John 4:43-45 - Welcomed in Galilee

4:43-45

After two conversations, the first with Nicodemus and the second with the unnamed Samaritan woman, we are back to action and the second miraculous sign. Now the seven sign miracles in John are not the only miracles that Jesus did, they are the ones that John used to get over his message. John himself says that Jesus did numerous miracles (20:30), and has already alluded to Jesus doing miracles other than those recorded in detail (2:23; 3:2; 4:45). John chose and ordered his material carefully in order to convey a message.

Now let us remind ourselves of one of John’s overriding purposes as it will help us to appreciate the importance of this section in chapter 4. The book was written “that you may believe” (20:31). And then remember the meeting with Thomas which closes with Jesus saying “blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed” (20:29).

Now to the current section. Jesus spent two days with the Samaritans then left for Galilee. Verse 44 is an aside saying that a prophet is not welcome in his home town. Matthew contains a similar statement (Matt 13:57), as does Luke (Lk 4:24). It seems a little odd that it says it here as Jesus does find faith. Indeed in verse 45 it says that they welcomed HIm. However, the faith that is shown is faith in a miracle worker, rather than faith in a prophet. People will often welcome what Jesus does, but when He challenges our lives there can be a quite different response. We find the same thing today. In the secular world there is at least a superficial welcome of Jesus as an example of love (listen to political leaders’ Christmas messages, for instance), but do not welcome Jesus’ teaching which challenges our society. Likewise, evangelistic meetings that rely purely on miracles need to be very careful (quite apart from the questionable veracity that can sometimes be an issue!). At the same time we also need to remember that miracles most definitely were a part of Jesus’ ministry and they were a part of the apostles’ ministry. We should expect miraculous things to happen, but as with all things we need to hold to the wonderful balance that the Bible has.