Second sign at Cana

Gospel Reading: Jn 4:43-54

AT that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. While he was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.” The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe. Now this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.

THE MAN BELIEVED WHAT JESUS SAID

In John, “believe” is always used as a verb, never as a noun. A verb denotes action; it is dynamic. The faith of the royal official in the Gospel is an illustration: he believes what Jesus tells him and leaves (v 50). As a royal official, he is a “Gentile,” an unbeliever in the Mosaic Law and in the God of the Jews.

That he accepts what Jesus says to him without further questions and leaves is sign enough of the royal official’s faith in the power of Jesus’ words. When his slaves tell him that his son’s fever left at about one in the afternoon the previous day, he realizes that it was just the time that Jesus told him, “Your son will live.” This is indeed a healing from a distance, unlike in the Synoptic gospels where most healings take place when Jesus touches the sick person.

His whole household then comes to believe: a witness to the power of the word of Jesus.

In Christ Jesus, the only thing that counts is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).

*** SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.