And I think that he who has not beheld all the works of Jesus in Jerusalem will not receive Jesus, nor will he sojourn — this sojourn being, as it were, a symbol of that other sojourn — with those who have not previously gone up to the feast and have not beheld all that he did in Jerusalem. "He came again therefore into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine."
What we were able to grasp concerning Cana we have said above. And it is not without purpose that two sojourns of Jesus occur in Cana; for perhaps they signify the two sojourns of the Savior into the world: the first, that he might gladden those feasting together; the second, that he might raise up one who had drawn near to death — not the son of a king, but of a certain royal official.
And perhaps the royal official was Abraham or Jacob, whose son — the people being his son — he will save at the end, after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And there can also be two sojourns of the Word in the soul: the first, supplying the wine that comes from water for the gladness of those feasting together; the second, removing all the remaining weakness and the danger leading toward death.
It is not at all surprising, since most of the works of God are hidden, that Jesus, doing many things for salvation in many places — of which the remaining recorded passages are types — sojourns twice in this Cana, thereby confirming for himself the possession of those from this land who believe in the Father through him. "And there was a certain royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum" — down to — "and he himself believed, and his whole household."
We do not find the term "royal official" at all common among the Jews; hence, as far as the historical account goes, we cannot readily determine who this royal official was, and after which king he was named.
Now the more simple-minded reader will suppose that this royal official was some man belonging to King Herod; another, similar to him, will say that this royal official was of Caesar's household, engaged in some business in Judea at that time; for it is not clearly to be found that he was a Jew, since it does not follow, from the fact that his son fell ill in Capernaum, that he himself was a native of that region.
His rank is also shown by the fact that, while he was already going down, his servants met him, saying that his — for the servants are spoken of in the plural — "child" [was well]. Let it be, then, however the historical account may stand, that the son of the royal official was better, according to the word of the Savior, having been freed from the fever at the seventh hour, and that his whole household believed.
Come then, let us investigate, as far as we are able, whose symbol this man and his son can be. As for the great king whose city is the true Jerusalem, and the king of those who reign, who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return — we know no other king who has come back except the one who said: "But I have been established king by him upon Zion, his holy mountain, proclaiming the ordinance of the Lord."
All those who have seen his day and rejoiced are "royal" ones, and those who believe in the Father through him come to bear the name of his kingdom; among whom we seek to identify a certain one, and his son who fell ill, and the things that follow from these.
Now we said above that the whole people is a son of Abraham, as they themselves also boast, saying: "We are the seed of Abraham, and have never been enslaved to anyone," and, "Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?"
For since the people boasted in him beyond the other fathers who came after him, the Savior also says: "Do not begin to say, We have Abraham as our father" — or, "Do not presume to say, We have Abraham as our father; for God is able out of these stones to raise up children for Abraham."
And why should one prolong the discourse with examples, since it is clear that he is the first to be styled father of the people, and is therefore preeminently called "father"? The royal official, then, is Abraham, and his son who fell ill in Capernaum and was about to die is the Israelite race, which grew weak in piety toward God and in the keeping of the divine laws, and, on the verge of dying to God, was struck by the fiery darts of the enemy — being "inflamed," and for this reason said to be feverish.
And it appears that the saints who have already departed this life do care about the people, as it is written in the books of Maccabees, very many years after the assumption of Jeremiah: "This is Jeremiah, the prophet of God, who prays much for the people."
See, then, whether it is possible for us to understand that Abraham, being a certain royal official, when his son had fallen ill and was about to die, requests that the ailing one be helped by our Savior, coming to him and asking that he come down and heal his son; for he was about to die.
Now the statement "Unless you see signs and wonders" spoken to him refers to the multitude of his sons, but perhaps also to himself. For just as John, expecting the coming of Christ, waited for the sign that had been given, that through it he might recognize the one prophesied (and the sign was: "He upon whom you see the Spirit also remaining, this is the Son of God"), so too the saints who had fallen asleep beforehand, expecting the sojourn of Christ in the body, identified him by means of the signs and wonders, believing through these in the one hoped for.
He entreats the Lord all the more urgently to come down to his sick child, fearing lest death should get there first and seize the ailing one; and Christ, by his word, drives away the fever, having promised the father concerning the life of the one in danger, through the words: "Go your way; your son lives."
This royal official has not only a son but also servants, of whom the symbols were the home-born slaves and those bought with silver belonging to Abraham — a certain lower and more humble kind of believers.
These, being with the sick child, behold his healing, and meet the father, announcing as good news the life of the one healed, through the words "Your child lives" — rejoicing, in that they had not before this expected, concerning the master's child, that he would live. And it is not without purpose that the fever leaves him at the seventh hour; for that number was one of rest.
The son in Capernaum, then, is the one who is sick and healed — in the "field of Consolation," a certain race of those who, though wearied, have not become entirely without fruit; and when the father comes to know the salvation of his son, the most complete faith comes to him, believing in Christ with his whole household.
As for how Jesus, having come down from Judea into Galilee, performed this as a second sign — coming to this point in what follows, we shall investigate it according to the letter, as far as we are able.
But if the royal official is also an image of some power among the rulers of this age, and his son is an image of the people especially under his authority, and, so to speak, as it were of his particular "election"; and if his illness is an image of the evil disposition contrary to the ruler's own choice, and Capernaum is an image of the region where those under him dwell — this must be considered.
For I think that some of the rulers too, struck with amazement at his power and divinity, have fled to him for refuge and made requests concerning those under their administration; since why, after all, should men admit repentance and change from unbelief to faith, while we should hesitate to say something similar concerning the powers?
Or let someone tell us the reason why those clothed in flesh and blood are able, having changed, to flee for refuge to God through Christ, while all those who possess a purer nature are incapable of faith in the Savior and of the amazement produced by the wondrous powers worked by him among his own — whereas I think that something similar happens also among the rulers, who change for the better at the sojourn of Christ, so that certain whole cities, or even nations, have come to have a closer relation to Christ than many others.
And according to this interpretation, there will be nothing absurd in the statement being addressed to the royal official: "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe."
The royal official, coming to him, can entreat concerning the power of God, that he might come down to the region where the child's sickness was and heal the one who had fallen ill; but it is not at all necessary that he should have come down to the royal official's feverish son; for it is enough that "Your son lives" be spoken for the salvation of the child, the word being effective and productive of whatever the speaker wills.
Now Heracleon seems to say that the royal official is the Demiurge, since he too was king over those under him; and because his kingdom is small and temporary, he says, he was called "royal official" — as it were a certain small king appointed by the universal King over a small kingdom. And he explains the son in Capernaum as the part of the middle region that has descended toward the sea — that is, the part joined to matter — and he says that this one's own man was sick, that is, was not in a natural condition, being in ignorance and sins.
Then, as for "from Judea into Galilee" — instead of "from the Judea that is from above" … … but I do not know how he, moved by the phrase "he was about to die," thinks that the doctrines of those who suppose the soul to be immortal are overturned, supposing that this contributes to the same conclusion as the doctrine that both soul and body perish in Gehenna.
And Heracleon does not consider the soul to be immortal, but disposed toward salvation, saying that it is the corruptible thing that puts on incorruption, and the mortal that puts on immortality, when its death is swallowed up in victory.
In addition to these things, he also says that "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe" is spoken fittingly to such a person, whose nature is to be persuaded through works and through perception, and not to believe through reason.
As for "Come down before my child dies," he thinks this is said because death is the end of the law, which destroys by means of sins; before, then, he says, being completely put to death according to his sins, the father asks the only Savior to help the son, that is, this kind of nature.
He has understood this in reference to the Savior, since he did not say "let him live," nor did he indicate that he himself had furnished the life. And he says that, having come down to the ailing one and healed him of his sickness — that is, of his sins — and having given him life through forgiveness, he said: "Your son lives."
And he adds, concerning "the man believed," that the Demiurge too is easily persuaded — believing that the Savior is able to heal even without being present.
He has understood the servants of the royal official to be the angels of the Demiurge, who, in announcing "Your child lives," mean that he is now in a fitting and proper condition, no longer doing unfitting things; and for this reason he thinks that the servants announce to the royal official the things concerning the salvation of the son, since he supposes that it is the angels who first observe the deeds of the people in the world, to see whether, since the Savior's sojourn, they conduct themselves vigorously and sincerely.
Further, concerning the seventh hour, he says that through this hour the nature of the one healed is characterized. In addition to all this, he explained "he himself believed, and his whole household" as having been said with reference to the angelic order and to the men more closely related to him.
He says that a question is raised concerning certain angels, whether they will be saved — those who came down to the daughters of men. And he thinks that the destruction of the men of the Demiurge is indicated in the words: "The sons of the kingdom will go out into the outer darkness."
And he says that Isaiah prophesies concerning these in the words: "I have begotten and raised up sons, but they have rejected me" — whom he calls "strange sons," and "an evil and lawless seed," and one who has made the vineyard yield thorns.
These, then, are the views of Heracleon, which — being spoken rather boldly and impiously — ought to have been demonstrated with much argumentation, if indeed they were true. But he does not know how it is that he also disbelieves in the immortality of the soul, not having grasped how many things are signified by the word "death."
For, in perceiving the thing signified, he ought to have examined with careful attention and precision whether the soul is mortal according to every sense in which the word is signified.
For if it is because the soul is receptive of sin, and "the soul that sins, it shall die," then we too will say it is mortal; but if he supposes death to mean the complete dissolution and disappearance of the soul, we will not accept this, being unable even in thought to conceive of a mortal substance changing into an immortal one, and a corruptible nature into an incorruptible one; for this is like saying that something changes from a body into a bodiless thing — as though there were some common underlying substrate of the nature of bodies and bodiless things, which remains, just as those skilled in these matters say that matter remains while its qualities change into incorruption. But it is not the same thing for a corruptible nature to put on incorruption, and for a corruptible nature to change into incorruption.
Further, since he supposed that the psychic nature is persuaded through works and perception, and not through reasoning, we will ask him concerning Paul, of what nature he was. For if he was of a spiritual nature, how did he come to believe through the wondrous manifestation? But if he could not have believed otherwise than through the wondrous manifestation, it follows, according to their own view, that he too was psychic.
And how is it not impious to hold that the angels see the vigor and sincerity of the conduct of those bettered by the power of the Savior before the Demiurge does — contrary both to the plain sense of what is said concerning the Demiurge, and also contrary to the Scripture that says: "If a man hides himself in secret places, shall I not see him?" and "The Lord tries the reins and the hearts," and "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain"?
And how will he preserve also the saying, "who knows all things before their coming into being"? And how is the nature of the one healed characterized any more by the number of the hour, than the nature of the healing is characterized as taking place in the number proper to rest? As for the statement that there are "corruptions of psychic beings," recorded at the end of what we have set forth of his sayings, this is a matter of using the same term equivocally, and of introducing another, a fourth nature, which he does not intend. "This again is the second sign that Jesus did, having come from Judea into Galilee."
The saying is ambiguous; for it signifies, on the one hand, something like this: in the sojourn from Judea into Galilee, Jesus performed two signs, of which the one concerning the son of the royal official is the second; and on the other hand, something like this: there being two signs which Jesus did in Galilee, he performed the second having come from Judea into Galilee.
And this latter is the acceptable and true interpretation; for he did not perform the first sign having come from Judea into Galilee (the first sign being the one concerning the changing of the water into wine), which took place on the day after Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, having asked where he was staying, had remained with the Lord about the tenth hour of the day; for it is written: "On the next day he wished to go out into Galilee, and finds Philip."
See whether we are able to understand the design in the evangelist's having also noted specifically that this became the second sign, occurring when the Lord had come down from Judea into Galilee.
We said above that the two sojourns of our Savior into Cana can be taken as a symbol of his two sojourns into the earth — this place, because it came to belong to him, he having received all authority as in heaven and on earth, was named Cana.
In the first sojourn, then, after the washing, he gladdens us as we dwell together with him, giving us to drink of the wine from his power — it being water when it was previously drawn, but having become wine when Jesus transformed it. For indeed, truly, before Jesus the Scripture was water, but from Jesus it has become wine for us.
But in the second sojourn he releases from the fever at the time of the judgment which he was entrusted by God to judge, releasing from the fever and healing completely the son of the royal official, whether it be Abraham or some ruler called "royal official."
These things, then, are said as pertaining to a certain narrative bordering on the previous ones. But since we must also be mindful of ourselves, it must be said that it is possible for this twofold sojourn to be understood in relation to the whole of his possession.
You will observe whether, in this respect, the first must be called the preceding one and the second the one that follows, so that by the preceding one those who received him are gladdened, while by the second those who had not previously been willing to drink of his wine are released from every sickness and from the fiery darts of the enemy.
And the effects of the first power are undivided; for in Cana, both he who made the water wine and those who drank were together. But the effects of the second have, as it were, a certain division; for the son of the royal official, being sick, was not where Jesus was.
For he was not in Cana, but in Capernaum. And the word of power goes forth from Cana; for it is in Cana that "Your son lives" was spoken; but the work of the word takes place in Capernaum; for there the sick son of the royal official was healed by the word of Jesus, at the seventh hour.
This one, then, we find healed by a word, by Jesus who was thought not to be present to him; and likewise the servant of the centurion; for the Lord does not go to the centurion's house either, since the latter said: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof; but only speak the word, and he will be healed"; wherefore he says to him: "Go your way, and as you have believed, let it be done to you."
We have also observed that both were sick in Capernaum: the centurion's servant and the royal official's son. And Peter's mother-in-law also, lying ill, was burning with fever in Capernaum; and having touched her hand, he healed the one who was lying ill, so that, having been raised up, she ministered to him.
And these were healed by day in Capernaum: the royal official's son at the seventh hour, and the centurion's servant and Peter's mother-in-law before evening. "But when evening came" (according to Matthew, in Capernaum) "they brought to him many who were possessed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick." Some, then, are healed by Jesus more slowly, and others more quickly; for those healed in the evening were healed more slowly, being lesser — for they were possessed by demons and were sick — than those healed by day.
It is worth taking pains to gather together the places where those needing healing were found, and to note in what places other signs occurred, and not those concerning the sick; as, for instance, in Samaria the sign was: "You have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband" — at which the woman, struck with astonishment, says: "I perceive that you are a prophet"; and she says to the townspeople: "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did; is not this the Christ?"
One must also observe his sayings — where, and for what reason, and in connection with what deeds they are spoken; for it is only by such observations and examinations that one will find, through trials, little by little, the fruits of labors, as the blessing in the Psalms says: "You shall eat the fruits of your labors."
Further, concerning the phrase "This again is a second sign that Jesus did," this too must be said: that nowhere are "wonders" named alone; for wherever it is mentioned, it is recorded together with "signs," as in "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." But in many places "signs" are recorded without "wonders," just as also now.
And one must also inquire whether wonders (terata) and signs (semeia) differ from one another. I think that the paradoxical and wondrous powers are called 'wonders' precisely because of their paradoxical nature and their departure from the ordinary, being marvelous and beyond human capacity; while those things that are indicative of certain other things beyond what actually happens are called 'signs.' For this reason we also find the term 'sign' applied even to things that are not paradoxical.
That is, [concerning] the sign, it is said by God in these words: 'Every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and you.'
But nowhere are 'wonders' alone named, since there is nothing paradoxical that occurs in Scripture which is not also a sign and symbol of something other than what has happened in the realm of sense-perception; for if some wondrous thing occurred that was not symbolic of anything else, it would have been written simply that Jesus -- or, for instance, Moses, or one of the saints -- 'performed the wonder' [and nothing more].
Now, when we are taught by Scripture that we must seek out that of which the thing that has happened is a sign, it says: 'This again is the second sign that Jesus did.' But when the royal official is reproached as one who would not believe without seeing wondrous things, it no longer says: 'Unless you see signs, you will not believe' (for signs, occurring as such, insofar as they are signs, do not by themselves invite one to believe, should the sign happen not to be also a wonder); but rather: 'Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe' -- you believing because of the paradoxical element, but we, in addition to this, also fulfilling it because of that of which it is a sign.
You will also inquire about the verse in the seventy-seventh psalm: 'How he set his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis' -- whether signs and wonders differ in their underlying subject, or whether they are the same things, which, insofar as they are signs, occurred 'in Egypt' (Egypt itself being raised up to some intelligible meaning), but insofar as they are wonders, occurred 'in the field of Tanis' -- neither the wonders, as wonders, nor the field of Tanis, as the field of Tanis, being allegorized; but rather, the wonders too, insofar as they are signs, require elevation to a higher sense (anagoge), as does the field of Tanis, insofar as it is Egypt.
At this point let us also bring to a close the thirteenth book, which contains the account of Jesus' visits, from the beginning up to the seventh: for first he comes to be baptized at Bethabara by the Jordan; second, having come to Cana of Galilee, he makes the water wine; third, he goes down to Capernaum, and it is indeed fitting that, where he goes down, the sick should be; fourth, he goes up to Jerusalem; fifth, he spends time with his disciples in the land of Judea; sixth, he taught in Samaria by Jacob's well, matters which we have examined to the best of our ability; and seventh, he comes for the second time to Cana of Galilee. In what follows, God granting it, we shall discuss the things done and said by him at the feast of the Jews in Jerusalem.