Text: John 4:43-54 (NKJV)
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” 49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” 52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. 54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
Verses 43-45 are really a different sub-section than what follows, but they are lumped in here due to size and content. This section is a transition between the previous and following large sections, and it is particularly scrutinized by interpreters. It is seemingly nonsensical, in that, Jesus's maxim and the reality did not match up. The best understanding of it that I have seen is that, "all will be simple and natural if we fill up the statement thus: 'He went into the region of Galilee, but not, as might have been expected, to that part of it called ‘His own country,’ Nazareth (see Mk 6:4; Lu 4:24)."1 Basically, he went into the region of Galilee (think a county in modern America) but not his hometown. I can't say definitively that this is the best interpretation, but I believe it is the best that I have seen.
Moving on to the meatier section of this second sign in Cana, we see Jesus's first documented healing miracle in John, who applied this as more than just a miracle but a sign from God to clarify the authenticity of who Jesus really was. Here, Jesus demonstrates that He is more than a physician or someone with just power that could be physically transferred. Jesus heals the nobleman's son simply by the power of His word. This hearkens back to Creation in Genesis 1, where God spoke and it was. This is a sign of His divinity. As is typical of Jesus's miracles regarding healing, belief is associated with the one making a request. This belief in Jesus spreads to his entire household.
This sign is not only just a proof of His divinity, but it is given specifically for the Jews as a sign (verse 48 and 1 Corinthians 1:22).
1. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Jn 4:44). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Applications:
Again, belief, specifically in Jesus as the saving Son of God, is the primary application here.
Other Studies from John
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