Quid Pro Quo

John 4:43-54

Quid Pro Quo

³ Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 

his was remarkable in light of the opinions of most of the Jewish people of Jesus’ day regarding the Samaritans. They regarded Samaria and the Samaritans as a place and people to avoid if possible, and if it were necessary to go through Samaria it should be done as quickly as possible. That Samaritans should invite a Jewish teacher to stay with them, with no fear of a rebuff, shows how completely he had won their confidence.

 Later in Acts 8 we see Philip preaching the gospel in Samaria and having similar results. The fields were white unto harvest indeed! It is amazing how many doors the Gospel will open of us when we just take the time to share it. This year has been crazy to say the least, yet amongst all this constant instability we can depend up on and place our hope in Jesus and that is a hope we must share!

⁴⁴ For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵ So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

Finally! They get to where they are going, Galilee. Galilee was the area where Jesus grew up. Think of it like Person County a small everyone where everybody knows who everybody else is. Yet, there’s a danger in that as well. We can know people for a long time but not really know anything about them. There are people that I’ve known for over 30 years. Yet, I couldn’t tell you much about them other than we went to school together, because I haven’t really spent any time getting to know them.

It’s the same here with Jesus. There are people that know who He is, but they don’t really know who He is! It’s no different today. I’ve met my share of people that will say they got saved 20-30 years ago, but they really don’t have much knowledge of Christ or the Scriptures.

⁴⁶ So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain ^[b]nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 

Jesus is now in a Cana, a small town in a small area. Last time we saw him in Cana he turned water into wine at the wedding feast. Surely, the story of this had spread since the initial event. In fact, I imagine it had been the talk of the town for quite some time. People were on both sides, some saying it was a miracle, others saying it was a hoax and everything else in between.

While Jesus is there a nobleman from Capernaum approaches Him. Capernaum was about 20+ miles away from Cana and was roughly a days journey on average. It would be like us driving to Florida. This man was a nobleman. That literally translates to “a royal person”. This implies that he was a member of the court for Herod Antipas.

This mean that this guy has power, money, influence and resources. He had access to the best medical care that was available at that time. His son was still sick and now he was desperate. He has heard about Jesus and His miracles. He finds out that he’s only a day away, so he takes off to find him on the chance that it might work. His son was on his death bed and Jesus was their only hope.

It’s no fun having a sick child, and I’m talking about just minor sickness. We’ve certainly been through our share of sickness in our house with the kids. Flu, Pneumonia, Stomach Bugs, Hand Foot & Mouth, concussions. We have even had two hospitalizations when Madison had Kawasakis at 18 months and when Sam had RSV at just a few weeks old. I can tell you, as a parent, there’s very little I wouldn’t have done for my children if it meant they would be healed. If I could take the sickness myself I would without a seconds hesitation.

This father is desperate, sleep deprived and willing to do anything if Jesus will heal his son. Jesus response again is an odd one.

Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe:

Jesus rebuked those who depended on signs and wonders before they would believe. It might seem that Jesus was harsh towards this man who wanted his son healed, but He encountered many in Galilee who were interested only in His miracles – He therefore questioned this man accordingly.

Signs and wonders from God are good things, but will never form the foundation of our faith. We should never depend on them to prove God to us. In themselves, signs and wonders cannot change the heart; Israel saw incredible signs at Mount Sinai and even heard the very voice of God (Exodus 19:16-20:1), yet a short time later they worshipped a gold calf (Exodus 32:1-6).

Every Pastor I have spent time with has countless stories of individuals who prayed for and received a miraculous healing. They promised things were going to be different and perhaps they were for a time, but they always went back to the way things were beforehand.

 

⁴⁹ The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

The mans response to Jesus comment is the correct one. He has lot of options available to him. He can offer both Carrot & Stick. As far as Carrot goes he has wealth, money, resources and influence. What do you want? Money, Food, Girls? Just name it and it’s yours! He could have gone stick, I’ll have you and all your disciples arrested. I’ll make life miserable for you and your family.  He could gone I’m a nobleman! A royal person! You should be honored I’m even talking to you.

He doesn’t do any of these things. Just like Pastor Dave preached Sunday he knows exactly who he is. A man begging for mercy from Jesus.

How often do we bargain with God? It always takes the form of God if you do X then I’ll do Y. I know many of you that have done that and many more that are trying it now. I’m here to warn you. Don’t bargain with God. It’s essentially a form of works. As if we have something, we can offer Him that He doesn’t already have, needs but cannot obtain or can’t do Himself! When we do this, we forget who we are and who we are talking to!

This is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. This is the Almighty that spoke the whole of creation into existence! What amongst our possessions is of any value to him? What task are you going to accomplish that He can’t do? This is no Quid Pro Quo with God. We approach Him not on the basis of our works (or future potential works) but on the basis of His Great Mercy! The Psalms tell us that they are new every day.

⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 

What’s the result of pleading to Jesus for mercy? In Humility? Mercy is received! Jesus says your son lives! The man has no way to verify this. He can’t call someone to check. No cell phones back then. He can’t just run to his house and be back in 10 minutes to make sure Jesus really doesn’t need to come over. It’s another days journey to get back home. What’s the mans response? He believed the word of Jesus! No flash signs in the heavens, no magic words, Jesus doesn’t even pray before He does it. He just looks at the man and says “Your son lives.” The nobleman, who up to this point was an unbeliever (as we see from the text) no demonstrates true faith. What’s true faith? “the man believed the word that Jesus spoke.” That’s true faith.

When we believe the words that Jesus has spoken, we don’t have time to argue with people about masks, statues, or politics. We are too busy loving God, loving our neighbor and spreading the gospel.

⁵¹ And as he was now going down, his servants  

⁵² Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to 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 to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

What’s the end result? Not only a physical healing, which we know was temporary, this son eventually died as will we all one day when the Lord decides. We see a far more important spiritual healing for the entire household!

The first two signs in the Gospel of John took place at Cana of Galilee. The first was at a wonderful celebration – a wedding party. The second was connected with a terrible tragedy – the illness and impending death of a child. It’s important for us to note that Jesus is real in both aspects.