Jesus Heals an Official's Son in Galilee

(Gospel of John 4:43- 4:54)

At the end of the two days, Jesus departed for Galilee.  Although Jesus observed that a prophet is accorded no honor in his homeland, he was in fact well received by the Galileans who had been in Jerusalem during the Passover festivities and had witnessed what he had done there.

Jesus revisited Cana in Galilee, the place where he had transformed the water into wine.  There was a court official whose son lay ill in nearby Capernaum.  When he learned that Jesus had returned to Galilee from Judea, he came to see Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was on the brink of death.

Jesus questioned, "Will you people never believe in me unless you witness miracles and wonders?"

But the official pleaded with him.  "Please, sir, come before my little boy dies."

"Go home; you're son will live,"  Jesus assured him.

The man believed what Jesus had told him and started home.  On the way, he encountered some of his slaves who informed him that his son was alive and well.  He asked them at what hour he began to recover.

"It was yesterday, at about one o'clock in the afternoon," they told him.  This was exactly the time that Jesus told him, "You're son will live."  As a result, he and all his household became believers.  This was the second miracle that Jesus had performed since coming to Galilee from Judea.

Notes
1.  Jesus has apparently already built up a considerable reputation not only as a baptist, but as a healer.  An official's young son is dying of some undetermined illness, but Jesus is able to heal him without even seeing him or learning anything about the boy.

2.  This is the second miracle performed by Jesus since his return to Galilee.  The author does not seem to want to tell us anything about the first miracle.

3.  Jesus already seems annoyed by people pestering him to perform miracles and heal the sick.  He assents to heal the official's son, but reluctantly; he seems very cavalier about it and manifests no real concern about the boy's life or the father's feelings.  One already detects the onset of compassion fatigue that those who devote themselves to helping others often end up feeling.