Miracle of the healing of the Nobleman’s Son John 4:45-54 -Dr. Ben Alexander, Pastor Holy Temple COGIC
John’s gospel tells us, it is in Cana of Galilee where Jesus performs His first miracle. He turns water into wine at a wedding-John Chapter 2. We do not get too far along in the gospel, where in Chapter 4 John records another miracle, Jesus heals a nobleman’s son in Cana of Galilee. First of all, to get a miracle in the same place is a miracle in itself. What is significant about this place?
After Jesus leaves Cana, He goes to Jerusalem where He runs the money changers out of the Temple. He turns their tables over and literally whips them out of the Temple and says, “You are not going to turn my Father’s house into a house of thieves”-Matthew 21:12-13. What is interesting is that everybody until this point, all of the religious leaders, thought it was okay to do whatever they wanted to do in the Lord’s house; to treat the Lord’s house any kind of way. When Jesus, whips them and runs them out of the Temple, He has gotten the attention of a lot of people, so they ask Him, “What sign or miracles will you work to show us why you have done this”? “Prove to us your authority!” Jesus says to them, “You want a sign?” “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it”! He was speaking of His body, how He would be crucified and would raise Himself back to life again in three days. What He said was hard to understand because it took Solomon seven years to build the Temple the first time. When the Temple was destroyed, it took forty-six years to rebuild it.
This time when Jesus leaves Jerusalem He goes down to Judea another 20-30 miles. He leaves there to go back to Galilee but in order to get there, He has to go through Samaria where He runs into the woman at the well. That is a significant story in and of itself, but what John seems to be getting at or making us aware of is what is going on with Jesus and where things are taking place. Jesus is performing miracles between the regions of Judea down south and Capernaum up north. And John seems to want us to know that almost in the middle, right next to Cana of Galilee is Jesus’s hometown, His birthplace, Nazareth. It is from Nazareth where people questioned, “Can any good thing come from Nazareth?”-John 1:46 All of these miracles are taking place in the region surrounding Nazareth.
What is the significance? Why does John make a concerted effort to point out the region of these miracles?
This geographical background is important from a spiritual standpoint because sometimes the psychological games the enemy plays, or those discouraging words others try to speak over you can make you question if there is any worth to you—if there are limitations to you—or whether or not any “good thing” can come from you? Can God even use you because of where you come from— because of what you have been through—because of what your name is—because of what your background looks like? Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? John lets us know so many miracles, so many wonders, so many healings, came from a little place called Nazareth, and spread all the way down to Jerusalem and then back up to Samaria, and in the land of Cana of Galilee!
Don’t tell me who God can’t use— what city He can’t use—what conditions he won’t use!
He will take upside down and turn it right side up.
He will take inside out and turn it outside in.
He will take what has been put down and raise it up.
He will take what has been thrown out and bring it back in.
He will take what some have called dirty and make it clean.
I don’t care who you are, God makes a declaration, “Come now let us reason together”. “Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make you white as snow”. “Though they be red like crimson, they shall be (white) as wool”-Isaiah 1:18 Which brings us to the point of this nobleman’s son being healed. Jesus comes again into Cana of Galilee. The bible says there was a certain nobleman, whose name we don’t even know, whose son was sick at Capernaum. Jesus is Cana, the man’s son is sick in Capernaum about thirty miles away.
The man hears that Jesus is coming out of Judaea into Galilee or Cana and he, the man, goes to Jesus. He travels the 30 miles to get to Jesus. Not by car, not by boat, not by plane. He is desperate to get to Jesus.
The man does not just hear that Jesus is traveling or coming to Judaea; he also has heard about the miracles, signs and wonders that Jesus has performed. He heard that Jesus was coming out of Judea into Galilee or Cana. He finds Jesus and begs Him to come to Capernaum and heal his son who was at the point of death.
This man is at his wit’s end. One writer, Warren Wiersbe, a notable scholar, and author said, the nobleman is in a “crisis of faith”. There is nothing left but to try Jesus. Jesus is a last resort. Have you considered making Jesus your first resort, your every resort, and even your last resort? The nobleman has traveled to come to Jesus. He says to Jesus, “Come now and heal my son!” Jesus tells him you won’t believe except you see signs and wonders. Jesus is reiterating what he said in Mark 16:17-18, “These signs (miracles) shall follow them that believe.”
Perhaps we are waiting on signs and wonders so we can believe, but signs and wonders are waiting on our belief.
The man travels all the way from Capernaum and he wants Jesus to travel all the way back to be present to heal his son. Jesus responds to him but He does not agree to go, nor does he affirm that He will not go. He rather says, “Except you see signs and wonders ye will not believe.”
Many people who are sometimes looking for a miracle can overlook the miracle right in front of them! The man’s desperation escalates in verse 49 of John’s gospel for he says, “Sir, come down and come down now before my child dies!” The man does not know who he is talking to or the power of God. In reality, the man places limitations on God. Whatever limitations we put on God, does not and cannot limit what God can do. God does not have to come where we are. God does not have to come where the man’s son is, He can just speak a thing and it shall be. He can simply declare be healed and it shall be.
Jesus tells him, “Go your way; your son lives.”
The entirety of the story reveals as the man was going back to where his son was, his servants met him on the way. The human mind can take this two ways.
Perhaps, the nobleman had two cognitive dilemmas. First, if the servants are coming to me, are they coming to me with bad news that my son is dead? It is at this point that the enemy will do a number on you and me to try to rob us of our faith. He will tell you they are coming to play funeral music instead of dancing music to celebrate he is alive.
Jesus has a way of healing that sometimes is a process. Sometimes healing is a part of a journey. The famous healing of the lepers in the bible shows us that. Even though He healed the lepers, their healing did not manifest until the process was in motion. The healing did not appear until they walked away when Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest—” as they went, they were healed.”Luke 17:14 When the nobleman’s faith was put into mobility, when his faith became transient, when his faith moved, the process of motion allowed the manifestation of the healing to be seen! It was the man’s movement towards what God had said that allowed him to see what God had done! Had he just stayed there he would not have seen what God had done.
How many times have God performed a miracle or answered a prayer but because we did not believe or moved towards it, we never saw the manifestation of it? How many times has the door been opened but because we did not, “Go thy way” when the Holy Ghost told us, as a result, we missed out on what God had in store?
Go thy way, thy son liveth! Go thy way, the door is opened!