Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 4:43
Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
43 54. The Work among Galileans
43. after two days ] Literally, after the two days mentioned in Joh 4:40.
and went ] These words are wanting in the best MSS.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Into Galilee – Into some of the parts of Galilee, though evidently not into Nazareth, but probably direct to Cana, Joh 4:46.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 4:43-45
And after two days He departed thence, and went into Galilee
Moral usefulness
I.
MAN MAY DO MUCH GOOD WITHIN A SHORT PERIOD. TWO days Jesus spent in Samaria, and what did He accomplish?
1. He broke up religious monotony.
2. Set minds thinking.
3. Won many to His cause.
4. Sowed truth that has yielded glorious harvests in all subsequent ages. Every man can and ought to accomplish great spiritual good in two days–not only by preaching and writing for the press, but by indoctrinating hisfamily with Christly sentiments, and distributing through the neighbourhood the Bread of Life. No man will be able to plead the brevity of life for moral uselessness.
II. MANS EFFORTS TO DO GOOD ARE OFTEN OBSTRUCTED BY A STUPID PREJUDICE.
1. Christ here states a fact. Of course there are exceptions. Home teachers are not so valued as foreign.
2. There is no good reason for it. The doctrines of a teacher should be independent of his country.
3. There are bad reasons for it. The prejudice springs from jealousy, envy, pride.
4. The prejudice Christ felt was against His usefulness. Prejudices are fetters that enslave the intellect, clouds that obscure the vision, bolts that shut out the truth.
III. MANS DESIRE FOR DOING GOOD SHOULD BE THE INSPIRATION OF HIS LIFE. Christ leaves Samaria, confronts a powerful prejudice, and enters Galilee. What for? To do good. Such should be the great aim of all men, for two reasons
1. It is the greatest work, enlightening the intellect, liberating the will, purifying the heart, transforming the man into the image of Gods son.
2. It is a most soul recompensing work. It covers a multitude of sins, wins the sympathies of immortal spirits, and secures the approbation of conscience and God. The fruits of all other fields we leave behind at death, but from this field we shall gather sheaves to all eternity.
IV. MANS POWER TO DO GOOD INCREASES AS HIS PAST USEFULNESS GETS RECOGNIZED (Joh 4:45, see chap. 2:23). The Galileans had witnessed His wonders in Jerusalem. What they knew of Him disposed them to accept Him. Mans power of usefulness is cumulative; the more good he does the more his capacity for usefulness increases. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
A prophet hath no honour in his own country
A twice verified proverb
I. NEGATIVELY (Joh 4:44).
1. Regarded. Christ had an eye to this maxim when He avoided settling in Nazareth; which showed
(1) Christs intimate acquaintance with human nature.
(2) His ability to read the signs of the times.
(3) His wisdom in selecting the most advantageous fields of labour–all of which qualities are essential to the preacher or teacher (1Ch Mat 16:3; 1Co 16:9).
2. Exemplified (Luk 4:29; Mat 13:58). So Christs servants find the circles most difficult to impress are those of ones household and Luk 6:40; Mat 10:25).
3. Explained.
(1) Envy. His fellow-townsmen were amazed at His superior wisdom and manifest supernatural gifts (Mat 13:54).
(2) Pride.
(3) Familiarity. A prophet must be something of a mystery man if he would make his way in the world (Joh 7:27). Familiarity breeds contempt.
II. POSITIVELY (Mat 13:57).
1. Illustrated, as in Judaea (Joh 2:23; Joh 4:1) and Samaria (verses 39-41), so now in Galilee, the inhabitants accorded Him a joyous welcome. The judgments of strangers are more to be relied on than those of friends. So with the apostles (Act 13:46; Act 15:3; Act 15:7; Act 15:12; Act 18:6).
2. Justified. The behaviour of the Galileans was not an unreasoning enthusiasm. They had witnessed Christs miracles at Jerusalem nine months before (Joh 2:23), and had apparently then arrived at Nicodemuss conclusion (Joh 3:2). It was, therefore, becoming and right that they should meet Him with acclamation. So already has the Gospel effected such marvels that it has a right to a cordial reception.
Lessons:
1. The power of prejudice.
2. The advantage derived by the Gospel from publicity.
3. The ultimate triumph of Christs kingdom. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 43. Went into Galilee.] Bishop Pearce thinks that some words have been lost from the end of this verse, which may be supplied thus: Went into Galilee, but not to Nazareth; for Jesus himself had declared, c. In Mt 13:57 Mr 6:4, and Lu 4:24, which are the only texts where Jesus is said to have declared this, he always spake of Nazareth only, and not of Galilee in general, a country where he lived for the most part, and wrought the greatest number of his miracles, and made the most converts.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Christ (as we heard before, Joh 4:3) was upon his journey into Galilee, only he stopped two days at Sichem to gratify the desires of the Samaritans of that city; which two days being now spent, he keepeth on in his journey. But here ariseth a question, viz. Whether he first went to Nazareth, or to Cana? For the opinion of those who think he first went to Nazareth, is quoted Mat 4:12. Besides, it is said that Nazareth was in his road to Cana, and, Luk 4:24, he is said to have uttered these words there. Chemnitius thinks he went first to Cana, according to what John relates in the following verses. And, Luk 4:16, he is said to have gone out of Galilee to Nazareth: and besides, the next mentioned miracle is (Joh 4:54) said to have been Christs second miracle, which it could not have been had he first gone to Nazareth, for, Luk 4:23, those of Nazareth mention some miracles which he had wrought at Capernaum.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
43, 44. after two daysliterally,the two days of His stay at Sychar.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now after two days he departed thence,…. When he had stayed two days at Sychar conversing with, and discoursing to the Samaritans, which were the means of the conversion of many of them; he departed out of that country, and passed on his way:
and went into Galilee; as he first intended; see Joh 4:3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Nobleman’s Son Restored. |
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43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. 45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. 46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Juda into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. 52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 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. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Juda into Galilee.
In these verses we have,
I. Christ’s coming into Galilee, v. 43. Though he was as welcome among the Samaritans as he could be any where, and had better success, yet after two days he left them, not so much because they were Samaritans, and he would not confirm those in their prejudices against him who said, He is a Samaritan (ch. viii. 48), but because he must preach to other cities, Luke iv. 43. He went into Galilee, for there he spent much of his time. Now see here,
1. Whither Christ went; into Galilee, into the country of Galilee, but not to Nazareth, which was strictly his own country. He went among the villages, but declined going to Nazareth, the head city, for a reason here given, which Jesus himself testified, who knew the temper of his countrymen, the hearts of all men, and the experiences of all prophets, and it is this, That a prophet has no honour in his own country. Note, (1.) Prophets ought to have honour, because God has put honour upon them and we do or may receive benefit by them. (2.) The honour due to the Lord’s prophets has very often been denied them, and contempt put upon them. (3.) This due honour is more frequently denied them in their own country; see Luk 4:24; Mat 13:57. Not that it is universally true (no rule but has some exceptions), but it holds for the most part. Joseph, when he began to be a prophet, was most hated by his brethren; David was disdained by his brother (1 Sam. xvii. 28); Jeremiah was maligned by the men of Anathoth (Jer. xi. 21), Paul by his countrymen the Jews; and Christ’s near kinsmen spoke most slightly of him, ch. vii. 5. Men’s pride and envy make them scorn to be instructed by those who once were their school-fellows and play-fellows. Desire of novelty, and of that which is far-fetched and dear-bought, and seems to drop out of the sky to them, makes them despise those persons and things which they have been long used to and know the rise of. (4.) It is a great discouragement to a minister to go among a people who have no value for him or his labours. Christ would not go to Nazareth, because he knew how little respect he should have there. (5.) It is just with God to deny his gospel to those that despise the ministers of it. They that mock the messengers forfeit the benefit of the message. Mat 21:35; Mat 21:41.
2. What entertainment he met with among the Galileans in the country (v. 45): They received him, bade him welcome, and cheerfully attended on his doctrine. Christ and his gospel are not sent in vain; if they have not honour with some, they shall have with others. Now the reason given why these Galileans were so ready to receive Christ is because they had seen the miracles he did at Jerusalem, v. 45. Observe, (1.) They went up to Jerusalem at the feast, the feast of the passover. The Galileans lay very remote from Jerusalem, and their way thither lay through the country of the Samaritans, which was troublesome for a Jew to pass through, worse than Baca’s valley of old; yet, in obedience to God’s command, they went up to the feast, and there they became acquainted with Christ. Note, They that are diligent and constant in attending on public ordinances some time or other meet with more spiritual benefit than they expect. (2.) At Jerusalem they saw Christ’s miracles, which recommended him and his doctrine very much to their faith and affections. The miracles were wrought for the benefit of those at Jerusalem; yet the Galileans who were accidentally there got more advantage by them than they did for whom they were chiefly designed. Thus the word preached to a mixed multitude may perhaps edify occasional hearers more than the constant auditory.
3. What city he went to. When he would go to a city, he chose to go to Cana of Galilee, where he had made the water wine (v. 46); thither he went, to see if there were any good fruits of that miracle remaining; and, if there were, to confirm their faith, and water what he had planted. The evangelist mentions this miracle here to teach us to keep in remembrance what we have seen of the works of Christ.
II. His curing the nobleman’s son that was sick of a fever. This story is not recorded by any other of the evangelists; it comes in Matt. iv. 23.
Observe, 1. Who the petitioner was, and who the patient: the petitioner was a nobleman; the patient was his son: There was a certain nobleman. Regulus (so the Latin), a little king; so called, either for the largeness of his estate, or the extent of his power, or the royalties that belonged to his manor. Some understand it as denoting his preferment–he was a courtier in some office about the king; others as denoting his party–he was an Herodian, a royalist, a prerogative-man, one that espoused the interests of the Herods, father and son; perhaps it was Chuza, Herod’s steward (Luke viii. 3), or Mann, Herod’s foster-brother, Acts xiii. 1. There were saints in Csar’s household. The father a nobleman, and yet the son sick; for dignities and titles of honour will be no security to persons and families from the assaults of sickness and death. It was fifteen miles from Capernaum where this nobleman lived to Cana, where Christ now was; yet this affliction in his family sent him so far to Christ.
2. How the petitioner made his application to the physician. Having heard that Jesus was come out of Judea to Galilee, and finding that he did not come towards Capernaum, but turned off towards the other side of the country, he went to him himself, and besought him to come and heal his son, v. 47. See here, (1.) His tender affection to his son, that when he was sick he would spare no pains to get help for him. (2.) His great respect to our Lord Jesus, that he would come himself to wait upon him, when he might have sent a servant; and that he besought him, when, as a man in authority, some would think he might have ordered his attendance. The greatest men, when they come to God, must become beggars, and sue sub forma pauperis–as paupers. As to the errand he came upon, we may observe a mixture in his faith. [1.] There was sincerity in it; he did believe that Christ could heal his son, though his disease was dangerous. It is probable he had physicians to him, who had given him over; but he believed that Christ could cure him when the case seemed deplorable. [2.] Yet there was infirmity in his faith; he believed that Christ could heal his son, but, as it should seem, he thought he could not heal him at a distance, and therefore he besought him that he would come down and heal him, expecting, as Naaman did, that he would come and strike his hand over the patient, as if he could not cure him but by a physical contact. Thus we are apt to limit the Holy One of Israel, and to stint him to our forms. The centurion, a Gentile, a soldier, was so strong in faith as to say, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, Matt. viii. 8. This nobleman, a Jew, must have Christ to come down, though it was a good day’s journey, and despairs of a cure unless he come down, as if he must teach Christ how to work. We are encouraged to pray, but we are not allowed to prescribe: Lord, heal me; but, whether with a word or a touch, thy will be done.
3. The gentle rebuke he met with in this address (v. 48): Jesus said to him, “I see how it is; except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe, as the Samaritans did, though they saw no signs and wonders, and therefore I must work miracles among you.” Though he was a nobleman, and now in grief about his son, and had shown great respect to Christ in coming so far to him, yet Christ gives him a reproof. Men’s dignity in the world shall not exempt them from the rebukes of the word or providence; for Christ reproves not after the hearing of his ears, but with equity,Isa 11:3; Isa 11:4. Observe, Christ first shows him his sin and weakness, to prepare him for mercy, and then grants his request. Those whom Christ intends to honour with his favours he first humbles with his frowns. The Comforter shall first convince. Herod longed to see some miracle (Luke xxiii. 8), and this courtier was of the same mind, and the generality of the people too. Now that which is blamed is, (1.) That, whereas they had heard by credible and incontestable report of the miracles he had wrought in other places, they would not believe except they saw them with their own eyes, Luke iv. 23. They must be honoured, and they must be humoured, or they will not be convinced. Their country must be graced, and their curiosity gratified, with signs and wonders, or else, though the doctrine of Christ be sufficiently proved by miracles wrought elsewhere, they will not believe. Like Thomas, they will yield to no method of conviction but what they shall prescribe. (2.) That, whereas they had seen divers miracles, the evidence of which they could not gainsay, but which sufficiently proved Christ to be a teacher come from God, and should now have applied themselves to him for instruction in his doctrine, which by its native excellency would have gently led them on, in believing, to a spiritual perfection, instead of this they would go no further in believing than they were driven by signs and wonders. The spiritual power of the word did not affect them, did not attract them, but only the sensible power of miracles, which were for those who believe not, while prophesying was for those that believe, 1 Cor. xiv. 22. Those that admire miracles only, and despise prophesying, rank themselves with unbelievers.
4. His continued importunity in his address (v. 49): Sir, come down ere my child die. Kyrie—Lord; so it should be rendered. In this reply of his we have, (1.) Something that was commendable: he took the reproof patiently; he spoke to Christ respectfully. Though he was one of those that wore soft clothing, yet he could bear reproof. It is none of the privileges of peerage to be above the reproofs of the word of Christ; but it is a sign of a good temper and disposition in men, especially in great men, when they can be told of their faults and not be angry. And, as he did not take the reproof for an affront, so he did not take it for a denial, but still prosecuted his request, and continued to wrestle till he prevailed. Nay, he might argue thus: “If Christ heal my soul, surely he will heal my son; if he cure my unbelief, he will cure his fever.” This is the method Christ takes, first to work upon us, and then to work for us; and there is hope if we find him entering upon this method. (2.) Something that was blameworthy, that was his infirmity; for, [1.] He seems to take no notice of the reproof Christ gave him, says nothing to it, by way either of confession or of excuse, for he is so wholly taken up with concern about his child that he can mind nothing else. Note, The sorrow of the world is a great prejudice to our profiting by the word of Christ. Inordinate care and grief are thorns that choke the good seed; see Exod. vi. 9. [2.] He still discovered the weakness of his faith in the power of Christ. First, He must have Christ to come down, thinking that else he could do the child no kindness. It is hard to persuade ourselves that distance of time and place are no obstructions to the knowledge and power of our Lord Jesus; yet so it is: he sees afar off, for his word, the word of his power, runs very swiftly. Secondly, He believes that Christ could heal a sick child, but not that he could raise a dead child, and therefore, “O come down, ere my child die,” as if then it would be too late; whereas Christ has the same power over death that he has over bodily diseases. He forgot that Elijah and Elisha had raised dead children; and is Christ’s power inferior to theirs? Observe what haste he is in: Come down, ere my child die; as if there were danger of Christ’s slipping his time. He that believeth does not make haste, but refers himself to Christ. “Lord, what and when and how thou pleasest.”
5. The answer of peace which Christ gave to his request at last (v. 50): Go thy way, thy son liveth. Christ here gives us an instance, (1.) Of his power, that he not only could heal, but could heal with so much ease, without the trouble of a visit. Here is nothing said, nothing done, nothing ordered to be done, and yet the cure wrought: Thy son liveth. The healing beams of the Sun of righteousness dispense benign influences from one end of heaven to another, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. Though Christ is now in heaven, and his church on earth, he can send from above. This nobleman would have Christ come down and heal his son; Christ will heal his son, and not come down. And thus the cure is the sooner wrought, the nobleman’s mistake rectified, and his faith confirmed; so that the thing was better done in Christ’s way. When he denies what we ask, he gives what is much more to our advantage; we ask for ease, he gives patience. Observe, His power was exerted by his word. In saying, Thy son lives, he showed that he has life in himself, and power to quicken whom he will. Christ’s saying, Thy soul lives, makes it alive. (2.) Of his pity; he observed the nobleman to be in pain about his son, and his natural affection discovered itself in that word, Ere my child, my dear child, die; and therefore Christ dropped the reproof, and gave him assurance of the recovery of his child; for he knows how a father pities his children.
6. The nobleman’s belief of the word of Christ: He believed, and went away. Though Christ did not gratify him so far as to go down with him, he is satisfied with the method Christ took, and reckons he has gained his point. How quickly, how easily, is that which is lacking in our faith perfected by the word and power of Christ. Now he sees no sign or wonder, and yet believes the wonder done. (1.) Christ said, Thy son liveth, and the man believed him; not only believed the omniscience of Christ, that he knew the child had recovered, but the omnipotence of Christ, that the cure was effected by his word. He left him dying; yet, when Christ said, He lives, like the father of the faithful, against hope he believed in hope, and staggered not through unbelief. (2.) Christ said, Go thy way; and, as an evidence of the sincerity of his faith, he went his way, and gave neither Christ nor himself any further disturbance. He did not press Christ to come down, did not say, “If he do recover, yet a visit will be acceptable;” no, he seems no further solicitous, but, like Hannah, he goes his way, and his countenance is no more sad. As one entirely satisfied, he made no great haste home; did not hurry home that night, but returned leisurely, as one that was perfectly easy in his own mind.
7. The further confirmation of his faith, by comparing notes with his servants at his return. (1.) His servants met him with the agreeable news of the child’s recovery, v. 51. Probably they met him not far from his own house, and, knowing what their master’s cares were, they were willing as soon as they could to make him easy. David’s servants were loth to tell him when the child was dead. Christ said, Thy son liveth; and now the servants say the same. Good news will meet those that hope in God’s word. (2.) He enquired what hour the child began to recover (v. 52); not as if he doubted the influence of Christ’s word upon the child’s recovery, but he was desirous to have his faith confirmed, that he might be able to satisfy any to whom he should mention the miracle; for it was a material circumstance. Note, [1.] It is good to furnish ourselves with all the corroborating proofs and evidences that may be, to strengthen our faith in the word of Christ, that it may grow up to a full assurance. Show me a token for good. [2.] The diligent comparison of the works of Christ with his word will be of great use to us for the confirming of our faith. This was the course the nobleman took: He enquired of the servants the hour when he began to amend; and they told him, Yesterday at the seventh hour (at one o’clock in the afternoon, or, as some think this evangelist reckons, at seven o’clock at night) the fever left him; not only he began to amend, but he was perfectly well on a sudden; so the father knew that it was at the same hour when Jesus said to him, Thy son liveth. As the word of God, well-studied, will help us to understand his providences, so the providence of God, well observed, will help us to understand his word; for God is every day fulfilling the scripture. Two things would help to confirm his faith:–First, That the child’s recovery was sudden and not gradual. They name the precise time to an hour: Yesterday, not about, but at the seventh hour, the fever left him; not it abated, or began to decrease, but it left him in an instant. The word of Christ did not work like physic, which must have time to operate, and produce the effect, and perhaps cures by expectation only; no, with Christ it was dictum factum–he spoke and it was done; not, He spoke and it was set a doing. Secondly, That it was just at the same time that Christ spoke to him: at that very hour. The synchronisms and coincidents of events add very much to the beauty and harmony of Providence. Observe the time, and the thing itself will be more illustrious, for every thing is beautiful in its time; at the very time when it is promised, as Israel’s deliverance (Exod. xii. 41); at the very time when it is prayed for, as Peter’s deliverance, Acts xii. 12. In men’s works, distance of place is the delay of time and the retarding of business; but it is not so in the works of Christ. The pardon, and peace, and comfort, and spiritual healing, which he speaks in heaven, are, if he pleases, at the same time effected and wrought in the souls of believers; and, when these two come to be compared in the great day, Christ will be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.
8. The happy effect and issue of this. The bringing of the cure to the family brought salvation to it. (1.) The nobleman himself believed. He had before believed the word of Christ, with reference to this particular occasion; but now he believed in Christ as the Messiah promised, and became one of his disciples. Thus the particular experience of the power and efficacy of one word of Christ may be a happy means to introduce and settle the whole authority of Christ’s dominion in the soul. Christ has many ways of gaining the heart, and by the grant of a temporal mercy may make way for better things. (2.) His whole house believed likewise. [1.] Because of the interest they all had in the miracle, which preserved the blossom and hopes of the family; this affected them all, and endeared Christ to them, and recommended him to their best thoughts. [2.] Because of the influence the master of the family had upon them all. A master of a family cannot give faith to those under his charge, nor force them to believe, but he may be instrumental to remove external prejudices, which obstruct the operation of the evidence, and then the work is more than half done. Abraham was famous for this (Gen. xviii. 19), and Joshua, ch. xxiv. 15. This was a nobleman, and probably he had a great household; but, when he comes into Christ’s school, he brings them all along with him. What a blessed change was here in this house, occasioned by the sickness of the child! This should reconcile us to afflictions; we know not what good may follow from them. Probably, the conversion of this nobleman and his family at Capernaum might induce Christ to come afterwards, and settle at Capernaum, as his head-quarters in Galilee. When great men receive the gospel, they may be instrumental to bring it to the places where they live.
9. Here is the evangelist’s remark upon this cure (v. 54); This is the second miracle, referring to ch. ii. 11, where the turning of water into wine is said to be the first; that was soon after his first return out of Judea, this soon after his second. In Judea he had wrought many miracles, Joh 3:2; Joh 4:45. They had the first offer; but, being driven thence, he wrought miracles in Galilee. Somewhere or other Christ will find a welcome. People may, if they please, shut the sun out of their own houses, but they cannot shut it out of the world. This is noted to be the second miracle, 1. To remind us of the first, wrought in the same place some months before. Fresh mercies should revive the remembrance of former mercies, as former mercies should encourage our hopes of further mercies. Christ keeps account of his favours, whether we do or no. 2. To let us know that this cure was before those many cures which the other evangelists mention to be wrought in Galilee, Mat 4:23; Mar 1:34; Luk 4:40. Probably, the patient being a person of quality, the cure was the more talked of and sent him crowds of patients; when this nobleman applied himself to Christ, multitudes followed. What abundance of good may great men do, if they be good men!
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
After the two days ( ). Those in verse 40.
Into Galilee ( ). As he had started to do (verse 3) before the interruption at Sychar.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1 ) “Now after two days,” (meta de tas duo hemeras) “Then after two days had passed,” two sweet, precious days of fellowship with these newborn witnesses of the Samaritan nationality in Sychar, Joh 4:40; Psa 133:1-3; Heb 13:1-3.
2) “He departed thence and went into Galilee.” (ekselthen ekeithen eis ten Galilaian) “He went out of and away into the area of Galilee,” or into the country of Galilee, from Samaria, to the north, into His native country, Mat 2:23; Mat 4:12-25. In which journey He bypassed Nazareth, where He was brought up, for the reason given in the following verse, Joh 4:44. He had begun this journey when “He must needs go through Samaria,” Joh 4:3-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
Joh. 4:43-54. Our Lords Galilean ministry.Detailed accounts of His work in Galilee are found in the Synoptics (Mat. 4:12; Luk. 4:14; Mar. 1:14 to Mar. 2:14).
Joh. 4:44. For Jesus Himself testified, etc.The crux in this passage is the meaning of the words His own country. There are three significations:
(1) Juda, as the country of His nativity, and that in which prophecy declared Messiah would arise (Mic. 5:2).
(2) Lower Galilee, including Nazareth, as distinct from Upper Galilee, including Capernaum, etc.
(3) Galilee as a whole. There is much to be said for each of these interpretations; but, as Luthardt points out in regard to
(1), it does not suit the connection; for Jesus was not leaving Juda, but Samaria. Then, as regards
(2), He went to Cana, which was near Nazareth. It seems, on the whole, best to hold
(3) as the correct interpretation (Mar. 6:4; Luk. 4:24). What, then, is the connection of the adage, a prophet, etc., with His going into Galilee? The explanation of Luthardt, that He went to seek rest, and in Galilee would have more probability of obtaining it than elsewhere, because He would be more unobserved, does not commend itself as satisfactory. Godets view seems on the whole the most consistent with all the facts, viz. that our Lord did not begin an extended work in Galilee at first, quite aware of the fact that a prophet has no honour, etc.; but after nearly a years ministry in Jerusalem and Juda, where many Galileans had heard and seen Him, He returned with more hope of securing recognition. And this hope was justified, as Joh. 4:45 testifies. It might be pointed out also that there was special force in the application of this adage to Galilee, when we remember the words of Nathanael (Joh. 1:46), and what was said to Nicodemus by the Pharisees (Joh. 7:52).
Joh. 4:46. The miracle here recorded is distinct from that of the healing of the centurions servant (Mat. 8:5; Luk. 7:2).
Joh. 4:52. He began to amend ( ).The phrase appears to have been used in familiar conversation, as we might say, He begins to do nicely, or bravely (Westcott). Seventh hour.If the reckoning be in Jewish time, then this hour will mean about 1 p.m. And as it would be late at night before the father reached Capernaum, the servants could easily say that it was yesterday when the amendment in his son began, as the Jewish day closed at sunset. The Jewish sabbath, e.g., begins when the first star appears.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Joh. 4:46-54
The healing of the noblemans son.This miracle is quite distinct from that recorded in Mat. 8:5-13 and Luk. 7:1-10. The meaning of the term nobleman in this narrative is not clearly understood. The general idea is that this man was a public functionary under the government of the district, and in all probability an official of the court. It has been conjectured that he may have been either Herods (Antipas) Steward Chuza (Luk. 8:3) or Manaen, that tetrarchs foster-brother (Act. 13:1). He had no doubt heard of Jesus; the fame of the miracle at Cana had invaded Capernaum; and the Galileans who had been at Jerusalem during our Lords sojourn there would bring back reports of His teaching and work. But this man hitherto seems to have given himself little concern regarding this new Teacher and His doings. But a crisis in his life drove him to seek Jesus. His paternal love, well-nigh desperate at the sight of his dying boy, led him as a last resort to see if there might be hope through this Worker of miracles. The incident is not only another proof of the power of Jesus, but a history of the noblemans growth in faith.
I. Notice the weakness of his faith.
1. He had some small glimmering of faith, that hope might arise in that quarter. And we may well conceive how in that sorrowful journey to Cana hope and fear alternated in his heart.
2. Although, therefore, his faith, such as it wasa kind of faith founded on report (like that of the Samaritans, Joh. 4:41-42)led him to Christ, it was very imperfect. He regarded Christ apparently as simply a wonder-worker, a physician with almost more than human skill, who would come and see the sick boy, touch him, perhaps administer some medicament of unknown virtue, in order to a cure. That this was his state of mind seems clear from our Lords reply to his first request (Joh. 4:48).
3. This weakness of his faith is further shown in his trembling eagerness to prevail on our Lord to go to Capernaum with him (Joh. 4:49). It is very pathetic to notice this eagerness: only parental love can fully understand it.
II. The manner in which his faith was strengthened.
1. Through Christs word of promise. His eager importunity after our Lords rebuff (Joh. 4:48) showed that the smoking flax was not quenched; so our Lord nursed it into flame. The presence and dignity of our Lord doubtless made an impression on him, but it was the word of promise (Joh. 4:50) which increased his faith and hope. He remembered that Christs word had made the water wine. So, too, His word still has power to quicken and strengthen the weak in faith. Searching the Scripture is a means to this end, and the preached word especially has been to many the power of God, etc. (1Co. 1:18).
2. His faith was still further confirmed, when on the way home his servants met him with the joyful news of his sons recovery; and it was finally and irrevocably assured when on careful inquiry he learned that his boy completely, and in no ordinary way, recovered at the moment when Christs word of power was spoken (Joh. 4:51-52). Thus the more carefully the divine works and benefits are considered, the more nourishment faith acquires (Bengel).
III. The proof that his faith was now assured.
1. In his outward confession. He would joyfully recount all that had occurred at Cana, and his firm conviction that Jesus was what He Himself claimed and His disciples declared Him to be.
2. In the power of his faith to convince others (Joh. 4:53).
Joh. 4:47-54. The nobleman led by Jesus from faith to faith.The faith of the Samaritans had refreshed the Redeemer as cool water refreshes a weary wayfarer; in Galilee, where He had laboured more extensively, none had believed on Him for His words sake. He needed to educate men unto faith. We also fail in this faith in Christ for His words sake, although we have often experienced the Saviours love. Let us, like the nobleman of Capernaum, allow ourselves to be instructed by Jesus and brought to true faith. We consider:
I. The noblemans coming to Jesus.
1. He had heard of Jesus, and trusted in His power to work miracles and in His goodness.
2. He went to Jesus and humbly prayed Him to give help.
II. His tarrying with Jesus.
1. Jesus rebuke of his reliance on miraculous signs.
2. The patient reception of the rebuke of Jesus by the nobleman, and the repetition of his request.
3. Jesus words of promise; the reliance of the nobleman thereon, and his attraction to our Lords person.
III. His return homeward from our Lords presence.
1. The noblemans joyful obedience to the command of Jesus.
2. The confirmation of his faith even on the way homeward, and his meeting with his son now healed.
3. His testimony to Christ among the members of his household, and the result in their belief in the Saviour.J. L. Sommer.
Joh. 4:47-54. The blessing of the cross.There is a blessing in the cross laid upon us which we have to bear. We call Christs cross His dear cross, because He bore it. And we reckon ours to be so also when He lays it upon us to draw us to Himself. This thought seems to lie at the base of this gospel narrative. It teaches us the blessing of the cross of affliction; because:
I. It awakens from sinful security.
1. This nobleman was an official of Herod Antipas, whom John the Baptist warned, and whose criminal and slavish attachment to his brothers wife led to his becoming Johns murderer. And as was the king, so for the most part would be his friends and the officials of his court. We hear of no penitence on his part. Memory alone would not let the past die. Her accusing voice even the king could not silence (Mat. 14:2).
2. But even amid such surroundings may be found traces of a better life. And the Sun of divine grace, looking down even on this moral swamp, quickened into life plants of righteousness on spots not wholly submerged.
3. How far God had already dealt with this man does not appear. But now He touches him with affliction, and his loved little boy () lay nigh to death. Then he would be led to ask: Whence comes this sorrow? where can help be found?
II. It drives the troubled one to the Saviour.
1. This official resided in Capernaum, which Jesus had already visited (Joh. 2:12). But the nobleman had not known Him, or had not been drawn to Him during that visit, even though he may have heard of the miracle at Cana.
2. But this trouble had awakened him from his sleep of indifference. In this condition he was like one newly awakened, not quite clearly conscious of his surroundings. So this man did not know which way to turn. Some in this condition frequently consider that it is too late to do anything. But God gave the nobleman an indication. He heard that Jesus, who had wrought the miracle at Cana, had returned. Here was hope! Where was He? At Cana, six to eight hours away. So he went away, leaving his son for the time, to seek Jesus.
3. It was the cross led him to Jesusled him at first with erroneous notions as to the Saviours work, etc. He came to Jesus as to a mere healer of the sick; and the consequent rebuke of Jesus might have led to opposition and doubt in his heart had not the thought of his dear boy led him to persevere. Lord, come down (Joh. 4:49) shows that he was learning true faith and supplication. Affliction was teaching him. And in these words we discern faith as a grain of mustard seed. If Jesus would come down all would be well. The dignity of our Lords person, His word of promise, all contributed to the growth of faith. But it was the cross that opened his eyes and led him to Jesus.
III. The incident teaches us like precious faith.
1. That when affliction presses it may drive us to hear of Christ and to go to Him, and come praying. Then you will learn to call Him Lord, and not to despair if the answer is not at once accorded.
2. If your own cross is not sufficient to impel you, look at His which He bore for you.
3. Thus you will be given faith and assurance that He has heard, for heaven is certainly no farther from you than Capernaum from Cana.
4. So does affliction lead to Christ. It is the under-shepherdthe shepherds dogto bring the wanderers back; the morning bell calling to the Church of the New Jerusalem, sounding often harshly and discordantly to the ear, but when men are in the Church leading to hallelujahs.
5. Then when faith is born Christ sustains it; it would be weak without its seal. Therefore the glad father learned, Thy child liveth: at the same hour as Jesus spoke his child was healed. Thus his faith received its seal, and he believed, and his whole house.Adapted from Dr. Fried. Ahlfeld.
HOMILETIC NOTES
Joh. 4:47-50. How does the Lord deal with those weak in faith?
Introduction.Eze. 34:16; Gen. 33:13.
I. He does not turn them away from Him, but rebukes them as they require (Joh. 4:47-48).
II. He calls them to believe in His word, on which all depends (Joh. 4:49-50).
III. He gives them to experience the blessed result of this faith in order to strengthen them (Joh. 4:51-53).
IV. He converts them into instruments fitted to lead others to faith (Joh. 4:53).Dr. v. Biarowsky.
Joh. 4:47-54. The ladder of faith.The ladder of faith, on which we see the man in our Gospel ascending with firm, unfaltering steps, has three divisions, and each division its rounds.
I. On the first division we see the man driven by his needs standing before the Lord.
II. On the second division we see faith and temptation striving with each other.
III. On the third division we see how the soul becomes through grace certain and joyful.
And we further notice:
1. The word of promise there laid hold of.
2. The experience there realised.
3. The confirmation of the promise given.Appuhn in J. L. Sommers Evang. Per.
Joh. 4:53. The importance of faith.Faith, like a divine light, enkindles others also. It is with faith as it is with a ship which struggles on in a storm. As soon as the rudder is left such a ship will make no progress, but will drift before the gale. He believed. What did he now believe? Not that his son had been restored to health. Belief in this fact was left behind; he saw with his own eyes that his son lived. What, then? He believed that Jesus was Christ and was able to help him in every time of need. The end of the miracles of Christ is to bring about belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Ye fathers and mothers, implant faith and the fear of God in the hearts of your children and the members of your household. This will come to pass when you have a Church in your house, and the word of Christ dwells richly among you; when you show a good example, maintain proper discipline, and reprove such as are evil.J. J. Weigel.
Joh. 4:54. This is the second miracle, etc.The bell had now been sounded a second time, in order that the Galileans might come in greater crowds to the preaching of the word.Idem.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Joh. 4:46. God wounding in order to heal.There is an old German parable somewhat as follows: A boy lay down on the shore of a lake and fell asleep. His father, however, was on the heights engaged in his work. But the wind rose and began to drive great waves along the shore. They mounted higher and higher, and each new wave advanced farther, till speedily they had reached the slumbering child. The father saw this from the height where he was; he raised his voice and shouted. But the boy slept on. Thereupon he came down from the hill, laid hold of and shook the sleeper. But the latter still slept peacefully on. Therefore, as the waves swelled around, the father struck him smartly on the ear, so that he might awake. The meaning lies beneath the surface. The child who sleeps on the shore is thyself, O man, in thy sinful security. The lake is that of destruction, that every hour threatens to overwhelm thee. Thy father is thy God, who sees thy hardbeartedness with sorrow. He calls upon thee, by His holy word, which should penetrate thine ear and thy heart. He startles thee in that He punishes sinners on the right hand and the left, and passes judgment on them. He smites thee finally with affliction, so that thou mayest awake, and the flood and curse of sin may not engulf thee. Beloved brother, sister, do not shrink from thy cross. Hear, go, pray, only believe. If the Lord has begun by visiting you with the rod Woe, believe it, He will lay it aside anon and take the staff Gentleness, when He has awakened you and drawn you to Himself. Only on those who harden themselves come stroke on stroke, each harder than the other.Dr. Fried. Ahlfeld.
Joh. 4:53. The power of a living faith testifying to Gods goodness.That this nobleman believed with all his heart is a beautiful example of the power of a living faith. He could not conceal within himself what he had experiencedhe must needs bear witness of it and make it known to those whom God had laid on his heart and bound to him, so that they also might attain to a faith and blessedness like that he himself tasted. Faith is not self-seekingit is indeed a divine work of grace in us, and therefore it streams out in works of love, and brings also others to like precious faith in Christ. Each genuine conversion is the seed-corn for the future conversion of others; and more especially is the conversion of the member of a family, according to Gods will, a circumstance which ought to have the very highest and most blessed result for that family (Act. 16:31). From the effect on the other members of the family the word then passes through the zeal of the converted still further to the whole people and to all mankind. Hence experience teaches us that always in the Church of the Lord, when genuine faith in the Redeemer is awakened afresh, a new and warmer zeal for missions is awakened; and thus from one centre new light and life are spread abroad to many. That which the family history of the nobleman of Capernaum and the jailer at Philippi shows in a narrow circle we see expanded in the history of missions. And so we ought to desire that everywhere genuine conversions of individuals may take place, for then from them the knowledge of Christ would speedily and powerfully be extended.Translated from F. G. Lisco.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PUBLIC TEACHING IN GALILEE
Text 4:43-45
43
And after the two days he went forth from thence into Galilee.
44
For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country.
45
So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
Queries
a.
Why did Jesus say a-prophet hath no honor . . .?
b.
How did the Galileans receive Him?
Paraphrase
After these two days Jesus went out from Samaria into the province of Galilee. He Himself declared as the reason, A prophet is not famous in his own country. But when He came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him with acclaim, having seen everything that He did in Jerusalem during the Feast of Passover, for they also had attended the Feast.
Summary
Jesus goes to Galilee anticipating an unpretentious arrival, but receives public acclaim.
Comment
In Joh. 4:43 the Lord seems to be in a hurry to get to Galilee. With such success in Samaria, He is in danger again of arousing the jealousy of the Pharisees. He proposes to go into Galilee, His home country. The Pharisees were not above following His every movement in order to force the issue, for they later do just that.
Joh. 4:43-44 are Johns way of resuming the narrative where he left it in Joh. 4:1-3. Jesus left Judea originally because His growing popularity was about to bring about a premature collision between Him and the rulers (see our comments on Joh. 4:1-3). Add to this the recent success in Samaria, and one begins to understand His determination to go into Galilee. To avoid further antagonizing the rulers, He departs for His own country where He anticipates a quiet arrival, for no prophet is overly-honored in His own country.
He will not always seek to avoid this clash, however, for when the appointed time comes for Him to fulfill all things, He will steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and force the issue with the jealously blind leaders there.
When Jesus arrived in Galilee, however, the people welcomed Him openly (Joh. 4:45). They had been to the Passover (Joh. 2:23) and seen the many signs He did there. Again we see the contrast between the Galileans and the Samaritans. Those of Samaria eagerly welcomed Jesus into their homes, although they had been given no signs; the Galileans received Him primarily because He was a wonder-worker (cf. Joh. 4:48 also).
So Jesus now embarks on a public ministry in Galilee. The ministry which follows, however, seems to speak of a guarded revelation of Himself as compared with the open declaration of Himself in Samaria as the Messiah the Saviour of the world. This Galilean ministry will last approximately sixteen months. There will be only one interruption a brief trip to Jerusalem for a Passover feast recorded in Joh. 5:1-47. It is a ministry almost completely left out of Johns gospel except for Joh. 4:43-54 and Joh. 6:1 to Joh. 7:10. But this early Galilean ministry is reported extensively by the Synoptic Gospels (cf. Mt. chapters 414; Mar. 1:1-45; Mar. 2:1-28; Mar. 3:1-35; Mar. 4:1-41; Mar. 5:1-43; Mar. 6:1-56; Luk. 4:1-44; Luk. 5:1-39; Luk. 6:1-49; Luk. 7:1-50; Luk. 8:1-56; Luk. 9:1-62). See Map No. 3, page 170.
Quiz
1.
Why did Jesus go into Galilee?
2.
What does He mean by saying a prophet hath no honor in his own country?
3.
Why was Jesus popular in Galilee?
4.
How long is the Galilean ministry to last?
5.
What portion of the great Galilean ministry is reported by John?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(43) Two days.Literally, the two days. It is the time mentioned in Joh. 4:40, not a second period of two days.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. PUBLIC MINISTRY IN GALILEE, vv. AND HEALING OF NOBLEMAN’S SON, Joh 4:43-54 .
The following narrative has some external resemblance to the healing of the centurion’s servant, (Luk 7:10,) but their essence is very different. That relates an instance in which great faith and humility were honoured; this a case of weak faith reproved but confirmed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And after two days he went out from there to Galilee, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country. So when he came into Galilee the Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast. For they also went to the feast.’
After His successful ministry Jesus departed for Galilee, for ‘Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country’. The reference to ‘his own country’ here must be to Judea to make sense of the context, although later it would also apply to Nazareth as well (Luk 4:24). (His birthplace was in Judea). We have already been told that He had come to His own home (Jerusalem and Judea as the centres of the Jewish religion) and His own people had not received him (Joh 1:11). ‘No honour’ means from the Jewish authorities and influential people, for His ministry to the common people had been successful. It was the authorities who would not give Him His due. Thus for the time being He would concentrate on work in the North. (Both Judea and Galilee could be looked on as His own country for He was born in one and brought up in the other).
In Galilee He was at first welcomed because of ‘all they had seen He had done in Jerusalem at the Feast’. But once again we are reminded of Joh 2:23-24. They believed because of the signs, but He could not trust their belief for its foundation was insecure, and as far as we are aware He carried out no public ministry at this stage. Did He recognise that they were not yet ready and that their superficial attitude could do more harm than good? They were proud of their fellow-countryman because of His successes, but did they want the inner change that He would require of them? There are times when it is better to be silent than to speak. How different they were from the Samaritans. Had their welcome been for the right reasons it is hardly conceivable that He would not have done for them what He had done for the Samaritans.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Galileans Respond to His Calling – In Joh 4:43-54 we have the testimony of the people of Galilee. The author tells us how the Galileans received Jesus’ ministry (Joh 4:43-45). Then the author follows this statement with an illustration of the healing of the nobleman’s son in Cana of Galilee (Joh 4:46-54). Thus, these opening verses give us the setting and reason behind the miracle of the healing of the nobleman’s son, just as Joh 4:1-3 serves an introductory statements for the story of the Samaritan Woman.
In verse 44, Jesus says that a prophet has no honour in his own country. Why did Jesus make such a statement: because He knew the hearts of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and, thus, had to depart from Judea (Joh 4:1-3), and Jesus said it because He was about to work a second miracle here in the region of Galilee, which was ethnically no longer a part of the Jewish nation as was Judea. The first miracle took place in Cana of Galilee where Jesus turned the water to wine. The second miracle is in this passage, where he healed the son of a nobleman, also in Cana. Jesus performed a miracle because He knew that except they see signs and wonders, they will not believe (verse 48). Therefore, Jesus came and performed miracles in Galilee so that many would believe in Him.
We see in this passage of Scripture that Jesus goes into Galilee (verse 43). This was the region where Jesus was raised from a child. Jesus says here that a prophet is not accepted in his own native place (verse 44). Jesus was referring to His rejection by those in Galilee. Because of his rejection in Cana, He had performed only one miracle in Galilee, when He turned the water to wine (verse 46). Jesus had performed many miracles while in Jerusalem (verse 45), and some of those of Galilee did receive Him.
Therefore, the purpose of this passage is to show the second miracle that Jesus performed in Galilee (verse 54). This passage in the Gospel of John clearly illustrates an underlying theme, which is the fact that Jesus came unto His own, and His own received Him not (Joh 1:11).
Outline – Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Galileans Accept Jesus Joh 4:43-45
2. The Second Miracle (Healing of a Gentile) Joh 4:46-54
Joh 4:43-45 The Galileans Respond to His Calling Joh 4:43-45 tells us of how the Gentiles widely accepted the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. This passage is followed by the example of one Gentile being healed by Jesus Christ (Joh 4:46-54).
Just as the story of the Samaritan woman opens with a reference to Jesus’ rejection by the Jews (Joh 4:1-3), so does the story of the healing of the nobleman’s son open with a similar statement. For we read in Joh 4:44 Jesus declared that a prophet has no honor in His own country and that He was accepted by the Gentiles (Joh 4:45).
Joh 4:43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
Joh 4:44 Joh 4:44
Mat 13:57, “And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.”
Mar 6:4, “But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”
Luk 4:24, “And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.”
Those family and friends who had grown up with Jesus and lived with Him had a difficult time accepting Him as the Messiah, while the rest of Galilee received Him gladly. Andrew Wommack quotes this proverb, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” [162] In other words, when we become too familiar with someone, we generally are less likely to praise his gifts, and more likely to condemn his weaknesses. Although Jesus Christ had not faults, no sin, He was fully human. Those who became familiar with His humanity had a difficult time embracing His deity. The writings of the New Testament reveal that Paul the apostle had a greater revelation of who Jesus Christ was than did the Twelve who walked with Him for three and a half years. This is because Paul only knew Jesus as the Resurrected Christ. He did not have to lay aside his experience of walking with Jesus as flesh and blood. It is easier for us to understand the revelation of the deity of Jesus Christ than it was for those who walked with Him on earth because we can only view Him by the Word of God through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus said, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (Joh 20:29) There is a greater blessing in believing for those who have not seen Him because it is easier to take hold of the Word of God through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.
[162] Andrew Wommack, “Familiarity Breeds Contempt,” in One Year With Jesus: February 16 th , [on-line]; accessed 17 February 2012; available from http://www.awmi.net/devotion/jesus/feb_16; Internet.
Joh 4:45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
Joh 4:45
Joh 2:13, “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,”
Joh 4:46-54 The Second Healing: The Testimony of Justification Through Faith in Jesus Christ (The Healing of the Nobleman’s Son) ( Mat 8:5-13 , Luk 7:1-10 ) Joh 4:46-54 tells us the story of Jesus healing the nobleman’s son. This is the second healing testimony that John records in his Gospel. This story serves as a testimony of the acceptance by the Gentiles of Jesus’ ministry. More importantly, this miracle testifies of the aspect of our spiritual journey called justification through faith in Christ. This is why Jesus says unless they see signs and wonders, they would not believe in Him (Joh 4:47), and why this passage of Scripture says that the man and his whole believed once they realized it was a miracle (Joh 4:53).
Joh 4:46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.
Joh 4:47 Joh 4:47
Joh 4:48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
Joh 4:48
Joh 4:49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
Joh 4:50 Joh 4:51 Joh 4:52 Joh 4:53 Joh 4:53
Joh 4:54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.
Joh 4:54
Joh 2:23, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Healing of the Nobleman’s Son. The passing into Galilee:
v. 43. Now after two days He departed thence, and went into Galilee.
v. 44. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his own country.
v. 45. Then, when He was come into Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast; for they also went unto the feast. Jesus was constrained by the earnest prayers of the Samaritans to spend two days in their midst. But after that He continued His interrupted journey. He wanted to reach Galilee as soon as possible, an intention which He supported with a proverb: A prophet in his own fatherland has no honor. It was either that He referred to Judea, where His birthplace was situated, and where He had done His first public work, but where the Pharisees were even then showing their hostile attitude more strongly every day; or He had Galilee in mind, for there was situated Nazareth, His home town, and there was little danger of His being too highly honored and of gaining a popularity which would result in a collision with the Pharisees. But His reception in Galilee left little to be desired. Many Galileans had been at the last Passover festival and had witnessed the wonderful things which Jesus had done at that time, and they were very glad to have this prophet in their midst. As one commentator has it, they received Him on account of His fame in Jerusalem, the metropolis, which set them the fashion in their estimate of men and things. But it was not a longing for the Savior of sinners that actuated them at this time, but merely a curiosity to see and hear more of this great countryman of theirs that had dared to purge the Temple in the very presence of the mighty of the nation.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 4:43-44 . [198] ] The article is to be explained by Joh 4:40 .
] ipse , not merely others with reference to Him, but “ He Himself did not hesitate to testify,” etc. As to the fact itself, see Mat 13:57 ; Mar 6:4 ; Luk 4:24 . When Schenkel concludes from that Jesus did not yet regard Himself as the Messiah , this is a misuse of the general term within the category of which the conception of Messiah is embraced.
.] not in the sense of the Pluperfect (Tholuck, Godet; see on Joh 18:24 ), but then , when He returned to Galilee.
is the ordinary for; and is not the native town , but, as is clear from , Joh 4:43 ; Joh 4:45 , the native country . So also usually in Greek writers, from Homer downwards. The words give the reason why He did not hesitate to return to Galilee. The gist of the reason lies in the antithetical reference of . If, as Jesus Himself testified, a prophet had no honour in his own country , he must seek it abroad . And this Jesus had done. Abroad, in Jerusalem, He had by His mighty works inspired the Galilaeans who were there with that respect which they were accustomed to deny to a prophet at home. Thus He brought the prophet’s honour with Him from abroad . [199] Accordingly (Joh 4:45 ) He found a reception among the Galilaeans also, because they had seen His miracles in Jerusalem (Joh 2:23 ). It is therefore obviously incorrect to understand specially of Upper Galilee, as distinct from Lower Galilee, where Nazareth was situated. So Lange, in spite of the fact that . here must be the universal and popular name for the whole province, as distinct from Samaria ( ), whether we retain as in the Elzevir or not. It is further incorrect, and an utterly arbitrary gloss, to interpret as meaning Nazareth , and as referring to the fact that He had gone, indeed, to Galilee, but not to Nazareth (Chrysostom and even Euthymius Zigabenus: to Capernaum). So Cyril, Nonnus, Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Aretius, Grotius, Jansen, Bengel, and many; also Kypke, Rosenmller, Olshausen, Klee, Gemberg in Stud. u. Krit . 1845, I.; Hengstenberg, Bumlein. It is also incorrect, because not in keeping with the context, nor with the general view, which is also that of John, which regards Galilee as Christ’s home (Joh 1:46 , Joh 2:1 , Joh 7:3 ; Joh 7:41 ; Joh 7:52 ), to take as denoting Judea , and as stating the reason (in the face of the quite different reason already given, Joh 4:1-3 ) why Jesus had left Judea (Origen, Maldonatus, B. Bauer, Schwegler, Wieseler, B. Crusius, Schweizer, Kstlin, Baur, Hilgenfeld, and formerly also Ebrard); whence some, e.g. Origen and Baur, take in a higher sense, as signifying the native land of the prophets , [200] and therefore of the Messiah also, and most, like Hilgenfeld, as having reference to the birth at Bethlehem . Lcke has rightly, in his 3d ed., abandoned this interpretation; but, on the other hand, he takes as equivalent to namely , and explains it as referring not to what precedes, but to what follows (so substantially also Tholuck, Olshausen, Maier, de Wette), so that Joh 4:44 gives an explanation in passing on the point: “that the Galilaeans on this occasion received Jesus well, but only on account of the miracles which they had seen in Jerusalem” (de Wette). It is against this, however, that though in the classics explicative often precedes the sentence to be explained (see Hartung, Partikell . I. p. 467; Bumlein, Partik . p. 75 ff.), especially in parenthesis (see Bremi, ad Lys . p. 66; Ellendt, Lex. Soph . I. 338), yet this form of expression is quite without precedent in the N. T. (Rom 14:10 , Heb 2:8 , are not instances in point), and especially would be quite foreign to John’s simple progressive style of narration; moreover, the “indeed, but only,” put into Joh 4:45 , is quite obtruded on the words, inasmuch as John wrote neither after ., nor thereafter a , nor any such expression. [201] According to Brckner, Jesus came to Galilee because , (but see Joh 4:1-3 ) He had supposed that He would find no honour there, and consequently with the intention of undertaking the conflict for the recognition of His person and dignity. According to Luthardt, whom Ebrard now follows (comp. Hofmann, Weissag. u. Erf . II. 88, also Schriftbew II. 1, p. 171), the words imply the hope entertained by Jesus of being able to remain in rest and silence in Galilee more easily than anywhere else. But both explanations are incompatible with the following , . . ., which certainly means that the Galileans received Him with honour, as He was called immediately thereafter to perform a miracle. We should certainly expect or (comp. Nonnus) to introduce the statement, and not . In what follows, moreover, regarding the residence in Galilee, we are told neither about conflict nor about the repose of Jesus, but simply of the healing at a distance of the nobleman’s son. Lastly, it is contrary to the words (because in Joh 4:45 directly resumes the . . of Joh 4:43 , and admits of no interval), when Hauff, in the Stud. u. Krit . 1849, p. 117 ff., makes the train of thought to terminate with Joh 4:44 , and takes Joh 4:44 itself as a general description of the result of Christ’s Galilean ministry. Thus is said to indicate that He did and taught much there ; which is clearly a gloss foisted into the text.
[198] See Ewald, Jahrb . X. 1860, p. 108 ff. He agrees for the most part with my rendering; comp. also his Johann. Schr . I. p. 194; in like manner Godet, who, however, without the slightest hint of it in the text, supposes a purpose on the writer’s part, in connection with Joh 3:24 , to correct the synoptical tradition. John wishes “constater l’intervalle considrable qui spara du baptme de Jsus son retour dfinitif et son tablissement permanent en Galile.” In Joh 3:24 he states the fact, and here he gives the motive. Scholten puts the emphasis which prompts the following upon , a word which is quite unessential, and might just as well have been omitted.
[199] Baeumlein urges, against my explanation: “We cannot believe that, after the words ‘He betook Himself to Galilee ,’ there should follow the reason why He had before left Galilee .” This, however, is not the logical connection at all.
[200] So also B. Crusius, who compares Joh 7:52 . Quite erroneously, when the general and proverbial character of the statement is considered. After Joh 4:3 , however, the reader can expect no further explanation of the reason why Jesus did not remain in Judea. Schwegler and B. Bauer suppose that here Judea is meant as the native land of Jesus, and make use of this as an argument against the genuineness and historical truth of the Gospel. Comp. also Kstlin in the Theol. Jahrb . 1851, p. 186. Hilgenfeld, Evang . p. 266: “a remarkable inversion of the synoptical statement, wherein the Gospel appears as a free compilation by a post-apostolic author” ( Zeitschr . 1862, p. 17). Schweizer also finds it such a stumbling-block, that he regards it as proving the following narrative to be a Galilean interpolation. Gfrrer, heil. Sage , II. 289, rightly indeed understands the words as referring to Galilee , but considers that we should supply the following: “ save very slowly and reluctantly, for ,” etc.
[201] Weizscker also, in the Jahrb. F. Deutsche Theol . 1859, p. 695, regards not as introducing a reason, but as demonstrative. John intimates that he will not narrate much of Christ’s ministry in Galilee; he refers to that saying as if shrinking from unpleasant recollections. But this is not in the text, nor is it compatible with the connection in ver. 45, and the history that follows. Weizscker, indeed, thinks (comp. his Unters. b. d. ev. Gesch . p. 276) that in this synoptic saying John refers to the synoptic account of that Galilean ministry, which he would not himself describe . Who ever could imagine that? especially when John at once goes on to narrate the good reception given to Jesus in Galilee, and His miracle of blessing there. Did the Lord betake Himself to “ a voluntary obscurity ,” concerning which John wishes to be silent?
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
VIII
Residence Of Jesus In Galilee, And Believing Gailean In Particular. The Nobleman. The Miracle Of Distant Healing, As A Second Sign
Joh 4:43-54
(Joh 4:47-54. Gospel for 21st Sunday after Trinity.)
43Now after [the, ]95 two days he departed thence, and went [omit and went]96into Galilee.97 44For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own 45country. Then when [When therefore, ] he was come [he came, ] into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things [omit the things] that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto [to] the feast.
46So Jesus [he]98 came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine.
And there was a certain nobleman [a royal person or officer, ,] whose son was sick [,] at Capernaum. 47When he heard [The same, having heard, ] that Jesus was [had] come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders,ye will not believe. 49The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 50Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken [spake, ] unto him, and he [omit he] went his way. 51And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him [brought 52word],99 saying, Thy son [his child, ]100 liveth. Then [he] inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53So the father knew that it was at [in] the same hour, in the [omit the] which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and 54[. And he] himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did [This again, a second sign, wrought Jesus, .], when he was [had] come out of Judea into Galilee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
[The miraculous healing of the noblemans son resembles the healing of the centurions servant, Mat 8:5; Luk 7:1, but must not be confounded with it (see the points of difference in the note on Joh 4:46). It was the second miracle which Christ wrought in Galilee (Joh 4:54); the first being the change of water into wine (John 2). John relates a third miracle in Galilee, the feeding of the multitude, which is followed by a long discourse (John 6), and three miracles in Judea, viz.: the healing of the cripple at the pool of Bethesda (5), the healing of the blind (9), and the raising of Lazarus (11). He also relates three appearances of the risen Saviour (Joh 21:14). Bengel (on Joh 4:54) notes this threefold trinity with the remark: Hc nimirum Johannis methodus est, ut per ternarium incedat.P. S.]
Joh 4:43. And went.The repetition: , and , should be noted with reference to the next verse. See the Textual Notes (No. 2).
Joh 4:44. For Jesus himself testified. Himself. Meyer: Not only other people in reference to Him. For the matter itself, comp. Mat 13:57; Mar 6:4; Luk 4:24. Tholuck better: He had himself acknowledged the correctness of the popular proverb. [The proverb itself is based upon common experience and needs no explanation. Familiarity breeds contempt, while distance lends enchantment to the view. The Germans have a similar proverb: This is not far off (Das ist nicht weit her), i. e., nothing uncommon. Many of the greatest men were despised or ignored in their native land or city, and made their renown or fortune in foreign lands. The only difficulty is in the logical connection as indicated by P. S.] The question is, how is the for () to be explained? or how can He go to Galilee because a prophet hath no honor in his own country? for we should expect either the reverse, or although () instead of for ().101 Answer:
1. [patria] is not the native country (Vaterland), but the native city (Vaterstadt), even in antithesis to the country of Galilee (Chrysostom, who understands it of Capernaum, Cyril, Erasmus, Calvin, etc.). Against this: The antithesis is not demonstrated.
[Nearly all who understand of the native town, refer it, not to Capernaum (with Chrysostom and Euthymius Zig.), which is altogether out of the question, but to Nazareth, where Christ was not born, indeed, but raised, and where He lived to the time of His public ministry. (So Cyril Alex., Calvin, Grotius, Bengel, Olshausen, Hengstenberg, Bumlein, Trench, on Miracles, p. 99, Wordsworth) Nazareth in Galilee then is contrasted here with Galilee in general, as the city of Jerusalem is contrasted with the land of Judea, Joh 3:22. This view has a strong support in Luk 4:24 (comp. Mat 13:57; Mar 6:4), where Christ says in the synagogue of Nazareth: No prophet is accepted in his own country ( ). This was soon shown by the action of the Nazarans who thrust Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill, that they might cast Him down headlong (Joh 4:29); while in Capernaum the people were astonished at His doctrine (Joh 4:32), and, as John relates, received Him well (Joh 4:45). John may have supposed this event to be already known from the other Gospels. The only objection to this view is, that Galilee, Joh 4:43, would naturally include Nazareth. It would be necessary to explain the from Joh 4:46 : Christ went to Cana in Galilee (which lies north of Nazareth), without passing through His native place, for the reason mentioned. The choice lies between this interpretation and that of Dr. Lange (see below, No. 7), which comes nearest to it. All others are too far-fetched.P. S.]
2. is Judea, since He was born in Bethlehem (Origen, Maldonatus, Schweizer, Ebrard [formerly], Baur). Against this: a. His acknowledged home was Nazareth, notwithstanding He was born in Bethlehem;102 b. In Judea He had been well received by the people; c. The construction, that Judea was His country, as being the country of the prophets (Origen, Baur, Baumgarten-Crusius), would be unintelligible.
3. Judea is indeed meant to be understood as His , but this just proves the unhistorical character of Johns Gospel (Schwegler, Bruno Bauer; Schweizer: The unhistorical character of the ensuing narrative, which is to be considered an interpolation).
4. For means namely, that is to say, and relates not to what precedes, but to what follows. The sentence is a preliminary explanation of the fact that the Galileans did indeed this time receive Jesus well, but only on account of the miracles they had seen at their visit to the last passover in Jerusalem [which set them the fashion in their estimate of men and things, while the Samaritans believed in Him for His word without signs]. (So Lcke [3 ed.], De Wette, Tholuck.103 Contrary to the spirit of the maxim, to the context (for a nobleman from Capernaum meets Him at the outset at Cana seeking help), and to the fact in general.
5. Christ went to Galilee just because He expected not to find acceptance there. (a) Brckner: To accept the conflictwhich, however, was more threatening in Judea; (b) Hofmann, Luthardt [now also Ebrard]: Because He hoped [to avoid publicity and] to find rest and quiet in Galileein which, however, He would be disappointed. [Against both these views may be urged also that the text reports neither a conflict, nor a quiet retirement in Galilee, but a miracle of healing.P. S.]
6. Meyer: is not the native town, but the native country, viz., Galilee, as is proved by Joh 4:43; Joh 4:45, and as usual with the Greeks since Homer. The words contain the reason why Jesus did not hesitate to return to Galilee, but the reason lies in the antithetic relation implied in . For if, as Jesus Himself testified, a prophet is without honor in his own country, he must earn it in another. And this Jesus had done in Jerusalem. He now brought with Him the honor of a prophet from a distance. Hence too He found acceptance with the Galileans, because they had seen His miracles in Jerusalem (Joh 2:23).104 Against this: a. Then the word must have stood at Joh 4:1. But there another motive stands for His having now left Judea. b. The remark must have been, that He came already full of honor, because He had none to expect in Galilee, c. It must not have been known that He was ill-received in His own , in the narrower sense, on this very return.
7. is Lower Galilee, to which Nazareth belonged. We believe we have found the full solution in the fact that now took place, the removal of Jesus from Nazareth, where He had been thrust out, to Capernaum, on the presumption that Capernaum belonged to Galilee in the narrower sense, i.e., to Upper Galilee, to which Nazareth, in Lower Galilee, did not belong. This is supported (a) by the fact that the name Galilee in the narrower sense referred to Upper Galilee (see Forbiger, Handbuch der alten Geographie II., p. 689); (b) by the statement of Josephus, that Upper Galilee was separated from Lower Galilee by a line drawn from Tiberias to Zebulon [De bello Jud. . 3, 1), which throws Nazareth into Lower Galilee. If now we consider that John writes with the living, popular view of Palestine thoroughly in his mind; that he knew of an unknown Bethany, a ferry-village on the other side of the Jordan, of an otherwise unknown Salim, near non, of an elsewhere unknown Syohar, probably a suburb of Sichem, of the pool of Bethesda with its porches, of Solomons Porch in the temple,we may also conceive that John knows of a Galilee in the provincial sense, and that he can say without geographical reflection, Jesus went to Galilee, as the Swiss in Geneva says without reflection: I am going to Switzerland; the Pomeranian: I am going to Prussia. This is further favored by the expression in Luk 4:31 : He came down from Nazareth to Capernaum, a city of Galilee; against which it signifies nothing that Galilee sometimes occurs in John, especially in the mouth of another, in the wider sense. (See Leben Jesu, II. 2, p. 542.)
Joh 4:45. The Galileans received him.Received Him favorably. A general observation concerning His acceptance in Upper Galilee, particularly in Cana, Bethsaida, Capernaum, etc. They received Him; antithetic to an implied rejection. Having seen all the things that he did.No ignoring of His earlier miracles in Cana and Capernaum. It was to the Galileans a new and higher attestation, that Jesus had made a great impression even in Jerusalem with His signs. It was their countryman who had purified the temple, and filled the holy city with wonder.
Joh 4:46. So Jesus came again.What means this , so? The first time Jesus had gone on from Nazareth to Cana. And now He again went first to Nazareth. And if He wished to go thence to Galilee, we might expect He would proceed first to His friends in Cana. In Cana He seems to have tarried several days; at all events the comes hither for Him.
And there was a certain nobleman [royal officer, ].An officer of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch (whom the common people considered and called a king, Mat 14:1; Mat 14:9),105 The title combines civil and military dignity; hence some have taken this to be identical with the centurion of Capernaum (Irenus, Semler, Strauss, Baumgarten-Crusius).
The office, the sick boy, the distant healing, are similar features.
On the other side are these differences:
1.The time; here before the removal of Jesus to Capernaum, there long after it.
2. The place of Christ at the time; here Cana, there the vicinity of Capernaum.
3.The characters; here excited, weak, feebly believing, there calm, confident, strong of faith.
Other differences, by themselves considered, might be more easily wiped away: The here, the there (a distinction, however, which is not resolved by the common : here the boy is a small boy, a child (Joh 4:49), there a stout youth); there a Gentile, here a miracle-believer, probably a Jew. Yet these with the foregoing strengthen the difference. But the most decisive diversity is in the judgment of the Lord. The faith of the centurion He commends with admiration; the faith of the nobleman He must first subject to a trial. [Chrysostom, Trench, Alford: The weak faith of the nobleman is strengthened, while the humility of the centurion is honored.]
Accordingly this miracle has been in fact by most expositors (from Origen down) made distinct from the other.106
Joh 4:48. Except ye see signs and wonders.Shall have seen. Ye must first have seen these, before ye come to faith. The stress does not lie decidedly on (Storr), thus censuring the request to go with him. The mans answer does not agree with this; and must then have stood first. Still the is not without significance; as is indicated by the fact that we here have for the first time in John , whereas hitherto he has spoken only of . And wonders () must be emphasized. But the less therefore can we suppose a general reproof of the Galileans, with reference to Joh 4:45 (Meyer); for it was the way of Jesus Himself to lead through faith in miracles to faith in the word, Joh 10:38; Joh 14:11; Joh 15:24. Christ, therefore, reproves not the faith in miracles in itself (Eckermann), but the craving for miracles or miracle-mania. He intimates besides, that there is a higher grade of faith than that which rests on the seeing of miracles; as appears more distinctly afterwards, in Joh 14:11; Joh 20:29. He designates the petitioner and those like him as a class of people who are not
set beforehand towards the kingdom of God, but have yet to be brought to faith by signs and wonders (); of course presupposing a sensuous spirit with a weak readiness to believe, passion for miracles, personal interest in the miracle (signs and wonders for yourselves), and an inordinate desire for seeing, 1Co 1:22. We must, however, consider that the reproof is not intended for a rejection, but for discipline, to hush the excitement of the man, and recall him to his inward spirit. Yet the palliation of Maldonatus [Rom. Cath.] is too strong: That the words contain no censure, but only a declaration of the spiritual infirmity of the people now proved by a fact.
Joh 4:49. Sir, come down ere, etc.The man proves not strong enough, indeed, to take the reproof of Christ, but it is enough that he does not feel wounded and repulsed, and that he persists and grows more urgent in his prayer. The utterance of a fathers love in trouble and anguish: My child is dying; as in Jairus, the Canaanitish mother, and the father of the demoniac under the mount of transfiguration. This distress of love makes him a believer.
Joh 4:50. Go thy way; thy son liveth.Not only the word of miraculous help, but at the same time also the second and decisive test. He must believe and go at the word. And the man believed the word; he stood the test.
Explanation of the miracle:
1. Paulus makes of it a medical prognostication after the account of the sickness given by the father: comp. also Ammon.
2. Others have supposed the operation of a magnetic healing power (Olshausen, Krabbe, etc.).
3. Meyer, on the other hand: By his will. This is of course the main thing, as in the doctrine of creation. God created the world by His will. But if we conceive the will of God abstractly, and exclude all co-operation of His vital force, we are ultra-supernaturalistic (and perhaps ultra-Reformed). The will of Christ is unquestionably the main thing, but it does not work abstractly; without a vital force proceeding from Him. (comp. Mar 5:30) the thing is not apprehended, though the magnetic healing virtue affords only the natural analogy or form for it. Even the miracle of immediate knowledge comes into the account, inasmuch as Christ wrought only where He saw the Father work, Joh 5:19. And the same instant, in which this saving life-ray flies into the heart of the father, it flies also into the heart of his distant son. For how near this father now was to his son in his inward communication, Jesus alone knew.
Joh 4:52. Then he inquired of them.The fact alone did not satisfy him; he wished to trace it to its cause. That is, he leaned towards faith. Not self-interest merely, but a religious interest also in the case, is guiding him. Tholuck. And then it appeared, (1) that the son suddenly recovered, and (2) at the hour when Jesus spoke the word. Yesterday at the seventh hour.According to the Jewish division of the day this could perhaps have been said in the evening of the same day, after six oclock. The healing took place soon after noon, and probably the father set out immediately for home. According to our reckoning of the day, a night must have intervened; which would give a strange length of time for a distance of some eight or ten hours, and Lampe adjusts by supposing that the man, in his firm faith, did not travel festinans, while De Wette thinks it strange that he stopped over night on the way. But the meeting of the servants might very well have occurred the next morning, without the journey having been slow.
Joh 4:53. And he himself believed, and his whole house.It is palpably the rule, that, with the father, the family also become believers (Act 10:44; Act 16:15; Act 16:32); but here the Evangelist calls particular attention to it by his expression. The members of the family had seen the sudden recovery, but had not heard the word of the Saviour.
Joh 4:54. This sign Jesus wrought as the second, etc., is not to be connected with , nor to be referred to by itself, but to the statement that Jesus had returned from Judea to Galilee. Jesus had meantime done many other miracles, even in Capernaum; this miracle marks His second return to Galilee, as the miracle at Cana had marked the first. He brought healing with Him at once, and it went out from Him even in distant results.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. In regard to the spirit in which Jesus just now comes to Upper Galilee and performs this miracle, it must be observed that according to Luk 4:14 sqq.; Mat 13:53 sqq., He had just been thrust out from His city Nazareth. See Leben Jesu, II. 2, p. 541. Experiences of this kind could in Him produce only an increase of His manifestations of love to those who were susceptible.
2. As the first miracle of distant operation this incident bears a close relation to the healing of the servant of the centurion at Capernaum and of the daughter of the Canaanitish woman. In the mysterious manifestation of the divine power of Christ, we must still not neglect the human media, which here lay in the inward connection of an anxious fathers heart with the dying child. As in fact the help of God owns the human intercession. The spiritual roads, streets and paths which human love, distress, and prayer have to make for the divine help in the invisible world, can only glorify the freedom, truth, and miraculous power of this help, as a power which is at the same time the power of a personal Spirit and love, i. e., not abstractly working in a void, but as divine life applied to the human.
3. As the Lord in the case of the Samaritan woman rebuked superstitious trust in a place of pilgrimage, so here He reproves superstitious trust in visible miracles.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
After the two days. The great days of grace, in which the Lord visits us, are numbered, and swiftly pass away.Jesus departed thence. The itinerancy of Jesus a clear expression of His inner life: (1) of His Israelite fidelity to duty; (2) of His heavenly calling; (3) of His love; (4) of His holy Spirit.The rapid change of time and place in the life of Jesus a token of His unworldly pilgrim nature.How the Lord learned and sealed in its highest sense the universal human experience that a prophet has no honor in his own country, in order to make of it a holy maxim of life.Want of esteem at home, the prophets signal to travel.The closed door a way-mark for the Lord and His disciples to go on to the open door.A good word finds its place.It is no question, Whether there be in the world persons susceptible to thy mission; the only question is, Where they are (whether here or far away; whether in the present or in the future); and herein is much to be unlearned and to be learned by the heart of youthful Christian enthusiasm.How the divine fire of Christ was always only inflamed by the coldness of men.The two works of Jesus in Cana, the transformation of water and the distant healing, as conspicuous tokens of His heavenly nature: 1. The first, so to speak, leads up into heaven. 2. The second as it were comes down from heaven.How the nobleman of Capernaum learns to believe. This nobleman compared with the centurion of Capernaum (resemblances, differences, see above).The deliberation of Jesus with the nobleman, a mark of the elevation of His spirit; (1) Of His freedom from obsequiousness and respect of persons; (2) of His wise reserve and loving compliance.Except ye see signs and wonders. Or, the distinction between true and false resting of faith on miracles.Also a distinction between the true and the false miracle.The marks of each (faith and miracle).Except ye. Or, the connection between worldly-minded unbelief and worldly-minded superstition in the polite world (at that time the court of Herod).Yet a nobler germ may lie in the miracle-craving form of faith. (The question is, which is the germ, and which the shell.)The testing of faith, which the nobleman stands: 1. How he is tested (a) in his humility by a stern word which might wound the pride of a nobleman; (b) in his faith, by being required to trust a word. 2. How he stands the test: (a) in his persistent prayer he passes the test of the humility of his faith; (b) in his confident departure at the word of Jesus he proves the power of his faith.Only the faith, which is itself a miracle of God can receive the miraculous help of God.Faith in the divine help must be directed above all to the divine in the help.How the Lord in granting refuses and in refusing grants.His refusing, a higher granting.Necessity and love as handmaids of faith.Comparison of the nobleman with the Canaanitish woman.The father and his sick child.How the upright man in approaching Jesus becomes at once smaller and greater: 1. The nobleman is smaller in his going than in his coming, in that he is humbly satisfied with the healing word of Jesus, and no longer desires that he should go down with him. 2. He is greater in his going than in his coming, in that he returns full of confidence in the word of Jesus. The majesty in trusting the promise of Christ, the power, out of which the greatness in the confidence of the believer grows. Out of the Amen of Christ the Amen of the believer. The divine education of the sensuous believing of miracles into believing of the word: (1) In this incident, (2) in the church, (3) in the life of the individual Christian.The health-message of Christ and the health-messenger of the servants; or, how the health-messages of heaven by far precede the health-messages of earth.The echo of the divine word of Christ: Thy son liveth! in the mouth of the servants: Thy son liveth!The dull echo of earth, and the clear echo of heaven.The hard ascent and the glad descent in the journey of the nobleman.Yesterday at the seventh hour; or, in the proper hour the help comes home with power.Mark the great hours (of extremity, of prayer, of miraculous help).Remember those hours, and believe!The distress of the whole house must become also the faith of the whole (this maybe said of the family, of the church, of mankind).The faith wrought by the miracle at the moment must make itself good in the moral expansion of faith. 1. Through the whole life, 2. Through the whole house.How the sickness of a child may become the salvation of a whole house; may, under His management, serve to glorify the Lord.The connection between the faith of the father and the germ of faith in the heart of the child.He prayed for the healing of his child, and obtained healing for himself and his whole house.The Lord comes announced by the forerunning miraculous help.The healing work of Christ in His presence and at a distance: (1) At a distance even when it is in His presence; (2) in His presence even when it is at a distance (susceptible hearts are near to Him, and He is near to them).Jesus always peculiarly rich when He comes from Judea to Galilee: 1. From enemies to friends; 2. From the great to the small; 3. From the proud to the poor.
Starke: The bad manners of men in esteeming nothing which is common and always before their eyes, but highly esteeming what is strange and rare.Every one is bound, indeed, to serve his own country; but if his own country despise him, any place which receives him is his country.Hedinger: Jesus comes again (when He has once retired apparently in vexation).God has a holy seed even among the great. All men, whatever their station, are subject to need and sickness.The same: Trouble gives feet, humbles pride, teaches prayer.Lange: To seek Jesus under special distress is indeed good and needful, but it is better that one should not wait so long, but knowing his sin and misery should in spirit be near to Jesus.Osiander: Parents should interest themselves both bodily and spiritually for their children.The bodily sickness of children troubles Christian parents; what an affliction, when-they lie sick in soul! Christ comes always at the right time with His help.Bibl. Wirt.: Christ rejects not those who are weak in faith, but takes pains, that their faith may grow.Nova Bibl. Tub.: Faith is [seems] shameless and cannot be rebuffed.Osiander: It is well to persevere in prayer, but not prescribe the manner or time of help.Faith has not only grand, but also swift results: almost every hour some form of divine help meets the believer.As the master, so the servant; good governing makes good domestics.Canstein: When we duly reflect, not an hour passes in which God does not show us good.Osiander: Christs followers must not be weary of wandering far on earth and doing good in all places.The more a country has seen and heard of Christ, the heavier judgment will it receive, if it believe not.Rieger: Much of the teaching and wholesome direction of God comes to us through our children, and what concerns their life and death, their success and hindrances, goes to our heart.All depends on whether a man will.
Besser: It is a wonderfully beautiful example of growing faith, that we have in this nobleman. Methinks John expresses his own joyful surprise, when he pictures to us the suddenly stilled and satisfied man: The man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
Heubner: By the sickness of children God disciplines the parents themselves.Though he was at the court of Herod (at least as a servant), yet he went to Jesus.Domestic troubles should drive us to Jesus.The true sense is: Except ye see signs and wonders. The emphasis lies on see [yet also is not unmeaning].There is a secret inclination [a universal passion of the world] for miracles: 1. Desire for special extraordinary fortune to befall us, while we do not exert ourselves to obtain that which satisfies. 2. Waiting for extraordinary help in exigency, when we will not earnestly use the right means. 3. Desire for extraordinary fruits of our labor, when we will not sow, hoping in faith. 4. Desire of extraordinary violent assistance when we wish to get rid of faults, while we ourselves do not lift a hand. 5. Desire or expectation of honor, etc., while yet we have done or sacrificed nothing at all for the glory of God.The word of Jesus holds good for us in every conflict and every strait; Go thy way, and believe!Hours of deliverance in human life.The more thou searchest, the more plain will the moments of the divine deliverance be to thee.And he believed. This faith was more than the preceding; it attained to faith in Jesus the Saviour.This faith was the fruit of trial. For this God sends distress.The Christian father, as priest in his own house.(Whitefield): The head of a family has three offices (prophet, priest, king: the last he does not so easily forget).The nobleman as an example of gradual progress in faith.
Draeseke: The new house: 1. It has a now attitude outwardly. 2. It has a new manner of spirit. (These two are reversible).Greiling: To our sufferings we owe the most precious experiences of our life.Goldhorn: Consolatory reflections on the moral influence of sickness.Grueneisen: Concerning the growth of faith: 1. Need is its rise; bodily need, less than spiritual. 2. Trust is its second stage; and it must be directed less to the bodily than to the spiritual. 3. Experience is the third stage; experience more of spiritual than of bodily help.Kniewel: The three stages of faith: 1. Its childhood, the stage of seeking miracle. 2. Its youth, the stage of receiving miracle. 3. Its manhood, the stage of the power of miracle.Reinhard: How weighty should be to us the thought, that distress is often our guide to truth.Schulz: How trial and trouble lead men to the fellowship of Jesus Christ.Bachmann: The Christian calls the Saviour to his sick: 1. He calls Him. 2. In due time. 3. In the right spirit. 4. With the most blessed result.Lisco: The house of the Christian, when God visits it with trouble: The trouble (1) unites the members in tenderer love, (2) directs their hearts more trustfully to the Lord, (3) awakens them to importunate prayer and intercession, (4) produces at last a joyful and thankful faith.Kaempfe: The humility and the persistence of the nobleman.Ahlfeld: The blessing of trial.Beck: The exigence, the test, the victory, of faith.Rautenberg: The hard condition of the Christian at the sick-bed of his darlings.
[Alford: This miracle is a notable instance of our Lord not quenching the smoking flax, just as His reproof of the Samaritan woman was of His not breaking the bruised reed. The little spark of faith in the breast of this nobleman is by Him lit up into a clear and enduring flame for the light and comfort of himself and his house.Wordsworth: Our Lord would not go down at the desire of the nobleman to heal his son, but He offered to go down to heal the servant of the centurion (Mat 8:7). He thus teaches us, that what is lofty in mans sight, is low in His eyes, and the reverse.There are degrees in faith (Joh 4:53) as in other virtues.Ryle: The lessons of this miracle: 1. The rich have afflictions as well as the poor. 2. Sickness and death come to the young as well as the old. 3. What benefits affliction can confer on the soul. 4. Christs word is as good as Christs presence.P. S.]
Footnotes:
[95]Joh 4:43.[The article refers, of course, to the in Joh 4:40.P. S.]
[96]Joh 4:43.Codd. B. C. D. omit: ; but A. supports the Recepta. Tischendorf omits the words. Meyer also rejects them. But it is evident that they have been omitted through failure to perceive their import. The Evangelist would distinguish between the departure for Galilee in the wider sense, and the removal to Upper Galilee, called by him simply Galilee, in the provincial sense. [The received text is in favor of Dr. Langes interpretation of , see Exeg. Notes, but the latest editions reject on the authority of the oldest MSS. . B. C. D. Orig. Cyr.P. S.]
[97]Joh 4:43.[Dr. Lange here inserts in small type the gloss: from Lower Galilee to Upper, thus anticipating his explanation of , Joh 4:41. See the Exeg. Notes.P. S.]
[98]Joh 4:46.This , wanting in most authorities, is added by the textus receptus.
[99]Joh 4:51.[Alford brackets . Tischend. ed. VIII. reads with . D. Westcott and Hort omit it.P. S.]
[100]Joh 4:51.Lachmann: , after A. B. C. etc. [Tischend., Alf., Mey. likewise adopt for the easier lect. rec. , which may have been conformed to , Joh 4:50.P. S.]
[101][Augustine, Tittmann, Kninoel and Bloomfield take here in the sense of , which is against all grammar.P.S.]
[102][Comp. Joh 1:46; Joh 2:1; Joh 7:3; Joh 7:41; Joh 7:52.P. S.]
[103][Dr. Lange mentions Olshausen after Tholuck. But in the third ed. of his Com., Olshausen refers to Nazareth. Dean Alford adopts De Wettes view, but in his sixth edition he combines with it Luthardts (see below, sub 5).P. S.]
[104][Godet pretty nearly agrees with Meyer.P. S]
[105][Some identify this nobleman with Chuza, Herods steward, whose wife Joanna was among the followers and supporters of Jesus, Luk 8:3. A mere conjecture.P. S.]
[106]Among those who have identified the two, Strauss and others would give the preference for accurate narration to Matthew, Gfrrer and Ewald to John. With Weisse again it is a misapprehension of a parable. According to Baur the doctrinal import of the story of Nicodemus and of that of the woman of Samaria is here combined in a third story, teaching: How faith in miracles comes by means of faith in word, and consequently is in reality only such. In other words two critical legends are supposed to be combined in a third, and the Jewish councillor and the Samaritan woman become in this phantasy the Galilean nobleman!
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. (44) For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. (45) Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast; for they also went unto the feast. (46) So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. (47) When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. (48) Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. (49) The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. (50) Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. (51) And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saving, Thy son liveth. (52) Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. (53) So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth. And himself believed, and his whole house. (54) This is again the second miracle that Jesus did when he was come out of Judea into Galilee.
The departure of Jesus into Galilee, it should seem, was not because of the little honor paid him; for the Lord was prepared for all this: Isa 53:1 , etc. but for the manifestation of this act of grace, in healing a son’s bodily infirmity, and giving comfort to a father’s mind. And who shall say, what effects beside were wrought in the family and neighbourhood, by such a manifestation of Christ’s power? The distance from Capernaum to Galilee, could not have been less, at the nearest extremity of both towns, to each other, than fourteen or fifteen miles. For Jesus therefore to have wrought this cure of the sick child, and that the hour in which the Lord bid the father go his way, his child was then healed, should exactly correspond as the father afterwards found, on enquiry to the time the child’s fever left him; was in his view, such a proof of Christ’s Godhead, as under the Lord’s grace, ended in a conviction to the faith of the Lord Jesus. Reader! if our inattentive hearts were but more alive to such events as pass and repass in the present hour, in proof of the same in Christ’s words; we should be not unfrequently overwhelmed, with the continued evidences. Isa 61 ; Luk 4:18-19 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
Ver. 43. After two days he departed ] Though never so much made of, we must away when there is something elsewhere to be done for God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
43 54. ] The second miracle of Jesus in Galilee. The healing of the Ruler’s son .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
43. ] should have been expressed in E. V., after the two days .
We find no mention of the disciples again till ch. Joh 6:3 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 4:43-54 . Jesus passes into Galilee and there heals the son of a nobleman .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Joh 4:43 . . “And after the two days,” see Joh 4:40 . , “He departed thence,” i.e. , from Sychar. , “into Galilee,” carrying out the intention which had brought Him to Sychar, Joh 4:3 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 4:43-45
43After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. 44For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
Joh 4:43 This verse shows that Jesus moved more freely and more often between Judea and Galilee than one might assume from the Synoptic Gospels.
Joh 4:44 This is a very unusual verse because it does not fit the preceding context. It may refer to the Galilean ministry that was about to begin (cf. Joh 4:3). This proverb is also found in Mat 13:57; Mar 6:4; Luk 4:24. In the Synoptics it refers to Galilee, but here it refers to Judea.
Joh 4:45 “the Galileans received Him” They had already experienced Jesus’ teachings and miracles during an earlier Passover visit to Jerusalem.
The Galileans are also said to have “received” Jesus, but many of them did not follow through on that reception and later abandoned Him. “Believe” (cf. Joh 3:16) and “receive” (cf. Joh 1:17) involve more than an initial reception (cf. the Parable of the Soils in Mat 13:18-23; Mar 4:12-20; Luk 8:11-15). See Special Topic: The Need to Persevere at Joh 8:31.
“for they themselves also went to the feast” The NET Bible marks this as another parenthetical comment of the author, as they do all of Joh 4:44 (cf. NRSV, NIV).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
after two days. See Joh 11:6, and compare with the Seventh Sign. App-176.
after. Greek. meta. App-104.
two = the two; viz, those mentioned in Joh 4:40.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
43-54.] The second miracle of Jesus in Galilee. The healing of the Rulers son.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 4:43. , He departed) The departure of Jesus was useful to the Samaritans, considering what were their customs, inasmuch as in many respects they were alien to those of the Jews.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 4:43
Joh 4:43
And after the two days he went forth from thence into Galilee.-After the two days delay in his journey towards Galilee from Jerusalem he continued it.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. And 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. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
There are three distinct sections before us here. In verses 27-30 we have the return of the disciples from the city where they had gone to buy food, and the return of the woman of Samaria to her home in Sychar, there to give testimony. In verses 31-38 we have our Lords serious words in connection with the great harvest of souls and the necessity for more laborers. And in verses 39-42 we have the testimony of the Samaritans, who were brought to Christ by the woman to whom He had revealed His messiahship as recorded in the earlier part of the chapter.
We read in verse 27, Upon this. That is, just at the time that this Samaritan woman heard the Lord Jesus give that wonderful declaration, I that speak unto thee am he (v. 26), in answer to her doubtful, half-questioning word, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ (v. 25), just at that moment the disciples of the Lord returned. They marveled that He talked with the woman. Doubtless they knew her character, and that made them wonder all the more that their Lord should be found in conversation with her. But oh, how little people understood the love of His heart! Again and again we find certain ones surprised because of the depth of His interest in poor, sin-stained men and women. He loved to be with sinners. He loved to manifest His grace and compassion to them. But He never associated with sinners in order to go on with them in their ways. He sought them out in order to win them from their ways and to reveal to them the God of all grace.
And so here the disciples stood by, looking on in wonder and surprise, but nobody liked to speak out what was in his heart. They did not want to ask Him, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? (v. 27). He could have answered readily. He could have replied, I seek the salvation of her precious soul. I seek to give her the living water that she may never thirst again. I seek to make her My own and to cleanse her from all her sin. And if I am speaking today to anyone still living away from Him, let me say that is what He longs to do for you. This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them (Luk 15:2). The Pharisees said that, and they thought they were bringing an evil charge against Him when they used such language, but oh, it is to the very glory of His Saviorhood that He received sinners. I like those words of John Bunyan. He exclaims, O this Lamb of God! He had a whole heaven to Himself, myriads of angels to do His bidding, but that could not satisfy Him. He must have sinners to share it with Him. We love to sing:
Sinners Jesus will receive;
Sound the word of grace to all
Who the heavenly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall.
Sing it oer and oer again,
Christ receiveth sinful men.
He received this poor sinner. He revealed Himself to her. He gave her the living Water. And then we read, The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city (v. 28a). Notice that. She came thirsty. She came to get the water from Jacobs well, but she found that in Christ which so satisfied the longing of her heart that she forgot her waterpot for love of Him, and off she hastened to the city. [She] saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? (vv. 28b-29). And so she who, a little while ago, had been a sin-stained, characterless woman has now become an earnest evangelist. It is just what the Lord Jesus has been doing all down through the centuries, revealing His grace to needy souls. It is what, if you do not know His saving power, He is waiting to do for you.
Then we read, They [the people of Samaria] went out of the city, and came unto him (v. 30), and in the meantime the disciples prayed their Master to eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of (v. 32). They were so concerned about meeting physical need. The Lord Jesus Christ was thinking of something very much higher. His first thought was not of satisfying the cravings of physical appetite. His great concern was a yearning love for poor, sinful men and women, and a desire to deliver them from their wretchedness, to cleanse them from their iniquity, and to make them pure and holy in the sight of God.
I have meat to eat. In other words, there was nothing that gave Him such satisfaction, there was nothing that meant so much to Him as seeing anxious souls ready to receive His message. And oh, dear friends, I want to tell any poor sinner, you need not hesitate about coming to Jesus. He longs to have you come. People say to me sometimes, I fear I am almost too great a sinner. You are not too great a sinner for Him. He loves to take even the vilest sinners and cleanse them from their sins. He is waiting to do it for you. Yes, I have meat, He says, that ye know not of.
And the disciples, who were thinking still on the natural plane, turned to one another and shook their heads and asked, Whatever does He mean? Hath any man brought him aught to eat? (v. 33). But Jesus knew what they were saying, and He said, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work (v. 34). It was in order to do that will that He came from the glory He had with the Father before the world was. We hear Him say in Psalm 40, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart (v. 8). Doing that will meant assuming our humanity. It meant coming to earth as a little babe born of a virgin mother. It meant growing up in Nazareth, that mean, wicked, and dirty city. It meant growing up there in holiness of life and purity of heart, a Child without a stain of sin upon His conscience and undefiled by any evil thought or by anything unholy, a Man to whom the will of God was utterly supreme, a Man whose hands were hardened as He used the carpenters tools, who worked in the shop so that the people afterward were amazed when He went out preaching. They exclaimed, Is not this the carpenter? How, then, has this Man these things, having never learned? But in all this He was doing the will of God, and He was ever looking forward to the cross. In Gods due time, He laid aside His carpenters tools, left the shop, and went out to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God and to heal needy humanity of their ills. And the cross loomed ever nearer before His face.
In the seventeenth chapter of this very gospel we see Him in prayer, and He is bowed before the Father, His heart going up to God who had sent Him into the world and to whom He was soon going back again. He cries, I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do (17:4). In this He was anticipating the work of the cross, for the work that was specially given Him to do was that of making atonement for sin. He says, The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mat 20:28; Mar 10:45). That was the work that He had in view. That was the work He must finish. He would not go back to the glory until He had accomplished that for which He had dedicated Himself from the very beginning.
And so at last, after those awful hours of suffering on the tree when God made Him to be sin for us, though He knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, after He had drained the bitter cup of judgment to the dregs, the cup that our sins had filled, after He had borne in His inmost soul all that our iniquities deserve, when he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isa 53:6)-then we hear Him saying, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit (Luk 23:46). He cried with a loud voice, It is finished (Joh 19:30), and He bowed His head and yielded up His spirit to the Father. In the Greek language that is only one word instead of three. We say, It is finished. He cried, Finished! That means that the work that saves was completed. It means that the work whereby men and women may be cleansed from their sins and may stand justified from every charge before a holy God had been fully done, and upon the basis of that finished work God can now be just and the Justifier of him that believes in Jesus.
A dear saint was dying, and somebody stood over him and asked, Is all well? He looked up and replied with a smile. Yes, it is finished. Upon that I can hang my whole eternity. Oh, do you realize the blessedness of that? It is finished. You cannot add anything to a finished work. It is not a question of Christ having done His part and now you must do your part in order to put away sin. But the blessed truth is that Christ has forever put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and God wants us to receive the testimony of that, to believe it, and to give God glory for it. And the moment we do believe, all the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is put down over against our sin and our iniquity, and we are justified freely by His grace.
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. He came into the world for that express purpose, and He would not go back to heaven until it was accomplished.
But now, He thinks of the millions, the untold millions, in the world who will have to wait so long before they hear the message. So He says to His disciples, Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? (v. 35a). This, evidently, was very early in the year and they could see the green fields about them. They would make their calculations and say, Well, in about four months it will be harvest time. Jesus says, Do not say that. Do not say, There are yet four months, then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest (v. 35)- not the fields of wheat, not the fields of corn, but these great fields of the nations of men all about us everywhere in the world. They are white already to harvest, men and women everywhere who need Christ. Men and women who are living in their sins, who are dying in their sins, who are crying out, Who will show us any good? (Psa 4:6). Now it is the responsibility of the servants of Christ, of those who know Him, of those who have been saved by His grace, to give this message of His gospel to those still living in sin.
Here, I may say, is the challenge in regard to foreign missions. People say sometimes, Well, I do not believe in foreign missions. You can be very thankful that somebody else did! If somebody had not believed in foreign missions long ago, you and I would be poor heathen still living in ignorance of God and in sin and corruption. But somebody was enough interested in foreign missions to come to our fathers in the various European lands from which our ancestors hail, and there to tell the story that turned them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. We today are enjoying the knowledge of Christ because of the faithfulness of those of bygone centuries. Oh, let us be as faithful today! Let us be as true today in heeding the command of our Lord Jesus Christ to get the gospel out to all the world in the shortest possible time! Do not let us put it off. Do not say, Oh, well, some other day will do. He says here, Say not ye, There are yet four months?
I think there are some to whom He might say today, if He were living in the earth, Say not ye there is another dispensation, when the remnant of Israel will do the reaping and get the crop out of the world? Say not that, but lift up your eyes and look. The fields are white already to harvest, and it is your responsibility to do what you can to give them the truth. And be assured of this: if you and I do faithfully what we can, whether by going ourselves or by upholding in prayer and by our gifts those who do go, He will see that we are rewarded accordingly. The Lord adds, He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours (vv. 36-38).
The disciples were sent out into the land of Israel, to which prophets had been sent of God during other centuries, and they were going to reap where others had sown. And so today, He sends His servants, some to sow and some to reap, that all, at last, may rejoice together.
Now, in verses 39-42, we get the effect of that Samaritan womans testimony. Whenever God saves a soul, it is in order that the saved one may give the ministry of His grace to somebody else. Has He saved you? Then are you trying to reach someone else? You have often heard the story of the life-saving crew that went out in a boat through a terrific storm and rescued a man who had been fastened to a mast on a wrecked ship caught in the rocks and visible clearly from shore through their glasses. They brought this man back, but he was utterly unconscious. They took him to the little hospital and gave him some restorative to bring him to. The first words he uttered when he came to consciousness were these: There is another man. They said, What do you mean? He said, Another, another man. They said, Do you mean there is another living man out on that wreck? Yes, he said, another man. And so they went out again through the storm, and this time they had to clamber aboard and search the ship. Sure enough, they found another man in the ship lying there unconscious. They brought him ashore in their boat, and he was saved. Have you been brought to know the missionary grace of God in redeeming love? Well, there is another man, there is another woman, there is somebody else needing Christ. Do what you can to reach them.
The Samaritan woman was saved. She had found the living water. She had gone back to the village and said to the men-I think that is significant: the men knew her pretty well-and she said to the men, Everything is different now. Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? (v. 29). And so we read. 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. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days, and many more believed because of his own word (vv. 39-41).
There was a wonderful awakening in that Samaritan city, all because of the devoted and faithful testimony of this poor woman who had just newly come to know Him. Many more believed because of his own word; and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world (vv. 41-42). It was she who aroused their interest. It was she who led the first to go out to Him. As a result of that, they invited Him into the city. But now they say, We believe not just because of your testimony, but because we have seen Him and have heard Him. He has spoken to our hearts and has moved our consciences. He has won our love and affection, and we have put our faith in Him. We know He is the Christ, the Savior of the world.
Do you know Him? What a blessed thing to be acquainted with Him, whom to know is life eternal, and then to endeavor to lead others to know Him too!
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
two: Mat 15:21-24, Mar 7:27, Mar 7:28, Rom 15:8
and: Joh 4:46, Joh 1:42, Mat 4:13
Reciprocal: Mat 4:12 – when Luk 4:14 – returned
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
Galilee was an extensive territory, so that Jesus could go into that district, and yet not go into the immediate vicinity of Nazareth, which was originally considered his own country. (See Mat 4:13; Mat 13:54-57; Luk 4:23.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
FOUR great lessons stand out boldly on the face of this passage. Let us fix them in our memories, and use them continually as we journey through life.
We learn, firstly, that the rich have afflictions as well as the poor. We read of a nobleman in deep anxiety because his son was sick. We need not doubt that every means of restoration was used that money could procure. But money is not almighty. The sickness increased, and the nobleman’s son lay at the point of death.
The lesson is one which needs to be constantly impressed on the minds of men. There is no more common, or more mischievous error, than to suppose that the rich have no cares. The rich are as liable to sickness as the poor; and have a hundred anxieties beside, of which the poor know nothing at all. Silks and satins often cover very heavy hearts. The dwellers in palaces often sleep more uneasily than the dwellers in cottages. Gold and silver can lift no man beyond the reach of trouble. They may shut out debt and rags, but they cannot shut out care, disease, and death. The higher the tree, the more it is shaken by storms. The broader its branches, the greater is the mark which it exposes to the tempest. David was a happier man when he kept his father’s sheep at Bethlehem, than when he dwelt as a king at Jerusalem, and governed the twelve tribes of Israel.
Let the servant of Christ beware of desiring riches. They are certain cares, and uncertain comforts. Let him pray for the rich, and not envy them. How hardly shall a rich man enter the kingdom of God! Above all, let him learn to be content with such things as he has. He only is truly rich, who has treasure in heaven.
We learn, secondly, in this passage, that sickness and death come to the young as well as to the old. We read of a son sick unto death, and a father in trouble about him. We see the natural order of things inverted. The elder is obliged to minister to the younger, and not the younger to the elder. The child draws nigh to the grave before the parent, and not the parent before the child.
The lesson is one which we are all slow to learn. We are apt to shut our eyes to plain facts, and to speak and act, as if young people, as a matter of course, never died when young. And yet the grave-stones in every churchyard would tell us, that few people out of a hundred ever live to be fifty years old, while many never grow up to man’s estate at all. The first grave that ever was dug on this earth, was that of a young man. The first person who ever died, was not a father but a son. Aaron lost two sons at a stroke. David, the man after God’s own heart, lived long enough to see three children buried. Job was deprived of all his children in one day. These things were carefully recorded for our learning.
He that is wise, will never reckon confidently on life. We never know what a day may bring forth. The strongest and fairest are often cut down and hurried away in a few hours, while the old and feeble linger on for many years. The only true wisdom is to be always prepared to meet God, to put nothing off which concerns eternity, and to live like men ready to depart at any moment. So living, it matters little whether we die young or old. Joined to the Lord Jesus, we are safe in any event.
We learn, thirdly, from this passage, what benefits affliction can confer on the soul. We read, that anxiety about a son led the nobleman to Christ, in order to obtain help in time of need. Once brought into Christ’s company, he learned a lesson of priceless value. In the end, “he believed, and his whole house.” All this, be it remembered, hinged upon the son’s sickness. If the nobleman’s son had never been ill, his father might have lived and died in his sins.
Affliction is one of God’s medicines. By it He often teaches lessons which would be learned in no other way. By it He often draws souls away from sin and the world, which would otherwise have perished everlastingly. Health is a great blessing, but sanctified disease is a greater. Prosperity and worldly comfort, are what all naturally desire; but losses and crosses are far better for us, if they lead us to Christ. Thousands at the last day, will testify with David, and the nobleman before us, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” (Psa 119:71.)
Let us beware of murmuring in the time of trouble. Let us settle it firmly in our minds, that there is a meaning, a needs-be, and a message from God, in every sorrow that falls upon us. There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction. There is no commentary that opens up the Bible so much as sickness and sorrow. “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit.” (Heb 12:11.) The resurrection morning will prove, that many of the losses of God’s people were in reality eternal gains.
We learn, lastly, from this passage, that Christ’s word is as good as Christ’s presence. We read, that Jesus did not come down to Capernaum to see the sick young man, but only spoke the word, “Thy son liveth.” Almighty power went with that little sentence. That very hour the patient began to amend. Christ only spoke, and the cure was done. Christ only commanded, and the deadly disease stood fast.
The fact before us is singularly full of comfort. It gives enormous value to every promise of mercy, grace, and peace, which ever fell from Christ’s lips. He that by faith has laid hold on some word of Christ, has got his feet upon a rock. What Christ has said, He is able to do; and what He has undertaken, He will never fail to make good. The sinner who has really reposed his soul on the word of the Lord Jesus, is safe to all eternity. He could not be safer, if he saw the book of life, and his own name written in it. If Christ has said, “Him that cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out,” and our hearts can testify, “I have come,” we need not doubt that we are saved. In the things of this world, we say that seeing is believing. But in the things of the Gospel, believing is as good as seeing. Christ’s word is as good as man’s deed. He of whom Jesus says in the Gospel, “He liveth,” is alive for evermore, and shall never die.
And now let us remember that afflictions, like that of the nobleman, are very common. They will probably come to our door one day. Have we known anything of bearing affliction? Would we know where to turn for help and comfort when our time comes? Let us fill our minds and memories betimes with Christ’s words. They are not the words of man only, but of God. The words that he speaks are spirit and life. (Joh 6:63.)
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Notes-
v43.-[After two days.] The Greek words here would be more literally rendered, “After the two days,” i. e., after the two days mentioned in the preceding verse.
[Departed thence.] Quesnel remarks, “It is an instance of self-denial which is very uncommon, to leave those who respect and applaud us, that we may go to preach among others from whom we have reason to expect a quite different treatment.”
v44.-[For Jesus himself testified….his own country.] This verse has much perplexed commentators. What is meant by the expression, “His own country”? If it means Galilee, as most suppose, how are we to reconcile it with the words which follow, “the Galileans received him”?-And again, what is the connection between the verse before us and the one which precedes it? Why should our Lord go into Galilee, when it was a place where He had no honour? And finally, how are we to reconcile the statement that our Lord had no “honour” in Galilee with the undeniable fact that nearly all His disciples and adherents were Galileans? All these points have given rise to much speculation and conjecture.
(a.) Some, as Origen and Maldonatus, get over the difficulty in the following manner. They say that the words, “His own country,” must mean Juda, and Bethlehem, where Christ was born. The sense will then be, “after two days Jesus departed from Samaria, and went into Galilee, and not into Juda, because in Juda He received no honour, and was not believed.” This solution seems to me unnatural and unsatisfactory. Our Lord’s going to Galilee was a premeditated journey, and not a sudden plan decided on during His stay at Samaria. Beside this, there is no proof whatever that our Lord was not received and believed in Juda. On the contrary, He “made and baptized” so many disciples in Juda, that it attracted the notice of the Pharisees, and made it necessary for Him to “depart into Galilee.”
(b.) Augustine holds that “His own country” means Galilee, and seems to attach the following sense to the verse, “And yet Jesus testified that a prophet hath no honour in his own country, for when he came into Galilee no one believed on Him, except the nobleman and his house.” This appears to me a far-fetched and unnatural interpretation. Tittman and Bloomfield take much the same view, and render it, “Although Jesus had testified,” &c.
(c.) Chrysostom and Euthymius think that “His own country” means Capernaum. This interpretation also seems to me improbable. We find Capernaum elsewhere called our Lord’s “own city,” but nowhere else “His own country.” (See Mat 9:1.)
(d.) Theophylact suggests that the verse before us is inserted in order to explain “why our Lord did not always abide and continue in Galilee, but only came there at intervals. The reason was that He received no honour there.” This also seems to me an unsatisfactory interpretation.
(e.) Alford says, “The only true and simple view is, that this verse refers to the next following, and indeed to the whole narrative which it introduces. It stands as a preliminary explanation of ‘Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe,’ and indicates the contrast between the Samaritans, who believed on Him for His own word, and His own countrymen, who only received Him because they had seen the miracles which He did at Jerusalem.” This view of the text seems to me as far-fetched and unsatisfactory as any of those I have mentioned. Moreover I doubt much whether the Greek word rendered “for,” is ever used in the sense Alford puts on it, in the New Testament.
(f.) The following explanation appears to me by far the most probable one. The words, “His own country,” mean neither Galilee nor Juda, but “Nazareth.” The sense is, “Jesus departed from Samaria into Galilee, but not to His own country Nazareth, because He testified, both now and on other occasions, that a prophet has no honour in his own country.”-In confirmation of the view I have maintained, it deserves notice, that in the six places where the Greek word here rendered “country” is found in the Gospels, beside the one before us, it always means the town of Nazareth, and not the district in which Nazareth is situated. (Mat 13:54, Mat 13:57; Mar 6:1, Mar 6:4; Luk 4:23-24.) The view I have supported is that of Cyril, Calvin, Calovius, Lampe, Poole, De Dieu, Pearce, Doddridge, Dyke, and Olshausen.
Our Lord’s use of a proverb in this verse is again worthy of notice. It is another proof of the value of proverbial sayings.
The lesson of the proverb is a very instructive one. It is one of the most melancholy proofs of man’s fallen and corrupt state, that he never values what he is familiar with, and that familiarity breeds contempt. Ministers of the Gospel discover this by painful experience, when they have resided many years in the same parish, and ministered long in the same congregation. Those who have the most abundant supply of Gospel privileges are often the people who value them least. “The nearer the church the further from God,” is often found to be literally true. Those who live furthest off, and are obliged to deny themselves most in order to hear the Gospel, are often the very persons who take most pains to hear it.
One grain of comfort, however, may be extracted from this painful verse. A minister must not despair, and accuse himself of unfaithfulness, because the Gospel he preaches is not honoured in his own congregation, and many remain hardened and unbelieving, after he has preached to them many years. Let him remember that he is sharing his Master’s lot. He is drinking the very cup of which Christ drank. Christ had no honour in Nazareth, and faithful ministers have often less honour among their own people than they have elsewhere.
Pelican thinks that our Lord “testified” the truth contained in this verse in reply to some one who asked Him why He did not go to Nazareth. I prefer the opinion that it simply means our Lord “always did testify, and made a practice of testifying.”
v45.-[Galilans received him.] The word “received” probably means no more than that they “received Him with respect and reverence,” as One who was no common person. There is no warrant for supposing that they all received Him with true faith, and experimentally believed on Him as the Saviour of their souls.
[Having seen….things….Jerusalem….feast.] This expression confirms the view already maintained (Joh 2:23,) that our Lord did many other miracles at Jerusalem at the first passover, when He was there, beside casting the buyers and sellers out of the temple. It is probable that the miracles recorded in the four Gospels are only a selection out of the number that Christ worked.
Here, as elsewhere, we see the special use of miracles. They served to arrest men’s attention, and gave the impression that He who wrought them deserved a hearing. The Galileans were ready to receive Christ respectfully, because they had seen His miracles.
[They also went….feast.] This sentence is a useful proof of the universality of the Jewish custom of attending the great feasts at Jerusalem, and especially the feast of the Passover. Even those who lived furthest off from Jerusalem, in Galilee, made a point of going to the Passover. It serves to show the publicity of our Lord’s ministry, both in life and death. When He was crucified at the Passover, the event happened in the presence of myriads of witnesses from every part of the world. The overruling providence of God ordered things so that the facts of Christ’s life and death could never be denied. “This thing was not done in a corner.” (Act 26:26.)
v46.-[Jesus came again….Cana.] The circumstance of our Lord going twice to Cana may be accounted for by remembering the fact that one of His disciples, “Nathanael,” belonged to Cana, and that His mother, Mary, in all probability had relatives there. (See note on Joh 2:1.)
[A certain nobleman.] The Greek word rendered “nobleman” is only found here in this sense, as a substantive, in the New Testament. The marginal reading, “courtier or ruler,” hardly makes it more clear. Some have conjectured that the nobleman must have been some one attached to Herod’s court, and is therefore called “a royal person,” which is the literal meaning of the word. Some, as Luther, Chemnitius, Lightfoot, and Pearce, have also conjectured that “Chuza, Herod’s steward,” whose wife Joanna became one of our Lord’s disciples, and “ministered unto Him,” (Luk 8:3,) must have been this nobleman. This is no doubt possible, and would be an interesting fact if it could be proved. But there is no authority for it, except conjecture. Lightfoot adds a conjecture, that if not Chuza it might have been Manaen. (Act 13:1.)
The rarity of a nobleman and a person connected with a royal court seeking Christ under any circumstances, is observed by Glassius and others. It shows us that Christ will have trophies of the power of His grace out of every rank, class, and condition.
In the first chapter of John’s Gospel we see fishermen converted; in the third, a self-righteous Pharisee; in the beginning of the fourth, a fallen Samaritan woman; and in the end, a nobleman out of a king’s court.
Pearce thinks that the nobleman was one of the class called Herodians. (Mat 22:16.)
[Son was sick at Capernaum.] We should always notice the number and greatness of miracles which our Lord worked at Capernaum, and the dignity of the persons at whose instance they were worked. Here He healed the Centurion’s servant. (Mat 8:5.) Here, in all probability, He restored to life the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue. (Mar 5:22.) And here, in the present instance, He healed the nobleman’s son. Three distinct and leading classes had, each of them, a mighty miracle wrought among them. The Centurion was a Gentile soldier. The ruler of the synagogue was a Jew of high ecclesiastical position. The nobleman was connected with the highest civil authorities. The consequence no doubt was that the name and power of Christ became known to every leading family in Capernaum. No wonder that our Lord says, “Thou Capernaum that art exalted unto heaven.” (Mat 11:23.) No place was so privileged as this city.
The idea entertained by some that this “nobleman” was the same as the Centurion in Mat 8:5, and that the miracle here recorded is only the same miracle differently reported, seems to me entirely destitute of foundation. The details of the two miracles are entirely different. The miracle before us is nowhere else reported in the Gospels.
v47.-[Heard that Jesus was come, &c.] This verse shows how widely spread was the fame of the miracle wrought at Cana upon the occasion of our Lord’s former visit, and how great was the report of our Lord’s miracles at Jerusalem, brought back by the Galileans who went to the feast. In no other way can we account for the nobleman going to our Lord and beseeching Him to come and heal his son. Our Lord must have got the reputation of being One who was both able and willing to work such cures.
Musculus remarks on this verse, how much more love descends than ascends. In all the Gospels we never read of any sons or daughters coming to Christ on behalf of their parents.
Dyke observes, “Some crosses drive men to Christ, especially in our children. This was the cross that subdued Egypt: and to great men, such as this ruler, who have much to leave their children, this cross is the greatest.”
v48.-[Then said Jesus, Except ye see, &c.] Our Lord in this verse appears to refer to the common desire expressed by the Jews to see miracles and signs, as a proof of His Messiahship. “Cannot you believe unless you actually see with your own eyes a miracle worked? Is your faith so small, that except you see something you cannot believe?”-No doubt our Lord knew the heart of the man before Him. He wished to test his faith, and to draw out from him more earnest desires after the mercy that he wanted. The resemblance between our Lord’s first answer to the nobleman and His first answer to the woman of Canaan, who came to Him about her daughter, deserve comparison. (Mat 15:24.)
Chrysostom remarks, “Christ’s meaning is, Ye have not yet the right faith, but still feel towards me as only a prophet. He rebuketh the state of mind with which the nobleman had come to Him, because that before a miracle he believed not strongly. Thus too He drew him on the more to belief.-That the nobleman came and entreated was nothing wonderful, for parents in their great affection are wont to resort to, and talk with physicians. But that he came without any strong purpose appears from this, that he only came to Christ when Christ came into Galilee, whereas, if he had firmly believed, he would not have hesitated, when his child was at the point of death, to go into Juda.”
Glassius thinks that our Lord, in these words, intends to contrast the faith of the Samaritans with the unbelief of the Galileans. The Samaritans believed without having seen any signs or wonders at all.
Chemnitius thinks that our Lord, in this verse, spoke with special reference to the state of mind in which He found the inhabitants of Cana upon His second visit. He thinks that He found them aroused to a state of expectation and curiosity, by His miracle of changing water into wine, but still destitute of any real saving faith.
Poole compares the nobleman to Naaman, who had faith enough to come to Elisha’s door to be healed of his leprosy, but was stumbled because Elisha did not put his hand on the diseased place, but only sent him a message. (2Ki 5:11.)
v49.-[The nobleman saith, etc.] This verse shows the earnestness of the nobleman’s desire for relief, quickened and sharpened by the apparent rebuff contained in our Lord’s reply to his first application. Yet it was a saying exhibiting much ignorance. It is clear that he did not discover what our Lord hinted at, that possibly he might be helped without His coming down to see his sick son. He neither denies the truth of our Lord’s words, nor enters into argument. He only knew that he felt in grievous distress, and begged our Lord to “come down ere his child died.” That our Lord could heal him he did not doubt. But that He could heal him at a distance, without even seeing him, was something that he could not yet understand.
Chrysostom says, “Observe how these very words show the weakness of the man. When he ought, after Christ had rebuked his state of mind, to have imagined something great concerning Him, even if he did not before, listen how he drags along the ground! He speaks as though Christ could not raise his son after death, and as though He knew not in what state the child was.”
Brentius remarks that the nobleman did not bring to Christ faith, but merely a spark of faith.
v50.-[Jesus saith unto him, &c.] Three things are very deserving of notice in this verse. (a.) We should observe our Lord’s marvelous kindness and compassion. He takes no notice of the nobleman’s weak faith and slowness of understanding. He freely grants his request, and gives his son life and health without delay. (b.) We should observe our Lord’s almighty power. He simply speaks the words, “Thy son liveth,” and at once a sick person, at several miles’ distance, is cured and made well. He spake and it was done. (c.) We should observe, not least, the unhesitating confidence which the nobleman reposed in our Lord’s power. He asked no more questions after he heard the words, “Thy son liveth.” At once he believed that all would be well, and went his way.
Cyril observes on this verse, that our Lord here healed two persons at one time by the same words, “He brought the nobleman’s mind to faith, and delivered the body of the young man from disease.”
Chrysostom remarks, “What can be the reason why in the case of the Centurion Christ undertook voluntarily to come and heal, while here, though invited, he came not? Because in the case of the Centurion faith had been perfected, and therefore He undertook to go, that we might learn the right-mindedness of the man; but here the nobleman was imperfect. When therefore he continually urged Him, saying, Come down, and knew not clearly that even when absent He could heal, He showeth that even this was possible unto Him, in order that this man might gain, from His not going, that knowledge which the Centurion had of himself.”
Bishop Hall observes, “The ruler’s request was, Come and heal. Christ’s answer was, ‘Go thy way: thy son liveth.’ Our merciful Saviour meets those in the end whom He crosses in the way. How sweetly doth He correct our prayers; and while He doth not give us what we asked, gives us better than we asked.”
v51.-[As he was going down.] The relative positions of Cana and Capernaum are not precisely known at the present day. The exact site of Capernaum is matter of dispute among travelers and geographers. All we can glean from the expression before us is, that Cana was probably in the hill country, and Capernaum on the lake of Galilee. Hence a person leaving Cana for Capernaum would “go down.”
[Thy son liveth.] The meaning of this expression must evidently be, “Thy son is so much better, that he is comparatively alive from the dead. He was as one dead. He is now alive.”
v52.-[Then inquired he the hour.] This man’s mind seems at once to have laid hold on the nature of the miracle, and to have acknowledged the power of Christ’s word.
[He began to amend.] The Greek expression so rendered is a very peculiar one, and only found in this place. It is literally, “Had himself better, in more elegant order.”-Let it be noted, that here, as elsewhere, we find an expression which is only used once in the New Testament. This shows that it is no valid argument against the inspiration of any text or passage, that it contains Greek expressions nowhere else used.
[Yesterday at the seventh hour.] This expression has been differently interpreted-according to the view which commentators take of John’s mode of reckoning time. Those who think that he numbered hours in the same way that we do, maintain that it means, “at seven o’clock in the evening.” Those, on the contrary, who maintain that John observed the Jewish mode of computation, say that it means “at one o’clock in the afternoon.”
I have already given it as my decided opinion, that John observes the Jewish mode of reckoning time; and I therefore hold with those who think, that “the seventh hour” means one o’clock. The arguments of those who say that, if it had been one o’clock, the nobleman would never have taken till the next day to reach home, appear to my mind quite inconclusive. For one thing, we know nothing accurately of the distance from Cana to Capernaum.-For another thing, we forget the slow rate at which people travel in Eastern countries, on bad roads, in a hilly country.-For another thing, it is entirely an assumption to suppose that the nobleman had nothing else to do at Cana, when he came to Jesus about his son. For anything we know, he had, as a nobleman, business of various kinds, which made it impossible for him to reach home in the afternoon after Jesus had said, “Thy son liveth.”-Last, but not least, it seems hardly probable that the nobleman would have asked our Lord to come down to Capernaum at so late an hour as seven o’clock in the evening; or would have set off on his own return at that hour, and met his servants in the night.
[The fever left him.] Trench remarks, that the words seem to indicate, that there was not merely an abatement of the fever, but that it suddenly forsook him. Compare Luk 4:39.
v53.-[Himself believed.] Beda remarks, on the matter of the nobleman’s believing, that “there are three degrees of faith,-the beginning, the increase, and the perfection. There was a beginning in this man, when he first came to Christ; an increase, when our Lord told him that his son lived; and a perfection, when he found him to have recovered at that very time.”
[His whole house.] This expression probably means, “his whole family,”-including children and servants. We have no right whatever to exclude children from the sense of the words. Remembering this, we shall better understand what is meant, when it is written, Paul baptized “the household of Stephanas:” or when it is related, that the house of Lydia was baptized. (1Co 1:16; Act 16:15.)
There seems no reason for doubting that the nobleman, from this time forth, became a thorough, true-hearted, believer in Christ. If, as some suppose, he is the same as Chuza, Herod’s steward, we may perhaps date the conversion of Joanna his wife, to the period of the verse now before us.
Bishop Hall remarks on this verse, “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 power over others, who labour not to draw their families to God.”
v54.-[The second miracle that Jesus did.] The plain meaning of these words is, that our Lord had worked no other miracle in Galilee before this one, excepting that of turning the water into wine at Cana. It appears likely that many of our Lord’s earliest miracles were wrought in Juda and Jerusalem; although we have no record of them, except in the second chapter of John’s Gospel. (Joh 2:23.) This fact is note-worthy, because it throws light on the wickedness of the Jews at Jerusalem, where at last Christ was condemned and crucified.
Chrysostom remarks, “The word ‘second’ is not added without cause, but to exalt yet more the praises of the Samaritans, by showing that even when a second miracle had been wrought, they who beheld it had not yet reached so high as those who had not seen one.”
Origen says, “Mystically the two journeys of Christ into Galilee signify His two advents. At the first He makes us His guests at supper, and gives us wine to drink. At the second He raises up the nobleman’s son at the point of death,-i. e., the Jewish people, who after the fulness of the Gentiles attain salvation. The sick son is the Jewish people fallen from the true religion.-This is patristic interpretation! Allegorical expositions like this destroy the whole value of God’s word. At this rate the Bible may be made to mean anything.
Chemnitius thinks, that with this chapter ends the first year of our Lord’s public ministry, and gives a useful summary of the principal events comprehended within it. These are the Lord’s baptism,-the calling of the first disciples,-the miracle at Cana,-the miracle of casting out of the temple the buyers and sellers,-the conversation with Nicodemus,-the tarrying in Juda and baptizing,-the testimony of John the Baptist,-the journey through Samaria,-the arrival in Galilee,-and the healing of the nobleman’s son. Epiphanius, he observes, calls it the “acceptable year” of our Lord’s ministry, because it was the most quiet and peaceful.
Bengel, in closing this chapter, observes, that John seems to arrange our Lord’s miracles in threes. He relates three in Galilee,-the first at the marriage in Cana, the second on the nobleman’s son, the third in feeding five thousand men (Joh 6:1-71.);-three in Juda,-the first at Bethesda at pentecost (ch. 5.), the second after the feast of tabernacles, on the blind man (ch. 9.), the third on Lazarus before the passover (ch. 11.).-So also after the ascension, he describes three appearances of our Lord to His disciples. (Joh 21:14.)
Dyke observes how God keeps account of all the gracious means He affords men for their good. “The second miracle is specified to aggravate the infidelity of the Jews; that though Christ had now done another and a second miracle, yet only the ruler and his household believed. Two miracles wrought, and one household converted! God takes account not only how many men are won by a sermon, (Act 2:41,) but of how many sermons are lost by men.”
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Joh 4:43-44. And after the two days he went forth thence into Galilee. For Jesus himself bare witness, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. The connection between these two verses is a question on which the most different opinions have been held. The latter verse evidently assigns a reason why Jesus went into Galilee; and (we may add) Joh 4:45, which begins with When therefore, must be understood as stating that the welcome He received in Galilee was in full accordance with the motive of His action as stated in Joh 4:44. These two conditions of interpretation must evidently be observed, and yet in several solutions of the difficulty one or other of them is plainly set aside. Were we to judge only from what is before us, we should say that the words must mean: Jesus went into Galilee and not into His own country, for there He would be a prophet without honour; and so, when He came into Galilee, He was welcomed by the people. If such be the true sense, His own country must be Judea. This is certainly not the meaning of these words in the earlier Gospels, and hence the difficulty. A similar saying is recorded by every one of the three earlier Evangelists, and in each case it is introduced to explain the neglect of the claims of Jesus on the part of the inhabitants of Nazareth, the city of Galilee in which His early years were spent (Mat 13:57; Mar 6:4; Luk 4:24). In one case, Mar 6:4, the saying is enlarged so as to apply especially to kindred, and not to country alone. If then we have rightly given the sense of these verses of John, it must follow that, though the saying quoted is nearly the same here as elsewhere, the application is wholly different, His own country being in the one case Galilee (or rather Nazareth), and in the other Judea. This is by many held to be impossible. But is it really so? Would not such a difference be in exact accord with the varied aims of the first three Evangelists and the fourth, as they respectively relate the Galilean and the Judean ministry of our Lord? The saying is one that may be used with various shades of meaning. Used in relation to Nazareth, the proverb brings before us the unwillingness with which the claims of a prophet are listened to by those who have grown up with him, have familiarly known him, have regarded him as one of themselves. Used in relation to Judea, the true home and fatherland of the prophets, the land which contained the city of Messiahs birth, the city associated with Him alike in ancient prophecy and in popular expectation (see chap. Joh 7:41-42), the words surely signify that a prophet is unhonoured by those to whom he is especially sent: Jesus came unto His own country, and His own received Him not. This interpretation then (which is that of Origen, in the third century) seems completely to meet the requirements of the passage. In Samaria Jesus had not intended to remain, and He must therefore either return to Judea or go into Galilee; to Judea He will not go, for the reason given; He departs therefore into Galilee. There is only one objection of any weight to the view we have takenviz., that in Joh 4:1-3 of this chapter a somewhat different motive for leaving Judea is assigned; yet even there, though success in winning disciples is implied, it is said that He left the land because of the Pharisees. If this last consideration does not entirely remove the difficulty, it is to be borne in mind that our knowledge of the circumstances is imperfect, and that, even in its utmost force, the objection is much smaller and less important than those which lie in the way of the other interpretation of His own country. For such as think that Galilee must be intended there are but two explanations possible: these we give, only expressing our belief that they involve difficulties much greater than those presented by the other view. (1) Jesus went into Galilee, for there He would not meet with the honour of a true faith; and there, consequently, He had a work to do, a mission to prosecute: when therefore He came into Galilee, although He was welcomed, it was from unworthy not worthy motives. (2) Jesus now at length went into Galilee, for (He had avoided Galilee in the belief that) a prophet has no honour in his own country: such honour, however, He has now won in Judea, outside His own country; when therefore He was come into Galilee, the Galileans received Him.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Section 4. (Joh 4:43-54)
Israel’s need bared and met with mercy.
But John, while he shows us characteristically a Christ outside of Judaism, and the precious truths which are now enjoyed in Christianity, always reminds us that God has not given up His purposes as to Israel, which are delayed but not forfeited by their unbelief. We have seen this in the first division of the book, in the miracle at Cana, where the delay of blessing in their case is accounted for, but as soon as the empty forms of purification are made real (the water fills the water-pots), then the wine, the good wine, is found in them. Now the Lord is found at Cana again, having left the white fields of Samaria for Galilee, and another miracle is wrought, though the subject of it is at Capernaum, not Cana. Judea has rejected Him, but Galilee seems ready to receive Him, and now in the courtier who comes to Him at Cana we find a plain picture of Israel, courtier of the world as she has long been. His condition, as the Lord characterizes it, is just what hers has been: “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” But he is in need: his son at the point of death in Capernaum, the city of lost opportunities, to be brought down to hades for its rejection of Christ; death facing him, he turns to Christ as his only hope, and finds the gracious answer of peace and deliverance: “Go, thy son liveth.” He believes, departs, and finds it as the Lord has said to him. His son is raised up, and his whole house is brought to faith with him.
It is a simple story; and thus will Israel in her extremity be brought to God. Capernaum will come to Cana, the “village of consolation” be restored to its name upon the ground of “purchase,” Christ manifesting forth His glory. And the time is not far distant now.
This rounds off to a complete end, as is evident, the first subdivision of this central portion of the book.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Our blessed Saviour having spent two days with the Samaritans, as an introduction to the calling of the Gentiles, he goes forward towards Galilee, the place which he was pleased to make choice of for exercise of the greatest part of his ministry. Coming into Galilee, he passeth by the city of Nazareth, where he had had his education, knowing ordinarily having little honour in his own country; therefore shunning Nazareth, he goes to Cana, where he had done his first miracle.
Learn hence, 1. That there is a real tribute of honour due unto every prophet and minister of God, which ought to be testified by reverence to their persons, by a due estimation of the dignity of their calling, by obedience to their doctrine, and by an honourable maintenance. A prophet should have honour; and honour includes all these.
Learn, 2. It is very usual and ordinary for the prophets of God to meet with least respect where they are most known; their nearest neighbours, their nearest relations, their nearest acquaintance, are oftimes farthest off from giving them that honour that is due unto them.
Learn, 3. That the true prophets and messengers of God shall be sure to find some that will entertain their persons, and embrace their ministry, though they be disesteemed and rejected by others. Though our Saviour had no honour at Nazareth, yet he found entertainment amongst the rest of the Galileans.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 4:43-45. After two days, he went into Galilee That is, into the country of Galilee: but not to Nazareth, where he had spent his childhood and youth. It was at that town only that he had no honour. And therefore he passed by it, and went to other towns. Luke, speaking of this journey, says, Luk 4:14, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit unto Galilee. See also Mat 4:12; Mar 1:14-15. The Galileans received him Treated him courteously, and attended his ministry with a disposition to believe, having conceived a favourable opinion of him by reason of the miracles they had seen him perform in Jerusalem during the passover.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Third Section: 4:43-54. Jesus in Galilee.
In Judea, unbelief had prevailed. In Samaria, faith had just appeared. Galilee takes an intermediate position. Jesus is received there, but by reason of His miracles accomplished at Jerusalem, and on condition of responding immediately to this reception by new prodigies. The following narrative (comp. Joh 4:48) furnishes the proof of this disposition of mind. Such is the import of this narrative in the whole course of the Gospel.
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
XXIV.
With reference to Joh 4:46-54 it may be remarked:
1. The writer seems purposely to introduce the allusion to the former miracle at Cana. He is about to close that portion of his narrative which is, in any sense, united with the story of the first visit of Jesus to Jerusalem. The closing section of this part is a miracle wrought by Jesus, and in the same region where the story began. We may believe that this miracle set its seal upon the faith that had grown up in the minds of the disciples in connection with all the testimony which had now been received by them, as the former one had established the beginning of their belief, founded upon the first sight of Jesus. The careful arrangement of the author’s plan, as related to the bringing out of the two ideas of testimony and belief, is seen again here, as it is both before this and afterwards.
2. That this story of the healing of the son of the royal officer is not to be identified with that in Mat 8:5 ff., Luk 7:2 ff., is maintained by most of the recent commentators on this Gospel. The main points of difference, which are certainly very striking, and which bear upon all the elements of the story, are pointed out by Godet. In the case of two stories of common life, where the sick person was in one a son, in another a servant; where the disease was in one a paralysis, in the other a fever; where the person performing the cure was, in one, at one place, and in the other, at another; where all the words used on all sides were different; where, in one, the petitioner for the cure urges the physician to hasten to his house that he may cure the sick person before it is too late, and, in the other, tells him that it is unnecessary for him to go to the house at all; where in the one the petitioner finds the sick person healed on the same day on which he makes his request, and in the other only learns the fact on the next day; and where, to say the least, there is no evidence that the petitioner was the same person in the two cases, but, on the other hand, he is described by different words, and all his thoughts as related to the matter are different, it would be supposed that the two stories referred to different facts. But we are not expected by the exacting critics to deal with the New Testament narratives in this way. Weiss thinks that the oldest form of the Synoptic narrative is here found in Matthew and that he means by son, (not servant), that is to say, the of John, and that Luke misapprehended the meaning, and called the , . May not Weiss himself possibly have misapprehended the meaning? Luke’s advantages for determining this question would seem, on the whole, to be equally great with those of a scholar of this generation. But while Luke did not know that the sick person was a son, and not a servant, he is, according to Weiss, nearer the original source than Matthew, in saying simply that he was sick and near to death, instead of saying that he had paralysis. John, however, we may observe, moves off in another line, and thinks he had a fever. The reconstruction of the Gospel narratives must be admitted to be a pretty delicate task, when it has to make its winding way through the work of bringing two such stories into one.
3. The part of this passage which is most difficult to be explained is the 48th verse. The father who comes to Jesus seems to give no indication of any want of faith. On the contrary, his coming is, in itself, apparently an evidence of faith. Joh 4:50 shows that he was ready to believe, even on the foundation of Jesus’ assurance that his son lives, and without any movement on Jesus’ part towards Capernaum. Immediately on his return home, and on seeing the fulfillment of the word of Jesus, he becomes His disciple. It is possible, indeed, that this word of Jesus in Joh 4:48 was the turning-point for the nobleman from a weak towards a stronger faith; but nothing in the narrative clearly indicates this.
It is possible, on the other hand, that this call for miraculous aid turns the thought of Jesus to the general state of mind of the people, and that He has reference to this only in His words. But the words , and the difficulty of supposing that He would address a man under such circumstances in this way, when the man’s faith was not at all of the character described, are serious objections to this view. Probably we must explain the verse by combining both views, and at least find in the bearing of the words upon the man himself some designed educational influence as to the true nature of faith. 4. The miracle here wrought differs from the one recorded in Joh 2:1-11, in that it was wrought at a distance. It is in this respect that it gives a new testimony, and for this reason, as we may believe, it is introduced into the narrative. The other points in which its character varied from that of the one in Cana were less important for the writer’s purpose.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
XXVI.
JESUS SETS OUT FROM JUDA FOR GALILEE.
Subdivision C.
ARRIVAL IN GALILEE.
cLUKE IV. 14; dJOHN IV. 43-45.
d43 And after the two days [the two days spent among the Samaritans at Sychar] he went forth from thence [from Samaria] into Galilee. c14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee [Power of the Spirit here means its manifest use to perform miracles, rather than its presence, influence or direction. Jesus was always under the influence and direction of the Spirit, but did not previously perform miracles]: d44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country. [Galilee was Jesus’ “own country” ( Joh 1:46, Joh 2:1, Joh 7:3, Joh 7:41, Joh 7:52, Luk 23:5-7). In Juda he had begun to receive so much honor as to bring him into danger at the hands of the Pharisees: he would receive less in Galilee. Joh 4:43 resumes the itinerary of Joh 4:1, Joh 4:2, after the interlude which tells of the woman at Sychar.] 45 So when he came into Galilee, the Galilans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. [The works which Jesus had done in Jerusalem were for the most part fruitless as to its inhabitants, but they bore the fruit of faith in far-off Galilee. Of “the many who believed on him” in Jerusalem ( Joh 2:23), it is highly probable that a large number were Galilan pilgrims who were then there attending the passover.] [154]
[FFG 154]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
CHAPTER 11
JESUS PREACHING IN GALILEE
Joh 4:43-45; Mat 4:17; Mar 1:14-15; & Luk 4:14-15. And after two days He went out from thence, and departed into Galilee. For Jesus Himself witnessed that a prophet has no honor in his own country. Now what is the force of this affirmation of Jesus? You must remember that Nazareth, where He was brought up and spent the first thirty years of His life, is in Galilee. So He was denominated a Galilean. Having entered upon His ministry in Jerusalem by purifying the temple, and spent the eight days of the Passover preaching to the thronging multitudes, and perhaps a month following in the populous regions of Judea, His fame spreading abroad, and attracting vast multitudes to His ministry; John the Baptist, who had been the sensation about eight months, somewhat waning, while the trend of the multitude is to Jesus. The tendency of His rapidly increasing popularity is to arouse the Jews to crown Him King, which would have interfered with His ministry; whereas it was transcendently important that He should be permitted to finish His work. Consequently He leaves the populous regions of Judea, and goes away into the comparatively thinly populated country of Galilee, where they will not make so much ado over His ministry, nor be so likely to interrupt His work by precipitating His royal coronation. In addition to this fact, His nativity and residence in Galilee had conduced somewhat to render Him common, and would militate against the probability of that great popular excitement which would be likely to result in crowning Him King.
Mark: He was preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, That the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God draweth nigh; repent and believe in the gospel. Luke: The fame went throughout all the surrounding country concerning Him, and He was teaching in their synagogues, being glorified by all. The seventy weeks of Daniel i.e., the four hundred and ninety years, according to the year-day system peculiar to prophetical interpretation had already expired. The scepter had already departed from Judah; besides, there was a general fulfillment of the prophecies pointing to the coming Messiah about that time, John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, having not only preached Him, but pointed Him out, introducing Him to the people by baptism; while the Holy Ghost from heaven had descended on Him, and the Divine voice, from God the Father, had rung in the ears of the multitude, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Of course, the kingdom of heaven (Matthew all the time says, Kingdom of heaven, and Mark, Kingdom of God, they being precisely synonymous) is at hand in very truth, because the King is here, and of course having the kingdom with Him; as a kingdom means a government. Hence, all the true disciples of Jesus come under His government, and become citizens of the kingdom.
While repentance was the constant, burning appeal of John the Baptist, we see that when Jesus comes, preaching the gospel, He not only preaches repentance, thus fully endorsing and corroborating John, but He preaches faith, commanding all to repent and believe the gospel. Repentance breaks the yoke of Satan, an indispensable prerequisite to their reception of Christ, as they could not serve two masters. As Luke says, Glorified by all. Hence we see that, as His fame went abroad into all lands, a wonderful tide of popular excitement immediately sprang up in all directions, concentrating on this wonderful Prophet of Galilee.
Joh 4:45. Then, when He came into Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all things which He did in Jerusalem during the feast; for they also came to the feast. The Jews, from all parts of the world, were accustomed to gather at Jerusalem at the time of the great national festivals; e.g., the Passover in April, Pentecost fifty days afterward, and the Feast of Tabernacles in September. These Galileans, who had witnessed His miracles during the Passover (of which there is no record, this being the only allusion to them), and heard His preaching, now rally to Him from all parts of the country, stirring all the people, telling them that a wonderful Prophet, like unto Elijah and Elisha, had risen in Israel.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
4:43 {8} Now after two days he departed thence, and went into {k} Galilee.
(8) The despisers of Christ deprive themselves of his benefit: yet Christ prepares a place for himself.
(k) Into the towns and villages of Galilee, for he would not live in his country of Nazareth, because they despised him, and where (as the other evangelists write) the efficacy of his benefits was hindered because of their being incredibly stiffnecked.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
E. Jesus’ resumption of His Galilean ministry 4:43-54
Jesus continued to move north, back into Galilee, where He healed a nobleman’s son.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Jesus’ return to Galilee 4:43-45
John again bridged the gap between important events in his narrative with a transitional explanation of how Jesus moved from one site to another (cf. Joh 2:12; Joh 4:1-3). John typically focused on clusters of events in Jesus’ ministry (cf. Joh 1:19; Joh 1:29; Joh 1:35; Joh 1:43; Joh 2:1). However this move completed a cycle in Jesus’ movements and almost completed one in John’s narrative.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The two days in view are those that Jesus spent ministering to the Samaritans (Joh 4:40). He now resumed the trip that John referred to in Joh 4:3.