Go your way; your son lives

 

 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!"  So 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 Christ had begun to speak with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, His disciples returned from purchasing food in the town, 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 thing 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. Christ's own country is Galilee (John 1:46; 2:1; 7:42, 52; 19:19).  There were Galileans present at Jerusalem during the Passover (see this reading), where Jesus had performed many signs.  My study Bible comments that  while the Galileans received Christ, having seen His signs at the Feast, St. John Chrysostom gives greater credit to the Samaritans (see yesterday's reading, above) for having accepted Christ based on words alone, without the accompanying signs (see also 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."   My study Bible comments here that Christ is admonishing the people in general (as you in this last verse here is plural both times), and not only the nobleman.  It says that faith based on miraculous works alone is insufficient for salvation; such a type of incomplete faith will quickly turn to scorn when the miracles cease (John 19:15).  

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  So 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 nobleman's great concern is clearly for his child, although his faith in Christ is weak.  My study Bible 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.  Then he asks about the timing of the healing, as he still does not completely trust the Lord's authority.  It's only after all is confirmed that he and his whole household believe.  Therefore, it notes, 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. This is the second of seven signs that Christ performs as reported in John's Gospel.  My study Bible says that as He has revealed He can see into the hearts of people from a distance (John 1:45-48), Christ now demonstrates that He can heal from a distance; therefore, His divine power knows no earthly limits.  There are some similarities between this sign and the miracle which is recorded in Matthew 8:5-13, there are also some crucial differences; they are two different encounters.

It's rather interesting that Jesus has come again to Cana in Galilee -- where He made the water wine -- and here is also the setting for this second sign in John's Gospel.  We might wonder what it is about Cana specifically that enables or allows Christ to perform such miracles, as they are also dependent upon faith (Matthew 13:58).  We remember that, as my study Bible explains it, John uses the term "signs" in his Gospel, to show that these miraculous actions point beyond themselves to the truth that the Kingdom of God has come among us in the Person of Jesus Christ.  So, while the first sign was turning water to wine at the wedding in Cana, here Christ heals the nobleman's son from a distance.  It is a clear statement of Christ's authority as One who is divine, who is God, for who else could perform such an action?  Indeed, this is the point of the encounter with the centurion in the similar story in Matthew 3:5-13.  We have to wonder at the statement that forms a central crux of the story in today's reading, though, Christ's declaration, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."   Possibly, having returned from Jerusalem, and coming again to Cana, Jesus felt that more signs and wonders would not be necessary, that His previous signs both at Cana and in Jerusalem at the Passover would be enough.   He is apparently disturbed enough by this to remark upon the lack of faith He's finding.  Perhaps He's disappointed in these demands for signs and wonders, but that also becomes another reason for the healing.  The "little" faith the nobleman starts with in asking Christ to heal his son is enough for Christ to go on, so as to build up and strengthen a beginning faith.  For, after all, Christ has come into the world in order to save, and for salvation, it is necessary to have faith.  At any rate, we might assume, also, that the nobleman is used to giving orders himself, having a high rank in the society.  At this stage, Jesus (although not a nobleman, nor even a Levitical priest or member of the ruling Council) in some sense is socially equal to the nobleman; it is the nobleman who must approach him and plead for help, demanding that He "come down" to heal his son.  But Jesus need not travel down to where the boy is, and with only the words "your son lives" the boy is healed.  This is a command indeed, that traverses space and time so as to be instantaneous.  There are no barriers to Christ, and thus what we see is an expression of power and authority that knows no boundaries at all, beyond the capacity of the nobleman to imagine.  It places Christ squarely in the place of the divine, the One to whom "every knee should bow" (Philippians 2:10).  So Christ is beyond the nobleman in this sense, someone with superseding authority beyond all that we know.  This is the great sign of God's Kingdom being present in Him, yet again, for the second sign given in John's Gospel.  He has insight into those who would become His disciples, insight into the Samaritan woman at the well to whom He directly revealed His divine identity, and now here, He heals at a distance as well, without needing to be shown, without needing to be present, without being told about the ailment leading to death of the boy.  All of our conventional understanding of limitation are not present to Him, but He is clearly present in all ways to us.  That is, in His Incarnation, He heals what ails, and brings His divinity to our humanity.  If He can heal this boy, He can also hear our prayers, for there is no stopping the action and intention of the Lord.  All we need is our faith.