John 4:43-54

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, about 20 to 25 miles, to ask Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son. Jesus challenged the official to believe in him even before seeing him work the sign. Jesus 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). Those who believe without seeing are blessed (John 20:29).

2. The Sacrament of Anointing: The signs in the Gospel of John all look forward, in different ways, to the seven Sacraments of the Church, which are defined as “efficacious signs of grace” (see CCC, 774, 1131). The first sign in John’s Gospel – 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. 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. Healing in Christ: Jesus is the “Christ,” which means “the anointed one.” We are “anointed ones” through our union with Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Sacrament of Anointing is not to be understood simply in terms of healing, but as effecting conformity to the crucified and risen Christ (Barber, The Bible and the Anointing of the Sick, 214). The proper recipients of the Sacrament of Anointing are those whose health is seriously impaired by sickness or old age. The anointing with oil sacramentally effects what it signifies. James 5 explains that the anointed sick person will be “raised up” (James 5:25). Like Jesus, the anointed sick person’s sufferings will give way to a state of being “raised up.” The sick person, in their suffering, is conformed to Christ in hope. Their sins are forgiven. And, thus, Anointing has both physical and spiritual effects (see Barber, The Bible and the Anointing of the Sick, 230). As a sacrament of healing, Anointing is not just healing from sin but also effects true healing by making the recipient what Christ is. “[I]f true healing is being conformed to Christ, this healing can also be understood in terms of sharing in his royal, priestly, and prophetic identity” (Barber, The Bible and the Anointing of the Sick, 232). The Sacrament of Anointing, therefore, brings to consummation the baptized’s vocation: “The sacrament brings spiritual healing from sin, and in this believers share in Christ’s reign over sin and its aftereffects. This can possibly include physical healing since sin and sickness are understood to be among the consequences of sin. The sacrament also enables the sick to offer his or her suffering in union with Christ’s, thus fulfilling his or her call to present oneself as a ‘living sacrifice … acceptable to God’ (Rom 12:1). In this, believers exercise a share in Christ’s priesthood. Finally, the sacrament enables the sick, by faithfully enduring their suffering, to share in Christ’s prophetic witness. In these ways, the sacrament brings about a deeper conformity of the believer to Christ, finding true healing in him” (Barber, The Bible and the Anointing of the Sick, 232). 

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 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?