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Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!" Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
- John 4:43-54
Yesterday, we read the second half of the story concerning the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. (See the first half here.) At this point His disciples came, and they marveled that Jesus talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?" The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Then they went out of the city and came to Him. In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. Jesus' "own country" is Galilee. He was on His way there from Jerusalem (in Judea) when the encounter with the woman at Jacob's well took place in Samaria. In Jerusalem He attended Passover. This was the first of three Passovers that occur in John's Gospel, and there He cleansed the temple (see Zeal for your house has eaten me up). There He performed many signs, as the Gospel tells us, but "Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man" (John 2:24). My study bible says that while the Galileans received Christ having seen His signs, St. John Chrysostom gives greater credit to the Samaritans (see the previous reading, above) for accepting Christ based on words alone without accompanying signs.
So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." This admonishment is to the people in general (the "you" is plural both times in the last verse that quotes Jesus). It's not just a word for the nobleman, and it reinforces the information about the Galileans who believed only because they saw Jesus' signs (or miraculous works) at the Passover in Jerusalem. My study bible says, "Faith based on miraculous works alone is insufficient for salvation; this kind of incomplete faith quickly turns to scorn should the miracles cease (19:15)."
The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!" Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. The nobleman's emphasis is on the urgent need for his son. My study bible says that his faith in Christ is weak, although he pleads for help. He doesn't understand that Christ is Lord over illness even from a distance, nor does he grasp that Jesus would have the power to heal even if the child were to die. The nobleman inquires about the time of the healing, still not completely trusting the authority of Christ. My study bible says, "Only after all is confirmed do he and his whole household believe. Thus, in healing the child from a distance, Jesus heals not only the body of the child, but the soul of the nobleman."
We are given further information here about God, what God is, what God is like, what qualities God has. In the understanding that neither time nor space are an obstacle to the healing power of Christ, we are given a deeper and fuller measurement (or non-measurement, if you will) of God: God's power and authority and how it works. Even death is not an obstacle to this power! We've already discussed the reality of the heart as the place of faith and of the Kingdom, in the earlier reading in which Jesus taught the Samaritan woman that "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Here's another stretch of what that means and how that works. Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman that the worship of God doesn't take place in a fixed spot; He doesn't enter into the argument about where the correct location for temple worship is. Instead, He reveals things about God and gives us what our worship is about by doing so. In today's reading, we're taught two important things: that faith from works (or belief in signs) isn't really the kind of faith He's looking for. It's the trust that marks the real relationship with God that the faith of Christ is all about. The second thing we're given is the lack of boundaries on God's power: neither space nor time have anything to do with how it works. If you think about it, the signs themselves declare this about God, revealed through the power of Christ in the Incarnation. But neither do time and space (nor death) keep us from relationship, closeness, and the life of the Kingdom. God is present to us, Christ is present to us. The saints are present to us and pray with us. We worship together with the angels in heaven. There are no barriers to the kind of faith He calls us to: and this is part and parcel of the revelation of Christ as the Incarnate Lord Jesus. So we have to think about what all that means for us and about us, now. Wherever we are, He's there. (See Matthew 18:20.) And the One He calls the Comforter is also by our side when we call. See John 14:26. In fact, in that verse, the word Jesus uses is "Paraclete" in the original Greek. This word has and can be translated as advocate, intercessor, consoler, comforter, helper. It was also a word commonly used at Christ's time for attorney -- or for one who'd give evidence that would stand up in a court. But the literal meaning of that word is compound: it describes one who is close beside ("para") when called ("kaleo"). And this describes the working of God. Nothing is dependent upon conditions that determine where we are exactly, or when this happens. This is the Comforter, our Advocate, the One who stands up and gives us the solid advice we need for our own best interest. And that's really where we are taken in today's reading. We're given a deeper sense of what it means to have faith in God. It means to trust. Trust is a reality of the heart that withstands all things and can see us through our lives no matter what. The faith Christ asks of us is something that goes far beyond just whatever outcome we want right this minute. It's a trust that is there in the heart, always with us, close beside whenever we call, even if everything is against us. That's a "tough love" we can always use, that we always need, and that we can truly count on to tell us what is what. Let's remember our boundless God who is always with us, the Friend who tells us what we need to hear. Through Christ's Incarnation, we take the steps closer to love as He reveals Himself, to the one thing that's truly necessary for our well-being.
