Following the Lord Jesus Christ: #15 Healing of the Nobleman’s Son

After a couple of profitable teaching days among the people at Sychar in Samaria (see #14 A Fountain of Living Water), Jesus and his disciples continued on their journey to Cana of Galilee. Let’s follow along!

Back to Galilee

John 4:40,43,44 [New King James Version]:
So when the Samaritans [from Sychar] had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 
Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 
For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 

The Samaritans had just received Jesus and his teaching with enthusiasm. Many had believed in him. But then Jesus returned to Galilee with the necessary warning that “a prophet has no honor in his own country.” This would prove more than true in the days ahead, but at this time the Galileans received him.

John 4:45 [NKJV]:
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.

Why the fairly warm reception for Jesus? They had seen what he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover. (See #11 The Passover.) They had front row seats to see how he had stood up to the corruption and deceit of the Pharisees and the moneychangers, and then boldly cleansed the holy temple of God. Nothing like this had happened for many years. How they would have rejoiced to finally have a champion for the people!

He also had performed miracles (signs) at the Passover feast, so that many, including Galileans, had believed in his name (John 2:23). As he continued through Galilee, he returned to Cana, the famous scene of the miracle at the wedding (See #10 The Wedding in Cana.)

John 4:46 [NKJV]:
So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.

This town, having been blessed already with one miracle, was about to “see” another.

A Nobleman’s Son at the Point of Death

John 4:46,47 [NKJV]:
…And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 
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.

A nobleman, most likely an officer of King Herod Antipas, heard of the miracles that Jesus had worked among the people. He traveled all the way to Cana from Capernaum (more than twenty miles, about a day’s journey) and begged him to come and heal his dying son. In response, Jesus addressed a critical issue of faith.

John 4:48 [NKJV]:
Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

Jesus rebuked the listeners by this statement because they wanted to actually see the signs and wonders before they would believe him. The nobleman had at least made the journey to ask for Jesus’ help, indicating some faith that Jesus could heal his son. Here, Jesus was asking him to believe without seeing. But the man still did not understand the power of God, and His willingness and ability to heal. Once again, he implored Jesus to heal his son the only way that he knew—to come to Capernaum in person.

John 4:49 [NKJV]:
The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

We can almost hear the love and the pain in this father’s voice. Jesus must have heard it too. And he also must have heard the potential for the man’s trust in Jesus to heal, as was manifested almost immediately.

Your Son Lives

With his heart overflowing with compassion, Jesus inaudibly wrought the healing for the nobleman’s son and then gave the good news and a word of instruction to this father in need.

John 4:50 [NKJV]:
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. 

There it is—“the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him”—even though he was not physically with his son to see the healing! And that man was rewarded with confirmation of his son’s recovery soon enough.

John 4:51-53 [NKJV]:
And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
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.” 
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.

The son was not healed according to the father’s version of how or when the deliverance should come to pass. But it was this father’s believing in Jesus that finally opened the door for the son to be healed. And then it was accomplished by the Son of the heavenly Father according to His perfect will that all would be healed in the Messiah. And a wonderful result followed: not only did the father believe, but his whole household as well.

The Second Sign

John 4:54 [NKJV]:
This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

The first sign, the “beginning of [the eight] signs [in the gospel of John],” when Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding feast, showed Israel that only the Messiah could supply their need. Their religious and legalistic practices were void of power, as evidenced by the limited water pots intended for purifying. Jesus, as the true Savior of Israel, “manifested his glory,” the glory of the Father’s power (John 1:14, John 2:11) to save God’s people.

The significance of the second sign was revealed when the son of the nobleman was brought back from the point of death to life. Israel, also at the point of death, could only be brought back to life by Jesus—the Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the true Savior.

Here we have the first recorded healing of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the true and only Savior, manifested the glory of the Father, bringing any who believed in him back from the point of death to new, everlasting life. But he no longer walks on this earth.  He ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, his mission here accomplished.

Now it’s our turn! With Christ in us, we now speak, preach, proclaim, and make known God’s saving grace in this broken world. We share what is revealed in the written Word of God, making known the Word of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, who makes known the Father. Enjoy your new life in Christ, manifesting the glory of your heavenly Father!

NEXT:  Following the Lord Jesus Christ: #16

PREVIOUS:  Following the Lord Jesus Christ: #14 A Fountain of Living Water