“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. 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. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 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. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 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. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.”
John 4:46-54
In continuation of the overarching theme of the deity of Christ, John gives a second miracle that again displays Jesus’s power and sovereignty over His creation. A striking and important detail in this account is the fact that the person who received the benefit from this miracle was a nobleman. The Bible does not tell us exactly what his role in society was, but what we can definitely say is that he was someone in a prominent political role. There is tremendous significance to this! First, this man would have had access to physicians to help his son. He had both authority to command those physicians to help as well as financial means to pay for treatment of his son’s condition. In fact, he left servants caring for his son even while he made the trip to Jesus. With this consideration, it becomes clear that the only reason he made the trip to Cana from his home in Capernaum, which was about a 25 mile walk, was because the healing of his son was beyond the ability of the physicians in Capernaum. All of his wealth, authority, and prominence yielded nothing. Certainly, the nobleman was not making the trip in hopes of finding a mere carpenter, or even a mere human physician – he had access to those in Capernaum. He had traveled this distance to find a miracle-worker, One who has power over even the laws of nature and could heal in a case where no other help was available. This nobleman was coming to the King of kings, and in so doing, he had recognized an ability greater than man’s natural ability.
The nobleman’s request was that Jesus would come down to Capernaum and heal his son, being physically present. For any other person, that would have been a necessary requirement. As humans, we tend to have a very small sphere of influence that only stretches about as far as our hands can reach. If we would change conditions in a location, we have to travel first to the location, and then we can work. This is true of medical work as well as any other kind of work that we would attempt to perform. Because of this common experience, the nobleman’s request of Jesus to come to Capernaum was a reasonable request. What he did not understand, however, is the fact that Jesus is not bound by distance! This is an attribute of God! Modern physics recognizes a relationship between space (distance) and time, but God rules over them both as the Creator of them both. Not only did Jesus perform the miracle of healing a person “at the point of death,” but He did it immediately and from a distance. Truly, He is God manifest in the flesh.
My final point on this miracle is the blessing of belief in Jesus. When Jesus declared, “Go thy way; thy son liveth,” the nobleman returned to Capernaum believing the word of the Lord. Consider what a blessing this was to him: he made the return trip, once again, about 25 miles, with confidence that his son had been saved from the disease. Of course, his son had in reality been saved whether the nobleman believed it or not. If the nobleman had not believed, his trip home would have been miserable, with the time spent trying to find a new person or method to save his son. How much better was it to make the trip with a thankful heart of belief rather than an anxious heart of unbelief and despair? This applies to us today: when we read God’s word in faith and believe it, we receive the blessings of peace and confidence in God. If, however, we doubt and try to manufacture our own truth, our labor will be vain and toilsome.
Not only did the nobleman believe, but his whole household believed in Jesus. No one else could have performed the miracle they just witnessed, and they knew He must be the Christ. Jesus, the compassionate friend of sinners, is the Lord of Glory. He has the power to save from disease, He has power that distance and time are regarded as nothing, and He rules sovereign over the noblemen of this world. He is worthy of our highest confidence and worship.