John 4:46

John’s reference to Cana and the first miracle seems intended to remind the reader of that event and to suggest the completion of a cycle. John did not reveal the reason Jesus returned there. The royal official (Gr. basilikos) was by his title a man who served a king, in either a civil or a military capacity. [Note: Edersheim, 1:424.] This was probably Herod Antipas in view of where he lived. Antipas was not an official king, but the people popularly regarded him as one (cf. Mark 6:14). This official was probably Jewish (John 4:48). Whether he was the Chuza who was Herod’s steward, mentioned in Luke 8:3, remains a mystery. Jesus also healed the servant of a Gentile centurion in Capernaum (Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:2-10), but that was a different individual and a different occasion. An important feature of this sign was the distance between Jesus’ location, in Cana, and where the official’s son lay ill, in Capernaum.