Everyone who starts a social media account usually wants to be known, respected, and remembered for something. This person is known for his insightful Bible messages. This company has a fantastic following because of his Bible archaeology documentaries. Jesus wanted to be known as well. But He was not getting the right attention. He didn’t come to be a miracle worker or healer. He came to present Himself as a Savior, that whoever believed in His person and claims would have life.
In this brief section, Jesus is setting up a difference between those who believe in Him because they heard Him, as opposed to those who believe because of His miracles. “For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in His own country” (John 4:44). They did not honor Him for who He was.
He had a measure of respect because His neighbors knew Him while He was growing up, when “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). He was competent at His work, kept the honor of the family name, was wise and clear-headed, His word was trustworthy, and like any rabbi, He was well versed in the word of God. Very respectable, indeed.
But Jesus came to proclaim the new wine of the kingdom of God. John’s gospel sets up the tension between the old, familiar traditions the Jews were comfortable with, and the spiritual values they knew nothing of. They were satisfied to study the Bible, but not to draw nearer to God. They loved the festivals and temple observances, but did not see the Christ that they portrayed.
Once they saw the miracles, they expected Him to help people like a miraculously skilled physician. Jesus came to be the Savior of the world, the Samaritans discovered. But the Jews had a hard time getting their minds around that idea.
“We are Abraham’s children,” they boasted, so they thought they were covered; their status with God was already assured. They kept the laws they could keep and participated in the festivals. Jesus was a valuable commodity because He could do miracles. A point they could not grasp is His being a witness to God dwelling in Him–that’s why He could do the miracles.
God was working through Him, and this was a new thing the Jews could not grasp, though Jesus stated it plainly several times. Jesus needed to get this God-indwelling idea through to His disciples, who were also caught in the net of unbelief. Their faith in their religious works and heritage needed to be switched to trusting in the person of Christ. Have you made this switch?
Their expectations were shaped to expect a Messiah who would overthrow the Roman dominion like Joshua overthrew the Canaanites–so they could take the land as their rightful possession once again. But this time, for ever.
We religious Americans also have expectations the Lord needs to overthrow if we are enter the kingdom of God. “But we’ve always done it this way,” is the cry of the Jews in the Bible and of religious Americans today. “I’m an upstanding citizen, doing my part. I’m involved with my church. I honor its traditions handed down. Sometimes I read my Bible and pray. I do good to others and don’t hurt anyone.”
We can do all that with only a superficial knowledge of a diety. But God dwelling in us and influencing us mentally and physically with new ways of seeing the world is an entirely different ball game.
Good deeds do not equate to a good relationship with God. With good deeds, our outward behavior could certainly be refined. But they can never create out of thin air a spiritual communion with God and His indwelling with joy.
Sin corrupts every capacity we have, making this impossible. It becomes possible when we acknowledge that we are sinners estranged from God, so we need to turn away from our dubious accomplishments to God Himself, whom we have wronged. We believe in Jesus as a risen Savior, our sins are washed away, and we receive God dwelling in us via the Spirit sent from Christ. The NT tells us how to live with this new wine of the kingdom of God.
This is why John’s gospel was written, that you may believe that Jesus is the risen Messiah, and that believing may have life in His name. If you take away all your religious forms and traditions, do you have life in His name? Do you have an internal spiritual vitality that comes from a joyful communion with God that the New Testament describes?
When Jesus left the Samaritans, mentioned in the previous verses, and returned to His home town, “the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they had also gone to the feast” (John 4:45). They received Him because of what He had done, implying that Jesus did some unusual works at a feast earlier. He was received as a miracle-worker, not a Savior.
More than likely, Jesus is not really a miracle-worker in your life. Who is He to you? What is it about Him that allows you to die to your former religious and cultural traditions and follow Him only? The training of the Twelve is to bring them to this realization of who He is. He will give them life, equip them for kingdom work, and guide them where they should go.
When Peter said he had no money to give the lame man, but Jesus, then the man rose up and walk (Acts). He had been at the door of the temple for decades. In all that time, the temple with its religious traditions could do nothing for him. But there is life in Jesus’ name.
Have you found that life? The Jews could not be blessed by treating Jesus as a miracle-worker. But the Samaritans were blessed by the Savior when they heard Him and believed.
