(1) Difficult passage #1
v.44For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country... v.45b the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem at the feast
Why did John quote Jesus that He would not be welcomed, but immediately John pointed out that the Galileans welcomed him? Contradiction?
See v.48 4:48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe!
(NET) The Galileans did welcome him, but their welcome was to prove a superficial response based on what they had seen him do at the feast. There is no indication that the signs they saw brought them to place their faith in Jesus any more than Nicodemus did on the basis of the signs. But a superficial welcome based on enthusiasm for miracles is no real honor at all.
(2) Difficult passage #2
v.48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe!
Why did Jesus rebuke a father whose son was sick?
(BECNT) Jesus’ comment reveals that people’s earlier “welcome” (4:45) was rather shallow and based primarily on Jesus’ miracle-working ability (see commentary at 4:45; cf. 2:23–25). “You people” (plural) refers not just to the royal official, but to the Galileans in general. The official is treated by Jesus as representative of the Galileans’ signs-based response to him.
(3) Connection with previous passage
(3) Connection with previous passage
John mentioned that Jesus came to the same place where He had made the water wine v.46, also he reminded the readers that this was Jesus' second miraculous sign when He returned from Judea to Galilee v.54. Seems like there was a connection between the sign of water into wine and this one.
Note, the father was mentioned twice that he believed. The 1st time, he believed Jesus' word and did not insist for Jesus to go down to Capernaum with him. In other words, he did not see anything, but he believed the word of Jesus was enough. He set off home. The 2nd time, he believed when he saw the healing time matched with the time Jesus spoke.
v.50b The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home.
4:53 Then the father realized that it was the very time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household.
Before the sign of water into wine, Nathaniel believed. Then they believed again when they witnessed the sign of water into wine.
Reflection: What kind of faith do we have? Are we like the Galileans? Do we just have a superficial welcome to Jesus based on some miraculous experience? Or do we have the belief like the royal official? We took the words of Jesus and we believe before we see. We may not have the promise of Jesus to heal our son, but we have the words in the Bible. If we do, we will all experience what the father experienced in his second time believing. When Jesus comes again we will see what He said will happen exactly the same.
Audrey
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