This story comes at the end of a chapter that's devoted to telling the stories of foreigners (non-Jews) who believe in Jesus. It stands in contrast to surrounding chapters that feature Jews who refuse to believe or are terribly slow to believe. Chapter 4 begins with the Samaritan woman at the well, who ends up bringing her whole village to Jesus. Now we meet a person John calls "a certain royal official." He was probably some kind of Roman government authority assigned to the backwater towns of Galilee.

John recalls the saying, "a prophet has no honor in his own country," and applies it to Jesus at the time he is especially turning his ministry to Samaritans and Gentiles. When John says "the Galileans welcomed him," he's referring to Gentiles who populated the area, not the Jews who also lived there.

This official came to Jesus, having heard of his miraculous powers, and begged him to come and heal his sick boy, who was close to death. Jesus' initial response seems strange, even cruel: "Unless you people see signs and wonders . . . you will never believe" (4:48). It's similar to Jesus' response to a woman who asks Jesus to heal her daughter; he ignores her and then upbraids her (Matt. 15:21-28). What's going on here?

Jesus is reflecting a problem he constantly faces. While he intends his miracles (or "signs" as John calls them) to point to who he is and what his kingdom is about, people just want him to do miracles for their own amazement. They fail to have the corresponding insight and faith into who he is. It's the same issue we ran into in the story of the loaves and fish earlier. A miracle can always gain attention, but does it awaken true faith?

The royal official is undaunted, as was the foreign woman in Matthew 15. He says, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus' response is at once an act of mercy and a test of faith. "Go, your son will live" (4:49-50). Will the official believe in Jesus' word, in the absence of a miracle, or will he demand that he see it with his own eyes?

John says, "The man took Jesus at his word and departed." What a wonderful act of faith. True faith is taking Jesus at his word without any proof, any immediate substantiation of his power. It's what we do at the bedside of the sick and the dying today. We take Jesus at his word, and we entrust them to his care.

As the man was returning home, his servant noticed a sudden improvement in the boy and sent word to the man. He was met on the way with the news that the son had recovered, and when he determined the exact time when the boy turned for the better, he realized that Jesus' word had been right on target. He and his entire household believed. That doesn't just mean they believed Jesus had done a miracle. It means they believed that the one behind the miracle was indeed the Son of God.

John notes that this was the second sign (the first being the miracle at the wedding at Cana), the second of seven "signs" recorded in John, all of which show in unique and wonderful ways who Jesus really is.