Bird's-eye view
In this brief transitional passage, John moves Jesus from His fruitful ministry among the Samaritans back into the familiar territory of Galilee. The section is governed by a piece of proverbial wisdom, quoted by John as a testimony from Jesus Himself: "a prophet has no honor in his own country." The sublime irony, a hallmark of John's Gospel, is that this statement is immediately followed by the Galileans "receiving" Him. This sets up a crucial theological contrast that runs through the rest of the chapter and indeed the entire Gospel. We are meant to compare the word-based, genuine faith of the Samaritans with the sign-based, superficial enthusiasm of the Galileans. Their "welcome" was not the honor due a prophet, let alone the Son of God, but rather the fickle reception of a celebrity, a wonder-worker. They were impressed by what He could do, not convicted by who He was. This passage, therefore, serves as a hinge, contrasting true and false faith and setting the stage for the healing of the nobleman's son, a miracle that will test the very nature of belief.
John is teaching us to be discerning readers of religious excitement. Not all who "receive" Christ are actually receiving Him for who He is. The Samaritans believed because of His word, confessing Him as the Savior of the world. The Galileans welcomed Him because they saw the neat tricks He did in Jerusalem. One is saving faith; the other is mere fandom. Jesus's own testimony about the lack of honor is not contradicted by their welcome; it is explained by it. The welcome itself was the dishonor.
Outline
- 1. The King's Return to Galilee (John 4:43-45)
- a. The Departure from Samaria (John 4:43)
- b. The Prophet's Proverb (John 4:44)
- c. The Superficial Welcome (John 4:45)
Context In John
This passage directly follows the remarkable account of Jesus's encounter with the woman at the well and the subsequent revival in the Samaritan town of Sychar (John 4:1-42). The contrast is stark and intentional. The Samaritans, a people despised by the Jews, came to faith based on the woman's testimony and then on Jesus's own word. They confess Him as "the Savior of the world" (John 4:42). Now, Jesus moves from this field, white for harvest, into Galilee, His "own country." This return initiates the next phase of His Galilean ministry, which John illustrates with the healing of the official's son (John 4:46-54). The theme of true belief versus a faith dependent on signs, which was hinted at in Jerusalem (John 2:23-25) and will be central to the healing that follows, is powerfully framed by this section's ironic use of the proverb about a prophet's honor.
Key Issues
- The Nature of True Faith vs. Superficial Belief
- The Role of Signs and Wonders
- John's Use of Irony
- The Meaning of "His Own Country"
The Welcome of Dishonor
The central puzzle of this short text is the relationship between verse 44 and verse 45. Jesus says a prophet has no honor in his own country, and for that reason (the Greek gar can mean that) He went to Galilee. But then the Galileans welcome Him. Is this a contradiction? Not in the slightest. John is a master of irony, and this is a prime example. The proverb is not the reason Jesus went to Galilee in the sense of seeking a place where He would be dishonored. Rather, the proverb provides the divine commentary on the kind of reception He received there.
The Samaritans honored Him by believing His word. The Galileans "welcomed" Him as a spectacle. Theirs was the kind of hollow honor you give to a traveling magician. They were fans, not followers. They were impressed with His resume from Jerusalem, not pierced by His identity. This is the dishonor of which Jesus speaks. It is the dishonor of being valued for your gifts instead of your person, for what you do instead of who you are. The world is full of this kind of "honor," and it is worthless. God is calling us to a faith that rests not on the signs we have seen, but on the Savior we have heard.
Verse by Verse Commentary
43 And after the two days He went from there into Galilee.
The "two days" refers back to the time Jesus spent with the new Samaritan believers in Sychar (John 4:40). Their faith was immediate and robust, rooted in His teaching. Having planted this unlikely church, Jesus now moves on. His ministry is not static; He is sent to preach the kingdom in many places. He leaves a place of genuine spiritual fruitfulness to go to a place of spiritual ambiguity. This is part of the sovereign plan of God. The Lord does not simply minister where the reception is warmest; He goes where the Father sends Him.
44 For Jesus Himself bore witness that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
John inserts this as the interpretive key for what follows. The word "For" (gar) connects this proverb directly to His journey into Galilee. This is a truth Jesus Himself testified to, a piece of wisdom He knew from experience and from the history of Israel's relationship with her prophets. The "country" (patris) here is Galilee, the region where He was brought up in Nazareth. Familiarity breeds contempt, or in this case, a superficial celebrity-style admiration that is just as damning. They knew Him as the carpenter's son, and so they could not see Him as the Son of God. They thought they had Him figured out, which is the ultimate dishonor one can pay to the incarnate Word. This proverb explains why the welcome He is about to receive is not what it appears to be.
45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.
On the surface, this sounds positive. They "received" Him, or welcomed Him. But John immediately gives the reason, and the reason exposes the rotten foundation of their reception. They welcomed Him because they had seen what He did in Jerusalem. They were festival-goers, pilgrims who had been in the capital for the Passover and had witnessed His signs (John 2:23). Their faith was a "seeing" faith, not a "hearing" faith like that of the Samaritans. They were miracle consumers, hungry for the next supernatural display. They were not hungry for righteousness. This is a shallow soil, and the seed of the Word will not take deep root in it. They welcomed the wonder-worker, but they did not honor the prophet. They were open to entertainment, but closed to repentance.
Application
This passage forces us to inspect the foundation of our own faith. Why did we "receive" Jesus? Do we follow Him because of what we think He can do for us, like a cosmic vending machine for health, wealth, and happiness? Or do we follow Him because of who He is, the Christ, the Savior of the world? The faith of the Galileans is the default setting of the consumerist heart. It is a religion of spectacle, always looking for the next emotional high, the next "miraculous" sign, the next big conference. It is a faith that is a mile wide and an inch deep.
The faith of the Samaritans, by contrast, is the faith of the true disciple. It hears the word of Christ and believes it. It does not need a constant stream of signs and wonders because it has the ultimate sign and wonder: the Word made flesh. True faith is not built on the shifting sands of experience and emotion, but on the bedrock of Christ's testimony about Himself. We must ask God to deliver us from a Galilean faith and grant us a Samaritan faith. We must learn to honor Christ not for His works, but for His worth. This means submitting to His Lordship, obeying His commands, and trusting His promises, even when, and especially when, there are no fireworks to be seen.