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 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, midst Christ's conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, 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.  Jesus' own country is Galilee (1:46; 2:1; 7:42, 52; 19:19).

 

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.  John's Gospel has already recorded Jesus attending one Passover festival (2:13-25).  While there, He performed many signs.  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom, in saying that while here the Gospel tells us that the Galileans received Christ because of having seen His signs, greater credit goes 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 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 comments that Christ is admonishing the people in general (you in this last verse is plural both times), and not simply the nobleman.   It says that faith based on miraculous works alone is not sufficient for salvation.   This type of incomplete faith can 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.   My study bible remarks that the overriding concern of the noble is for his child, even though his faith is weak.  He doesn't understand that Christ is Lord over illness even from a distance.  He also doesn't understand that Christ would have the power to heal even if the child were to die.  In the end, he asks about the time of the healing, still seeking to validate (and not completely trusting) Christ's authority.  But after all is confirmed, he and his whole household finally believe.  Therefore, my study bible says, in healing the child from a distance, Christ heals not just the body of the child, but also the soul of the nobleman.   

This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.  This second sign of seven in John's Gospel reveals another facet of Christ's divine identity.  In this Gospel, He's already revealed that He can see into the hearts of people from a distance, in the story of calling of the disciple Nathanael (1:45-48).  By this second sign, Christ demonstrates that He can also heal at a distance.  In effect, my study bible notes, showing that His divine power has no earthly limits.  There are some similarities between this sign and the miracle which appears in Matthew 9:5-13, there are also crucial differences.  These are viewed as two different encounters.

 

In today's modern age of science, much more is made of different dimensional characteristics than possibly could be understood at the time of Christ.  But even then, the sciences were considered important and held a great place in education.  Mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, and many other sciences were already quite developed.   From a shipwreck that occurred sometime in the first century before Christ, there has been discovered what is called the Antikythera Mechanism (after the Greek island next to which the shipwreck took place).  This device is an early analogue computer, one made of many gears which enabled it to compute eclipses, the orbit of the moon (including its period of irregular orbit), as well as the orbit of the sun through the Zodiac.  It tells us of the advanced understanding and importance of science at that time, despite a general Western point of view that such sophistication didn't exist until far later.  At this time, no educated person was without an equal training in science and letters, and so it should be understood that the earliest great theologians of the Church were also well-trained in the sciences.  Therefore, the understanding of Christ's revelation of Himself in today's reading as one whose power is not held back by earthly restrictions of space and other understood dimensions or limitations of worldly life  takes on a significance we can start to appreciate in the eyes of the earliest Christian theologians.  Even time was understood as not a barrier to Christ, as philosophically these earliest Fathers of the Church understood life and time as that which was characterized as always in movement, and even in the action of entropy, or gradual decline.  Christ's healings were seen as evidence of disruption of that cycle, and even in this sense defying the laws of physics that govern the world.  So when we read about His signs, we should try to understand them as our highly rational and educated ancestors did:  as evidence that His origin and nature were connected to a place that transcended these dimensions or limitations.  A sign, after all, points to something beyond itself, and that is the way that we need to understand Christ's miracles.  They are not some sort of magic trick, or sensational ability or gift.  They are signs of His divine nature, they point to something which we can't see but which He is fully a part of, although He is also fully a human being.  As these signs unfold in John's Gospel, we will continue to view the fullness of Christ's ministry, eventually revealing the fullness of His identity and its importance for us as human beings.  We should keep in mind that all of this is for us and so that we may become and grow in communion with Christ and all that is brought to the table in Him.