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Leaving Samaria, Jesus traveled north into Galilee. Notice He does not go to his home town of Nazareth for the reason He gives. "A Prophet has no honor in his own country", elsewhere in the Providence of Galilee, He was greatly received.
As you may recall, the reason Jesus went to Jerusalem was to observe the Feast of the Passover, and while He was there, He did many miracles. Those of His countrymen who were in Jerusalem at the same time and observed those miracles, had gotten back home before Jesus because He had tarried in Samaria for two days. When He got to Galilee, they had told all that He had done in Jerusalem and He was greatly received.
Matthew Henry points out something that is certainly worth mentioning. Jesus had made the visit to Jerusalem primarily for the sake of the Judeans, but the Galileans appear to have received the greatest benefit. Often times in our efforts to bring Christ to someone we may fail, yet unknowingly, we may have helped someone else.
Going into Galilee, Jesus goes to the city of Cana where He had done His first miracle, the changing of water into wine. Here we have recorded the story of the healing of the Nobleman's son.
Now in the city of Capernaum there lived a Nobleman whose son was quit ill. Capernaum was about 15 miles N-E of Cana on the Sea of Galilee. Notice these things about the Nobleman:
We do see some evidence of lack of faith on the part of this man in that he asks Jesus to go up to Capernaum apparently doubting that He could heal his son 15 miles away.
Notice the "format" that Jesus uses here. It is one that He uses most frequent. Those whom He favors, He first humbles. He rebukes the Nobleman for his lack of faith in not believing that He could heal from a distance. A man of faith would have asked and receiving his request, have gone home believing it was done. The Nobleman accepts his chastisement and again requests that Jesus come up to Capernaum before his son died, again showing lack of faith.
Notice the limitations that the Nobleman puts on the miracles of Jesus. He believed that Jesus could heal his son if he came to where his son was and if He got there before he died. Who did he think Jesus was? He knew that the Prophet Elijah had raised a woman's son from the dead, he also knew that Elijah could not do it from a distance but had to go to the boy and literally lay his body across the body of the dead boy. Whether he considered Jesus as great as Elijah we cannot tell but he obviously believed that Jesus could heal his son if He went to him before he died. Whatever he thought of Jesus, Jesus saw in the man a concerned father who, at least, had the faith of a "grain of mustard seed", and it was enough. The Nobleman, seeking a display of power, received instead a lesson in faith and a simple, "Go your way, your son lives."
Isn't it so like us to not only ask God for something but also to presume to tell Him how to do it. "The Nobleman believed and went away." He actually received more than he came for. Returning home, his servants came out to meet him and comparing notes, they discover that the child was healed the very moment that Christ said he would, the seventh hour of the day before.
This was the second miracle that Jesus did in Galilee.
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