Jn. 4:46 Yeshua came again to Cana where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.
In this segment we have the second of Yochanan’s seven signs. Yeshua comes to Cana, where He performed His first miracle, changing water into wine.
Jn. 4:47 When he heard that Yeshua had come out of Galilee into Judea, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
A nobleman from the town of Capernaum heard that Yeshua was in Cana. Because he had a sick son, by faith he made the long trek from Capernaum to Cana to ask Yeshua to heal his son. The word “nobleman” meant that he was an officer of Herod Antipas, the same man that had put Yochanan haMatbil to death.
Jn. 4:48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
Jn. 4:49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
The response of Yeshua is, more or less, “does your faith depend upon some sign being given?” Most say that Yeshua was testing the man’s faith, but I believe Yeshua’s response was to use the man’s answer to demonstrate his faith to others around them. Capernaum was at least a day and a half’s journey from Cana. This man’s faith, and his love for his son, had led him on a long, difficult journey. Yeshua wanted the other people to see the extent of his faith as a lesson to them.
Jn. 4:50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way, your son lives.” So the man believed in the word that Jesus spoke to him, and went his way.
The nobleman’s faith was based upon his belief in the promise of Yeshua, and not upon any sign that he was given or saw.
Jn. 4:51 And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives.”
Jn. 4:52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
Jn. 4:53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.
When he makes the trek back to Capernaum the next day, his servants, who had come to meet him, tell him that his son is healed. He raised the question, “when did the healing occur?” And the answer is, “yesterday, at the seventh hour the fever left him.” What this tells us is that the nobleman did not rush back to Capernaum to see if Yeshua’s words were true. It appears that from what he says that he spent the night somewhere on the way home. He believed Yeshua’s words sufficiently as to not rush back home. As a result he is a believer, and his whole family becomes saved as well. In BT:Berachoth 34b there is a similar account of where a miracle was performed at a distance and the exact hour recorded to confirm it. This type of healing was not that unusual, but it is still very dramatic.
Source: BT:Berachoth 34b
Jn. 4:54 This again is the second sign that Yeshua did when He came out of Judea into Galilee.
