The Nobleman (4:43-54)

[43] Now after two days He departed thence, and went into Galilee.
[44] For Jesus Himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in His own country.
[45] Then when He was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
[46] So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.
[47] When He heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, He went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.
[48] Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
[49] The nobleman saith unto Him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
[50] Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
[51] And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
[52] Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
[53] So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
[54] This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when He was come out of Judaea into Galilee.


The Nobleman (4:43–54)

Our Lord went back to Galilee (John 4:3) and then back to Cana. People called Galilee "Galil ha goyim," which means "Galilee of the Gentiles." It seems that Jesus could sense the growing hostility of the religious leaders in Judea (His own country), even though the real opposition wouldn't show up for a few months. Even though He was born in Bethlehem, our Lord was never really connected to Judea. People called Him the prophet from Galilee (Matt. 21:11; John 7:52). Jesus knew that the people in Jerusalem who responded to His ministry were not being honest or deep (John 2:23–25), and therefore it was not honoring to Him at all.

What made Jesus go back to Cana? Maybe He wanted to grow the "seed" He had planted there when He went to the wedding. Since Nathanael was from Cana, there may have been a personal reason for Him to visit. A nobleman from Capernaum, which is about twenty miles away, met Jesus in Cana. The man had heard about His miracles and traveled a long way to ask Him to help his dying son. Jesus' mother asked for the first miracle at Cana and a father for this second miracle at Cana (John 4:47).

Was this person a Jew or a Gentile? We don't know. We also don't know exactly where he stands in the government. He might have been a member of Herod's court, but no matter what his social or national status was, he was clearly at the end of his rope and needed the Savior's help. He kept begging Jesus to go to Capernaum to heal his son.

John 4:48 was not a criticism of this nobleman. It was our Lord's lament about how spiritually lost the people were in general, both in Judea and Galilee. The lost world, even the religious world, has always believed in "seeing is believing." The nobleman thought that Jesus could heal his son, but he was wrong about two things: that Jesus had to go to Capernaum to save the boy and that it was too late if the boy died in the meantime.

We should look up to this man for his faith. Jesus told him, "Go thy way; thy son liveth." (John 4:50). The man believed in Jesus and began to go home. Jesus must have been pleased with both the Samaritan woman and the unnamed nobleman because they believed His Word and did what He said.

As soon as Jesus said those words, the boy was healed. The man's servants set out to locate him so they could tell him the good news. (Once more, the servants know what's going on, as can be seen in John 2:9; 15:15.) The boy was healed at the seventh hour, which was seven o'clock in the evening in Roman time. The father definitely wouldn't have gone at night, because that would have been dangerous. The servants also wouldn't have taken that risk. The father had such strong faith that he was willing to put off going home, even though he really wanted to see his son.

The next day, when the father and the servants met, they told him what he had hoped for. The father thought the healing would be slow, but the servants said the son was completely better right away.

This man had faith in a crisis at first. He was about to lose his son, and the only thing he could do was turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people came to Jesus with problems, and He didn't turn them away. The nobleman's faith changed from being weak to strong: he believed the Word and felt at peace. He could even put off going home because he knew the boy was safe.

His confident faith turned into real faith. The boy was completely better, that's for sure! And the healing happened at the exact moment that Jesus spoke the Word. This fact turned the nobleman and his family into believers. He thought Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God, and he told his family the truth. He had faith that spread to others and told them about the miraculous healing.

This healing is one of the many miracles that Jesus did "from a distance." He healed the centurion's servant from a distance (Matt. 8:5–13; he also lived in Capernaum), and He healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman in the same way (Matt. 15:21–28). These two were not Jews, and in a spiritual sense, they were "at a distance" (Eph. 2:12–13). This nobleman may have also been a Gentile. We are not sure.

John 4:54 does not say that this healing was the second miracle Jesus did, because that would go against what John 2:23 and 3:2 say. This healing was the second miracle He did in Cana of Galilee (see John 2:1, 11). He definitely gave those people special privileges.

We should point out that both miracles were "private" instead of public. The guests didn't know where the excellent wine came from, but Mary, the disciples, and the servants did. (It's possible that the servants told other people the story.) The nobleman's son was healed in Capernaum, not Cana, but news spread quickly back then, so the word got out.

Jesus' first miracle at the wedding showed that He could control time. It takes the Father a season or two to turn water into wine, but He is always doing it. Jesus made the wine right away. In this way, the miracles of our Lord were just quick copies of what the Father is always doing. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17). The Father keeps making more bread, season after season, but the Son made it right away.

The second miracle recorded in the Bible demonstrated Jesus' ability to control space. He wasn't limited just because He was in Cana and the sick boy was in Capernaum. The father had strong faith because he believed the Word and didn't find out the results until the next day. He believed what Jesus said, and so should we.