Participants: Deyvy Rodriguez & Jon Paulien
Series Code: JBOTB
Program Code: JBOTB00010A
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00:20 Hello, friends, and welcome to "Books of the Book."
00:23 My name is Deyvy Rodriguez 00:25 and I'm so pleased 00:26 that you're able to join us in this Bible study. 00:28 And I am with Dr. Jon Paulien. He is a Bible scholar. 00:32 He is the dean of Religion at Loma Linda University 00:36 in Loma Linda, California. 00:38 And, Dr. Paulien, we're talking about the Gospel of John 00:44 and you've written three books on John. 00:48 Tell us about those three books? 00:50 Well, almost 20 years ago, 00:52 I was asked to participate in a Bible commentary series, 00:57 it was called the "Bible Amplifier." 00:59 And one of the purposes of those series 01:01 was kind of a study guides, 01:03 you know, it would have questions 01:05 to get people studying into the book 01:07 and then at the end reflection questions 01:09 and then, you know, I would say some of the things 01:12 that I was seeing in there. 01:15 That triggered interest and about 10 years later 01:18 I wrote an Adult Bible Study Guide 01:21 for the Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:23 and that was distributed in 18 languages, 01:26 about 15 million copies. 01:29 So that was-- 01:30 Which is known as the "The Sabbath Quarterly?" 01:32 Yeah, "The Sabbath School Lesson." 01:34 "Sabbath School Lesson." This way it's often refer to. 01:37 And along with that, I published a book 01:41 that gave additional information 01:43 and told some stories to go with the lessons, 01:48 so people could read one chapter every week 01:51 as they were studying the lesson 01:52 and be more prepared to discuss. 01:55 Right. And you've not only written three books, 01:58 but you've also written more books as well, 02:00 and we're just talking about 02:02 those three in the Gospel of John, right? 02:05 Yeah. And well, what are we talking about today? 02:09 Well, we are going into the last part of chapter 4 02:11 and the first part of the chapter 5. 02:13 There's two stories here. 02:14 And of course, in John, 02:16 stories always have mean a little bit more sometimes 02:18 than what they seemed on the surface. 02:21 But the reason we're packaging these two together 02:24 is because they fit a nice slot for a program 02:28 and it lets us cover the last part of chapter 5 02:31 in a separate program where which I think 02:34 it really needs to happen. 02:36 So otherwise we could have separated these two stories. 02:40 But in John, you have this dual directional kind of thing going, 02:44 so the last story in chapter 4 is connected with chapter 5, 02:49 and also with what precedes. 02:51 But the introduction to this, 02:54 right after the Samaritan woman is in 4:43-45. 02:59 So if you're ready, why don't we take a look at that? 03:02 And well for those of us 03:04 or for those who are watching, 03:05 who would like to join us in this Bible study, 03:07 you can pick up your Bible and open it, 03:10 and again we are in chapter 4, 03:13 and you said we are reading verse-- 03:15 43-45. 43-45, and it says, 03:19 "Now after the two days he departed from there, 03:22 and went to Galilee. 03:23 For Jesus Himself testified 03:25 that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 03:29 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, 03:33 having seen all things 03:34 He did in Jerusalem at the feast 03:37 for they also had gone to the feast." 03:41 There is an interesting contradiction it seems in this. 03:46 First of all, He is in Samaria 03:48 and then He goes to Galilee 03:50 after He spent that couple of days 03:51 in the town of drunkenness, 03:53 so He goes to Galilee, and what is Galilee? 03:57 That's His home. 03:58 Nazareth is where He grew up. 03:59 Capernaum is where He is living. 04:01 So He is going home. 04:04 And as He is going home, He says, 04:07 "A prophet has no honor in his own country." 04:11 And then it says, when He arrives, 04:13 the Galileans welcomed Him gladly 04:16 because they saw the things 04:18 that He had done in Jerusalem. 04:21 So what do you make of that? 04:23 Why does Jesus say it's a lousy welcome? 04:25 And yet they welcomed Him gladly. 04:29 Because it seems that they needed 04:31 to see some evidence or some miracles 04:33 before they accepted Him as a prophet. 04:36 So the welcome that they give is grounded in the miracles 04:39 they saw in Jerusalem. 04:40 Right. So they're kind of the counterpart of Nicodemus again. 04:44 These Galileans have this inadequate faith in Jesus, 04:48 it's based on the miracles 04:50 He did in Jerusalem just as Nicodemus based His faith 04:54 on those miracles in Jerusalem. 04:56 So here He makes a statement about faith. 05:02 The Galileans have faith. 05:03 They believe in Jesus, they welcomed Him, 05:05 they receive Him gladly. 05:07 And once again He doesn't trust Himself to them. 05:11 Now in the Gospel of John, it seems like, 05:14 whenever He makes a statement like this, 05:15 He'll follow with a story that acts out that very thing. 05:20 In the story that follows, there is a Galilean 05:24 who comes to Jesus and who has imperfect faith. 05:31 And let's see what happens in that story. 05:34 And we are in verse? Verse 46-48. 05:37 I think as far as we want to go right now. 05:39 "So Jesus came to Cana of Galilee 05:42 where he had made the water wine. 05:44 And there was a certain nobleman 05:46 whose son was sick at Capernaum. 05:48 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judaea into Galilee, 05:52 he went to him, and imploded him to come down, 05:55 and heal his son for he was at the point of death. 05:59 Then said Jesus unto him, 06:01 'Unless you people see signs and wonders, 06:03 you will by no means believe.'" 06:05 So now Jesus reveals clearly what His reluctance is. 06:09 The excitement of the Galileans is based on His miracles. 06:13 They're based on the mighty things that He has done. 06:17 And that's never in the Gospel of John, 06:19 a strong basis for genuine faith. 06:22 If it were the key, then the second generation 06:25 would be in a trouble 06:27 'cause the second generation doesn't see Jesus, 06:29 doesn't hear Him, doesn't touch Him. 06:32 And so, how's the second generation gonna come to faith, 06:35 if it's got to depend on miracles. 06:37 And so, Jesus says, "You Galileans." 06:40 He says, "Unless you see signs and wonders, 06:42 you will never believe." 06:44 Now this man is from Capernaum. 06:48 So that's Jesus' hometown. 06:50 And I've been to Capernaum, 06:52 and it's probably about the size 06:54 of a par-three hole in the golf course. 06:57 I mean, it's not a big town at all. 07:00 Yeah, maybe it had at the most a thousand people 07:03 and may be just a few hundred. 07:05 So the odds are, this man knew Jesus pretty well. 07:09 He was quite familiar with Him. 07:11 Now this story is also told in the Synoptic Gospels, 07:15 Mathew, Mark, and Luke. 07:16 And in the Synoptic Gospels, He is a Gentile. 07:19 So if this is a Gentile nobleman, 07:22 he kind of completes this tri-factor. 07:24 You have a Jew, you have a Samaritan, 07:26 and now you have a Gentile. 07:29 And all of them are engaging with Jesus 07:32 in one way or another. 07:34 So this man is hesitant 07:39 to really believe in Jesus. 07:42 He tries to hide it, but Jesus sees right through him. 07:46 And so once again Jesus knows. 07:49 You know, in the Gospel of John, 07:51 one of the great themes that's always there is Jesus knows. 07:53 You can't fool Him. He knows what's inside a person's heart. 07:57 You can come to Him and express faith like Nicodemus did. 08:01 You can express knowledge like the Samaritan woman did. 08:04 You can come to Him and say, 08:06 "I know that you can heal my son." 08:07 Jesus sees right through it. 08:09 No sense hiding in front of Jesus. 08:12 You only make a fool of yourself, 08:14 is what seems to be going on here. 08:16 So interestingly enough, this man lived with Jesus. 08:21 So what does that tell us? 08:24 The physical presence of Jesus is really no help to faith. 08:29 Again, it comes back to this overarching message of John. 08:33 John has written to people 08:35 who were losing all connection with Jesus 08:38 in any physical or direct sense. 08:40 And instead they must rely on the testimony of the disciples. 08:45 They must rely on the Holy Spirit. 08:48 And John's message is, 08:49 look when people had the living presence of Jesus, 08:52 they often didn't believe. 08:54 So what we have here is an acted parable. 08:59 Jesus has no honor in His hometown. 09:02 Even though, the people are honoring Him with their lips. 09:06 They're not honoring Him 09:07 with their genuine inner faith and actions, so-- 09:15 So in verse 48, Jesus says, 09:19 "Unless you see miracles, 09:20 signs and wonders, you will never believe--" 09:25 The signs, you know, are intended to faith. 09:31 I mean, Jesus does these spectacular things. 09:33 Signs are supposed to say, this is a prophet, 09:34 this is truly a man of God, okay. 09:37 But in practice, most of the time 09:39 they produced this shallow inadequate faith. 09:44 Now, why would you say this person doesn't have true faith, 09:50 even though he expresses it? 09:53 Because he is going there to meet Jesus, 09:57 to bring Jesus back and heal his son. 10:01 He believes that the only way his son can be healed is, 10:05 if Jesus walks down that trail with him, 10:08 goes all the way to his house, 10:09 puts His hand on him and raises him up. 10:13 He doesn't believe that Jesus can heal him at a distance. 10:17 And he isn't believing enough, you said, he believed. So-- 10:22 But there's three times-- three kinds of faiths. 10:25 There is this inadequate faith, that's just based on miracles. 10:29 There's an early immature faith, 10:33 which is genuine, but not complete. 10:36 And then there's a lasting, faith that cannot be shaken. 10:41 So you've three different types of faith. 10:44 And here you have an acted parable 10:47 of what that inadequate faith is like, 10:49 just as it was with Nicodemus. 10:51 So we have another poster child for inadequate faith, 10:54 but here is a difference. 10:55 Nicodemus is not portrayed as changing his mind, 10:59 at least in chapter 3, maybe later on he does. 11:02 But in chapter 3, the story ends with him 11:05 still in that same limbo kind of position. 11:09 But this royal official changes and it's crucial to understand. 11:14 How far apart are these two towns? 11:16 Jesus is in Cana again where the wedding took place. 11:20 This other man comes from Capernaum. 11:23 Capernaum is on the shore of Sea of Galilee. 11:26 Cana and Nazareth are up on the mountains. 11:28 It's 16 miles, 25 kilometers from Capernaum 11:34 all the way up to Cana. 11:36 It's about 1,700 feet, more than 500 meters 11:40 from below sea level up to this hill top over here. 11:45 So he goes 16 miles, he climbs all that way, 11:49 he is going uphill, 11:50 and he gets to Jesus at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. 11:55 It's just after-- after the noon hour. 11:58 And he is hoping, Jesus will come back 12:00 that day and heal his son. 12:05 So let's see, what goes on here. Verses 49 and 50. 12:10 "The nobleman said to Him, 12:11 'Sir, comedown before my child dies.' 12:14 Jesus said to him, 'Go your way, your son lives.' 12:18 So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him 12:22 and he went his way." 12:23 Ah, you see, the difference 12:26 is this man comes to believe, to true belief. 12:31 Does he come to believe 12:32 because Jesus goes down the hill and heals his son? 12:37 No. He comes to believe before he can verify the miracle. 12:43 In other words, it's not a miracle 12:45 that changes his mind. 12:46 It's the word of Jesus. 12:49 And John is telling us something very important. 12:51 You don't need the physical presence of Jesus 12:54 to have everything that He offers. 12:56 You don't need to see miracles to have faith, 13:01 but instead the Holy Spirit 13:03 working with the words of Jesus has the power 13:06 to build in you the faith that really matters. 13:10 And this man in order to believe, 13:12 it seems that he needed the affirmation from Jesus 13:16 that his son would be healed, 13:18 but had he not heard of Jesus' words, 13:23 "Go your way, your son lives." 13:26 Would he have somehow believed anyway? 13:29 Maybe not. Maybe not. 13:31 Because in John, faith is always generated 13:35 by the words of Jesus, 13:37 and when he hears the words of Jesus, 13:39 the Holy Spirit ministers those words to his heart 13:41 and he says, "Okay, I believe." 13:44 And then he starts heading down the hill without Jesus. 13:49 And the very leaving of Jesus 13:52 is evidence of his faith at this point. 13:56 So he is a representative character just like, 14:01 Nicodemus represented the Jews 14:02 and this Samaritan woman to Samaritans. 14:05 He represents the second generation 14:07 as well as the Gentiles. 14:09 He is somebody who comes to faith through the word, 14:13 not through the miracle 14:14 and not through the physical presence of Jesus. 14:16 So the words of Jesus are as great 14:21 or if not greater than the miracles themselves. 14:25 Jesus' word is as powerful as His presence. 14:29 In fact, in this case it seems like 14:30 it's even more powerful 14:32 because His presence the man didn't have faith. 14:35 It was only when he hears the word that he has faith. 14:38 Now does he really believe? Verses 51 to 53. 14:44 "While, he was still in the way." 14:47 Right? 16 miles. 14:49 "If you came uphill 16 miles and got there at 1 o'clock, 14:55 do you think you could get home going downhill 14:57 if you're excited to find out whether you son was healed?" 15:00 Probably. Yeah. 15:01 Okay, notice what happens. 15:03 "While he was still on the way, 15:06 his servants met him with the news 15:07 that his boy was living. 15:09 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, 15:12 they said to him, 15:13 the fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour." 15:18 Then the father realized this was the exact time 15:21 which Jesus had said to him. 15:22 "Your son would live." 15:25 You see, sometime the next day, 15:27 he is still wandering out there. 15:29 He took the scenic route home. 15:31 He stopped and smelled the flowers. 15:32 He helped somebody change a wheel on his wagon. 15:36 He knew that Jesus' word was as good as healing itself. 15:41 And he wasn't surprised to come home and find out. 15:44 Yeah, his son was healed 15:45 at the very moment that Jesus spoke. 15:47 Well, Dr. Paulien, we're gonna be 15:49 talking more about the words of Jesus 15:51 and how they are as powerful as His miracles. 15:53 So stay with us, friends, 15:55 as we continue to study the Gospel of John. |
Revised 2014-12-17