Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe

 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 to him, "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 that, after Jesus had been speaking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well for a time, His disciples came, and they marveled that He 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.    Galilee is Jesus' own country.    The statement that a prophet has no honor in his own country is found in all four Gospels; from this we derive its significance (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24).  Note the discernment in John's Gospel.  The Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast.  Earlier we were told that Jesus did not entrust Himself to those who believed only because they saw His signs at the Passover (2:23-25).  St. John Chrysostom, my study bible notes, gives greater credit to the Samaritans for accepting Christ based on words alone without the accompanying signs (see also 20:29).

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 to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."   The you to which Jesus is referring is plural both times.  So the Gospel is emphasizing the lack of faith in the people, except through signs and wonders.  My study bible says that faith based on miraculous works alone is insufficient for salvation.  It notes that 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.  My study bible suggests that this nobleman's concern is clearly for his child, although his faith in Christ is weak.  He hasn't understood that Christ is Lord over illness even from a distance, nor that Jesus would have the power to heal even if the child were to die.  After the child is healed, he then asks about the timing of the healing, still not completely trusting Christ's authority.  It is only after the healing is confirmed as attributed to Christ that he and his whole household believe.  In this way, Christ has not only healed the body of the child, but the soul of the nobleman, and indeed, all those of his household.

This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.  This is the second of seven signs reported in John's Gospel.  The first was also at Cana of Galilee, referred to at the top of today's verses (see this reading).  My study bible notes that Jesus has already revealed that he can see into the hearts of people from a distance (1:45-48).  In this second sign Jesus shows that He can heal from a distance, demonstrating that His divine power has no earthly limits.

What does it mean to us that Jesus' power is unlimited in worldly terms?  It tells us that He is Lord over the natural phenomena of the world; that is over time and over space.   There are those who have commented that in the sign of the wine at the wedding at Cana, it is time that has proved to be no barrier to Christ's power, as the water is immediately turned to wine.  In today's miracle it is space that is no obstacle to His work; it matters not whether He is physical present to heal the nobleman's son.  These are revelations of divine power at work, divine action; they give us a sense of what it means to be divine.  They are not merely "signs and wonders" that impress us so that we have faith in Jesus.  The Gospel emphasizes this repeatedly, and in particular in today's reading.  These signs are not given so that we believe.  They are revelations of God, and they tell us about God.  They reveal to us an intersection of many dimensions, if you will, present in our world, and even present to us, in the person of Jesus Christ.  Moreover -- and perhaps more importantly -- they teach us that we are not cut off from God; that our world and worldly things can be the recipient, even a kind of vessel, for divine action and power at work.  Thus, every sign given by Christ in John's Gospel becomes a kind of affirmation of the Incarnation itself and its message to us that God is with us (Matthew 1:23).  Do we not ask for God to be present with us when we worship collectively, or when we pray as individuals?  Do we not ask for guidance and divine help through our prayers?  We wish Christ to be present with us, and in today's reading He demonstrates that His presence is not limited by normal worldly limits.   It doesn't matter where He is, He can be present to us.  It is for us an emphasis of the universal reality of prayer, of dialogue with God -- an understanding that where faith is, He is, and that the normal constraints of our lives do not apply to the reality of God.  Jesus emphasizes the power of faith throughout the Gospels (see for example Matthew 17:20), but most of all we should come to understand faith as that which connects us with something beyond our grasp and our own human limitations.  We should consider that God's messengers are always with us in the form of a Guardian Angel and other angels (Matthew 18:10, 26:53).  We should know that the Holy Spirit works in our world in ways that are unpredictable and unforeseen by us, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus in chapter 3 (see this reading).  John's Gospel gives us the Christ who is with us and who abides with us.  We should not confuse this miraculous sign in today's reading with something that is a one-time experience or that doesn't apply to us.  Chris't miraculous sign shows us something about Him and about His presence with us through faith.  It gives us a taste of the power of God, and teaches us how God can be present even in our world, even to us in the intimacy of our homes and the quiet of our most desperate moment.  But signs aren't for spectacular conversions, they are a response to dialogue, and when we seek His way for us.  We can't expect everyone to recognize and know the power of faith, but we can find it in our own lives when we seek Him in the times we entrust ourselves to Him and His love and care for us.  Sometimes His signs lead us through strange and difficult paths, but each turn reveals something in turn for our lives, for ourselves.