Jesus Heals the Officials' Son

4TH and 1
Part 10: Jesus Heals the Official’s Son

43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there. 46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.

1. Israel had a long history of rejecting their prophets. Jesus, among other roles, was serving in a prophetic ministry. Thus, it is no surprise that He was largely rejected.
2. There are questions as to the sort of welcome the people of Galilee gave to Jesus. Were they merely interested in seeing miracles or truly interested in becoming His disciples?

And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” 49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his household believed.

1. The story is comparable to one found in Matt 8 and Luke 7, but given the differences, this is surely a different miracle. The man in this story is likely an official of Herod.
2. Jesus questions the kind of faith represented by the crowd (1 Corinthians 1:22-23), but this particular man was motivated by love for his child and did indeed believe before seeing evidence of the miracle (see John 20:29).
3. The royal official’s faith is demonstrated by his humility (a royal official asking help of a carpenter?), his passion (he begged for his dying son’s life), his persistence (he asked again after a seeming rebuke), his trust (he took Jesus at His word), his obedience (he departed without seeing visible evidence of a miracle), and his witness (he led his whole household to believe).

54 This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

1. This was not the second miracle Jesus had ever performed (2:23), but it was the second in a pair of miracles performed at Cana of Galilee which form a bookend (2:1-4:54).