(Listen to this homily here).
The passage from the Gospel according to John has several
rich layers—as does the Gospel as a whole.
There
are two main points I would like to share this morning. The first is that a rough sketch of
John’s account is to break it into two parts. The first half is the Book of Signs, the second half is the
Book of Glory. Note how the
passage ends this morning: “Now
this was the second sign Jesus did when
he came to Galilee from Judea.” John lists seven signs of Jesus—miracles that demonstrate
Jesus’ divinity. All of these
point to the greatest sign of all—the resurrection.
The
second point is to reflect on what these signs were meant to do. On two occasions John explicitly stated
why he wrote an account of Jesus—to inspire belief
in the reader. While the miracles
themselves—feeding the hungry, raising the dead, curing the ill—were indeed great
signs, still not everyone believed in Jesus. This is what Jesus was implying when he said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you
will not believe.”
Note
how the royal official responds to Christ: “The
royal official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my child
dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You may go;
your son will live.’ The
man believed what Jesus said to him
and left.” After
returning home and finding his son well, “[the royal official] and his whole household came to believe.”
Jesus
continues to do many great signs today.
May we have the faith to allow these signs to strengthen our own belief.
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