An Incredible Moment with a Royal Official (John 4:46-53)

We find Christ has returned to Cana where He performed His first miracle at the request of His mother. I find it interesting that this second request is performed for a father. I'm sure there is no significance to that...I was just intrigued. How special the people at Cana were to have Christ perform two separate significant miracles there. At the wedding He revealed His power over time. The Father is always making water into wine, but He takes a season or two to accomplish it. This time Christ showed His power over space. He was not limited by being in Cana rather than Capernaum.

We have no idea whether this man was a Jew or a Gentile, we just know that he kept beseeching Christ on behalf of his son. The nobleman requested Jesus to travel to Capernium, some 20 miles away. This really illustrates that man has a problem with distance. We think the presence of Christ is more powerful than the Word of Christ.

"Jesus said to him, 'Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe'"(John 4:48). I do not take His statement to the nobleman as a rebuke. To me it is a lament at the spiritual condition of the people in general, both in Judea and Galilee. Even today there are many people who stand on the philosophy of "seeing is believing."

The nobleman made two mistakes. The first was in thinking that Christ had to go to Capernaum to save the boy and the second was if the boy died then it was too late. Most of us say, "Show me and I'll believe but Christ says, "Believe me and I'll show you." This man had tremendous faith in Christ. What was interesting to witness was his obedience to Christ. This demonstrated his faith when he returned home without Jesus by his side.

My understanding is the 'seventh hour' in Roman time would be 7:00 pm. It would have been too dangerous for either the nobleman to return home or for the servants to start out to meet him. So they all waited until the next day to begin traveling. How strong his faith must have been! Even though the father had faith in his son's healing, he thought it would be gradual not instantaneous. Look at verse 52, "So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better..." Yet the servants reported a complete, instant recovery.

What I took from this Scripture passage is there are four stages of faith:

1. The first is we begin with a crisis of faith. We want an immediate miracle. We have exhausted all other options until there is no recourse but the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. I see the nobleman's crisis of faith turn into confident faith. He believed the Word and experienced peace in his heart. He was even able to delay his trip home knowing that his son was out of danger.
3. Thirdly, I see his confident faith became confirmed faith. His son was completely healed...at once. Exactly when Jesus spoke the Word.
4. Lastly he experienced contagious faith and shared it with others. It was at the moment Christ spoke and the boy was healed that made a believer out of him and his household. He believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.

This was a private miracle. The boy wasn't at Cana for all to see. I'm sure the news spread rapidly. What is interesting to me is Christ's miracles were instantaneous copies of what the Father is always doing. "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working" (John 5:17). So God the Father is constantly making wine, season after season, but the Son multiplies it instantly.

I actually didn't get all that much out of what Gire, himself, wrote as much as I got out of the Scripture itself. However, I have been thoroughly blessed by each prayer which Gire includes at the end of each chapter. They are very thought provoking, detail oriented. That is how I pray. My prayers are detail oriented, exact and then there is never any doubt that it is God answering my prayer. I don't want anyone to think that a prayer was so general it could have happened some other way, other than God. Heaven forbid! May He alone get all the glory!