As we were about to set out, a nearly breathless man of royal descent, a close relative of the colonel who had gone to Capernaum a couple of days earlier, hurried toward Me. For he had learned through the colonel that I had returned from Judea to Galilee. This royal man had an only son who had suddenly been seized by a severe fever, and as soon as the physician in Capernaum saw the sick boy, he recognized that he was inevitably lost. The boy’s father despaired and did not know what to do for grief. Then Cornelius, the colonel, came to him and said, ‘Brother, a remedy can be found here! From here to Cana is scarcely a full hour’s journey for a good walker. The famous Healer Jesus of Nazareth is staying there. I myself met and spoke with Him there on my way here. He is surely still there, for He promised me to come straight from there to Capernaum and visit me. What He promises, He invariably keeps. Since He has not yet come to me, He is quite certainly still in Cana. So hurry there yourself and ask Him to come to your son and help him. I guarantee you that He will come at once and help your son!’
When the royal man learns this from brother Cornelius, he runs to Cana as quickly as possible and, as just reported, arrives there completely breathless as I was already taking the first step to continue the journey. Scarcely has he reached Me when he falls down before Me and asks Me to hurry down to Capernaum with him as quickly as possible. He says that his only son, who is everything to him, is already struggling with death, and no physician in Capernaum can help him any longer. He adds that if I do not go with him at once, his son will surely die before I reach Capernaum—unless he, the son, has already died in the meantime.
I say, ‘You see, My friend, it is a difficult matter with you people! Unless you see signs and wonders beforehand, you do not believe it. I help only those, above all, who believe even though they have not previously seen signs and wonders. For where unconditional faith comes to meet Me, there I heal surely and certainly.’
Then the royal man cries out, ‘O Lord, do not speak so long here with poor me! You see that I believe, or I would not have come to You. I beg You, O Lord, only come beneath the roof of my house, and my son will live! But if You delay, he will die before You arrive. See, I have many servants under me, and if I tell one or another, “Do this” or “Do that,” he will do it. If I did not have the fullest faith in You, O Lord, I would have sent one or another servant to You. But because I am full of the strongest faith, I came myself. My heart told me, “If only I find You and behold You, my son will become well!” Lord, I also confess that I am not worthy for You to enter beneath the roof of my house. But if You would only speak a word, my son will become well and alive!’
I say, ‘Friend, I have not found such faith in all Israel! Go home with confidence; let it happen to you according to your faith. Your son lives!’ And the royal man went home amid a stream of tears of gratitude and joy, for he believed My word without doubt. But I now remained in Cana that evening and the next day, which gave the host the greatest joy.
As the royal man approached the town—he was highly regarded in Capernaum, first because, like Colonel Cornelius, he was related to Rome’s ruling house, and second because Rome had appointed him there as a high official—his many servants were already coming to meet him and loudly announced, ‘Master, your son lives and is perfectly well!’
The man nearly fainted with joy and immediately asked at what time his son had begun to improve. The servants answered unanimously, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour of the day the severe fever left him.’
When he learned this from his servants, he began to calculate and found that it might be precisely the time at which I had said to him, ‘Your son lives!’ He then went home at a leisurely pace. When he arrived, Colonel Cornelius was already bringing his healthy and cheerful son to meet him and said, ‘Well, brother, did I send you to the right Healer or not?’
But the royal man said, ‘Brother, yes, through your advice you have given me my life back tenfold! But this Healer Jesus of Nazareth is most clearly more than an ordinary healer, however skilled in curing illnesses with healing herbs. Just imagine: without ever having seen my son, He simply said, “Your son lives!” and in that same hour my son became well. Listen, that must mean something quite extraordinary! I tell you, this can be possible for no human being, but only for a god. From now on I believe, and surely my whole household does too, that this Jesus, sky-high above all doubt, is a true God, now walking among people in human form for the salvation of all, healing and teaching them. When He comes here, He must be shown divine reverence!’
Cornelius says, ‘I already know Him as such, and will not let that be taken from me. But He does not permit people to approach Him with such things.’
The father of the healed son says, ‘Brother, when one holds such proof in one’s hand, I think one can never do too much!’
Cornelius says, ‘I quite agree with you. But as I told you, the fact remains that He is a declared enemy of public and outward displays of honor. As far as I know, even from His earliest youth, He values only the quiet, innermost homage expressed in the heart’s love. Everything outward is exceedingly burdensome to Him, and if He came here, as He promised me, a public deification would only drive Him away from this place forever. So do everything you wish in your heart, but avoid all public ceremony. For I have known Him since His birth in Bethlehem, and since that time I have heard many things of Him and seen many things myself.’
The royal man says, ‘Very well, I followed you yesterday during the day, and therefore I will also listen to you today during the night and follow your advice.’
(Because of the word ‘yesterday,’ a short explanation must be added here so that it gives no occasion for quibbling. Particularly in Galilee, the day lasted only until the sunset in question. After sunset the next day then actually began, and a few minutes after sunset people already called the past day ‘yesterday.’ Sunset also marked the beginning of the first night watch of the coming day. A night watch was a period of three present-day hours, while an hour of the day in summer was nearly two present-day hours long, and in winter scarcely one, for the time of sunlight always had to contain twelve hours, whether the sunlit day was short or long. Thus when it says here in the explanation that the royal man went from Capernaum to Cana in one hour, that would amount today to nearly two full hours. This short intervening explanation is all the more necessary here because otherwise many things in this Gospel could hardly be understood correctly, since the corresponding images of time are drawn from the reckoning of that time, not of the present.)