Christian Art | Jesus Heals An Official’s Son | Miracles Of Jesus
John 4: 43-54 – Lent Week 4, Monday (King James Audio Bible KJV, Spoken Word)
43 ¶ Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.
45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilæans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.
47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.
48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
52 Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judæa into Galilee.
The official who approaches Jesus would have been a man of high rank, living in Capernaum, which was a town with a customs post. He comes to Jesus with faith, and yet his faith is, to begin with, imperfect. The official thinks that Jesus must come to his house, a journey of twenty miles, to heal his son. Jesus tells him that, through the faith he has shown, his son is already healed.
When Jesus says, ‘Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe,’ he seems to be speaking to the people of Galilee generally rather than the official. The people are quite ready to flock to Jesus to see the miracles he performs, but are less willing to listen to what he has to say. They desire to be a part of the thrill and the spectacle, rather than to open their hearts to the Word. We are drawn through this saying to listen more closely to Jesus’ teaching and to apply it to our own lives.
The official has, though, travelled a long way and his faith in Jesus’ ability to heal his son is clearly evident, as is his need, which he freely acknowledges. Indeed, he begs Jesus to help him.
Jesus is moved with compassion. He tells the official his son is now healed. It is notable that the official believes what Jesus has said to him before, as he is returning home, his servants meet him to confirm the truth of what Jesus has told him about his son.
It is now that the faith of the official is confirmed. He believes in Jesus, and with him his whole household believes. The official’s journey of faith has become complete.
‘For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.’
King James Audio Bible | Endnotes
Miracles Of Healing And Conversion In The Gospel Of Saint John
John 4:43-54 presents a powerful example of the role of miracles in the Gospel of John, and it also challenges us to reflect on our own faith and our relationship with miracles. This passage highlights the importance of faith as a journey of ongoing conversion, and it invites us to deepen our trust in God even when we do not see signs and wonders.
One of the key themes of the Gospel of John is the role of miracles as signs that point to the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. As John 20:30-31 notes: ‘And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.’ Miracles, in the Gospel of John, are not just displays of power, but rather demonstrations of the divine nature of Jesus and his mission on earth.
The miracle in John 4:43-54 is a powerful example of this theme. The official seeks out Jesus in desperation, hoping that he will heal his dying son. This miracle reveals Jesus’ power to heal and his willingness to respond to the plea of a desperate father. But the response of the official is also significant. He had traveled a great distance to seek out Jesus, and his faith was likely fueled by the stories he had heard of Jesus’ previous miracles. Yet, even after witnessing the miracle of his son’s healing, the official’s faith is still in the process of development. As Jesus says: ‘Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.’
This statement reflects a common human tendency to rely on physical evidence before believing in something. Even though the official came to Jesus in search of a miracle, his faith was not yet fully formed. It is only after witnessing the miracle that he is fully converted to faith in Jesus. This passage challenges us to reflect on our own faith and our relationship with miracles. Do we seek out miracles as a way of reinforcing our faith, or do we already have a deep and abiding trust in God that does not require physical evidence?
The Catholic Church has a rich tradition of understanding miracles as signs of God’s presence and power. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that ‘miracles are signs that accompany the preaching of the Gospel’ (CCC 548) and that they ‘manifest the presence of the kingdom’ (CCC 547). Miracles are not an end in themselves, but rather point to the deeper reality of God’s presence and power in the world.
Protestant theologians have offered insights into the role of miracles in the Christian faith. The Protestant reformer John Calvin, for example, saw miracles as a sign of God’s sovereign power and as a way of validating the message of the Gospel. He wrote that ‘miracles were performed for the purpose of confirming the doctrine which God had delivered’ (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.14.2).
The Protestant pastor and theologian John Piper has written extensively on the role of miracles in the Christian faith. He writes that ‘miracles are not meant to create faith, but to confirm it’ and that ‘faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ’ (Romans 10:17). Miracles, in Piper’s view, are a sign of God’s power and grace, but they are not the foundation of faith.
In the context of Lent, the story of the official in John 4:43-54 offers a powerful reminder that even those who seek out miracles may still be in need of further conversion. Lent is a time for reflection and repentance, as we seek to deepen our faith and grow closer to God. As we reflect on the role of miracles in our faith, we must also remember that our relationship with God is an ongoing journey of conversion. Just as the official in John 4:43-54 had to see the miracle of his son’s healing to fully believe in Jesus, we too may need ongoing signs and wonders to deepen our faith.
However, as we deepen our trust in God, we must also be mindful of the danger of relying too much on physical evidence. The passage in John 4 reminds us that faith cannot be reduced to a simple equation of evidence and belief. Rather, faith is a complex journey that requires us to continually deepen our relationship with God.
As we journey through Lent, we must be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We must allow God to transform us, even if that transformation is uncomfortable or difficult. Lent is a time to recommit ourselves to our faith and to deepen our trust in God, even if we do not always see signs and wonders.
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We process. Glass exhibition cases, old reliquaries. A forearm here; here a nun’s fingertip. In chapel, at a glance, there are the usual faces. But they all stand to attention. Jonathan breaks from the procession to – fire the organ with oomph and dignity: Ride on! ride on in majesty! The angel-squadrons of the sky look down with sad and wondering eyes to see the approaching sacrifice. When we’ve done the readings, the Arch holds that tree in his hands to deliver the homily. He rocks quietly on his feet, some few seconds, as if balance defeated it. A way you might affect as the Spirit moves… Copying. Then he says: ‘Our palm fronds may seem to us today rather dry. I mean this not in a literal sense, but by the standards of those who originally lined the roadways in order to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem, as they proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, who would be clambering up and ripping their palm branches fresh from off the trees. I think perhaps also our faith is somewhat distant from that of the people there on that highroad into Jerusalem, and something of our sense of the meaning has shifted in vividness from what it was then. And of course the expectation of all those many people is markedly different, but in many important respects the same. There are the same essential qualities to all our faith in God, which springs complete from our humanity, and that is one and the same in value for all of us, and time is consistent on this point. So then, let us renew the fullness of Catholic faith, and let us ask the Lord’s blessing as we embark upon our Holy Week. ‘Our Lord enters into Jerusalem in order to refresh us. He is to die in order that we may have life. There is a living reality here, both spiritual and as entangled in the joy of our daily living. We have Ladies’ Day where I grew up. They still have it, and they close the roads off, and little children parade, dressed-up like spring brides. When I was a boy, there was a May Day festival, and there was a May pole on the field, with the people dancing, like Morris dancers might be one way of visualizing this if you’ve never seen it, with their ribbons tied onto the top of the May pole, and they would weave around each other, dressing the pole, which is what we called it. It was like a dance with red and white and blue ribbons all hung off of the top of the May pole, which stood there all year, only like a telegraph pole, but it was concreted in, and then there was a slide, and swings – one baby-swing and two you could have a go at – terrible health and safety but that’s what it was in those days. ‘There was a round-a-bout – we used to run it round and round to try to get it off its central axis. It were rusty as anything and creaked like mad – on concrete. And climb up where it was all greased up at the top. Ruth, who was big as the next four of us, used to sit there sucking on the lollipops we nicked for her from Raddies, and she’d direct matters. We were trying to destroy it, and get it to dislodge from its central axis, and fly away – roll off into that farmer’s field, which he only ever kept for silage, but we never succeeded. There was a car someone had left there so we spent forever smashing that up, until someone who lived in one of the houses there took exception to our doing that, so he put thick grease under the door handles and gave us a right talking to. ‘It would only be a few stands, hot-dogs and things like that. The man selling the hot dogs would have his records on full blast. There’d be a couple of set-up stalls. Air-rifles – that sort of thing. But we all had them, and we all went shooting, of course, if not with twelve bores then with smaller gauge. Or pay a pound – I have no idea how much it was in actual fact then – it might have only been a few pennies – and we’d get all that time smashing up the crockery the man would put up for us to smash on the dressers. That was my particular favourite thing to do at these festivals, by the way, in case you were wondering. You got a little bucket of so many cricket balls. ‘I dread to think what went into those hot dogs. Probably EE rules would forbid it now. But it was a fair mix in those days. A lot of young people then were C of E. We’ve done a lot to hang onto our young people, which is a tremendous encouragement when you consider how things are, while in recent decades the Church of England hasn’t been so successful. People still want it on feast days and what are essentially now civic celebrations. It’s strange to see, though, how all the little stands there people have are run by the police and people like that along those lines. There’s no May pole. That was a sort of faith that ran and ran beneath all the theoreticals of it in the 1960s and the 1970s and into the 1980s. The May pole isn’t there now in the particular place I’m thinking of. Considering May poles were officially suppressed hundreds of years ago – as a part of the protestant reformation. One or two of you are probably thinking I’m remembering things from that time! ‘I should have liked to say that those processionals were so hardwired into us, that even after the last thirty years, when I became a bishop, they are still with us. They were […]
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