Cana

A reading for Monday, December 29, 2013: John 4:46-54

Jesus is back in Cana!  The news would have spread across the region of Galilee like a wildfire.  The one who turned water into wine is back in our tiny village.  We were surprised the last time Jesus was here, choosing to perform the first miracle in such an obscure place as Cana.  How much more surprising is it that he would return?

The town, and the region must have been buzzing.  So much so that a ruler that lived twenty-five miles away in the much larger city of Capernaum has heard.  The ruler has a son that is to die.  Perhaps he has tried everything else to heal and save his son.  Doctors, prayers, waiting patiently and not-so-patiently, and none of it can save him.  The ruler is desperate.

We know just how desperate because the ruler chooses to make the journey of twenty-five miles himself.  He does not send a servant or summons Jesus to come to him.  He walks from the seat of his power, the city on the coast of Galilee up into the hills to the small, obscure town to seek out the one he believes can heal his son.  We can see his tears, and hear the waver in his voice as he begs Jesus "Sir, come down before my little boy dies."

Jesus heals.  He saves the man's child just as he said he would.  The servants are the ones that bring the news.  Sir... your son has been saved.  The faithfulness of God delivers the child when all else had failed.  It's another miracle.  How much more surprising is it that Jesus has done this again in Cana?

The message is clear.  Jesus has come for all.  From servant to ruler, from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north, from big cities like Jerusalem to tiny, obscure hamlets like Cana, people will come from east and west, north and south, to know and experience the Kingdom of God.  

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord... we are saved!