Skip to content

Commentaries
English
John
  
5. Healing of the court official's son
(John 4:43-54)
43After the two days he departed from there to Galilee.44For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.45So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.46a So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine.


Jesus and his disciples preached in Samaria. With the power of eternal life and with joy they evangelized. The time for reaching the nations had not come; he had first to defeat evil spirits in his homeland. He went directly to Galilee, despite the mockery of the Nazarenes and the risks of violence. His friends and relatives did not yet believe in his divinity, since he was from a lowly family. They looked up to wealth and fame, and scorned the poverty in Jesus. He was unable to work a sign among them because of this mistrust.
Christ’s reputation as healer spread far and wide. The news of his miracles proceeded him, performed in Jerusalem and Galilee. Many Galileans visited Jerusalem during the Passover. They heard and saw all that Jesus did and said, preaching with surpassing authority. They cheered him when he reached the Galilean villages, and hoped to see him perform miracles among them, to gain some benefit from him. Jesus returned to the bridegroom’s home in Cana, where the wedding happiness had become his motto as it were. He wanted to complete his service among those who had begun to look up to him because of his first miracle performed at Cana.