The Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity AD 2024

St. John, speaking about the healing of the nobleman's son in Capernaum, says that “this is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee”. In total, St. John mentions in his Gospel seven miracles that Jesus did. This number cannot be accidental, because according to the biblical number symbolism, seven represents the whole. The seven miracles are:

·      Water turned into wine at the wedding feast in Cana

·      Healing of nobleman’s son

·      Healing the paralytic at Bethesda

·      Feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish

·      Walking on water

·      Healing the man blind from birth

·      Raising Lazarus from the dead

These seven miracles can no doubt be interpreted differently, and we cannot say with absolute certainty what St. John’s point was when he brought them up in this way. He himself says at the end of his Gospel that Jesus did and spoke much more – more than all the books in the world could contain. His choice he justifies as follows: “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.”

So, what could be the meaning of these seven miracles and signs? One possible interpretation would be:

God did not send His only begotten Son to judge the world, but to save those who receive Him and believe in Him. Jesus came to completely renew humanity and the whole world, just as He turned water into wine. Jesus came to give us faith that God has power over everything, including sickness and death, and that He wants to use this authority for the good of people, as He gave faith, life and health to the nobleman of Capernaum and his son.

Jesus came to restore lost hope and the meaning of life to mankind, just as He restored it to the man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus came to give us the true Bread of Life – not just as temporal food, but as Heavenly Bread, a sharing of His crucified and risen Body and Blood.

Jesus came to show that God has the authority and the will to protect us from all evil and carry us through all trials if we trust ourselves in His loving hands – just as He came to His disciples walking on the water of the lake and stilled the stormy winds. Jesus came to awaken in us a longing for light – the light of truth – just as He gave sight to a man born blind.

And finally: Jesus came to show that He really has the power to bring back from the dead even those who are already buried in the depths of the grave - just as He raised His friend Lazarus from the dead.

These miracles are not only part of St. John’s Gospel, but they are meant for all of us: God wants to do all this for us, so that we should not perish but inherit eternal life.