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Scripture Reading
Intro
The Sports Illustrated Magazine once ran an article about the Dayville High School girls' volleyball team in Oregon who had a 65 game win streak before losing.
If you are not impressed, maybe knowing that the entire high school had only 18 girl students: 16 were on the volleyball squad and a 17th kept the score.
Although Dayville is one of the smallest Class B high schools, it won the Class A volleyball championship for three years running.
After their lose, this what a report said about the team, "The team rebounded and has a winning streak of one."
Genuine faith requires optimism, not related to what we can achieve all on our own, but what God will do based on the words of Jesus.
Holman NT Commentary: “The Bible records numerous “musts” for the practice of our Christian faith.
The gospel does not center in signs and wonders, or even in healing and teaching, but in death and resurrection.
An optimistic outlook is always healthy, but optimism is not faith.
The kind of faith John has been talking about for four chapters centers in heart conviction that Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world can alone provide eternal life.”
What we learn in this morning’s reading, is that signs and wonders are exciting, but genuine faith rests in the promises of God.
We find it in His Word.
We ought to take Jesus at his word and obey Him.
Body
Before we get to the healing of the officials Son, I want us to first take a look at the in between.
What John chooses to include in the middle between the first sign and the second this second sign that we read this morning.
In chapter 4, Jesus currently is in Judea.
He was teaching and preaching and it just so happened that many were being baptized by the disciples of Jesus and thus following him.
At some point in his ministry there in Judea, Jesus finds out that the Pharisees come to the knowledge that he is making and baptizing more disciples than John is.
He was growing in more popularity than John.
And so it is very possible that they would exploit this opportunity to turn the people against Jesus.
To cause a riot or to stir trouble for him.
Early in John’s ministry, he was well loved by the people.
Even late in Jesus’ ministry and after the death of John the Baptist, still the Pharisees dare not speak ill of John.
And so, in His wisdom, Jesus leaves Judea and he passes through Samaria on his journey to Galilee.
Now just one more piece of background before we get to the second sign.
Jesus is in Samaria and is tired.
He meets with a Samaritan woman and you all know the story....
Well, at the conclusion of this event, she goes back into the town and tells everyone about Jesus, the man who told her everything she had done!
They believe.
Having simply just heard, but they rush out to him and find him and this is what we read in
The people believed not because he turned all of the water in the well into wine.
Not because he healed all of their sick or cast out demons.
There is no indication that any signs were given or performed.
It says, they believe because of His word.
Amazing, they did not need anything more than that.
Just the word He spoke was enough.
Keep that in your minds.
Then he leaves Samaria and he goes to Galilee.
And how is Jesus received?
Well you may be wondering what exactly happened at this festival?
They welcome him based on the evidence of the signs.
The Samaritans embrace him and keep him with them for two days on the basis of his word.
And so we have this in our minds when we finally encounter the second sign of Jesus.
The passage with which we read this morning.
John 4:46-54- The Healing of the Official’s Son.
Now there are a lot of similarities here between the First and the Second Sign.
Location: Both took place in Cana of Galilee
Proximity: The healing of the official’s son takes place at a distance.
Jesus does not go to the official’s home.
Similar to the water into wine.
He does not collect the water, nor touch the water.
The knowledge of what occurs is veiled.
What I mean is that there are a group of people who are aware of the situation.
Just like the bride and groom were ignorant of who their savior was, Jesus was the source.
The response is of faith.
The servants fill the jugs with water and serve it.
The father believes the word of Jesus and returns home.
They both, like all of the signs, show us that Jesus is the Son of God, He is God.
All Jesus has to do is tell the man: “Go your way.
Your son will live.”
This emphasizes that Jesus’ word alone has power and reminds us that he is God, as the John’s prologue says: “the Word was with God and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1)
There is yet one more similarity.
Jesus gives an interesting remark.
My time has not yet come.
But here, we read Jesus’ response to the father in verse 48, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
Now, who was he talking to?
Obviously, Jesus was not talking to nobody.
He was talking to someone or some group of people.
The first option is that Jesus is talking to the father.
“You” being singular.
Well, that can’t be the case as it is actually a plural you.
So, it is actually more than likely that Jesus is speaking to the crowds of people.
The ones who so readily accepted him.
Which is odd isn’t it.
If people accept you, shouldn’t you do everything you can to not mess that up?
Dr. Andreas Köstenberger (professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Seminary): “The Galileans’ ‘welcome,’ was in fact a rejection, because Jesus’ compatriots were interested only in his miracles.
‘Receiving’ Jesus is not necessarily the same as accepting him, in keeping with the Johannine pattern of initial ‘faith’ that is subsequently exposed as inadequate.”
[In other words, John shows a number of instances in which a person believed for a while, but eventually gives up following Christ.]
You see the problem was not that they so readily accepted him, but the basis for their acceptance.
And again we see, chasing after signs are not the focus.
Jesus is!
<Illustration> For those of you who have been with us in our evangelism and open air teaching, you know that there are certain tactics that we use to draw a crowd.
We will entertain them with riddles and trivia and prizes, but what if that were our whole purpose?
Just to draw a big crowd and then do nothing with them but to entertain.
It would be for nought.
No we always very quickly want to transition to the Gospel and present them with Christ.
And Jesus is aware of this.
That the Galileans are seeking for the extraordinary.
They are hoping around like those in Pilgrims Progress in Vanity Fair.
Looking for things that will simply tickle their fancies.
No, Jesus rebukes them for this.
But faith built only on the spectacular is not biblical faith.
Perhaps Jesus drew a contrast here between the Samaritans in Sychar who believed because of his message and the Jews in Cana who were interested only in physical miracles.
That is very much an important message.
As Jesus would later say to Thomas following His resurrection, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (20:29).
Some might say, but why is it that in verse 53 it seems to indicate that the father is realizing that Jesus could heal and then it says “Then he himself believed”.
Well, it obviously cannot mean that the Father did not initially believe.
Why?
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