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Jesus Heals the Royal Official’s Son (Jn. 4:43-54)

After the two days, he left there for Galilee.  44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place.  45 When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast.  46 Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.  47 When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death.  48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”  49 The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”  50 Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.  51 While he was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.  52 He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”  53 The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe.  54 [Now] this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.

Jesus left Samaria for Galilee where he was welcomed. Jesus had been rejected at the Passover in Jerusalem (Jn. 2:13-25) hence his comment “a prophet has no honor in his native place (v. 44). The healing of the royal official’s son was similar to the healing of the Centurion’s servant (Mt. 8:5-13), and the Centurion’s slave (Lk. 7:1-10).  The royal official (v. 46) could have been either a Jew or Gentile serving in the court of Herod Antipas in Capernaum which was approximately 20 miles from where he met Jesus.  This indicated that the official already possessed faith to have traveled so far.  The official begged Jesus to go down to Capernaum and heal his son who was at the point of death.  Jesus addressed his negative response to the official in the plural, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe (v. 48),” so he was probably speaking to both the bystanders and the official (Jn. 2:18).  The official persisted and Jesus told him, “You may go; your son will live (v. 50).”  The man believed what Jesus told him, trusted his word without hesitation and left.  As a result of the official’s faith, belief and trust in the Word, he and his whole household were converted.  We must accept Jesus’ words rather than look for miracles.

Almighty God, help us to accept that you work miracles in our daily lives without the need to confirm what you do for us.  Strengthen our faith, belief and trust so we may have unwavering faith when we hear your word, belief in your promises, and trust that you will being us to everlasting life.  This we pray through Christ our Lord.  Amen! 

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References

Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.

Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.

Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.

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