John 4:46-48

The nobleman's plea: V. 46. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. V. 47. When he beard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. V. 48. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

The first stopping-place of Jesus in Galilee was Cana, where He had performed His first miracle, now almost a year ago. Undoubtedly, the young married couple whose wedding-feast He had honored by His presence and by His miraculous gift was delighted to have Him visit them once more. But while He was still in this little town, Jesus received a visitor from the lowlands, from Capernaum, an officer of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. This Herod was the son of Herod the Great, who had received the title of king from the Roman senate, an honor which the son likewise hoped to obtain.

This officer had heard that Jesus had returned from Judea, and immediately set out for Cana, where he went to Jesus and begged Him to come down from the mountainous section, where Cana was situated, to the lowlands of the Sea of Galilee, where Capernaum was located. He considered the presence of Jesus absolutely necessary for the cure of his son, who was about to die, who lay at the point of death.

The Lord gave the man an answer which purposely sounded harsh: If signs and wonders you people do not see, you will not believe. Jesus had been performing miracles, deeds which were outside of the usual course of nature, which often contradicted and set aside the laws of nature. And these wonders were also signs, they indicated beyond doubt the divine power, the omnipotence of His person. If faith is based only upon evidence of external help, upon signs and wonders, it has no sound basis. Not as a Worker of miracles, but as the Prophet of truth Jesus wanted to be accepted.

"How can this be made to agree? Thus, as I said before. For faith and firm confidence brings the nobleman to Christ; how, then, does He say: You believe not unless you see signs? But, as I have said, He wants to show the man that his faith is not yet strong enough; for he still clings to seeing and feeling the presence of Christ"(Luther, 11, 1764).

Note: That cannot be accepted as true faith, if a person wants to believe only because of signs, and refuses to believe if no miracle is in evidence. If a Christian says: Unless God will help in my present trouble, I shall not believe, he proves that his so-called faith is a matter of imagination.