rophesy among them.

It is not the truth of the proverb that presents any difficulty, but its
application to the present case. For the fact that a prophet has no
honour in his own country would seem to be a reason for His declining to
go to Galilee, whereas it is here introduced as His reason for going
there. The explanation is found in the beginning of the chapter, where
we are told that it was in search of retirement He was now leaving the
popularity and publicity of Judaea, and repairing to His own country.

But, as frequently on other occasions, He now found that He could not
be hid. His countrymen, who had thought so little of Him previously, had
heard of His Judaean fame, and echoed the recognition and applause of the
south. They had not discovered the greatness of this Galilean, although
He had lived among them for thirty years; but no sooner do they hear
that He has created a sensation in Jerusalem than they begin to be proud
of Him. Every one has seen the same thing a hundred times. A lad who has
been despised as almost half-witted in his native place goes up to
London and makes a name for himself as poet, artist, or inventor, and
when he returns to his village everybody claims him as cousin. Such a
change of sentiment was not likely to escape the observation of Jesus
nor to deceive Him. It is with an accent of disappointment, not
unmingled with reproach, that He utters His first recorded words in
Galilee: "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe."

This sets us in the point of view from which we can clearly see the
significance of the one incident which John selects from all that
happened during our Lord's stay in Galilee at this time. John wishes to
illustrate the difference between the Galilean and the Samaritan faith,
and the possibility of the one growing into the other; and he does so by
introducing the brief narrative of the courtier from Capernaum.
Accounts, more or less accurate, of the miracles of Jesus in Jerusalem
had found their way even into the household of Herod Antipas. For no
sooner was He known to have arrived in Galilee than one of the royal
household sought Him out to obtain a boon which no royal favour could
grant. The supposition is not without plausibility that this nobleman
was Chuza, Herod's chamberlain, and that this miracle, which had so
powerful an effect on the family in which it was wrought, was the
origin of that devotion to our Lord which was afterwards show