On the Move Again

Lesson #78

The focus of this lesson will be the short transition paragraph of John 4:43 – 45. After a very successful two day faith building mission in Samaria, Jesus decides to go to Galilee. The people of Samaria were considered to be outcast by the Jews, but Jesus without performing any signs or wonders was able, with simply the spoken word, convince the people to accept him as their Messiah; “Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.””  (John 4:41 – 42 NASB). This response among the Samaritans was so much stronger than anything Jesus had experienced among his own Jewish people.

“After the two days he departed for Galilee. (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast” (John 4:43 - 45 ESV). As one reads verses 43 through 45 you kind of stumble over verse 44. After a successful two days with the Samaritans, Jesus goes to Galilee where he is welcomed, but between 43 and 45 we learn Jesus is not honored there. How can his hometown people welcome him and at the same time dishonor him?

It appears that Jesus is intentionally going to a people who welcome him because of his ability to perform signs and wonders, but they dishonor him because they do not understand him and as a result they do not honor him for who he is; the Messiah, the Savior of the world. What Jesus is doing here is exactly the opposite of what most western Christians would do. Based upon our worship of the idols of comfort and safety, we would not go to witness to a people who misunderstand us and reject us because it could result in our being imprisoned, tortured and even death. Little do we understand that God is building the church, the kingdom of God on the blood of saints. Jesus goes back to these Jewish people to continue to explain who he is and why he came and they will torture and kill him, but on his blood our salvation is secured. Consider where in the world the church is growing. It is where people intentionally stay and face persecution. They are on the front lines and they are making advancements for the kingdom of God. An example of this follows:

We will pick up at this point in our next lesson and see what happens next.

Prayer

Father, thank you for what you taught me when I taught in the underground school in Asia, for what I learned at the VOM conference on persecution last summer, and what I am learning from my study of persecution in other countries. Thank you for how this has brought many verses alive for me. In a way I miss being persecuted because I don’t have firsthand experience with the promises of some of these verses on suffering.