After
the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor 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. Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”
John 4:43-48
John 4 [39.] From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
John 4 [43.] After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor 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. Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”
John 4 [49.] The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. As he was now going down, his servants met him and reported, saying “Your child lives!” So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” He believed, as did his whole house. This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
Meaning:
After two days in Samaria, where many believed simply through hearing his word (John 4:39-42), Jesus continues to Galilee, completing the journey that began in John 4:3. These verses set the scene for his second sign in Cana, the healing of a nobleman’s son, which follows in John 4:49-54. They also raise a searching question: what kind of faith does Jesus look for?
- “A prophet has no honor in his own country”
The other Gospels record Jesus saying this when he was rejected in his hometown, Nazareth: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country” (Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24). In John the saying is harder to place. Some interpreters think “his own country” means Judea and Jerusalem, the homeland of the prophets, where he had been met with suspicion, so that he left for Galilee. Others think it means Galilee itself, where the welcome he received was shallow and based on wonders rather than real honour. Either way, the saying echoes John’s opening theme: “He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him” (John 1:11).
- “The Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem”
The Galileans had been in Jerusalem for the Passover and had seen his signs there. John has already warned that many in Jerusalem “believed in his name, observing his signs which he did,” but Jesus “didn’t trust himself to them” (John 2:23). The welcome in Galilee seems to be of the same kind: enthusiasm for a wonder-worker rather than faith in the one sent by God.
- “Again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine”
John links this visit to the first sign. At Cana Jesus had turned water into wine, and “This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11). The second sign, also connected with Cana, forms a pair with the first, framing this section of the Gospel.
- “A certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum”
The man was probably an official in the service of Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, perhaps a Jew or perhaps a Gentile. Capernaum lay roughly 25 to 30 kilometres (16 to 20 miles) from Cana and far below it, beside the Sea of Galilee, so he had made a long climb to ask Jesus to “come down.” Rank and wealth could not save his son, who was “at the point of death.” A similar but distinct story tells of a Roman centurion in Capernaum whose servant Jesus healed by a word (Matthew 8:5-12; Luke 7:1-10).
- “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe”
Jesus’ reply sounds severe to a desperate father. In Greek the “you” is plural: Jesus addresses not only the nobleman but the Galileans in general, who wanted miracles before they would trust him. The Samaritans had just believed without signs. Elsewhere Jesus refused to give a sign to those who demanded one (Mark 8:12), and Paul observed that “Jews ask for signs” (1 Corinthians 1:22). Jesus is not refusing to help; he is testing and deepening the man’s faith, inviting him to trust not in wonders but in Jesus himself.
The Significance of John 4:43-48
- Faith beyond the spectacular
It is easy to be drawn to the extraordinary. Jesus looks for faith that rests on who he is and what he says, not only on what we can see.
- Bringing our desperate needs
The nobleman came because he had nowhere else to turn. Our crises can bring us to Jesus, and he receives us, even while he deepens our faith.
Cross-References:
John 1:11: “He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him.” Rejection by his own people.
Mark 6:4: “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country.” The same saying in Mark.
John 2:23: “Many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did.” Faith based on signs.
John 20:29: “Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.” The faith Jesus commends.
Conclusion: In John 4:43-48 Jesus returns to Galilee, where the people welcome him because of the signs they saw in Jerusalem, though a prophet has no honour in his own country. At Cana a royal official from Capernaum begs him to come and heal his dying son, and Jesus challenges the demand for signs and wonders. The passage contrasts shallow enthusiasm with true faith and prepares for the healing that shows the power of Jesus’ word.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible