Second Sign: Healing from a Distance

1. Jesus returns to Galilee, 4:43-45.

Jesus’s time in Samaria had brought many to faith in Him in the two days He and the disciples were there. John’s narrative now turns to His return to Galilee. But He testifies that He will not have the same honor here as He did in Samaria, where He was called by others, “the savior of the world.”

Yet we wonder at this for the text tells us that when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him. But how did they receive Him? Not as their Messiah, but on the basis of all the things they themselves saw Him do in Jerusalem at the feast. Their welcome was so dependent on the miracles He had done, not on the basis of who He is.

And how did Jesus view this? John 2:23-25

John 2:23–25 NASB95

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

There is within these words in verse 44-45 a note of deep irony: despised Samaritans ‘got’ who Jesus is; His own countrymen (Galileans and Judeans) did not. They received Jesus on the basis of what they had seen Him do — not on the basis of Who He is. The Lord was keeping the Galileans’ good will in perspectives. When people get what they want, belief comes easily. But how will they respond when confronted with the truth? Will they choose the true Messiah or the messiah of their expectations? In the days ahead, the clash of wills will be revealed — the clash between human expectations versus God’s sovereignty. So what kind of faith response does Jesus desire?

2. A Royal Official Seeks Jesus Out, 4:46-50.

Jesus returns to Cana of Galilee, the setting of His turning the water into wine, the first sign John emphasizes in his narrative (John 2). This place may have invoked a sense of expectation in the minds of the disciples, since they observed the events of that day and put saving faith in Jesus, John 2:11

John 2:11 NASB95

This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

The last sentence in verse 46 tells us that there is going to be a divine encounter, this time with a “royal official” who has a son who is sick in Capernaum on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee at 700 feet below sea level, a distance of about 20 miles from Cana.

The text doesn’t tells us whether this is a Jew or Gentile, though it is more likely a Jew who serves on the royal court of Herod Antipas, possibly in the capacity of one overseeing the harvesting of the grain meant for the Herodian family. Members of the court lived in Tiberius, 10 miles south of Capernaum, or Capernaum. Being an official of the royal court, a wealthy aristocrat, he may have been despised by regular Jews because of the Greco-Roman leanings of the Herodian court. As an aside, some commentaries have suggested that he is a Gentile, which fits neatly from the perspective that the gospel is for Jew, Samaritan and Gentile alike. However there is nothing here that suggests that he is a Gentile.

He has heard that Jesus can perform miracles. He sought Jesus out, desiring that Jesus cure his son, but he does not truly trust Jesus. He keeps begging Jesus to come to his home in Capernaum and heal his son, approaching Jesus out of a desperate need, but he has given little thought to who he is speaking to.

Jesus responded with a rebuke which seems harsh. “You people” is just the plural “you” in the Greek text, identifying the man with the group, which suggests he is a Jew, more specifically an aristocratic Galilean Jew, very likely one of the Sadducees, who didn’t believe that God intervened in human affairs. They believed each person creates his own fate and therefore deserves whatever fate he receives, including illness, poverty, and death. To have a Sadducee begging Jesus for a miracle was a notable irony.

Jesus was also likely noting a subtle pattern in the thinking of the Galileans that would be become unmistakable later on, as He points out in John 6:26-27

John 6:26–27 NASB95

Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

As for the man, He desperately wanted Jesus to “come down” and heal his son. This suggests that he saw a limitation in Jesus’ power, that would prevent Him from healing over a great distance—Jesus had to come with him to his home. He presumed to tell Jesus how to conduct the healing rather than simply entrusting the care of his son to the Lord. Most significantly, he sought Jesus as a means to get what He wanted, not as the Messiah who is worthy of worship.

Even after the rebuke to all gathered around Jesus, the royal official would not relent. At this point, he was not an aristocrat, or an official, or a Sadducee, or even a Galilean. He was a father, sick with worry over his dying son.

Jesus used the man’s vulnerable state of mind to teach him genuine faith. Jesus’s response was, in effect, “Go about your business; your son is fine.”

The official’s response is that he “believed the word that Jesus spoke to him.” “Belief” is a key feature in John’s gospel narrative; however, “belief: is not necessarily trust in Jesus as Messiah and Savior.John’s use of the verb without an object — as in John 4:41

John 4:41 NASB95

Many more believed because of His word;

— he is describing saving faith, trusting in Jesus as Savior. The same is true of the phrase, “believe in Him,” as in John 3:15

John 3:15 NASB95

so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

Here the man believed what Jesus said to be true, which is an important first step, but not the same belief that saved the Samaritans.

The word Jesus gave was enough. John said he “started off,” the same verb for “go” the Lord used earlier.

3. The Second Sign Revealing Who Jesus Is 4:51-54.

If we read this text too quickly, we might think this phrase in verse 50 indicates that he left immediately to verify that his boy was indeed better. Let’s look at the details in the text:

Capernaum was about six hours away by foot, two hours by chariot.

A “royal official” did not walk when they had the means to ride.

It was on his journey home that he was met by his servants who were seeking him out with the news that his son had recovered!

Note the time of the healing: the seventh hour (1 p.m.) … yesterday.

What we discover is that the father did not start his way home until the day following his encounter with Jesus.

When Jesus said, “Go about your business,” that’s what the man did, completing his obligations in Cana!

Upon finding out that the son’s fever broke at the very hour Jesus declared the boy lives, the father “believed” (the first time the text describes him as father and not as the royal official. There is no direct object here; he had believed “the word that Jesus spoke,” but now he simply “believed.” This faith is the kind that brings a person into a right relationship with God through His Son, Jesus. He has moved beyond mere acceptance of His message to trust in Jesus Himself as Savior, Messiah, son of God.

As he described these events to his whole household, they also came to the same realization he had come to, and to the same conclusion: Jesus was to be “believed.”

In this second sign of John’s gospel, Jesus has revealed Himself as the Lord of Life who transcends time and is not bound by distance.