Long Distance Healing

How did John know what happened after the royal official left?

Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him." The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee. - John 4:46-54

I don't mean to be a skeptic here, but the man traveled for a day before he learned that his son was cured. 

Did he send someone back to Jesus to tell him, like the one leper who returned after ten were cured?

Or did Jesus learn of the man's encounter with his servants by other means?

Jesus knew he healed the boy, so the man didn't need to return to tell him, but how did John know?

John's purpose in telling the story is to show us a sign that Jesus is the Messiah. His motive is clear, so maybe, he investigated. Maybe, since he was writing this much later, he went and talked to the official or his servants and got the rest of the story. 

John's style of writing was popular at the time. He takes the omniscient point of view. This is a viewpoint that is all-knowing, like God. He shows us what is happening through external eyes that see everyone, everywhere, so we can follow the man on the road away from Jesus and the disciples and still see and hear what happens to him.

Some authors write like this today, but many pick one or more points of view of their characters so we readers can know what they are thinking. We never know what Jesus is thinking. We just see and hear what he does and have to imagine what was going through his head at the time.

So, just because we don't know how John knew these things, it doesn't mean John made it up. We read the story, and like the royal official, we go on in faith.

More to come...