John 4:46-54| Food for Thought

 

LISTEN: CONTEXT > CONTENT > QUESTIONS > VISION FOR DISCIPLES

Context

  • “Official” | More than likely a nobelman associated in some way with Herod Antipas. There’s no evidence that this person was either a Gentile or a Jew.

  • Kinds of People | After interacting with a Jewish leader (Nicodemus) and a serially-married Samaritan woman (woman at the well), Jesus is now interacting with a “secular” official. This third “type” of person he engages and leads to belief are surely meant to let us know that Jesus has come to save all kinds of people.

Content

  • We have to see something to believe it.

    • Jesus comments on humanity as a whole (plural “you”) when he’s talking about our need to see signs before we’ll believe.

    • In other words, we hitch our belief to some kind of “proof.” This “proof” is something we come up with on our own. We decide what the proof should be, and if we don’t see what we want to see, we refuse to beleive.

    • This overlaps with John’s main purpose of the whole book: that we’d read all this and believe unto eternal life!

  • Trouble reveals that we all believe in something.

    • This official has a problem: his son is dying, and he wants to help him.

    • John describes a “journey of belief” for this official:

      • Belief that Jesus might help. The official HAD to believe Jesus could do something, since he went straight to him when he found out he was in town.

      • Belief that Jesus would help. Despite Jesus refusing to go back with him to heal his son, the official believed Jesus word that his son would be healed.

      • Belief that Jesus WAS the help. When the official found out that his son was healed at the same time that he talked with Jesus, he believed that Jesus himself - not just his words - WAS the help. Presumably, the kind of belief that John means is the sort of belief that leads to eternal life.

  • Jesus is our sign to bring us to belief.

    • Common questions: What about those who ask for healing, but don’t get it? How are they supposed to believe? Does Jesus not WANT them to beleive? Is the “salvation” that Jesus offers not concerned with physical healing?

      • The salvation that Jesus offers isn’t LESS than physical healing; it’s MORE than physical healing that encompasses the restoration of all things!

      • The greater miracle on display here isn’t that the son’s life might be prolonged; but it’s that when the son eventually does die, it’s not the end. Because of his belief in Jesus, he’ll live forever in a world without sickness and sin.

      • Those whose prayers for earthly troubles aren’t answered in the way we hope or expect ARE answered by the cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of Jesus’ return from his throne to make all things new.

      • We can’t know why some experience healing and others don’t; but we also can’t say that Jesus hasn’t provided us the remedy to sin and suffering in Jesus.

      • This is why for us today - knowing that we all need a sign - Jesus himself became the sign that might lead us to beleif and eternal life through the gospel!

Questions

  • What does Jesus say about humanity here?

  • How does the officials’ “progression of belief” prove Jesus’ point in some ways? How might it also show that we ALL are wanting to believe in something, even if we’re not 100% sure of the solution?

  • What do you think about Jesus’ answer to the official? How was it a NO? How was it a YES?

  • In light of John’s purpose in writing his gospel (that you might believe!), how should we interpret this account? Is it merely about physical healing? Is it about something else? What’s that mean when someone ISN’T healed / doesn’t experience an answered prayer?

  • When there’s a problem, where do you turn? What does that say about your trust / faith in that person? …what you beleive about that thing?

  • Is blind faith something that’s easy for you? Are you a person who looks for proof, demands evidence, etc.? How has that served you well? Gotten in your way?

  • What do you turn to Jesus for? What does that say about what you believe he’s the Savior, King, etc. of in your daily life? Is it everything? One thing? Something in the middle? What does that communicate about Jesus in your life?

  • Has Jesus ever NOT answered a prayer or NOT answered it in a way you wanted? What was that experience like for you? How did that affect your faith? …your life? Does “going to Jesus” (whatever that looks like in your life!) seem to help or hurt your faith? Why?

  • What serves as your “sign” that helps you believe today? (…and why should it be the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus?!?!?)

Vision

  • Discipleship, according to Jeff Vanderstelt, is moving from unbelief to belief in every area of your life. This is what we get to do… even when it’s hard!

  • We get to see Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and promised return as the sign we need to move in that way!

  • We get to bring good news to people that doesn’t minimize or move aside physical suffering, death, sin, etc.; rather, our good news about Jesus swallows all of those things up - no matter what life on this side of his return throws at us!

 
Food for Thought, JohnScott O'Donohoe