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, while Jesus spoke to 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.  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.  The region of Galilee is Jesus' own country.  This powerful statement, that a prophet has no honor in his own country, appears in all four Gospels (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24).  There were Galileans present at Jerusalem during the first Passover given in John's Gospel which Jesus has attended during His public ministry (John 2:13-25), during which Jesus performed many signs.  My study Bible comments that while the Galileans received Christ, having seen His signs, St. John Chrysostom gives greater credit to the Samaritans (about whom we've read in our past two readings) for accepting Christ based on words alone without the accompanying signs (see John 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."  Again, the emphasis here is on belief or faith that comes only through seeing signs and wonders.  The "you" here is plural both times, so this is an admonition by Jesus to the people in general, not just to the nobleman.  My study Bible comments that faith based on miraculous works alone is insufficient for salvation -- this kind of incomplete faith quickly turns to scorn if the miracles cease (John 19:15).  For the sign of turning water to wine at the wedding at Cana (the first sign given in the Gospel), see this reading.

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 comments that the nobleman's concern is clearly for his child, although his faith in Christ is weak.  It says that he does not 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.  Finally, he inquires about the timing of the healing, as he still does not completely trust Christ's authority.  It is only after the healing was confirmed that he and his whole household believed.  Therefore, my study Bible says, in healing the child from a distance, Jesus 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.  In today's reading we're given the second of seven signs in John's Gospel.  Christ has already revealed (to the disciples) that He can see into the hearts of people from a distance (John 1:45-48).  Here He demonstrates that He can heal from a distance, which shows that His divine power has no earthly limits.  My study Bible also comments that while there are certain similarities between this sign and the miracle recorded in Matthew 8:5-13, there are also many crucial differences, and that these are clearly two different encounters.

 

 It's interesting to observe that the first two signs or miracles in John's Gospel involve a kind of knowing on Jesus' part that is not part of the capacity for human beings.  He "knew" about wine in the waterpots, somehow having the capacity to turn this pure water into wine.  He "knew" about the boy and how to heal from a distance.  Jesus displays both omniscience and omnipotence:  a universal awareness and a power that seemingly has no limits.  He can turn what is lacking into fullness (water into the best wine at the wedding); He can transform what ails into wholeness (the healing of the nobleman's son).  In both of these signs or miracles, Jesus restores to rightful completeness that which threatens to diminish human life -- running out of the important element of wine at the wedding; the nobleman and his household are threatened with the loss of this important life of his son.  We might remark upon the fact that when we pray, it is so frequently in response to what seems to be lacking in our lives, or what is threatened to be taken from us, the things that make for our sense of wholeness, completeness, fullness.  But we can read Christ's disparaging of a faith that relies solely on signs, and think about what it is we pray for, and how we determine what that is.  In a modern age with robust modern economies there are choices and "must haves" that no one in Christ's time could possibly have imagined for themselves.  We have a proliferation of choices to make and things to consume -- and also demand to keep up with -- that has never before occurred in history.  In the cases of the two miracles or signs so far in John's Gospel, the things we read about are considered to be necessary:  wine was a traditional symbol and accompanying to union or covenant (such as in a marriage); and we can consider for ourselves the significance of this nobleman's son and his importance to the household.  But in a modern world we might find ourselves praying for things we don't always truly need, as demand is so often generated through market forces, advertising, and other pressures to which we (and especially our children as well) are vulnerable.  In the modern context, faith becomes all the more important, if only so that we can discern what is truly needful and good for us, and what is truly important for our wholeness, and what we lack that harms human life.  For we might imagine that we need all kinds of things; we might find we worship all kinds of things, like the social status that some goods would confer, or the image of ourselves in the eyes of others whose values or care for us may be questionable in the first place.  We might be putting our faith in things that are improper for us, and so sometimes when those prayers go unanswered, the loss of what we hoped to gain puts us in a better place to reconsider our values, and what it is we are "worshiping" with our requests.  Even though the loss of the nobleman's son would be a deep loss and tragedy, Christ still pauses to make a general comment about the people's reliance upon signs and wonders for faith.  But what if our faith and its object in the first place was the only guarantor of true richness and value?  If we place our faith in Christ to begin with, would that not help us to know what it is we really need in life, what restores and blesses human life, and what deep needs we might be lacking, such as love and beauty and truth?  We place emphasis on faith in the first place -- and the correct object of that faith -- so that we know what we need and what we pray for, so that our own thinking is in the right place to begin with.  It's too easy to rely on lies about what we need, or what would make our lives "perfect" -- and to overlook the things that are of the essence for restoration of family, relationship, a sense of balance and peace.  So, for today, let us consider what we pray for and what we think we need.  Most of all, let us open up to the need for faith in the first place -- and faith that is based in the right place, focused on the right object, the Person of Christ.  For this basic trust makes all the difference in what it is we think we need, the things we believe will make our lives whole and good.  Do we need love?  Do we need to live with a sense of love, of compassion, of kindness?  Is our wholeness based on acquiring this for ourselves as part of the blessings and gifts of the Holy Spirit -- the greatest gift of all?  Let us consider how essential to us is our faith, and Whom we trust with that faith to begin with.