Jesus Befriends an Officer with a Sick Child
After these two days Jesus went on to Galilee; for he himself declared that “a prophet is not honoured in his own country.” When he entered Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, for they had seen all that he did at Jerusalem during the Festival, at which they also had been present.
So Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. Now there was one of the King’s officers whose son was lying ill at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had returned from Judea to Galilee, he went to him, and begged him to come down and cure his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus answered:
“Unless you all see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
“Sir,” said the officer, “come down before my child dies.”
And Jesus answered: “Go, your son is living.” The man believed what Jesus said to him, and went; and, while he was on his way down, his servants met him, and told him that his child was living. So he asked them at what time the boy began to get better.
“It was yesterday, about one o’clock,” they said, “that the fever left him.”
By this the father knew that it was at the very time when Jesus had said to him, “Your son is living”; and he himself, with all his household, believed in Jesus. This was the second occasion on which Jesus gave a sign of his mission on coming from Judea to Galilee.
—John.
Looking for a King
They were all looking for a king
To slay their foes and lift them high;
Thou earnest a little baby thing
That made a woman cry.
—George MacDonald.