John 4:54Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

In gold mines, one experienced in the work does not neglect even the smallest vein, because it may yield great wealth. So also in the divine Scriptures it is not without harm to omit even one stroke or iota. Everything must be examined. Everything in them was spoken by the Holy Spirit, and nothing is superfluous. Notice here too what the Evangelist says: “This was the second miracle Jesus did when He had come from Judea into Galilee.” He did not add “second” in vain. He further magnifies the wondrous conduct of the Samaritans, showing that the inhabitants of Galilee, even after the second sign which they saw, did not reach the height of those Samaritans who had seen nothing.

Why does the Evangelist say that Jesus performed this second miracle in Cana? In order to show what praise the Samaritans deserve. Though this was the second miracle, he says, the Galileans still did not reach the height of those who saw not a single sign and believed.

When he learns that it is so and not otherwise, he is saved with his whole house. He attributes the power of the miracle to Christ the Savior and brings firm faith as a kind of thankful fruit for it.

When the Evangelist had previously said, “Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where He had made the water wine” (Jn 4:46), he did not mention the miracle in vain. He wished to show that, after its performance, the Jews proved worse in faith than the Samaritans.

Now, too, when he says, “This again was the second sign Jesus did,” the Evangelist likewise reproaches them. Though they saw a second miracle, they could not rise to the degree of faith possessed by the Samaritans, who had seen no miracle.

The Evangelist called this sign the second not because Jesus Christ had performed no other miracle after the first throughout all Palestine. He did so because it was the second performed in Cana.

After telling of this miracle, the Evangelist John remarks that this was the second miracle Jesus performed after returning from Judea to Galilee (Jn 4:54).

This remark of the Evangelist can be understood in two ways. Either it was the second miracle in general, or it was the second miracle among those performed in Galilee.

In the first case, σημεῖα in Jn 2:23, compared with Jn 4:45, must be understood not in the sense of miracles, τέρατα, compare Jn 4:48. It would mean extraordinary actions of the divine power and authority of Jesus Christ in general, such as the expulsion of the merchants from the temple.

It is understandable why the Evangelist makes this remark. For John, as for the other first followers of Jesus Christ, the first signs of His messianic dignity were especially significant and memorable. They confirmed them in faith in Him.

“This second miracle”: the first had also been performed in Cana, at the wedding (Jn 2:1 and following). This was not the second miracle after the Lord’s present return to Galilee, but the second miracle in general performed by Him in Galilee. The first was during His first stay there, and the second now, after His return from Jerusalem from the feast of Pascha.

The sick child recovered at the very hour when the Lord pronounced His wonderworking word. This was the seventh hour according to the reckoning of time then in use, and by ours, one o’clock in the afternoon.

When the nobleman was entering the house, the servants met him and told him the joyful news: “Your son lives.”

After questioning them about the hour when the sick child began to recover, the father understood that this was a miraculous healing by the word of the Lord. He definitively believed in Him, “he himself and his whole household.”

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people,” says the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 4:23).

The Lord laid the beginning of signs in Cana of Galilee. Then the Lord manifested Himself in Jerusalem and sowed the word in Judea. He enlightened some of the better men among the rulers of the Sanhedrin. Besides Nicodemus, “many even of the rulers believed in Him” (Jn 12:42).

He sowed the word of God in Samaria. Returning to Galilee, He taught and healed there most of all, for the people of Galilee were purer and better in heart than the Jews.

Yet Blessed Theophylact, following John Chrysostom, places the Samaritans above even the Galileans. They believed in the word of God without demanding or seeing miracles and signs.