We do not commonly find among the Jews the name “royal official,” hence neither do we, with respect to the story, cast our minds to who this royal official was, and whose king's name he bore. The more genuine would consider this royal official to be a man of King Herod’s. But another, similar to this one, will say that this royal official came from the household of Caesar, doing something around Judea at that time; for it is not found clearly whether he was a Jew, since it does not follow his son who was sick in Capernaum was native to that place. His rank is also evident from the fact that his servants met him as he was coming down, saying that his son lives; for the servants are mentioned in the plural. Thus, let the history stand as it does, and the son of the royal official have recovered more elegantly by the words of the Savior at the seventh hour, freed from the fever, and his whole house believed. Let us then, as much as in us lies, investigate of whose symbol he might be and his son. Indeed, there is a great king, whose city is the true Jerusalem, and the king of kings, the one who went into a far country to receive a kingdom for himself and to return, and coming back as king, we know none other than he who says, “But I am appointed king by him over Zion, his holy mountain, declaring the command of the Lord.” All who see and rejoice in his day are the king’s people, and those who believe in the Father through him are reputed as his kingdom, of whom we seek one and the son of him who was sick, and the following associates. We said above that the whole people are sons of Abraham, as they themselves boast, “We are Abraham’s seed and have never been enslaved to anyone,” and, “Are you greater than our father Abraham who died?” For the people boasted of him beyond the rest and with him, saying, and hence even the Savior says, “Do not begin to say, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’” or “Do not think to say, ‘We have Abraham as our father;’ for God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” But Isaiah also says to the people, “Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who bore you.” And why should we extend the argument by examples, since it is clear that he primarily holds the position of the people’s father, which is why he is specially called “father”? We therefore conjecture that the royal official is Abraham, and his son who was sick in Capernaum and was about to die represents the Israelite nation, weakened in godliness and the observance of the divine laws and falling to death unto God, inflamed by the fiery darts of the enemy and thus said to be feverish. It appears that the saints who have passed from this life care about the people, as it is written in the Maccabees many years after the assumption of Jeremiah, "This is Jeremiah, the prophet of God, who prays much for the people." Therefore, see if it is possible for us to understand that Abraham, being a nobleman, when his son was sick and about to die, requests help from our Savior, going to Him and asking that He come down and heal his son, for he was about to die. The statement, “Unless you see signs and wonders,” referring to him, has relevance to his sons, and perhaps also to himself. For as John, expecting Christ’s advent, awaited the given sign to recognize the prophesied one - and the sign was, “On whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the Son of God” - so the holy ones who have fallen asleep, expecting the coming of Christ in the flesh, recognized Him through signs and wonders, believing in the hoped-for Savior through these. Quickly he asks the Lord to come down to his ailing child, fearing that death would overcome the sick, and Christ drives away the fever by His word, promising the father concerning the life of the endangered child through, "Go; your son lives." This nobleman has not only a son but also servants, symbolized by Abraham’s household and bought slaves, representing a certain inferior and subordinate belief. These, being with the sick child, witness his salvation and meet the father, announcing the child's health with, "Your child lives," indicating that they did not believe previously that the master's child lived. Not in vain does the fever leave him at the seventh hour, for this number is of rest. However, the son in Capernaum, the one who was sick and being healed in the "field of consolation," represents a race labouring but not entirely devoid of fruit. The father's faith is most complete when he believes in the son's salvation and when his whole household believes in Christ. After descending from Judea to Galilee, how Jesus performed this second sign, as much as possible, we will investigate in the following passages according to the text. If the nobleman is an image of the rulers of this age, and if his son is especially the people under his authority, and, to put it in this way, a kind of chosen ones among them, and if his illness represents a condition contrary to the will of the ruler, and Capernaum symbolizes the place of residence of those under him, it is worth examining. For I think that even some of the rulers, struck by His power and divinity, have fled to Him and deemed worthy of the things governed under them; for why indeed would men accept repentance and transform from unbelief to faith, but we hesitate to say something similar about the powers? Or let someone tell us why those clothed in flesh and blood, having transformed, are able to come to God through Christ, but those using a purer nature are all insusceptible to faith in the savior and amazement at the miraculous powers brought about by Him; but I think that even among the rulers something becomes better in the presence of Christ, so that some whole cities or even nations have come to hold more closely to the things concerning Christ. And there will be nothing strange about this interpretation if it is said to the royal official, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." The royal official being able to entreat concerning the power of God, to come down to the place of the child's illness and heal the one that is sick; but not necessarily needing to come down to the feverish son of the royal official; for "Your son lives" is sufficient when said for the salvation of the child, the word being effective and creative of what the speaker desires. Heracleon seems to call the creator the royal official because he also ruled over what was under him; but due to his short and temporary reign, he is called royal official, as if a small king appointed by a universal king over a small kingdom; and narrates that his son in Capernaum is the soul attached to the part that is lower and toward the sea, that is, the one attached to matter, and says that his own person being weak, that is, not according to nature, was in ignorance and sins. Then the phrase "from Judea into Galilee" instead of "from the higher Judea"... I do not know how, moved by "he was about to die," he thinks he overturns the doctrines of those presuming the soul to be immortal and contributing to the notion of the soul and body perishing in hell. And Heracleon does not think the soul to be immortal, but suitable for salvation, calling it itself the one wearing incorruption mortal and immortality perishable, whenever "death is swallowed up in victory." In addition, he says that "unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe" is properly said to a person of such nature, believing by works and sensory experience and not by word. He believes "come down before my child dies" was said because the end of the law is death, arising from sins; so before, he says, the child is completely put to death by sins, the father petitions the only savior to help the son, that is, such a nature. Besides, he interprets "Your son lives" to have been said by the savior without arrogance, since he did not say "let him live," nor did he declare that he himself provided life. He says that going down to the sick one and healing him of the illness, that is, the sins, and giving life through forgiveness, he said, "Your son lives." And adds to "the man believed" that even the creator is confident that the savior can heal even when not present. He redeemed the angels of the Creator out of servitude, proclaiming it in the words, "Your son lives," showing that he is now fitting and proper and no longer engaging in improper acts. Therefore, he considers that the servants report to the king concerning the salvation of the son, as he also believes that the angels are the first to observe the actions of people in the world, whether they live strictly and sincerely after the Savior's advent. Regarding the seventh hour, he says that by this hour the nature of the healed is indicated. And in all these things, "He and his whole household believed" has been narrated concerning the angelic order and people closest to him. He says it is questioned whether certain angels who descended upon the daughters of humans will be saved. And he considers that the destruction of the Creator's humans is indicated in "The sons of the kingdom will be cast into the outer darkness." And concerning these, Isaiah prophesied, "I have borne and raised sons, but they have rejected me," calling them foreign sons, an evil seed, and a lawless vineyard producing thorns. These are Heracleon's words, which, being bolder and more impious, required much preparation to refute if they were true. I do not know how he also disbelieves in the immortality of the soul, not understanding what is implied by the term "death." For he should have examined the meaning carefully and seen if it in every way signified mortality. If it means that the soul is capable of sin and the soul that sins will die, we too will say it is mortal; but if he considers its complete dissolution and disappearance as death, we will not agree, nor can we even think that a mortal substance could transform into an immortal one, or a corruptible nature into an incorruptible one. For this is like saying something changes from physical to non-physical, as if there were a common substrate underlying both physical and non-physical natures, which remains as those dealing with these matters claim the material remains despite the qualities changing into incorruptibility. But it is not the same to clothe a corruptible nature with incorruptibility as it is to change a corruptible nature into incorruptibility. The same things must be said about the mortal, which does not change into immortality but is clothed with it. Since he thought the psychic nature could be convinced by deeds and perception, not by words, we will ask him about Paul, of what nature he was. If he was of a spiritual nature, how did he believe through a miraculous appearance? If he could not believe except through a miraculous appearance, it follows that he too was psychic, according to him. How is it not impious to consider that the angels of the Creator observe the steadfast and sincere conduct of those improved by the power of the Savior, alongside the clear meaning of the word concerning the Creator, and also contrary to the scripture saying, "Can a man hide in secret places so that I do not see him?" and "The Lord searches the reins and hearts" and "The Lord knows the thoughts of men even if they are vain"? How will he save the statement, "He who knows all things before their existence"? Why is the nature of the healed indicated more by the number of the hour than the nature of the healing being accomplished in its appropriate, restful number? The idea of psychic corruptions, in the end of what we have set forth being said by him, using an ambiguity and introducing another fourth nature, which he does not intend.
[John 4:54] This again was the second sign that Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
The saying is ambiguous; for it signifies something like this: during the period of Jesus' coming from Judea to Galilee, He performed two signs, of which the one concerning the royal official's son is the second. Another interpretation is that of the two signs which Jesus performed in Galilee, the second was performed upon His coming from Judea to Galilee. And this indeed is the accepted and true interpretation; for He did not perform the former upon coming from Judea to Galilee; the former sign was the turning of water into wine, which happened the day after Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, found out where Jesus was staying and stayed with Him about the tenth hour of the day; for it is written: "The next day He wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip." Consider the arrangement, if we can understand it, where the evangelist marks this second sign as happening upon the Lord's coming from Judea to Galilee. We had previously said that the two visits of our Savior to Cana could symbolize His two comings to earth; which, being by His authority as He possessed every power both in heaven and on earth, was named Cana. During the first visit, after baptism, He delights us who were dining with Him and gives us to drink of the wine that comes from His power, though it was water at first when it was drawn, but became wine when Jesus transformed it. Indeed, truly before Jesus the scripture was water, but from Jesus, it has become wine for us. During the second visit, He releases from fever at the time of judgment, which He was trusted to bear by God, releasing from fever and completely healing the son of the royal official, whether named Abraham or some ruler referred to as royal. And these things have been recounted as leading to the previous ones. Since we must remember ourselves, it should be noted that His dual visitation to all creation can be understood. And you will notice if you lay down the first as preceding in this and the second as following, so that in the former those accepting Him rejoice, while in the latter those who are healed from every disease and the burning darts of the enemy are those who did not previously wish to drink of His wine. The first power is indivisible; for it was He who made the water wine in Cana, and they who drank it; the second, however, involves a kind of division; for the son of the royal official who was sick was not where Jesus was; for he was not in Cana but in Capernaum. And the message of power comes forth from Cana; for "Your son lives" was spoken in Cana; but the work of the message takes place in Capernaum; for there the son of the royal official who was sick was healed by Jesus' word at the seventh hour. We find this man healed by the word of Jesus, who was not believed to be present with him, as well as the centurion’s servant; for the Lord did not come into the house of the centurion when he said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only speak a word, and my servant shall be healed.” Therefore, He says to him, “Go, and as you have believed, let it be done for you.” And we have also noted that in Capernaum both were sick, the centurion’s servant and the nobleman’s son. Peter’s mother-in-law also, having been bedridden with a fever in Capernaum, He healed by touching her hand, causing her to arise and serve Him. And they were healed during the daytime in Capernaum: the nobleman’s son at the seventh hour, the centurion’s servant, and Peter’s mother-in-law before evening. “In the evening—according to Matthew, in Capernaum—they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed, and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.” Therefore, some are healed by Jesus later and others sooner; those at evening later, being lesser, for they were demon-possessed and in a worse condition than those healed during the day. One should attempt to gather the places where those in need of healing were found and note in which places other signs occurred, not just concerning the sick; for example, in Samaria, the sign was, “You have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband,” which caused the woman to be amazed and say, “I perceive that you are a prophet”; and to the townspeople, she says, “Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” One must also observe His words, where and why and upon what occasions they are spoken; for only through such observations and examinations, along with the sufferings, will you find little by little the fruits of your labors, the blessing in the psalms that says, “You shall eat the fruit of your labors.” Additionally, with regard to “This again is the second sign that Jesus did,” it must also be said that nowhere are the miracles mentioned alone; if they are spoken of anywhere, they are recorded along with the signs, as in “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe”; but often the signs are mentioned without the wonders, as they are now. And we must inquire whether there is any difference between wonders and signs. I think that extraordinary and wondrous powers, due to their extraordinary nature and their surpassing of what is customary, are called "wonders"; but those that are indicative of something beyond what happens are called "signs." Therefore, we also find the name "sign" used for non-extraordinary things. For instance, circumcision is called a sign by God in these words: "Every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you." Nowhere are wonders alone named, since nothing extraordinary happens in Scripture that is not a sign and symbol of something beyond what is sensibly occurring. As if a wonder occurred that was not symbolic of something else, it would have been written that Jesus, or Moses, or some other saint, performed the wonder. Therefore, when we are taught by Scripture to seek what something signifies, it says, "This second sign Jesus performed"; but when the royal official is rebuked for not believing without seeing extraordinary things, it is no longer said, "Unless you see signs, you will not believe"—since it is not the signs happening that induce belief as signs, if coincidentally the sign is not also a wonder—but "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe," with you believing for the extraordinary, while we also act because of what is signified by it. You will seek in the seventy-seventh Psalm, "He placed his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Tanis," whether signs and wonders differ in their subject, or if they are the same, insofar as they are signs that occurred in Egypt, with Egypt itself referring to some intelligible thing; but where they are wonders "in the field of Tanis," neither the wonders as wonders nor the field of Tanis as the field of Tanis are to be taken allegorically. But wonders, insofar as they are signs, need to be referred to their higher meaning, as does the field of Tanis to Egypt. Let us conclude here with the thirteenth volume, containing the account of events up to the seventh ministry of Jesus from the beginning: first, being baptized at Bethabara beyond the Jordan; secondly, making water wine at Cana of Galilee; third, descending to Capernaum where it is fitting that those who are weak are; fourth, ascending to Jerusalem; fifth, residing in Judea with his disciples; sixth, teaching in Samaria at Jacob's well, which we examined to the extent possible; and seventh, again being at Cana of Galilee. Henceforth, by God's grace, we will discuss what happened and was said during the festival of the Jews in Jerusalem.