The Second Sign (John 4: 46-54)

[paradox3]

Our story takes us back to Cana for the second sign. Jesus has already turned water into wine at this location.

Now he will perform a miraculous healing from afar.

Here's the text. It is short and snappy, designed to be persuasive.

Bible Gateway passage: John 4:46-54 - New English Translation

Healing the Royal Official’s Son - Now he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son...

www.biblegateway.com

 

[Luce NDs]

Cana Bull ... do the dead lie? One can fudge that also! Divine dissociation ...

 

[paradox3]

Once again Jesus is approached with a request and initially, he is reluctant to comply.

A royal official has travelled from Capernaum to Cana, seeking healing for his son who is about to die.

The twenty miles would not have been an easy trek on foot or by donkey. The royal official must be desperate!

When Jesus tells him his son will live, he takes Jesus at his word and heads for home. On the way, he meets his servants who have set out to give him the good news. Astonishingly, the boy's fever broke at the very hour Jesus pronounced that he would live.

How do you react to this gospel account of healing?

 

[paradox3]

Interesting that Jesus surpasses the royal official's expectations. Jesus does not need to travel to Capernaum but can heal the boy from afar.

I am liking the faith of the royal official. He demonstrates both confidence and trust in Jesus.

 

[Mendalla]

I like Jesus saying, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

I see him sighing and rolling his eyes a little. Perhaps not, though. Perhaps he is just being coldly factual.

Interesting that he says this in what is supposed to be a "sign" itself. Kind of stakes out the purpose of the story right in the story.

That said, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" so I think these "signs" are very much necessary in the gospels given the claims made for Jesus by them.

 

[paradox3]

We are meant to be impressed @Mendalla that's for sure.

This little story is a good piece of persuasive writing. Dramatic but terse. It's interesting that John's healing miracles don't involve demons.

Compared to the account of the first sign, there is less symbolism here. No mother of Jesus, no ceremonial jugs, no bridegroom, no hints about a new covenant. Just an earnest plea and a miraculous response.

 

[Mendalla]

Compared to the account of the first sign, there is less symbolism here. No mother of Jesus, no ceremonial jugs, no bridegroom, no hints about a new covenant. Just an earnest plea and a miraculous response.

Yeah, it feels more like an account of something that happened without a lot of storytelling embellishments. Guess the writer of John thought it said enough as it was.

Noting parallels with the story of the centurion's servant in Luke 7:1-10. The fact that it is an official seeking help for one of their household. The healing happens from a distance. Interestingly, though, the centurion sends a message asking Jesus not to come, for he feels he is unworthy of a visit from Jesus and suggests that Jesus merely needs to give the order to make it so. And the punchline is, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” which is definitely different.

Bible Gateway passage: Luke 7:1-10 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Slave - After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come...

www.biblegateway.com

 

[paradox3]

I was reminded of the story of the centurion's slave when I read our BPoTW. I actually had to check and make sure they were different stories.

Possibly they came from the same original source.

 

[unsafe]

Interesting that Jesus surpasses the royal official's expectations. Jesus does not need to travel to Capernaum but can heal the boy from afar.

I am liking the faith of the royal official. He demonstrates both confidence and trust in Jesus.

Great points here in your statement above ------

I say
We have to remember that according to scripture God the Father has to draw the person to open their heart to the hearing of the Gospel and then Faith is inbirthed in them -by hearing the Word ---





The Royal Official sees Jesus for who He really and has great Faith in His Ability to heal --and pursues Jesus -

So this says to me -----that the royal official was receptive to God The Father's pulling on his heart to soften it so the Word would penetrate and open his ears to hear and his mind to understand so Faith could be inbirthed in him -----then and only then could the Royal Official believe and trust in Jesus to heal his son ------

paradox3 ---your quote here -----
Jesus does not need to travel to Capernaum but can heal the boy from afar.

I say ----Great catch here ------with this statement -----and a powerful one ---


Jesus is our Great Physician -----Jesus Is The Word -----The Word Is Alive and Active ------

So when Jesus sent His Word out--- it Healed the son -----Jesus said ---your son will live -----he sent out His Living Word and it accomplished the matter at hand ------

This is a very powerful piece of Scripture as well on sending out the Living Word
ISAIAH 55:11
AMP
So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

 

[Luce NDs]

Fits with Amon's decree to know thyself .. it is an extensive vocation! Appears inflationary and prone to exponental abuse! Folk skip over many detailings ...

Much is not to be taken literally as legalistic ... only metaphorical to ensure the existence of the mysterious parable ... a compouinded sophistication!

 

[paradox3]

As one who often finds metaphorical meaning in passages of scripture, I am drawing a complete blank here. I think the gospel writer wants us to understand this story just as it is written.

When I read miracle healing stories, I often find rational explanations. Maybe it was the placebo effect. Maybe psychological energy was at play. Or maybe the malaise was spiritual in the first place.

Again, I am pretty much drawing a blank with this one. The only possible explanation is co-incidence. Could the fever have broken spontaneously at just the right moment???

Hmmm.

 

[Mendalla]

As one who often finds metaphorical meaning in passages of scripture, I am drawing a complete blank here. I think the gospel writer wants us to understand this story just as it is written.

When I read miracle healing stories, I often find rational explanations. Maybe it was the placebo effect. Maybe psychological energy was at play. Or maybe the malaise was spiritual in the first place.

Again, I am pretty much drawing a blank with this one. The only possible explanation is co-incidence. Could the fever have broken spontaneously at just the right moment???

Hmmm.

I think, given the nature and simplicity of the story, that this is a story about Jesus healing someone that was circulating in the Christian community and that was taken seriously by them. The writer of John added the interpretation about it being the "second sign" (Dr. David Brakke, who I discussed in other threads, suggests that they actually had access to a "Book of Signs", so maybe the writer of John just chose it from that source). So I don't there is mythologizing happening here. This is a legitimate story of Jesus that was circulating in the community.

Not sure we need to rationalize it, either, especially it happened c. 2000 years ago so there's no investigation we can do. I think the key take away is that a royal official, someone in a position of power who might not have been expected to be a follower of someone like Jesus, put his faith in Jesus and it apparently worked out for him. And the community then took that as a "sign" of Jesus' nature/power. And, I guess, we are supposed to as well.

The centurion's slave does seem like a similar story in the synoptics, that also likely reflects a legitimate story about Jesus circulating in the community.

Footnote: By "legitimate" I do not necessarily mean that I think it happened as told, just that it was a story the Gospel writers wrote down more or less as they heard rather than embellishing.

 

[Mystic]

Yeah, it feels more like an account of something that happened without a lot of storytelling embellishments. Guess the writer of John thought it said enough as it was.

Noting parallels with the story of the centurion's servant in Luke 7:1-10. The fact that it is an official seeking help for one of their household. The healing happens from a distance. Interestingly, though, the centurion sends a message asking Jesus not to come, for he feels he is unworthy of a visit from Jesus and suggests that Jesus merely needs to give the order to make it so. And the punchline is, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” which is definitely different.

4 questions intrigue me:
(1) How should we distinguish this state of consciousness called "faith" that works miracles then and now?
(2) In my next planned post, I will point to parallels with a supernatural healing experience in my own family? My question is, why are such experiences apparently so rare today?
(3) Why does Jesus praise the unprecedented faith of the centurion in Luke 7:1-10 and not the faith of the royal official in John 4:46-54?
"I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith (Luke 7:9)!"
(4) Jesus, His mother, and brothers seemed like one happy family when we last same them at Cana. Then His mother and brothers join Him in Capernaum (John 2:12). Why did Jesus' brothers turn against Him at Capernaum (Mark 3:21, 31-35) and thereafter (Mark 6:3-4; John 7:2-9)?

 

[paradox3]

At this point in John's storyline, Jesus and the disciples are not traveling together.

The disciples are not mentioned in the story of the royal official's son. The next healing story (John 5) takes place in Jerusalem. Again, there is no word about the disciples.

We will encounter them at the feeding of the 5000 where they play an important role. (John 6)

 

[paradox3]

What do you take away from this story?

The gospel writer strives to have us believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that we may have new life in his name. (John 20: 31)

 

[Mendalla]

At this point in John's storyline, Jesus and the disciples are not traveling together.

Is that clear from context or the text? I haven't gone back to check. We know they were present, or that he had at least gathered some of them, prior to his last visit to Cana for the wedding. So are they absent here or just not mentioned since they don't really play a role here?

What do you take away from this story?

Well, it's a nice little miracle story. The fact that it is a royal official, one of the establishment, who features in the miracle would seem to add some "establishment cred" to Jesus here. But, really, it is a bit slim, kind of "here's a miracle, one of the signs of who Jesus is". Taken on its own, it makes him just another faith healer which is far less than "Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through believing you may have new life in his name." So, I would say that it's role in supporting the thesis of John 20:31 only happens when taken in broader context (i.e. as one of several signs of Jesus' significance, which add up to the support for 20:31).

 

[paradox3]

@Mendalla
You had to ask about the disciples! I was going to detail this in my earlier post but decided to skip over it. So here goes.

After the wedding at Cana, Jesus, his family members and his disciples go to Capernaum. They stay there a few days. Then Jesus goes to Jerusalem for Passover. (John 2: 13)

It reads like Jesus goes alone. However, the disciples recall what he said about the Temple once he is dead. Possibly they were present? Or did they just hear about it?

No mention of the disciples in the Nicodemus story.

The disciples come back into Judean territory and Jesus spends time with them.

Next Jesus heads for Galilee again. It seems like he is alone and he goes through Samaria. Here he has the encounter with the woman at the well.

The disciples return (John 4: 27). They urge Jesus to get something to eat. Jesus teaches them.

Jesus departs for Galilee and comes to Cana for the second time. He appears to be alone.

So it seems to me Jesus and the discples are basically doing their own thing at this point but they touch base from time to time.

They don't feature in the next miracle story but are pivotal in the feeding of the 5000. (John 6)

 

[paradox3]

@Mendalla
Agreeing with you about the miracle story. I accept that John finds it crucial to the case he is building for Jesus.

 

[unsafe]

What do you take away from this story?

I say
Many people were only interested in the signs and miracles that Jesus preformed ----they didn't care that they pointed to him being their Messiah who could just speak and a fever would have to obey His Words ---the signs pointed to Jesus' messages were complete truth ---

The Miracles Jesus did were signs that He is God and they were a sign that He could take away their sins and all who believed in Him would enter God's Kingdom ----
BUT
All they wanted was the healing and the making of wine out of water ---they cared less about the real thing that Jesus could give then which was eternal life ---

This is the same today we like reading about the Miracles and Healings Jesus preformed and how He ate and associated with sinners and the low class -----but when it come to the More important message of His Preaching which is how to have eternal life ----we take offense and refuse to acknowledge the real reason why Jesus was sent here -----which is to save souls --

 

[unsafe]

3) Why does Jesus praise the unprecedented faith of the centurion in Luke 7:1-10 and not the faith of the royal official in John 4:46-54?

My View
The Centurion had Faith in Jesus to heal his servant and his Faith was not based on signs and miracles that Jesus did ---- it came from a position humbleness and submission ------sending the elders to Jesus who said this person was worthy to have this healing ------and he wasn't asking for Jesus Himself but just His Word as he said he himself wasn't worthy to have Jesus under his roof -----

The Royal Official's Faith in Jesus to heal came from seeing Jesus signs and wonders ---and his attitude was one of just expecting Jesus to come and heal his son -----

Jesus addresses the issue here when He says ----
“So Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe.’