John 4:43-54

Isaiah 65:17-21

Psalm 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b

John 4:43-54

At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.

For Jesus himself testified

that a prophet has no honor in his native place.

When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,

since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;

for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,

where he had made the water wine.

Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.

When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,                                      

he went to him and asked him to come down

and heal his son, who was near death.

Jesus said to him,

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

The royal official said to him,

“Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”

The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.

While the man was on his way back,

his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.

He asked them when he began to recover.

They told him,

“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”

The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,

“Your son will live,”

and he and his whole household came to believe.

Now this was the second sign Jesus did

when he came to Galilee from Judea.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I contemplate today the works and signs your Son accomplished during his public ministry. They are invitations to faith in you and in your Son and in your Holy Spirit. Deepen my faith so that I may truly act as a faithful believer.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Second Sign in John’s Gospel: For the next two weeks leading up to Holy Week, our Gospel will be taken from the first half of the Gospel of John. This half, which highlights six miraculous works of Jesus, has been called the “Book of Signs.” The first sign was the changing of water into wine at the Wedding of Cana. The second sign, narrated in today’s Gospel, also happened in Cana in Galilee. In this sign, Jesus cured the son of a royal official from a deadly illness. The royal official traveled from Capernaum to Cana to ask Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son. Jesus challenged the official to believe before seeing him work the sign and pointed out how many people only believe after seeing signs and wonders. The royal official reiterated his faith and trust in Jesus and did not have to see the sign in order to believe: “The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.” Later, on his way back to Capernaum, the official learned that his son was cured the very moment Jesus spoke the words: “Your son will live.” This is an important lesson for us about faith. Faith should not be seen primarily as our response to God miraculously working in our lives. Faith is first of all a gift from God and is our response to God who reveals himself to us and invites us into communion with him (CCC, 142-143). Faith is our personal adherence to God (CCC, 150). Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who believe without seeing (John 20:29).

2. The Sacrament of Anointing: There are a total of seven signs in John’s Gospel. They all look forward in different ways to the seven Sacraments of the Church. The first sign – changing water into wine at the wedding of Cana – points forward to the Sacrament of Marriage, where a man and a woman are brought to share in the love between Christ and his bride, and to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, where wine becomes the blood of Jesus. The second sign – healing the official’s son – points to the Sacrament of Anointing and Holy Orders. The official’s son is near death, and so the man seeks out Jesus. If we read the story of the sign in the light of the Letter of James, we see how, in the age of the Church, there is a priestly ministry for the sick: “Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the priests of the Church, and they should pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15). “The Sacrament of Anointing aims to unleash this same power of Jesus for the healing of a person’s soul and body” (Bergsma, New Testament Basics for Catholics, 229).

3. New Heavens and a New Earth: The First Reading, taken from the prophet Isaiah, speaks about the Lord God announcing the creation of new heavens and a new earth. The reading highlights emerging from a time of weeping and crying, rejoicing and delighting in the Lord, and enjoying the blessing of a long life. The passage focuses on the transformation of Jerusalem. The old Jerusalem is passing away and a New Jerusalem is being inaugurated. The official’s son, through the saving work of Jesus, did not tragically die as a young boy. In a sense, the sadness and tragedy of death are passing away with the inbreaking of the new creation. Yes, we will die one day, but we die filled with hope in the resurrection. We can be joyful even as we suffer in this present life. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you gave your Church the wondrous gifts of the Sacraments. These are the greater works that your disciples throughout the centuries would accomplish. Help me to experience the power of your Sacraments and partake of the Sacrament of the Eucharist often and the Sacrament of Reconciliation as needed.

Living the Word of God: Do I truly believe in the power of Christ’s sacraments? How do I

prepare for the great Sacrament of the Eucharist? Am I in need of the Sacrament of

Reconciliation?