son?
62. At what time did he begin to improve?
63. What effect did this deed have?
64. Which miracle numerically was it?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Joh 2:1-11
Reciprocal: Mat 4:12 – when Joh 7:1 – walked
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4
Second miracle means in Cana; the first is in chapter 2.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 4:54. This Jesus again did, as a second sign, having come out of Judea into Galilee. The order of the original is remarkable, and we endeavour to represent it by a translation which, if literal, is yet sufficiently idiomatical. This stands alone; a second sign is in apposition with it. There is thus by means of again and second a double statement as to the position of the miracle; and as we know that other miracles, not numbered, were wrought in Galilee (chap. 6), and that there had already been signs also in Judea (chap. Joh 2:23), the two points upon which our attention is fixed seem to be(1) that this miracle was wrought in Galilee; (2) that it was a second miracle there. The first of these points receives importance from the fact that the sign now related was done after Jesus had left His own country, rejected by His own to be accepted by Galileans: the second magnifies the sign itself, for the mention of it as a second appears to flow from the tendency of the Evangelist to give double pictures of any truth which possesses in his eyes peculiar weight. This is the case here. From the first Jesus showed that His mission was not confined to Judea. It included Galilee, a province representative not of Jews only but of Gentiles, out of which the Jews thought that no prophet could come (Joh 7:52): it was not a local but a universal mission.
It is not necessary to discuss the question whether this miracle is identical with that related in Mat 8:5-13; Luk 7:2-10. We may wonder that such a question was ever raised. One point of similarity exists, in that in each case the cure was performed at a distance: in all other respects the narratives are wholly different,agreeing neither in time, nor in place, nor in the station of the persons concerned, nor in the character of the faith evinced.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Ver. 54. Jesus did, again, this second sign, on coming out of Judea into Galilee.
The word cannot be an adverb: for the second time; this would be a useless synonym for , again. It is, then, an adjective, and, notwithstanding the absence of an article, a predicative adjective. He did again () this miracle, and that as a second one. There is evidently something strange in this somewhat extreme manner of expressing himself: again and as a second. There is an indication here which betrays one of those disguised intentions which are so frequent in the fourth Gospel. The expression employed here can only be explained by closely connecting the verb did with the participle coming into, which follows. Other miracles in large numbers had occurred between the first act at Cana, Joh 2:11 and this one; this was not therefore the second, speaking absolutely. Two ideas are united in this clause: He did a second miracle at Cana, and He did it again on coming from Judea into Galilee. In other terms: Also this second time Jesus signalized His return to Galilee, as the first time, by a new miracle done at Cana. It will be in vain to refuse to acknowledge this intention of the evangelist. It is a fact, that John shows himself concerned to distinguish these first two returns which the tradition had confounded. He makes prominent the miracle of chap. 2 and this one as the two enduring monuments of that distinction.
Irenaeus, Semler, de Wette, Baur, Ewald, Weiss, unhesitatingly identify this miracle with the healing of the Gentile centurion’s servant, Mat 8:5 and Luk 7:3. As to the differences of details, they give the preference, some to the account of the Synoptics, others to that of John. In the two cases, the cure is wrought at a distance; this is all that the two events have in common. The charge of unbelief which, in the view of Weiss, is another common feature, on the contrary profoundly distinguishes them. For, in John, it is addressed to the people including the father, while in the Synoptics it applies only to the nation from which the father is distinguished as the example of the most extraordinary faith of which Jesus has yet been witness. And yet here is the same story! Moreover, all the details are different, even opposite. Here a father and his son, there a master and his servant. Here a Jew, there a Gentile. Here it is at Cana, there at Capernaum, that the event occurs. Here the father wishes Jesus to travel to the distance of six leagues; there the centurion absolutely denies the intention of making Him come to his house, and this in the same city. Finally, as we have said; here is a sample of the sickly faith of the Galileans; there an incomparable example of faith given by a Gentile to the whole people of Israel. If these two narratives refer to the same event, the Gospel history is thoroughly unsound. Weiss so clearly sees this alleged identity melt away in his hands, that he is obliged to bring in a third story, that of the healing of the epileptic child (Matthew 17), with which John blended the one which occupies our attention.
This 54th verse closes the cycle began at Joh 2:12, as its counterpart Joh 2:11 closed the cycle opened by Joh 1:19. Of these two cycles, the first recounts the manner in which Jesus passed from private life to His public ministry: the latter relates the beginnings of His work.
The first contains three groups of narratives: 1. The testimonies of John the Baptist; 2. The coming to Jesus of His first disciples; 3. The wedding at Cana. The second shows us Jesus: 1. In Judea; 2. In Samaria; 3. In Galilee. Each particular narrative is preceded by a short preamble in which the general situation is sketched (Joh 2:12-13; Joh 2:23-25; Joh 3:22-24; Joh 4:1-3 and Joh 4:43-45). The revelation of Jesus goes forward in a continuous way: at the Jordan, at Cana, in the temple, with Nicodemus, in Samaria, in Galilee. But the national unbelief manifests itself: before it, He is obliged to retire from the temple to the city, from the city to the country, from Judea to Galilee. But, at the same time, faith comes to light and is developed: in all its integrity in the disciples; as a feeble glimmering in Nicodemus; dimmed by an intermingling of carnal elements in Galilee.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
John interestingly identified this miracle as the second sign that Jesus did even though He did other miracles in both Galilee and Judea after He changed the water to wine (cf. Joh 2:23; Joh 3:2). Moreover this is the second of several miracles that John labeled in his Gospel as signs, but he numbered only the first two. All this evidence points to his regarding the first and second signs as similar and related to each other. The structure of this part of John’s narrative, as I have sought to explain it above, accounts for his view of this second sign.
John explained further that Jesus performed this sign after He had come out of Judea into Galilee. This appears to be another geographical notice designed to help the reader follow Jesus’ movements. It also suggests a contrast between the unbelief that marked Judea and the faith that was more prominent in Galilee.
This miracle, as the first one that John described, had a limited audience. Only the family and household servants of the official knew of it at first. This was typical of Jesus’ ministry. While Jesus performed many public miracles, and huge crowds followed Him because they witnessed them, they had the desired impact on relatively few individuals (cf. Joh 1:11-12).
John recorded many witnesses to Jesus’ identity in his record of Jesus’ early ministry (chs. 2-4). The first sign testified to His creative power to change the quality of things. [Note: Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief, p. 312.] His cleansing of the temple showed His authority over the institutions of Judaism. Nicodemus testified to Jesus having come from God and His role as an authoritative teacher. John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus’ identity as the Messiah. The Samaritan woman implied that Jesus was omniscient. Many other Samaritans acknowledged Jesus as the Savior of the world. The official whose son Jesus healed from afar came to recognize Him as the healer whose word can overcome the problem of distance as well as disease. [Note: Ibid.] The first sign in John’s Gospel shows Jesus’ power over time, and the second sign shows His power over space. John the Apostle also called Him the Son of God, the giver of eternal life, and the One from heaven. This section of the book, therefore, makes an important contribution to the advance of John’s argument and the fulfillment of his purpose (Joh 20:30-31).