Your son lives

Christ Pantocrator, c. 1100.  Daphni Monastery, Greece.  Scripture open to John 8:12

 Now after 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 had also 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

On Saturday we read that Jesus' disciples came to find Him speaking with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, 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 man, "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 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 had also gone to the feast.   Jesus' own country is Galilee (1:46; 2:1; 7:42, 52; 19:19).  There were Galileans present at Jerusalem during the Passover (2:13-25), where apparently Jesus performed many signs that are not explicitly given to us in the Gospel, although this is the second time John has mentioned such signs at the Passover (see 2:23).    My study bible comments that while the Galileans received Christ having seen His signs, St. John Chrysostom assigns greater credit to the Samaritans for having accepted Christ based on words alone without the accompanying signs (see the past three readings of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, above).  Let us note that while He is received because of the signs these Galileans have reported from the Passover feast, He does not "commit Himself" to them (2:24).  Moreover, as the text makes clear, Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country, a statement repeated in all four Gospels (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24).

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."  My study bible says that Christ is here admonishing the people in general, as you in Christ's statement is plural both times, and not merely the nobleman.  It says that faith which is based on miraculous works alone is insufficient for salvation.  Such a type of incomplete faith will quickly turn to scorn when 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.  My study bible comments that the nobleman's concern is clearly for his child, although his faith in Christ is weak.  He doesn't understand that Christ is Lord over illness even from a  distance.  Neither does he know that Jesus would have the power to heal even if the child were to die.  Finally, he thinks to inquire about the timing of the healing, while he still doesn't completely trust in the Lord's authority.  Only when it is confirmed do he and his whole household believe.  My study bible says that therefore, by healing the child from a distance, Jesus heals not only the body of the child, but also the soul of the nobleman.   This is the second sign of seven given in John's Gospel.  In the first chapter, Jesus revealed that He can see into the hearts of people from a distance (1:45-48), and now He demonstrates that He can heal from a distance.  My study bible says that this shows that His divine power knows no earthly limits.  There are similarities between this sign and the miracle reported in Matthew 8:5-13, but there are also enough differences that we may consider them to be two different encounters among many.  John Himself writes of the many signs and works of Jesus' ministry which go unreported, in the final verse in the Gospel:  "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written" (21:25).

That John reports many signs Jesus has done without explicitly naming them or describing them adds a particular dimension to John's Gospel.  That is, that we are given seven specific signs in detail, out of the many that reportedly were done.  Therefore we can conclude that John gives us these specific signs for a reason.   It is part of a systematic, deliberate method of revelation.  These particular signs are given in this way for a reason; they tell us something particular about Jesus, and give us insight into who He is in a particular way.  His first sign was to turn water to wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.  Here in today's reading is another Galilean miracle, performed in His home country.  A nobleman, perhaps a ruler in the synagogue, comes to Jesus because his son is ill.  He pleads and is desperate as his son is dying.  Let us note that it is in the middle of this report, right after the request is made to Jesus, that He complains about the Galileans:  "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  Here is the crux or heart of the story, as it occurs right in the middle of it.  Jesus pauses to make note of the fickleness of their faith, even the hardness of hearts, that they will not believe without signs and wonders.  It gives one pause to think that perhaps this sign is given in this particular way in order to reveal Christ to those incapable of faith otherwise.  This particular sign will unfold without regard for space nor time, as Jesus can both heal from a distance and also pause to reflect on the nature of their particular lack of faith.  In this way, the nobleman may do his own checking on the particular time of this healing, and so affirm Christ's word and come to faith, even that of his whole household.  We can conclude from this sign that we might doubt all we will, but God is aware of our time and our place, and neither time nor space form barriers to the work of God nor barriers to our prayer.  I have a friend who frequently speaks about "God's perfect timing," and this particular sign is certainly one instance of that.  Having experienced such timing in my own prayer life, I can only affirm what others teach, and that it has been true in my experience as well.  We often forget that God sees and hears in secret (Matthew 6:6).  Today's reading, and this second sign, affirms what was hinted at in the Name (I AM) given by Jesus at Jacob's well to the Samaritan woman (in Friday's reading), that there is no place where God is absent.  There is nothing of which Christ is unaware, no place He cannot be nor reach with His power, nothing He does not see.  It is a sense of confirmation of the mind and intelligence of God which misses nothing, knows our ailments and agonies, hears our prayers, and is master over elements of time and space.  Let us also remark that there are times when our prayers seem to be unheard.  But of what we know of God, we may also find ourselves in particular circumstances for a reason, with our prayers invited at all such times, and outcomes which must be put into God's hands, difficulties in which we are challenged to invite God to help us cope and to set our own minds aright.  Sometimes, as in Christ's own experience of the Cross, we are in a place of struggle in which we come to find that we are never alone.  This is also the place for prayer, a request, a plea, an understanding that God awaits our call in every time and place and circumstance.  Christ's transformative power, present to turn water to wine and to heal this boy from a distance, may also be at work in our grief and in our disappointment, touching circumstances to heal even what we don't want to accept.   In the icon above, of Christ Pantocrator ("Almighty"), the Scripture is open to John 8:12:  "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  Let us remember that it is our prayer that calls that light into any and all circumstances in which we find ourselves.  There is none too deep, too far away, too far removed for Him to reach and enlighten for us.  His light is the light of life.