Chapter Two
Jn. 2:1. On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there.
Jn. 2:2. Jesus and His disciples were also invited to the wedding.
They invite the Lord to the wedding not because they had seen His miracles, not as a great man, but simply as an acquaintance. Indicating this, the evangelist says: "the Mother of Jesus was there" and His brothers. Just as she and the brothers were invited, so too was the Lord. The Lord does not reject the invitation and comes, because He looked not to His own dignity, but to what is useful and beneficial for us. He who did not consider it beneath Himself to be among servants could even less consider it beneath Himself to go to a wedding.
Jn. 2:3. Wine having run short, the Mother of Jesus says to Him: They have no wine.
The Mother urges Him to perform a miracle, because from the events of the conception and birth She had received a lofty understanding of His power. For She kept all these things in Her heart (Luke 2:19, 51) and from this concluded that Her Son possesses power above that of man. But the Mother of God did not have reason to ask Jesus to perform a miracle on the grounds that He had performed other miracles. For, being a child, He did not perform a single miracle; otherwise He would have been known to all. At the same time, the Mother also remembered the testimonies of John, in which he bore witness concerning Him, and She already saw that disciples were following Him, and from all of this She inferred the power of Her Son.
Jn. 2:4. Jesus says to her: What have I to do with You, Woman? My hour has not yet come.
But He rebukes Her, and not without reason. "If," He says, "there is no wine, then those who do not have it should have come and asked for it themselves, not You, the Mother." For when one's own relatives ask for a miracle to be performed, the spectators are scandalized, but when those in need themselves ask, then the matter is free from suspicion.
"My hour has not yet come," He said not because He is subject to dependence on time or observes certain hours (for how would this befit the Creator of times and ages?), but because He accomplishes all things at the fitting time. Since He was unseen and unknown to many, because not all were disciples, and even those present at the wedding did not know Him, for otherwise they themselves would have made the request about the wine — since all this was so, He said: "My hour has not yet come," that is, the fitting time has not yet arrived.
But still the madness of Arius rises up, attempting to prove that the Lord is subject to hours and times. So learn, accursed one! If He were dependent on hours, then how did He ultimately perform the miracle? For if, as you say, He is dependent on hours and times, and His hour had not yet come, it would follow that He would not be able to perform the miracle. Yet He did perform the miracle; therefore, He is independent of hours.
Notice, if you will, how He does not entirely nor in all things oppose His Mother, but rebuked Her a little and again fulfills Her request, rendering honor to Her and giving us a model of respect for parents.
Jn. 2:5. His Mother said to the servants: whatever He tells you, do it.
The Mother says to the servants "whatever He says to you, do it" so that the request might be strengthened through their own approach and petition, so that it would be clear that the refusal was not from powerlessness, but with the aim of dispelling the opinion that He resorts to miracles out of self-glorification and vain ostentation.
Jn. 2:6. Now there were set there six stone waterpots, standing according to the custom of the Jewish purification, containing two or three measures each.
The stone water jars were used for the purification of the Jews. For the Jews washed themselves almost every day and only then partook of food. Whether they touched a leper, a dead body, or had contact with a woman, they washed themselves as being already unclean. And since Palestine was waterless and it was not possible to find many springs, they always filled the water jars with water, so as not to run to the rivers in case of defilement. He said "according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews" not without purpose, but so that none of the unbelievers would think that some sediment of wine remained in the vessels, and then, when water was poured in and mixed, a very weak wine was produced — he shows that they were never receptacles for wine.
Jn. 2:7. Jesus says to them: Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them to the brim.
But could He not have produced wine from nothing, without filling the vessels with water? Of course He could; but the greatness of miracles often diminishes their acceptability.
There could also have been the purpose of having the servants who carried the water into the vessels serve as witnesses of the miracle. Furthermore, so that we might learn that it is He who transforms the wine and the moisture of the grape, which is nothing but water.
Jn. 2:8. Draw out now, and bring to the master of the feast. And they brought it.
He commands the servants to bring the drink for tasting to the master of the feast not without purpose, but so that no one would think that it was a gathering of drunkards, that their taste had been corrupted, and that in a state of drunkenness they mistook water for wine. So that such a suspicion would have no place, He entrusts the tasting to the sober one — the master of the feast. For those who were entrusted with serving at such occasions strictly abstained, so that under their direction everything would proceed in an orderly and decorous manner.
But let us pray that this may be accomplished in us as well, that now there may take place, as it were, a marriage, that is, a union of God with our soul, while we are still in Cana of Galilee, that is, in the land of this low and perverted world, in every respect distorted and distorting. But this marriage does not take place without the presence of Christ and His Mother and the disciples. For how shall he be united with God who does not believe in Christ, born of Mary and speaking through the apostles?
Let us see, then, what miracle the Lord performs at such a wedding and at such a union of God with the soul. He transforms water into wine, filling our six stone water jars. By "water" you may understand our wateriness, laxity, and feebleness in life and opinions; by five of the "water jars," the five senses, through which we err in deeds; by the sixth water jar, the intellect, by which we waver in opinions. Thus our Lord Jesus Christ, the evangelical Word, healing our falls — whether in the active life, the intellectual, or the contemplative — transforms what is fluid and unsteady in us into "wine," that is, into a life and teaching that is astringent and gladdening, and in this way our six water jars are filled with this beautiful drink: the senses, so that they do not err in action; the intellect, so that we do not err in opinions.
Take note that there stood stone waterpots according to the custom of the purification of the Jews. The word "Judah" means "confession." He who confesses is purified in the five senses, by which he formerly sinned. The eye saw evil; the same eye during confession weeps and thus serves for purification. The ear heard lewd songs; the same ear again inclines to the words of the mouth of God. So it is with the other senses as well. The mind errs in its opinions; it again purifies the former evil by inclining toward right-mindedness. The waterpots are "stone" either because our composition is from earth, or because the intended vessels for such wine must be firm and indestructible. The mind of Paul was a stone waterpot both at the time when he was persecuting, for he was zealous for the traditions of his fathers beyond all his contemporaries (Gal. 1:14); and at the time when he was preaching, for he had such power in words that the Lycaonians, as the chief speaker, took him for Hermes (Acts 14:12).
Jn. 2:9. When the master of the feast tasted the water that had become wine—and he did not know where this wine came from, only the servants who had drawn the water knew—then the master of the feast calls the bridegroom
Jn. 2:10. And he says to him: Every man serves the good wine first, and when they have drunk freely, then the inferior; but you have kept the good wine until now.