John 4:45-46

4:45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem ¹  at the feast ²  (for they themselves had gone to the feast). ³ 

Healing the Royal Official’s Son

4:46 Now he came again to Cana ⁴  in Galilee where he had made the water wine. ⁵  In ⁶  Capernaum ⁷  there was a certain royal official ⁸  whose son was sick.

John 9:7

9:7 and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” ⁹  (which is translated “sent”). ¹⁰  So the blind man ¹¹  went away and washed, and came back seeing.

John 11:32

11:32 Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

John 16:21

16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress ¹²  because her time ¹³  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ¹⁴  has been born into the world. ¹⁵ 

[4:45]  ¹ sn All the things he had done in Jerusalem probably refers to the signs mentioned in John 2:23.

[4:45]  ² sn See John 2:23-25.

[4:45]  ³ sn John 4:44-45. The last part of v. 45 is a parenthetical note by the author. The major problem in these verses concerns the contradiction between the proverb stated by Jesus in v. 44 and the reception of the Galileans in v. 45. Origen solved the problem by referring his own country to Judea (which Jesus had just left) and not Galilee. But this runs counter to the thrust of John’s Gospel, which takes pains to identify Jesus with Galilee (cf. 1:46) and does not even mention his Judean birth. R. E. Brown typifies the contemporary approach: He regards v. 44 as an addition by a later redactor who wanted to emphasize Jesus’ unsatisfactory reception in Galilee. Neither expedient is necessary, though, if honor is understood in its sense of attributing true worth to someone. The Galileans did welcome him, but their welcome was to prove a superficial response based on what they had seen him do at the feast. There is no indication that the signs they saw brought them to place their faith in Jesus any more than Nicodemus did on the basis of the signs. But a superficial welcome based on enthusiasm for miracles is no real honor at all.

[4:46]  ⁴ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[4:46]  ⁵ sn See John 2:1-11.

[4:46]  ⁶ tn Grk “And in.”

[4:46]  ⁷ sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.

[4:46]  ⁸ tn Although βασιλικός (basiliko") has often been translated “nobleman” it is almost certainly refers here to a servant of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee (who in the NT is called a king, Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29). Capernaum was a border town, so doubtless there were many administrative officials in residence there.

[9:7]  ⁷ tn The pool’s name in Hebrew is shiloah from the Hebrew verb “to send.” In Gen 49:10 the somewhat obscure shiloh was interpreted messianically by later Jewish tradition, and some have seen a lexical connection between the two names (although this is somewhat dubious). It is known, however, that it was from the pool of Siloam that the water which was poured out at the altar during the feast of Tabernacles was drawn.

[9:7]  ⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Why does he comment on the meaning of the name of the pool? Here, the significance is that the Father sent the Son, and the Son sent the man born blind. The name of the pool is applicable to the man, but also to Jesus himself, who was sent from heaven.

[9:7]  ⁹ tn Grk “So he”; the referent (the blind man) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:21]  ¹⁰ sn The same word translated distress here has been translated sadness in the previous verse (a wordplay that is not exactly reproducible in English).

[16:21]  ¹¹ tn Grk “her hour.”

[16:21]  ¹² tn Grk “that a man” (but in a generic sense, referring to a human being).

[16:21]  ¹³ sn Jesus now compares the situation of the disciples to a woman in childbirth. Just as the woman in the delivery of her child experiences real pain and anguish (has distress), so the disciples will also undergo real anguish at the crucifixion of Jesus. But once the child has been born, the mother’s anguish is turned into joy, and she forgets the past suffering. The same will be true of the disciples, who after Jesus’ resurrection and reappearance to them will forget the anguish they suffered at his death on account of their joy.