677 In its allegorical sense, this official is Abraham or one of the fathers of the Old Testament, in so far as he adheres by faith to the king, that is, to Christ, about which we read, “I was made king by him over Zion” (Ps 2:6). Abraham adhered to him, for as is said below (8:56): “Abraham, your father, rejoiced that he might see my day.” The son of this official is the Jewish people: “We are the descendants of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to any one” (below 8:33). But they are sick from evil pleasures and incorrect doctrines. They are sick at Capernaum, i.e., in the abundance of goods which caused them to leave their God, according to, “The beloved grew fat and rebellious... he deserted the God who made him, and left God his Savior” (Dt 32:15).
678 In the moral sense, in the kingdom of the soul, the king is reason itself: “The king, who sits on his throne of judgment” (Prv 20:8). But why is reason called the king? Because man’s entire body is ruled by it: his affections are directed and informed by it, and the other powers of the soul follow it. But sometimes it is called an official [not the king], that is, when its knowledge is obscured, with the result that it follows inordinate passions and does not resist them: “They live with their foolish ideas, their understanding obscured by darkness” (Eph 4:17). Consequently, the son of this official, i.e., the affections, are sick, that is, they deviate from good and decline to what is evil. If reason were the king, that is, strong, its son would not be sick; but being only an official, its son is sick. This happens at Capernaum because a great many temporal goods are the cause of spiritual sickness: “This was the crime of your sister Sodom: richness, satiety in food, and idleness” (Ez 16:49).
679 Now we see the person making his request (v 47). First, we have the incentive for making his request. Secondly, the request itself. Thirdly, the need for the request.
680 The incentive for making the request was the arrival of Christ. So he says, When he, the official, heard that Jesus had come to Galilee from Judea, he went to him. For as long as the coming of Christ was delayed, men’s hope of being healed from their sins was that much fainter; but when it is reported that his coming is near, our hope of being healed rises, and then we go to him. For he came into this world to save sinners: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:22). Further, as Sirach says (18:23), we should prepare our soul by prayer, and we do this by going to God through our desires. And this is what the official did, as we read, he went to him. Amos (4:12) says, “Be prepared to meet your God, O Israel.”
681 The request of the official was that Christ heal his son. So the Evangelist says that he begged him to come down, out of compassion: “O that you would rend the heavens, and come down” (Is 64:1), and heal his son. We, too, ought to ask to be healed from our sins: “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against you” (Ps 40:5). For no one of himself can return to the state of justice; rather, he has to be healed by God: “I cannot help myself” (Jb 6:13). The fathers of the Old Testament interceded for the people of Israel in the same way; for as we read of one: “He loves his brothers, because he prays much for the holy city and for the people of Israel, Jeremiah, the prophet of God” (2 Me 15:14).
682 The need for this request was urgent, for the son was at the point of death. When a person is tempted, he is beginning to become sick; and as the temptation grows stronger and takes the upper hand, inclining him to consent, he is near death. But when he has consented, he is at the point of death and beginning to die. Finally, when he completes his sin, he dies; for as we read: “Sin, when it is completed, brings forth death” (Jas 1:15). The Psalm (33:22) says about this: “The death of sinners is the worst,” because it begins here and continues into the future without end.
683 Now he deals with the request for Christ to heal the son of the official. First, our Lord’s criticism is given. Secondly, the official’s request. Thirdly, the granting of the request.
684 Our Lord criticizes him for his lack of faith, saying, Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe. This raises a question, for it does not seem right to say this to this official, for unless he had believed that Christ was the Savior, he would not have asked him to heal his son.
The answer to this is that this official did not yet believe perfectly; indeed, there were two defects in his faith. The first was that although he believed that Christ was a true man, he did not believe that he had divine power; otherwise he would have believed that Christ could heal one even while absent, since God is everywhere, as Jeremiah (23:24) says: “I fill heaven and earth.” And so he would not have asked Christ to come down to his house, but simply give his command. The second defect in his faith, according to Chrysostom, was that he was not sure that Christ could heal his son: for had he been sure, he would not have waited for Christ to return to his homeland, but would have gone to Judea himself. But now, despairing of his son’s health, and not wishing to overlook any possibility, he went to Christ like those parents who in their despair for the health of their children consult even unskilled doctors.
685 In the second place, it does not seem that he should have been criticized for looking for signs, for faith is proved by signs. The answer to this is that unbelievers are drawn to Christ in one way, and believers in another way. For unbelievers cannot be drawn to Christ or convinced by the authority of Sacred Scripture, because they do not believe it; neither can they be drawn by natural reason, because faith is above reason. Consequently, they must be led by miracles: “Signs are given to unbelievers, not to believers” (1 Cor 14:22). Believers, on the other hand, should be led and directed to faith by the authority of Scripture, to which they are bound to assent. This is why the official is criticized: although he had been brought up among the Jews and instructed in the law, he wanted to believe through signs, and not by the authority of the Scripture. So the Lord reproaches him, saying, Unless you see signs and wonders, i.e., miracles, which sometimes are signs insofar as they bear witness to divine truth. Or wonders (prodigia), either because they indicate with utmost certitude, so that a prodigy is taken to be a “portent” or some “sure indication”; or because they portend something in the future, as if something were called a wonder as if showing at a great distance some future effect.
686 Now we see the official’s persistence, for he does not give up after the Lord’s criticism, but insists, saying. Lord, come down before my child dies: “We should pray always, and not lose heart” (Lk 18:1). This shows an improvement in his faith in one respect, that is, in that he calls him “Lord.” But there is not a total improvement, for he still thought that Christ had to be physically present to heal his son; so he asked Christ to come.
687 His request is granted by the Lord, for persevering prayer is answered. Jesus said to him: Go, your son lives. Here we have first, the statement by Christ, who cured the boy, that the boy was cured. Secondly, we ire told of the persons who witnessed the cure (v 51). Two things are mentioned concerning the first: the command of the Lord and the obedience of the official (v 50b).
688 As to the first, the Lord does two things. First, he orders; secondly, he affirms. He orders the official to go: hence he says, Go, i.e., prepare to receive grace by a movement of your free will toward God: “Turn to me, and you will be saved” (Is 45:22); and by a movement of your free will against sin. For four things are required for the justification of an adult sinner: the infusion of grace, the remission of guilt, a movement of the free will toward God, which is faith, and a movement of the free will against sin, which is contrition.
Then the Lord says that his son is healed, which was the request of the official: Your son lives .
689 One may ask why Christ refused to go down to the home of this official as asked, while he promised to go see the servant of the centurion. There are two reasons for this. One, according to Gregory, is to blunt our pride; the pride of us who offer our services to great men, but refuse to help the insignificant: since the Lord of all offered to go to the servant of the centurion, but refused to go to the son of an official: “Be well-disposed to the poor” (Sir 4:7). The other reason, as Chrysostom says, was that the centurion was already confirmed in the faith of Christ, and believed that he could heal even while not present; and so our Lord promised to go to show approval of his faith and devotion. But this official was still imperfect, and did not yet clearly know that Christ could heal even while absent. And so our Lord does not go, in order that he may realize his imperfection.
690 The obedience of this official is pointed out in two ways. First, because he believed what Christ said; so he says, The man took Jesus at his word, that is, Your son lives. Secondly, because he did obey the order of Christ; so he says, he started for home, progressing in faith, although not yet fully or soundly, as Origen says. This signifies that we must be justified by faith: “Justified by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). We also must go and start out by making progress: because he who stands still runs the risk of being unable to preserve the life of grace. For, along the road to God, if we do not go forward we fall back.
691 Next we see the servants bringing news of the healing. First, the news of the healing is given. Secondly, there is an inquiry about the time of the healing (v 52).
692 He says, While he was on his way down, from Cana of Galilee to his own home, his servants ran up to meet him —which shows that this official was wealthy and had many servants— with word that his son was going to live: and they did this because they thought that Christ was coming, and his presence was no longer necessary as the boy was already cured.
693 In the mystical sense, the servants of the official, i.e., of reason, are a man’s works, because man is master of his own acts and of the affections of his sense powers, for they obey the command and direction of reason. Now these servants announce that the son of the official, that is, of reason, lives, when a man’s good works shine out, and his lower powers obey reason, according to: “A man’s dress, and laughter, and his walk, show what he is” (Sir 19:27).
694 Because this official did not yet believe either fully or soundly, he still wanted to know whether his son had been cured by chance or by the command of Christ. Accordingly, he asks about the time of the cure. He asked them , the servants, at what time his boy got better. And he found that his son was cured at exactly the same hour that our Lord said, Go, your son lives . And no wonder, because Christ is the Word, through whom heaven and earth were made: “He spoke and they were made; he commanded and they were. created” (Ps. 148:5).
695 And they , his servants, told him that yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. In the mystical sense, the seventh hour, when the boy is cured of his fever, signifies the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, through whom sins are forgiven, according to: “Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you forgive, are forgiven” (below 20:22), and through whom spiritual life is produced in the soul: “It is the Spirit that gives life” (below 6:64). Again, the seventh hour signifies the appropriate time for.rest, for the Lord rested from all his work on the seventh day. This indicates that the spiritual life of man consists in spiritual rest or quiet, according to: “If you remain at rest, you will be saved” (Is 30:15). But of the evil we read: “The heart of the wicked is like the raging sea, which cannot rest” (Is 57:20).
696 Next, we are given the effect of this miracle (v 53). First, its fruit is mentioned. Secondly, this miracle is linked with another one (v 54).
697 He says, The father then realized, by comparing the hour mentioned by the servants with the hour of Christ’s affirmation, that it was at that very hour when Jesus told him, Your son lives. Because of this he was converted to Christ, realizing that it was by his power that the miracle was accomplished. He and his whole household became believers, that is, his servants and his aides, because the attitude of servants depends on the condition, whether good or wicked, of their masters: “As the judge of the people is himself, so also are his ministers” (Sir 10:2); and in Genesis (18:19) we read: “I know that he will direct his sons.”
This also shows that the faith of the official was constantly growing: for at the beginning, when he pleaded for his sick son, it was weak; then it began to grow more firm, when he called Jesus “Lord” then when he believed what the Lord said and started for home, it was more perfect, but not completely so, because he still doubted. But here, clearly realizing God’s power in Christ, his faith is made perfect, for as Proverbs (4:18) says: “The way of the just goes forward like a shining light, increasing to the full light of day.”
698 Finally, this miracle is linked with the previous one, This was the second sign Jesus had performed on returning from Judea to Galilee. We can understand this in two ways. In one way, that our Lord performed two miracles during this one trip from Judea to Galilee; but the first of these was not recorded, only the second. In the other way, we could say that Jesus worked two signs in Galilee at different times: the one of the wine, and this second one about the son of this official after he returned again to Galilee from Judea.