John 4:43-45 (NIV): After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 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 had made the statement about a prophet having no honor in His own country/hometown (Mark 6:4) when the people of Nazareth had become offended at His wisdom and His ability to do miracles, instead of simply receiving what He had come to offer them. It had been so bad that He had been prevented from doing any miracles outside of healing a few people.
Now Jesus was back in Galilee, His home region, after His rousing success among the people of Samaria. And the contrast was stunning. In Samaria, Jesus had done no miracles, but the people there had still flocked to Him to hear His words. And His words alone had been enough to persuade them (John 4:41-42).
The people of Galilee, however, welcomed Jesus, not because of the wisdom that He had, not because of the words of God that He spoke, but because of the miracles that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast (cf., John 2:23). They were more interested in the amazing things that Jesus could do than they were in hearing the amazing things that He wanted to teach them.
This difference was both surprising and troubling. After all, the people of Galilee were among those that God had been working for centuries to prepare for His long-awaited Messiah. But in some ways, they were less prepared to really receive Him than some who had lacked God’s more direct influence, like the Samaritans! They were very impressed by Jesus’ miracles, of course, but many of them strongly resisted, or even resented, His teachings about God and His kingdom.
Thankfully, many did respond to Jesus’ teachings. For them, the miracles were not the thing – they were merely the icing on the cake. These people became His faithful followers, and ultimately became the core group from which the gospel spread out to the very ends of the earth.
Father, I can see in these words an indictment against our own times as well. Far too few of the people today, even many who go by Your Name, are willing to simply receive Your words and to meditate on the teachings of Jesus. We have degenerated into a very visual culture, with patience only for sound-bites and pithy bumper-sticker sayings. But, at the same time, we are overawed by demonstrations of power, even pseudo-power, like street magic! But these are weaknesses, and even things that the enemy can use to delude us and pull us aside from the truth! (Matthew 24:24-25 contains a terrifying warning to people like us!) Lord, we need Your help, we need Your power to reshape our hearts. Mold us again into a people who love You and Your word more than we crave signs and wonders. Help us to say with the Psalmist, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105) Help us to delight in Your every word, and not insist that You prove Yourself or Your love for us by doing some miracle that we crave. Amen.