ST. JOHN
Verse 50. Go thy way; thy son liveth.— Had our Lord gone with him, as he wished, his unbelief could not have been fully removed; as he would
have still thought that our Lord’s power could not reach from Cana to Capernaum: in order to destroy his unbelief at once, and bring him into the fullness of the faith of his supreme power, he cures him, being apparently absent, by that energy through which he fills both the heavens and the earth. Here it may be observed, our blessed Lord did what this man requested him to do, but not in the way in which he wished it to be done.
God will save all to the uttermost who call upon him, but not in the way in which they may desire. Eternal life is the free gift of God, and he has a right to give it as he pleases; and he always gives his gifts in that way in which his glory is best promoted, and our eternal interest secured.
The man believed the word— And yet it appears that he had suspended his faith upon a certain condition: “If I find on my return that my son is healed, I will believe that Jesus is the Messiah.”
Verse 52. Then inquired he of them the hour— The servants, overjoyed to find their master’s son so suddenly restored, set off to meet him, that they might impart to him tidings which they knew would be so very agreeable; and he, intent on having his faith settled, began immediately to inquire what time it was when the fever left him, to see whether his cure was the effect of some natural cause, or whether it was done by the power of Christ.
Yesterday at the seventh hour— At the time we would call one o’clock. Dr.
Macknight thinks the Roman hour is intended; i.e. seven o’clock in the evening; and this he thinks is the reason why our Lord did not accompany the nobleman: for, as Cana was a day’s journey from Capernaum, had our Lord gone at that hour he must have traveled in the night, from which it might have been inferred that he could not cure the child without being personally present. Harmony, vol. i. p. 52.
Verse 53. So the father knew— He had the fullest proof that his son’s cure was supernatural, and that it was wrought by the Lord Jesus.
Himself believed, and his whole house.— He and his whole family became true converts to the doctrine of the manifested Messiah. The whole family, impressed with the great kindness of God in sending health to the child, were the more easily led to believe in the Lord Jesus. The sickness of the child became the mean of salvation to all the household.
They, no doubt, thought at first that God was dealing hardly with them, when threatening to remove the child; but now they see that in very faithfulness God had afflicted them. Let us learn never to murmur against God, or think that he does not act kindly towards us. His wisdom cannot permit him to err; his goodness will not suffer him to do any thing to his creatures but what may be subservient to their best interests. By
providential occurrences, apparently the most adverse, he may be securing our eternal salvation.
There is an account in Beracoth, fol. 34, very similar to this of the
evangelist, and very possibly stolen from this holy source. “When the son of Rab. Gamaliel fell sick, he sent two of his disciples to R. Chanina, that he would pray to God for him. When he had seen them, he went on the roof of his house and prayed for him. He then came down and said to them, His fever has departed from him. They said unto him, Art thou a prophet? He answered, I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet;
but when I can recite my prayers readily, I know I shall be heard. They then wrote down the hour; and, when they returned to R. Gamaliel, he said to them, Ye have fulfilled your ministry-in respect to my son, all is
complete. In that hour the fever (hmj chomah, o puretov) left him, and he desired water to drink.” Schoettgen very properly remarks, Ovum ovo non magis simile est, atque haec fabula narrationi evangelicae. “One egg is not more like to another, than this fable to the evangelical narration.”
Verse 54. This-second miracle— The first miracle which Christ
performed was in this same city of Cana, just after his baptism; and this second took place after his arrival here from Jerusalem, whence, we have seen, he was driven by the persecution raised against him by the scribes and Pharisees. By construing the word palin, again, with elqwn, he
came, that confusion which is evident in the common version is entirely removed.
Bishop Pearce says: “It seems probable to me that John, when he wrote this verse, either joined the word palin to elqwn, as he had done in John 4:46, or meant that it should be so joined in the construction.”
John does not mention here the miracles which our Lord did at Capernaum on his first journey, John 2:11, nor those which he did at Jerusalem on the feast of the passover. See John 2:12; Luke 4:23.
THERE are several particulars in the preceding history of the Samaritan woman which confirm the doctrine of a particular providence, and show how God manages the most common occurrences in order to accomplish the designs of his mercy and love.
The Gospel must be preached to the Samaritans: this is God’s purpose;
and in this case, the wrath of man is caused to praise him.
1. Christ finds it necessary to quit Judea because of the persecution raised up against him by the scribes and Pharisees, John 4:1-3. How worthy of admiration is that Divine providence that presses every thing into the accomplishment of its own designs! The doctors of Jerusalem oblige the Savior to leave their city; and a simple woman persuades all the inhabitants of a Samaritan city to open their gates and their hearts, and entreat the Redeemer of the world to enter in.
2. Christ must pass through Samaria, John 4:4. He was so situated in Judea that he could not reach Galilee except through Samaria, without taking a large circuit, which the necessities of the present case could not admit.
Thus, while he appears to fly only from the fury of his persecutors, he is in reality seeking the lost, and fully accomplishing the work he came into the world to perform.
3. Christ being weary finds it necessary to sit down to rest himself by Jacob’s well, John 4:5, 6, spent with fatigue and hunger. How energetic was this fatigue? how active was this rest! Nothing can happen to Christ in vain-nothing can turn him out of the way of his mercy-his great work he continues to carry on, without the smallest interruption, where we would have thought it must have been necessarily suspended.
4. The disciples are obliged to go to the city to buy victuals, John 4:8, and Jesus was left alone. Even this circumstance was not only favorable to the conversion of the Samaritan woman, but even essentially necessary, as, without it, she could not have had that opportunity of conversing freely with our Lord; nor would it have been proper for him to have made that discovery of himself, in their presence, which we find he did during their absence. See the note on John 4:26.
5. The Samaritan woman is induced at that very time to go and draw water.
Even so small a circumstance as this becomes a necessary part in the economy of her salvation. There is not a circumstance in our life not an occurrence in our business, but God will make it subservient to our salvation, if we have a simple heart and a teachable spirit. The steps of a good man especially are ordered of the Lord; and, while he acknowledges his Maker in all his ways, he will direct all his steps. A proper
consideration of this great truth will produce both confidence and humility.
6. But this blessed doctrine may be abused; for some may suppose that God always acts according to a fixed necessity, through which, whatsoever was, is, or will be, has had its existence, mode of being, operation, and direction, according to predetermined irrevocable laws. This system makes God himself the necessary agent of eternal fate, as it supposes him to be constantly employed in doing what eternal necessity obliges him to perform; and thus his infinite freedom is bounded or acted upon by uncontrollable necessity. Perdition is not farther from glory than necessitating decrees are from a particular and gracious providence, by which the means of salvation are placed within the reach of every human being.
CHAPTER 5.
The man who had been diseased thirty-eight years healed on the Sabbath day, 1-9. The Jews cavil, persecute Christ, and seek to kill him, because he had done this cure on the Sabbath, 10-16. Our Lord vindicates his conduct, and shows, from the testimony of the Father, the Scriptures, John the Baptist, and his own works, that he came from God, to be the light and salvation of the world, 17-39. He reproves the Jews for their obstinacy, 40; hatred to God, 41, 42; pride, 43, 44; and disbelief of their own law, 45-47.
NOTES ON CHAP. 5.
Verse 1. A feast— This is generally supposed, by the best critics, to have