From the Daily Office, Friday/Saturday Jan. 8-9, 2020: John 4:46-54
John 4:46-54 (NRSV)
43 When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee 44 (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). 45 When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. 46 Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51 As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” 53 The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. 54 Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
The events in today’s reading take place very early in the account of the life of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel, whose author provides a much different perspective from what we see in the synoptic Gospels. One of the most striking of these differences is in the Prologue of John, where we see Jesus not having been born of the Virgin Mary, but rather to be the one sent from Heaven, present with God since the beginning and through whom all of creation came into being. A little later in this reflection we will look at another difference, that being the accounts of miracles. The Gospel of John has traditionally been divided into two major parts. While such a division oversimplifies the message of the Gospel, chapters 1-12 are referred to as the Book of Signs and cover his public ministry; while chapters 13-20 are referred to as the Book of Glory and cover the prelude to and the events of Jesus’ “hour,” that being his death, resurrection, and ascension.
Prior to the event in today’s reading, Jesus has departed Jerusalem following his first trip there, has made his way into Samaria where he encounters the woman at the well, and has returned to Cana in Galilee. He has now encountered a royal official whose son lies ill at the point of death, and who surely frantically and with reckless abandon finds Jesus and begs him to heal his boy. This man has heard strange, even incredible rumors about Jesus, whose words and actions while in Jerusalem some time before had stirred up the people, and had provided hope for many there. Jesus’ newfound reputation had preceded him as he made his way back through Samaria to his home in Galilee. Could it be possible, the royal official must have been thinking, that this man could somehow cure my little boy? Upon hearing that Jesus was in Cana the father made the twenty-five mile journey from his home in Capernaum to seek Jesus out. It was worth a try. What did he have to lose? He couldn’t just sit there and watch his son die. He had to do something, so he goes. Imagine this encounter: the father finds Jesus, whom he has never seen, and blurts out his request that Jesus come and heal his son, only to get this disappointing and seemingly unsympathetic response: “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” This seems like a cold and aloof response, and some scriptural scholars say it is likely that Jesus was not addressing the father, but rather the onlookers following him and waiting to see some strange occurrence like they had heard about. And the official wasn’t looking for any signs or wonders anyway. He just wanted his boy to live, so he says “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” Jesus knew then that this man wasn’t somehow testing him, wasn’t looking for any strange spectacular sign. He was simply a father in search of healing for his dying son. Jesus said to him: “Go; your son will live.” What is amazing is that the man at once started on his way back home, satisfied and surely greatly relieved, believing that what Jesus had told him was true. The miracle served to reveal who Jesus is, and the scripture then says that not only the father but the whole household believed.
This healing of the boy is the second miracle in the Gospel of John, the first also in Cana when Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding. Let’s look briefly—as briefly as is possible!—at the miracles of Jesus. Unlike the authors of the synoptic gospels, the author of John doesn’t even use the word “miracle.” He calls them “signs.” They are also much less frequent in John’s Gospel, only seven (eight depending on how you count) when compared to 21 in Matthew, 19 in Mark, and 22 in Luke. Another difference is the apparent function of the miracles. In the Synoptics, Jesus’ miracles are more often done in private settings, seemingly to avoid attention to himself, spurning the use of miracles so as not to reveal his identity. In contrast, in John they are usually done publicly in order to convince people of Jesus’ identity so that they may believe in him. They are not merely a miraculous act, but more importantly a revelation of who he is.
I will not get too deep into the weeds surrounding the meaning of the miracles of Jesus, and in particular how that meaning applies in our lives today. But let’s take at least a superficial look at it. How do we define miracle? The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms defines miracle as “an event that is considered unusual or extraordinary in that it appears to be contrary to what is currently known in nature. Theologically the emphasis is on what God has revealed through this event, as in the miracles of Jesus.” Using this definition, a miracle is a “supernatural” event. C.S. Lewis in his book Miracles says this in his chapter The Grand Miracle: “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares the way for this, or results from this.” In this book Lewis shows that for Christians miracles are a testimony of the personal involvement of God in creation. In Miracles Lewis affirms that miracles really do occur in our everyday lives. Not only the Incarnation but also Jesus’ bodily resurrection is miraculous, and is a stumbling block for many to accept and believe, as it was for me. But is not the union of a single cell sperm and a single cell egg developing into a newborn baby and now these incredible bodies that we have also miraculous? I think so. And I also know that if we keep our eyes and hearts open to the movement of God in our lives and in the world around us, then there is the possibility that we can see everything as a reflection of God, what we could call supernatural, and therefore miraculous. A good friend years ago told me, “There is a whole big supernatural world out there, and it’s easy to miss it.” I had missed it for years, but that statement and advice to me at that particular time in my life was certainly miraculous, and it began my “metanoia,” the Greek word for “change of mind,” better known as repentance, or turning around, or in Jim’s words a “return to reasonableness.”
Now let’s get back to the question of the meaning of the miracles of Jesus like we see in today’s reading. Perhaps we are not witness to the type of healing miracles described in the Gospels, or perhaps we have been but have not recognized them as such. Nonetheless, we can take comfort in knowing that God is present and active in our lives, and to me that in itself is miraculous.
Rev. Bob Donnell
1/8/2021
Prayer at The Epiphany (BCP p. 214)
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
