Jesus heals the royal official’s son who is near death

March 7, 2016

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Saint of the Day: Memorial of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Marty

Reading 1

Isaiah 65:17-21

17Thus says the LORD: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight; 19I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying; 20No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime; He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years, and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed. 

21They shall live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b

R. (2a) I will praise You, Lord, for You have rescued me.

2I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear and did not let my enemies rejoice over me. 4O LORD, You brought me up from the nether world; You preserved me from among those going down into the pit.

R. I will praise You, Lord, for You have rescued me.

5Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones, and give thanks to His holy name.

6For His anger lasts but a moment; a lifetime, His good will. At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing.

R. I will praise You, Lord, for You have rescued me.

11“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me; O LORD, be my helper.” 12aYou changed my mourning into dancing; 13bO LORD, my God, forever will I give You thanks.

R. I will praise You, Lord, for You have rescued me.

Verse Before The Gospel Amos 5:14

Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the LORD will be with you.

Gospel 
John 4:43-54

43At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.[1] 44For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place.[2] 45When He came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him, since they had seen all He had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast.

46Then He returned to Cana in Galilee, where He had made the water wine.

Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.[3] 47When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to Him and asked Him to come down and heal his son, who was near death.

48Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” 49The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

50Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. 51While the man was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.” 52The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe. 

53Now this was the second sign Jesus did when He came to Galilee from Judea.

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Notes on Readings:

[1] John 4:43-54 - Jesus' arrival in Cana in Galilee; the second sign. This section introduces another theme, that of the life-giving word of Jesus. It is explicitly linked to the first sign (John 2:11). The royal official believes (John 4:50). The natural life given his son is a sign of eternal life.

[2] John4:44 - Probably a reminiscence of a tradition as in Mark 6:4. Compare with Gospel of Thomas John 4:31: "No prophet is acceptable in his village, no physician heals those who know him."

[3] John 4:46-54 - The story of the cure of the royal official's son may be a third version of the cure of the centurion's son (Matthew 8:5-13) or servant (Luke 7;1-10). Compare also with Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30.