NOTES for Joh 4:43-54
This Gospel story takes place in the very place where Jesus began His public ministry, in Cana of Galilee, where He turned water into wine at a wedding. It was a place that was His own, where He could feel that He was "in His own country." But here He is now received differently, in view of the miracles He performed in Jerusalem. He is no longer just an ordinary Galilean. He is a prophet or healer from whom something special is expected.
After making the twenty-hour journey from Capernaum, a royal official comes to Him and asks Him to heal his son. He is not interested in Jesus' words when Jesus speaks to him about faith and visible miracles; at that moment he is concerned only with his son's deadly illness. He hurries the Lord: "Come down before my son dies." He understands that he must bring the healer home at all costs so that He can touch the boy. And in answer he hears, "Go; your son is well." These words, absurd from the point of view of magic, proved so convincing to him that he immediately went home, confident that his son was healed. The father received the news that his son was well after he had gone far from the city, and none of those who were present during Jesus' conversation with the royal official learned about it then.
This second miracle performed by Jesus in Galilee is the birth of faith. It is an event less obvious than signs and wonders, but no less significant than turning water into wine.