Chapter II

_SECOND VISIT TO CANA AND JERUSALEM._
A.D. 29.

AFTER this stay in Samaria the Saviour returned to Galilee. Thither had gone before Him the fame of the miracles He had wrought at Jerusalem, reported by those Galilæans who had returned from the Passover (Jn. iv. 45), and this was now confirmed by a second miracle wrought at Cana.

While staying in this little village, He was visited by a nobleman, or officer of state[275], not improbably in the service of Herod-Antipas, who besought him to go down to Capernaum, and heal his son who was lying at the point of death. Though he was clearly unable to conceive of any cure, save through the Lord’s bodily presence, and was urgent that He should come down to Capernaum, the Holy One sent him away with the assurance that his son was alive. Contented with this word, the father returned, and on the morrow was met by his servants, who announced his son’s recovery, and in answer to his enquiries when the youth had begun to amend, informed him that the day before, at the seventh hour[276], the fever not only began to abate, but _left_ or suddenly forsook him. This the other remembered was the very hour when the Lord had assured him of his son’s recovery, and he became a believer with all his family (Jn. iv. 53).

After a brief stay in Galilee, the season approached for the celebration of the Feast of Purim[277], and the Redeemer went up to Jerusalem (Jn. v. 1). At this time there was near the Sheep-gate, through which the victims intended for sacrifice were usually brought into the city, a pool called in the Hebrew language Bethesda[278], or the _House of Mercy_, which at certain seasons possessed remarkable healing properties, heralded it would seem by a violent commotion or bubbling of the waters. Around the pool, sheltered by five porticoes (Jn. v. 2), there was wont to assemble a multitude of diseased persons, _lame, blind, withered, waiting for the troubling of the waters_ (Jn. v. 3).

Amongst these was one who for upwards of 38 years had been a helpless paralytic, and had long watched in vain for an opportunity to descend into the healing stream. As often as with slow and painful motion he crawled towards the waters, another was certain to step in before him, and anticipate him in acquiring the welcome cure. Seeing this miserable sufferer, and knowing how long he had been thus afflicted, the Saviour drew near, and enquired whether he wished to be made whole. Deeming, probably, that he was only listening to words of casual sympathy, and little expecting a cure, the man contented himself with relating the sad story of his constant disappointments (Jn. v. 7). Great, then, must have been his astonishment, when the Saviour not only bade him rise and take up the bed or pallet on which he had lain so long, but with the word gave him also the power to obey, so that he was instantly made whole, and taking up his bed bore it away with healthy tread.

It was a Sabbath-day on which this marvellous cure was wrought, and the carrying of any burden was regarded by the Pharisaic interpreters of the Law as a heinous violation of the sanctity of the day. The sight, therefore, of a man whose case must have been well known, thus openly and publicly violating a received rule, could not but excite much attention. Accordingly “the Jews,” a term by which St John generally denotes the adherents of the Sanhedrin, summoned him before them, and questioned him closely concerning his conduct. With artless simplicity, the man replied that he was only acting up to the command of his Healer, but when further questioned who He was, could not say, for Jesus had vanished from the crowd when the cure was wrought (Jn. v. 13).

Shortly afterwards, however, he met his Healer in the Temple, and then returning informed the authorities that Jesus was the author of his cure. On this the Saviour Himself was called to account for His conduct (Jn. v. 16, 17), and proceeded to avow before His astonished and indignant auditors His union in dignity and honour with the eternal Father. This avowal, added to the fact that He had shewn dishonour to the Sabbath, roused the first symptoms of hostility on the part of the authorities at Jerusalem, and they even sought to kill Him (Jn. v. 18). But, undeterred by their opposition, the Holy One went on to claim plainly and unreservedly, the character and functions of the Messiah, to reiterate the fact of His Divine Original, and to declare that He was invested with power as the future Judge of mankind (Jn. v. 22–30). In support of these claims, He appealed to the testimony which the Baptist had publicly borne to His exalted nature (Jn. v. 33–35), to the miracles which He had wrought (Jn. v. 36), to the authority of the sacred writings which testified of Him (Jn. v. 39), and to the great Lawgiver Moses, who, He declared, had written of Him (Jn. v. 46).

This incident forms an important epoch in the Gospel history[279]. The degree of toleration, and even of acceptance, with which the preaching of the Saviour had been received in Judæa, was exchanged for hostility, which, though as yet it led to no attempt to seize His Person, manifested itself with increasing distinctness. Accordingly, He left Judæa, which had shewn itself unwilling to receive Him, and retired to Galilee, and there taught in the synagogues (Lk. iv. 15).