Summary: Everyone trusts in someone, either ourselves or someone else. The question is whether the object of our faith is worthy of our trust. Sometimes our trust in ourselves needs to be crushed before we are open to trusting in Jesus. But when we do, Jesus proves that he is worthy of our trust.
Big Idea: Jesus is worthy of our trust.
Ice-breaker question: Share a time when someone kept a promise that they made to you. (Or share a time when someone did not keep a promise that they made to you.) What difference did that event make in your life?
Background: In chapter 2 of John’s biography of Jesus, Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana. Then he went to Jerusalem for the Passover, cleared the temple courts and performed many miraculous signs that moved people to believe in him (see John 2:23). While in Jerusalem, he has a deep conversation with Nicodemus. On the way back to Galilee, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well and their conversation leads to the woman and many in her village believing in Jesus. He stays with the villagers for two days and then travels north to his home area of Galilee. In the village of Cana, Jesus does another miracle, but this one is different from the earlier one he did in that village.
Read: John 4:43-54
Observation (What does the passage say?)
- Why did the royal official come from Capernaum to Cana to see Jesus?
- What was the last thing that Jesus said to the royal official?
- What did the royal official do?
- What happened to his son after that?
Interpretation (What does the passage mean?)
5. The royal official naturally expected that Jesus needed to see his son to heal him, but all Jesus did was say, “Go, your son will live.” The royal official trusted Jesus’ promise and then lived as if that promise was really true. How is this man’s faith different from a “show me and then I’ll believe” kind of faith?
6. Faith is essentially trust in an object. Who is the object of the royal official’s trust? (In other words, in whom is he trusting?) Who is the object of a “show me and then I’ll believe” kind of faith?
7. Was Jesus worthy of the man’s trust? (Did Jesus keep his promise?)
Application (What does the passage mean to me personally?)
8. Who is the object of your trust?
9. Everyone needs evidence of some kind to personally trust in the object of their faith. The purpose of Jesus’ miracles was to provide evidence that would encourage people to shift from trusting in themselves (or some other deity) to trusting in Jesus. What evidence to you have that supports your belief?
10. What are some promises of Jesus that you realize you need to trust in more?
This Bible Study focuses on the same passage as the sermon on Jan 7/18 from Walnut Grove Lutheran Church, Langley BC.
Farewell to Shadowlands 