Vintage21 Church

Pastor Tyler · Joined: 08 Feb 2008 Posts: 85 Location: Downtown Raleigh

This week, May 18th, we will be looking at John 4:46-54. Jesus seems to support what he does not want to support in this passage. He makes a statement, "unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." Certainly Jesus wants them to believe but not in miracles, He wants people to believe and follow Him. We see this so vividly today, there are whole gospels that promise God will make you wealthy and healthy. People follow these gospels and are not left with Jesus but with the provision of Jesus--they long for and want most earnestly new cars, bigger homes, nicer stuff. Yet Jesus' call to us is clear, leaving everything and follow me. So, why does Jesus say this to the official in John 4--The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”

Spend some time studying scripture and then post your thoughts. Here is the passage for you:

John 4:46-54
So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 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.” 53 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. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
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Pastor Tyler

Rob Davis · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 89 Location: Raleigh, NC

I was just talking to my boys last night about this. For them, it's fascinating to imagine Jesus as fully divine and able to do amazing things - they're boys, so what can I expect? So, when talking about the miracles/signs/wonders they easily drift only into focusing on the "bigness" of what Jesus did. But, I've been trying to constantly point out to them that's only one part of the whole. I pointed out that Scripture tells us that many "false prophets" have come and will come who are able to do crazy things as well, but the source of their power is not divine. Obviously we can't use that criterion solely to determine if something is from God (you just have to watch "Christian tv" for a few minutes to know what I'm talking about). So, what was Jesus' power really about?

I first started considering this while listening to Tim Keller a few years ago (I think it was from this), and then Keller's insight has only been enhanced through other followers that I've paid attention to (i.e. Craig Blomberg, Herman Ridderbos, NT Wright, etc.). Basically, his premise is that Jesus doing miracles was not so much about showing the bigness of divine power (while that is a part of it throughout Scripture), but rather He was primarily giving us glimpses into the new creation. The whole idea of a "sign" is that it points toward something else - we're not supposed to stay focused on the sign but rather what the sign is pointing to. So, the signs are of the Kingdom, initiated by Jesus (the already) and promised for the future (the not yet). In the here and now, we are to embody the Kingdom by loving people, meeting needs, praying for the sick, etc., and we are promised a future absent of tears, pain, strife, etc.

For me, this has been extremely helpful in trying to discern what each specific sign is all about.
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