A study of John 4:49–54
“The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.”
John 4:49-54 ESV
Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:
-The Official: “βασιλικός”, “basilikos”; adjective — of or belonging to a king, kingly, royal, regal; of a man, the officer or minister of a prince, a courtier.
-Sir: “κύριε”; “κύριος”, “kyrios”; masculine noun — lord; is a title of honor expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master.
-Before: “πρίν”, “prin”; adverb — with the force of a conjunction, before, before that.
-Dies: “ἀποθανεῖν”; “ἀποθνῄσκω”, “apothnēskō”; verb — of the natural death of humans.
-Go: “πορεύου”; “πορεύω”, “poreuō”; verb — to depart, go one’s way.
-Son: “υἱός”, “huios”; singular, masculine noun — son, child.
-Lives: “ζῇ”, “zē”; verb, present, active, indicative, third person, singular — live; life.
-Believed: “ἐπίστευσεν”, “episteusen”; verb, aorist, active, indicative, third person, singular — have faith, credit, entrust, believe.
-Went On His Way: “ἐπορεύετο”, “eporeueto”; verb, imperfect, either middle or passive, indicative, third person, singular — go, travel; go out.
-Was Going Down: “καταβαίνοντος”, “katabainontos”; verb, present, active, participle, singular, genitive, masculine — descend; come (get, go, step) down.
-Met: “ὑπήντησαν”, “hypēntēsan”; verb, aorist, active, indicative, third person, plural — meet; go to meet
-Was Recovering: “ζῇ”, “zē”; verb, present, active, indicative, third person, singular — live; life, lively.
-Hour: “ὥραν”, “hōran” noun, accusative, singular, feminine — hour; time.
-Better: “κομψότερον”, “kompsoteron”; adverb — improve, get better.
-Yesterday: “Ἐχθὲς”, “Echthes”; adverb — yesterday.
-Seventh: “ἑβδόμην”, “hebdomēn”; adjective, accusative, singular, feminine — seventh.
-Left: “ἀφῆκεν”, “aphēken”; verb, aorist, active, indicative, third person, singular — leave.
-Fever: “πυρετός”, “pyretos”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine — fever, inflamed, feverish.
-Knew: “ἔγνω”, “egnō”; verb, aorist, active, indicative, third person, singular — know, understand.
-All: “ὅλη”, “holē”; adjective, nominative, singular, feminine — whole, all, altogether.
-Household: “οἰκία”, “oikia”; noun, nominative, singular, feminine — house, residence, abode, family.
-Second: “δεύτερον”, “deuteron”; adjective, accusative, singular, neuter — second.
-Sign: “σημεῖον”, “sēmeion”; noun, accusative, singular, neuter — sign, miracle, wonder.
Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):
An important government official made the roughly 20 mile journey to Cana from Capernaum to implore Jesus to come and heal his dying son. Jesus did not go to Capernaum with the man, but instead said, “Go, your son will live.” The man believed Jesus’ word, and went home. On his way home, his servants met him and said his son had been healed. After asking when his son recovered, he determined it was at the very time Jesus had said his son would live. After this, the man believed in Jesus along with his entire household. This was the second miraculous sign of Jesus recorded in John’s eyewitness gospel account.
Implication (what does this mean to us):
In the previous verses we read of Jesus’ arrival in Galilee, the region of His hometown of Nazareth. But Jesus returned to Cana at this point, the location of the wedding where He turned water into wine. As He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him because they had seen and heard of many of the miraculous signs He had done in Jerusalem during the recent holiday feast. They were happy to see Jesus only because of His miracles though. Just before this, we read of the Samaritans in Sychar who believed in Jesus as the Messiah simply because of His words. But now, Jesus comes to His homeland where many still do not believe in Him even though they have both heard His words and seen His miracles.
For this reason, in the verse previous to this passage (v.48), when this government official first asked Jesus to heal His son, Jesus said, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The “you” in Greek is plural. Jesus was talking to all the people around Him in Galilee and Judea who had been flocking to Him because of the miracles He performed, but still rejected Him as the Messiah: the Son of God and Savior of the world. He also said this for our benefit today. He did not rebuke the man for asking Him to heal his dying son. That was a good and noble request. But Jesus was challenging the man and the surrounding crowd’s motives for coming to Him. Jesus said this to pose a question: “Were they coming to Him because of who He is, or for what He could give them?”
Many of the people only wanted the gifts, not the Giver Himself. Jesus, like all of us, wants to be loved for who He is, not for what He can give us. To love someone only for their wealth or what we can get from them, is not true love at all. We can give absolutely nothing to Jesus that He has not already given to us. He does not love us for what we can do for Him. He loves us because He is love. He loves us for who we are and who He will transform us into, and He wants us to love Him for who He is.
With this in mind, in response to Jesus’ statement/challenge, the man practically begged Jesus, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” The word used for “sir” is “Kyrie,” and it is often translated as “Lord” in the NT. It is a term of respect. This official would have been accustomed to people coming to him with requests and addressing him as “Kyrie,” but here there is a role reversal. The fact that this important official is calling Jesus, “Lord” or “Sir”, shows how this affliction has lowered him.
Affliction or suffering of any kind has the effect of showing us status, wealth and power are vaporous illusions. We are here today and gone tomorrow. Whatever strength or status we may have can be gone in an instant, and it cannot save us. Whether rich or poor, healthy or sick, we all depend on the grace of God for every single breath. And when calamities and tragedies outside of our control come upon us, we all have an opportunity to humbly seek the Lord’s help and trust in His goodness and wisdom in allowing it, or we can pridefully clench our fists and grit our teeth in anger at God. This man chose to humbly come to Jesus and ask for help, because he was beginning to see Jesus for who He really is.
But still, at this point, the man was only interested in the healing of his son. However, in contrast to the Galileans and Judeans who had only welcomed Jesus because of the miracles He performed, when Jesus said “Go, your son will live;” this official “believed the word that Jesus spoke to him…”. This was a test of faith and this man passed it. He believed Jesus that his son was healed and began the journey home. This is true faith: to believe the words of Jesus. As Jesus said to Thomas in John 20:29, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus’ decision not to go with this man, but instead to simply declare his son healed, gave this man the opportunity to believe Him at His word. And we will see in the next verse that this then leads the man to true, saving faith.
This does not mean every request we make of Jesus will be given if we believe it will. Jesus audibly spoke to this man and told him that his son would live, so he had every reason to believe his son would live at that time. Unless we have heard the audible voice of God telling us something similar, there is no reason to be certain our request will be granted. There is no such thing as a “name it and claim it” kind of faith. That way of thinking is entirely unBiblical. Jesus is not a vending machine. Jesus is Lord of all.
From verses 51–53 we find out that as the man traveled home the next day, his servants met him on the way and told him his son had recovered. After questioning his servants further he found out his son had recovered at the seventh hour of the previous day. That is about 1:00 pm, and that was precisely the time Jesus had told the man his son would live. Imagine this man’s elation. He believed Jesus’ word the previous day, but we can understand he would likely still have been agitated and worried as he journeyed home. We might wonder if he had trouble sleeping the night before. He believed the Rabbi he had heard so much about and had met in person himself, but it is doubtful the man had perfect faith in Jesus. But once his servants met him and told him his son had been healed at exactly the time Jesus had spoken, he knew his faith had not been misplaced. His servants would have been amazed to hear this as well, and indeed we can only imagine the ensuing joyful reunion with the rest of his family; and then their wide eyed amazement as he described his encounter with Jesus, and how his son had recovered at the exact time Jesus said he would.
This man’s belief in Jesus came before he saw any evidence. But make no mistake, Jesus’ words came true. His words will always come true, and nothing He decides to do can be thwarted (Job 42:2). We must, like this man, take Jesus at His word. This does not mean Jesus will do everything we ask Him to. Jesus has a plan, and the wisdom of His plan far exceeds our own. But it does mean everything Jesus has said will come to pass. When He says He will never leave us or forsake us, that means, He will truly never leave us or forsake us. When He says, in the world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. He has overcome the world. When He tells us life in this world is difficult, and following Him means carrying a cross, but that those who are faithful to do so will dwell with Him in fullness of joy and pleasure forever; His words are 100% trustworthy and true (John 16:33, Psalm 16:11). We must believe the words of Jesus that we have not yet seen come to pass, because He is the Lord of all creation, and no plan of His can be thwarted. Jesus, and only Jesus, is worthy of our trust.
And His plan to save this man and his entire household came to pass as well. As this man came home and testified to them about Jesus, “…he himself believed, and all his household.” Jesus used this experience, and the uncertainty during the man’s journey home to strengthen his belief in Jesus. In the same way, we are all on a journey home to God’s kingdom. And there will be much uncertainty to face on this journey. But Jesus is with us, and He has given us His Word to hold onto and strengthen us with faith in Him for the journey.
This man and his family would have had a rough road ahead as Jesus’ followers serving in the court of King Herod Antipas, the man who would behead John the Baptist, and have his soldiers mock and beat Jesus. But they had met the King of kings, and no earthly kingdom could compare to the eternally glorious kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To close this chapter John says “This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.” The transformation of water to wine at the wedding in Cana was the first miracle John recorded in detail, and this is the second. It is not that Jesus had not done many other miracles already, for, we read in John 2:23 and 3:2 that He had been performing many miracles. And from John 20:30–31, we know Jesus performed many signs, but John chose six to write about in order that the reader of this gospel might be able to see Jesus for who He is: the Son of God. This is simply the second of six, specific miracles John records in more detail in this gospel account. The first sign John recorded was done at a wedding party. Jesus is Lord of the feast, and He delights to host feasts for His people (Isaiah 25:6). The second sign concerns the tragedy of infirmity and death. Jesus is the Lord of life, and death has no power over Him (Isaiah 25:7–8).
“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.””
Isaiah 25:6-9 ESV
Application (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):
From this passage we learn to examine our hearts when we come to Jesus to make requests. Jesus is the One we should come to for our every need because He alone can meet our needs. But we must never allow our faith in Him to be based on what He gives us. He has already given us Himself. God the Father already bankrupted Heaven by pouring out the blood of His Son to save us. In Christ, whatever we lack in this world, the truth is, we lack for nothing. When we make requests of God, we are simply asking for yet more grace. And He delights to give it. But we must also remember that when He does not give us what we ask, we still lack for nothing, and He is lovingly and wisely withholding what we asked for because He loves us and He knows better than we do.
We also learned the importance of trusting Jesus at His word and not relying on external signs and wonders to believe. Jesus can change water into wine and bring the dead to life, but He acts according to His good and perfect will, not according to our corrupt and flawed will. We can and should talk to God and ask Him to help us with every detail of our life. He cares about us, and He is aware and very interested in every aspect of our lives. Nothing is too unimportant to bring before the Lord in prayer. But our faith must be rooted in His Word. It is an audacious insult to not take God at His word and simply say, “Yeah, but what have You done for me lately?”
The Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of our trust in every season and circumstance under the sun, and the Word of the Son will always come to pass.
Self Reflection:
Have I, like the official and the Samaritans in John chapter 4, believed in Jesus because of His Word, or am I relying on or waiting for Him to do something else for me? What is the foundation of my faith in Jesus? Is it Him or what I want Him to do for me?
Have I been taking my every request to God in prayer, while also giving thanks that I already lack for nothing as one of His redeemed children?
How can I grow day by day in delighting in the grace given to me by the Lord of the feast and the Lord of life: Jesus Christ?
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