46 Jesus went again to visit Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. One of the king’s important officers lived in the city of Capernaum, and his son was sick. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, because his son was almost dead. 48 Jesus said to him, “You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me.”
49 The officer said, “Sir, come before my child dies.”
50 Jesus answered, “Go. Your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus told him and went home. 51 On the way the man’s servants came and met him and told him, “Your son is alive.”
52 The man asked, “What time did my son begin to get well?”
They answered, “Yesterday at one o’clock the fever left him.”
53 The father knew that one o’clock was the exact time that Jesus had said, “Your son will live.” So the man and all the people who lived in his house believed in Jesus.
54 That was the second miracle Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Read John 4:46-54 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
From our human perspective, we can easily get caught up looking at hierarchy and status, and use that as determining whether Jesus should perform a miracle. However, it would seem that Jesus takes a different approach, because in more times than this passage alone, Jesus instructs the people with the great amounts of status and fame to believe Him at His word without Him being present personally.
In this regard, Jesus appears to challenge those with status even more than the common people of the day.
However, if we look closely at this passage, there are only two places that really point to the man’s status: “One of the king’s important officers . . .” (v. 46) & “The officer said . . .” (v. 49). All the following places use common words when describing this man.
Perhaps it is this translation, but I see an interesting progression in the terms used to describe this person. First, we have “One of the king’s important officers” that we just referenced. Next, he simply becomes an “officer” with no direct reference to who he serves. Thirdly, there are four references to him simply being “the man”, which is about as common of a term as we can use, and one term of “father” which is also about as common.
Whether the official came to Jesus pushing his status on the front, we don’t know for sure, but everything written in this passage implies that John only states the man was an officer to give context, while the man himself comes with a completely humble and loving frame of mind.
This leads me to realize that hierarchy does not matter when coming to Jesus; everyone is equal in God’s eyes. While this was an important officer who reported to the king, in God’s eyes, he is simply a man and a father who wants to save his son’s life. Status is not important to Jesus, because Jesus looks at the heart, and on a heart level, we are all equal.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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