For Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his native place.
One might assume that Jesus would not go specifically to the place where he was without honor. Yet for Jesus, coming from Samaria into Galilee was indeed coming home. This was surprising, but consistent with the whole purpose of the incarnation, in which, "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him" (see John 1:11). We can't assert that he was surprised by the rejection he encountered. God always knew how this would go, and that knowledge was contained in his Eternal Word. This is why Jesus was "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (see Revelation 13:8).
Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Jesus gave signs to be used as interpretive keys to understand his mission. The point was not to provide such overwhelming evidence that no one could resist. His signs and healings were surprisingly low-key. He didn't necessarily conceal them, especially when he demonstrated something important to his adversaries by his willingness to, for example, heal on the Sabbath. But he definitely did not flaunt them. Whenever he came close to that, as with the multiplication of the loaves, what it engendered in most of the crowd was not the faith he sought. He didn't want to be appreciated only insofar as he was willing to give others what they wanted. That was not the kind of king he desired to be. His signs, therefore, pointed to his desire to give salvation, and to restore right relationship between God and humanity.
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 tested the royal official before he gave him an answer. Was he so focused on getting what he wanted that he didn't care whom he asked? Was Jesus just one stop in an exploration of various options? Would he only believe after all reasonable doubt was gone in virtue of a healing performed? Or did he rather come to Jesus because he already had a mustard seed of faith within him?
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
In calling Jesus, "Sir", he used the word also translated as lord, a word also applicable to God himself. And it seems that Jesus must have understood this to be some sign of inchoate faith, for he responded. It was more than using flowery language to butter him up. It demonstrated that the reason that he asked Jesus was because of his belief that Jesus could answer.
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
The royal official responded to the words of Jesus with faith. He had asked Jesus to come and to heal his son. But now he was content to trust the words of Jesus that his physical presence was not required. He had one view of how things were and what his hope might be, but had been willing to trust Jesus' words more than his preconceptions.
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 details pointed to the fact that it was not a fluke or coincidence but rather the power of Jesus himself. The confirmation not only strengthened the man himself in faith but led to the faith of his household as well. He might well have found it otherwise difficult to persuade the rest of them since Jesus hadn't been present for the healing. But it was hard to argue that the precise time of the healing and the words of Jesus were mere coincidence.
What, then was this sign supposed to mean? Was the fact that his son would live merely meant to mean that Jesus could extend one's life in this world? Or did it hint at more? Did it not point to the fact that Jesus himself had power over life and death, the truth of what he would later express in the words, "I am the resurrection and the life" (see John 11:25).
Thus says the LORD:
Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
In order to solve the apparently intractable problems of this earth, nothing short of a new one will do. But Jesus demonstrated his capacity and desire to bring this about. That is why, when we come to faith in Jesus, we experience such newness of life that we begin to forget the things that lie behind (see Philippians 3:13).
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