Title: Jesus Restoring / John 4:46-54
A rabbi who is good at preaching preaches in the synagogue on Fridays. A lot of people gathered, including a woman. But the woman's husband was displeased with his wife, who listened to the rabbi's preaching.
One day, while the woman was listening to a sermon, the sun was setting. She came home in a hurry, but as the sun went down, the Sabbath began, and the woman could not prepare food for her family. According to the law, neither water nor bread could be baked on the Sabbath. The starving husband drove his wife out, saying, "Do not enter the house until you spit in the rabbi's face."
The rabbi heard the news and invited the woman. "My eyes hurt, so please wipe them with your saliva." The woman spit and wiped the rabbi's face without thinking. The rabbi says, "Go home now that you spit in my face."
When the disciples asked the rabbi, "Why did a famous teacher make a woman spit in the face?", the rabbi answered, "I will do anything to bring peace to the family."
Today's text is about a royal servant who threw away his honor or pride for the sake of his family.
A royal servant living in Capernaum came to Jesus because his son was ill.
He asked Jesus to come down to Capernaum and heal his son.
When Jesus asked him if he had to see signs and wonders to believe, he asked my child to come and heal him before he died.
Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."
Here, the word 'servant of the king' means a person closely related to the king.
Therefore, this person is a noble person.
Capernaum is located about 32 km from Cana in Galilee.
Although he was of a noble status, he did not travel 80 miles to heal his son.
You can see the passion and love of a father for his family.
We must learn the zeal of our father, who did not hesitate to run away for the sake of the sick family.
Seeing the king's servants who spared no effort to ask for help when they needed the Lord's help, what are we doing for the sick, weak, and crooked families today, and what kind of hard work are we doing?
I hope you come to the Lord.
Verse 54 says, “This was the second sign that Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.”
The writer of the Gospel of John called this miracle the second sign Jesus revealed Himself to.
What does the Lord reveal to us through this sign?
1. He is a loving Lord who wants to help the weak.
The king's servant came to Jesus and said in verse 47, "Come down and heal my son."
In these words, the Lord's power is extremely limited that can only be exercised in the field.
They did not believe in the power of the Lord who transcends time and space.
Verse 49 says, “Come down before my child dies.”
This is not the belief that Jesus can raise a dead child.
John Calvin nevertheless said in verse 50, “Go, your son is alive and well.” The Lord’s words, despite human ignorance, unbelief, and weak faith, were a shining scene in which He generously forgave him and gave interest to him who ran to the Lord. I did.
Because he is weak and needs to be restored, it is the Lord who healed him with generous love and mercy.
I hoped he would come and heal him, but he revealed the love of the Lord who healed him with the word on the spot.
2. He showed that he is the object of faith.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke introduce many miracles of Jesus. And he expressed it as 'Dynamis', the power of the Lord.
The word 'dunamis', which appears countless times in the Gospels, is not used even once in the Gospel of John.
This means that the writer of the Gospel of John is not interested in the article about what Jesus did, but is deeply interested in what he showed through it.
That is why the Gospel of John calls miracles a sign.
Rather than understanding a miracle as a miracle itself, we want to testify to Jesus who revealed Himself through the miracle.
Through this sign of healing the king's servant's son from 32km away from the field, the Gospel of John testifies that Jesus is the object of faith we can fully trust.
♪ If you believe, you will do it. If you only believe in the Lord Jesus, and through His grace, only go to the Lord, you will have eternal life.
You saw Jesus suffering on the cross. There is only Jesus who can save me ♬
Jesus is not the great teacher of mankind. Not even 3 Dae Sung-hyun.
Jesus is the object of faith we can fully trust, and he is the Son of God. Hallelujah
Therefore, in the Gospel of John, the term “faith is a word” appears 99 times, but there is no noun, only the verb “believe”.
Jesus did not show his greatness through this sign, but only required people to trust and believe in him.
To believe means to take concrete action. I hope that you will become people of concrete faith who realize the Lord, make a decision, and devote yourself to Him.
3. You are the Provider of Life
Here Jesus did not say, “Your son is healed,” but, “Your son is alive.”
To live is the verb 'joe', which means to live and act.
Through this sign, Jesus revealed that He is the Lord of His own life.
The word life appears 7 times in Matthew, 4 times in Mark, and 5 times in Luke. However, the Gospel of John is recorded 35 times.
In John 20:31 it says, “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”
He came to us to give us life, and he performed this sign to show us clearly that he is the giver of life, and he wants to give us a living life, who is still alive today.
It is called the life of grace because Jesus gave it to us by grace. Life is life, but we must obtain life in the grace of the Lord.
In the past, virgins used to embroider and make blankets before getting married, but now they are all bought with money. They must have thought of their family while thinking of the groom for a long time as they sewed one needle at a time.
But now, as he prepares for a coma and calculates the money, he is said to be thinking about how much the groom will be crying.
As modern times pursue fast and convenient things, we can't think of the hard work and love for our family.
When I was young, my mother, who puts a charcoal fire on the iron and irons clothes and fabrics, doesn't drop a spark even if she raises and lowers the iron like that. Even a single spark on the backproviro will cause a puncture.
It was because he had the utmost sincerity towards his home and family.
That is why we use the 'jeong' character to refer to the house as 'house'. A family is not just a house, but it should have a garden where the family can be together.
A home is not an inn or a boarding house. There is a yard where the family can work and have fun together.
Before blaming your circumstances, I hope that you who are weak but seek the grace of the Lord, may the infinite grace of the Lord be with you like the king's servants here.