The Official’s Son
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.
Jesus left Samaria and traveled north into Galilee. His comment that “a prophet has no honor in his own country” should not leave us wondering what country he meant, but soberly understanding our own position in the world. As we carry the message of the gospel, the message of forgiveness and the resurrection of the dead, there will be people who won’t respect us, who will ridicule us, and who will make blasphemous accusations against us. When this happens among people we grew up with; people we would otherwise feel at home with, it is all the more painful. But the work of the gospel goes on.
When Jesus arrived in Galilee, news about him drew a crowd. They had seen him during the Passover (John 2:23) and were impressed. Jesus was becoming famous, and they wanted to see him.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” (NIV)
Returning to the place where his first miracle had taken place, Jesus was approached by a “royal official,” a basilikos. Since he was living in Capernaum in Galilee, he would have been part of Herod Agrippa’s court, although we can’t say for certain what his duties would have been; he was not a soldier. But the man was a Jew. We see that from Jesus’ complaint, “Unless you people…,” referring to the Jews who saw him at the Passover and were looking for more wonders and more “show” from Jesus. Perhaps this was especially true of Agrippa’s court and cronies.
Jesus’ concern was that the people possessed a faith based on seeing miracles, and not a faith based on the word of God. Unlike the Samaritans who had their faith awakened by one miracle they didn’t see, the Galilean Jews needed miracle after miracle or they would forget about Jesus and go looking for the next thrill that came along.
Our faith is based on the word of God. It was created with our baptism, which is indeed a miracle, and it is strengthened and built up and grown and reaches its full bloom through the word, working in us, drawing out the poison of sin through the poultice of repentance, and salving our daily wounds in the comfort and forgiveness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Something Extra:
Ecclesiastes 1:1
“While I was still independent and unordained, nothing seemed to be beyond my grasp; at one time I considered becoming a knight and entering the lists. But after I was called into the pastoral office I was (truly) put to school and learned: I am nothing.” — Nicholas Selnecker, one of the authors of the Formula of Concord.
Ecclesiastes means “the Teacher” based on the title the author gives himself seven times in the beginning, middle and end of the book (Ecclesiastes 1:1,2,12; Ecclesiastes 7:27; Ecclesiastes 12:8,9,10). The author identifies himself with Solomon, “the son of David, king in Jerusalem” (Ecclesiastes 1:1; Ecclesiastes 1:16; Ecclesiastes 2:4-8). Solomon’s time on the throne was 970 – 930 BC. Some have seen Ecclesiastes as a repentant poem at the end of his reign. A question about the date is sometimes raised by certain words in the original text that are more common with later Hebrew, but we need to remember that Solomon was one of the wisest and best educated men of his time, and for the occasional foreign (Aramaic) word to pop up in his speech is no different than an educated man in our circles dropping a Latin phrase like quid pro quo, or quoting Shakespeare.
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (NIV)
These are incredibly strong words, meant to give a strong impression. On the surface, this seems to be the theme of Ecclesiastes—except that it isn’t. The real idea that Solomon is trying to give to us is something else. Think of the listener as a person newly attracted to the faith, a person “of the outer court” of Jerusalem. He’s wondering what Judaism—the true faith—has for him besides membership in this culture that sits like a beautiful oasis on the edge of the great Eastern Desert. Solomon tells him: All the beauty around you doesn’t mean anything unless you know who made it. Look at me, he will say, I’ve tried it all. But it’s not worth a pile of magic beans without the Lord.
The purpose of Ecclesiastes is to show the reader that the Creator, not his creation, is to be prized most of all.
Note: One of the strongest arguments about the language of Ecclesiastes is the use of the Hebrew word sheh- rather than asher as a relative pronoun. The pronoun sheh- occurs 57 times in the twelve chapters, but 28 of those are in the first two chapters. The more common Hebrew asher (“who, which”) occurs 82 times, and the variation between the two terms may simply be one of style. In fact, the Hebrew of Ecclesiastes is very simplistic, with a tendency toward a very elementary grammar. In other words, Ecclesiastes is grammatically the Dr. Seuss of the Bible.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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