John 4-6

It took me 23 minutes to read this passage.  In verses 46-54 of chapter 4 John tells the story of an encounter Jesus had with a man from Capernaum while in the town of Cana.  This official had sought out Jesus in Cana to implore the Lord to come back with him and heal his son.  I imagine the situation in the house in Capernaum at the time.  The man’s wife was hovering near the son.  Changing the damp clothes, seeking to ease the raging fever.  But there was no way to quiet the cough or ease the pain in her son’s body.  Surely she had seen these symptoms before; in a sibling or another child.  The thought of the loss of another to the unseen enemy of this sickness brought tears streaming down her face.  Was there no one able to stop his suffering except death?  Had she given up on the author of life as she helplessly watched her son slipping away toward the end of this life?  Maybe she stepped outside of the house to pray and soak the clothes in the water pot.  But about 1 in the afternoon the inside of the house became deathly quiet.  The coughing which had been nearly constant; stopped.  Her heart stopped.  The woman ran inside the house with a lump in her throat the size of her fist and growing.  As she dashed into the sick room she was startled to see her son sitting up in bed.  The glazed eyes were clear, and the sweat on his forehead had evaporated.  It was his hoarse but now strong voice that broke the silence; “Mother.  I’m thirsty.  Do you have any water?”  I wonder which did she did first; burst out in tears of joy, shouted thanksgiving to the God who truly sees, hurtle herself on her son and hug him, or fetch that water for the thirsty young man?  I wonder how long it was before sending the servant to Cana in search of her husband with the news that her son, their son, was healed?

Stuart