John 2

John 2:1

FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS—HE CHANGES WATER INTO WINE

[John 2, 1—11]

THREE days after these events there was a marriage in Cana¹ of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also, together with His disciples², was among the guests. While they were at table, the wine failed, and Mary said to Jesus: “They have no wine.‘³ He answered: “Woman⁴, what is it to me and to thee? My hour⁵ is not yet come.” But Mary, knowing the goodness of her Divine Son, and convinced that He would not refuse her request, spoke to the waiters: “Whatever He shall say to you, do ye.‘⁶

¹ Cana. This little town lay about six miles to the north of Nazareth.

² His disciples. Jesus travelled back from the Jordan to Nazareth with His five disciples. He did not find His Mother there, as she had gone to the marriage at Cana probably she was related to the bride or bridegroom. Jesus also went on to Cana, arriving there, perhaps, towards evening. He and His disciples being invited to the marriage-feast, the number of guests was increased by six persons, and, in consequence, the wine came to an end before the feast was over. It is evident that the bride and bridegroom were poor people, and not able to procure more wine. Their embarrassment was great, and they felt their poverty acutely. [It is more probable that Jesus travelled via Lake Tiberias to Bethsaida and thence back to Nazareth via Cana, and was therefore invited to the wedding, as His Mother was there.]

³ No wine. Thus spoke Mary, in the fulness of her compassion for the poor bridegroom. She did not in so many words ask our Lord to help them by a miracle, but He well understood what it was that her compassionate heart desired.

⁴ Woman. Woman is here a title of honour and equivalent to “Lady”. The words “what is it to me and to thee” sound harsh in our language, but not necessarily so in Hebrew. The meaning here is “why should we trouble or interfere”? The words therefore imply no rebuke and no refusal, as the event shows.

⁵ My hour. The hour for such a public manifestation of My glory. Thus spoke Jesus, because He had intended to reveal Himself and His divine power for the first time at Jerusalem, at the Feast of the Pasch. But Mary’s humble confidence could not be shaken, and she prayed the Heavenly Father to hasten “the hour” of His Son, and meanwhile she made preparations for a miracle.

⁶ Do ye. Even if you do not understand the good of it. — 440 XIV. FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS HE CHANGES WATER INTO WINE.

Now there were in the room six water-jars$^(1)$ of stone, containing two or three measures$^(2)$ apiece. Jesus gave orders to the waiters: “Fill the water-pots with water.” They immediately filled them to the brim. He then said to them: “Draw out$^(3)$ now, and carry to the chief steward$^(4)$ of the feast.”

They did so; and the steward, not knowing whence the wine was, said to the bridegroom: “Every man at first sets forth good wine, and later on that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine$^(5)$ until now.” This first miracle Jesus wrought in Cana of Galilee, at the request of His Blessed Mother, and His disciples, seeing His divine power, believed in Him$^(6)$.

COMMENTARY.

The object of our Lord’s miracles. We can see clearly by this story the reason why our Lord worked miracles. His first object was to induce men to believe in the divinity of His mission and in the truth of His doctrine (see the words of Nicodemus, chapter XV: “No man can do these miracles which Thou doest, unless God be with Him”). If God were with Jesus, then everything which He taught must be true, because God is only with what is true. The second object of our Lord’s miracles was to instruct men not only by words, but by deeds also. The miracle at Cana teaches us that we ought, according to our means, to help our neighbours in their necessities. It is also typical of that great and lasting miracle of divine love, power and wisdom, the changing of bread into the Body of our Lord Jesus, and of wine into His Blood.

$^(1)$ Water jars. These jars contained water in which the guests washed their hands, and if they came from a distance, their feet also, before eating.

$^(2)$ Three measures. Or about nine gallons. The six jars together held more than fifty gallons. The carrying of so much water took some time, and aroused general attention. All those present must have said to themselves: “Why is so much water being brought in?”

$^(3)$ Draw out. The wine was usually transferred from the large vessels into flagons by means of spoons.

$^(4)$ Chief steward. His duty was to superintend the distribution of the food and drink. Usually a kinsman of the bridegroom filled this post.

$^(5)$ The good wine. Our Lord had changed the water into wine by His mere will, without speaking a word. We know that this wine must have been exceptionally good, by what the steward said to the bridegroom. We can imagine the bridegroom’s reply to the reproach of the chief steward: “This wine is not mine: I do not know whence it comes.” Then the waiters were questioned, and related the whole proceeding.

$^(6)$ Believed in Him. But did not they already believe in Him? Yes, indeed; but hitherto their faith had been mostly based on the testimony of the Baptist; now, however, they acknowledged His glory on account of the great miracle which He had worked, and which mightily confirmed their faith.

— XIV. FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS- HE CHANGES WATER INTO WINE. 441

Thirdly, our Lord worked miracles in order to help men in their sufferings and necessities. By the miracle at the marriage-feast Jesus desired to deliver the bridegroom from an awkward dilemma, and to restore the festal joy. The help given was so lavish that a quantity of wine remained over after the feast; just as, later on, after the feeding of the five thousand, twelve baskets full of bread remained over. Let us recognize in all this the goodness of Jesus, and appeal to His Sacred Heart for help in all our necessities, both spiritual and temporal.

The power of Mary’s intercession. This first miracle, which confirmed the faith of our Lord’s disciples, was wrought at Mary’s intercession, for it was by her persuasion that He first manifested His glory by a striking miracle at Cana instead of at Jerusalem. Let us contemplate Mary’s compassion on the distress of the poor bride and bridegroom, her living faith in the omnipotence of Jesus, and her confidence in His goodness. Mary is ever willing to help us by her intercession; but then we must obey her exhortation: “Whatever He (Jesus) shall say to you, do ye!”

Matrimony. By His presence at the marriage-feast of Cana Jesus honoured and sanctified marriage, which had already been instituted in Paradise. It was always from the beginning an indissoluble contract sanctioned by God. But now it is to become even more sacred and indissoluble. For Christ is going to make it a Sacrament and a symbol of His own union with the Church. Hence He comes here with the first fruits of His Church to celebrate, so to speak, a double marriage-feast, that of Himself and His Church, and that of the bridegroom and bride.

Lawful pleasures. The fact of our Lord taking part in the marriage-feast teaches us that it is lawful and pleasing to God that we should take part in innocent recreations and harmless pleasures, rejoicing with those who rejoice.

St. Joseph is not mentioned in this story, nor in any part of our Lord’s public life, even in His Passion. He had already died a blessed death in the arms of Jesus and in the presence of the Blessed Virgin. Therefore the Church invokes the faithful foster-father of Jesus as the patron of a happy death. We ask him for his intercession, that we, like him, may leave this world, united to Jesus by sanctifying grace, and especially united to Him in Holy Communion.

–

APPLICATION. Are your pleasures always of such a kind that Jesus and Mary might be present at them? Have you never taken part in sinful amusements, or pleasure in improper conversation and actions? Do you always avoid strife and quarrels with your companions? St. Paul says: “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4, 4).

— 442 XV. JESUS DRIVES THE SELLERS OUT OF THE TEMPLE.—NICODEMUS.

John 2:13

JESUS DRIVES THE SELLERS OUT OF THE TEMPLE

[John 2, 13 to 1, 21]

HIS DISCOURSE WITH NICODEMUS.

THE Passover of the Jews being now at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem (Fig. 69)$^(1)$. Finding in the court of the Temple men that sold oxen, sheep and doves for sacrifice, together with money-changers$^(2)$, He made a whip of small cords and drove them all out of the Temple. He overthrew the money-tables, and said to them that sold doves$^(3)$: “Take these things$^(4)$ hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic.” Then the disciples remembered that it was written: “The zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up.”$^(5)$

$^(1)$ Jerusalem. From Cana Jesus with His disciples went to Capharnaum on the Lake of Genesareth, and from thence He passed on to Jerusalem to keep the Pasch, meaning to come forward there openly as the Messias (John 2, 12).

$^(2)$ Money-changers. In the great outer court of the Gentiles there were cattle-dealers who sold beasts for the sacrifices, and money-changers who changed Roman and Greek money into Jewish, because offerings for the treasury of the Temple, which every Jew was bound to make, could only be paid in Jewish coin. The beasts defiled the sacred precincts: the bagging and bargaining of the mercenary dealers and dishonest money-changers, the shouts of the cattle-drivers, the lowing of the oxen and the bleating of the sheep, all this caused a great deal of noise, and not only made any worship in the outer court of the Gentiles an impossibility, but even disturbed the worshippers in the other courts. When Jesus saw this unholy traffic going on, He was seized with a righteous indignation, and, making a scourge, He drove the dealers and beasts out of the Temple. No one ventured to resist Him! All, even the stubborn oxen, retreated before Him and obeyed His word of authority. His angry glance exercised a supernatural power. “Heavenly fire gleamed from His eyes, and Divine Majesty shone on His countenance” (St. Jerome).

$^(3)$ Doves. Jesus treated these more gently, both because their business was less noisy, and because the sellers of doves were poor people, who sold the birds to the poor at a cheap rate.

$^(4)$ These things. The cages of the doves.

$^(5)$ Eaten me up. This passage occurs in Ps. 68, 10. The Psalm relates to the Messias and His sufferings. When the disciples saw with what holy zeal Jesus purified the Temple, this passage which speaks of the zeal of the Messias for the house of God came to their memory, and they found in it a fresh proof that Jesus was the Messias.

— XV. JESUS DRIVES THE SELLERS OUT OF THE TEMPLE.—NICODEMUS.

Now some¹ of the Jews who had remained in the Temple, being angry, asked Him: “What sign² dost Thou show us, seeing Thou doest these things?” Jesus, referring to His own Sacred Body, said: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.“³

The Jews, supposing that He spoke of the material Temple in which He stood, said to Him: “Six and forty years⁴ was this Temple in building, and wilt Thou raise it up in three days?” But Jesus spoke of the temple of His Body⁵. Many other signs and wonders did He work in presence of the Jews, many of whom were converted. But many others would not be convinced of His Divinity. Like their fathers of old, they wilfully closed their eyes to the light of truth.

Among those who believed, was Nicodemus, a ruler⁶ in Israel. He had a great desire to become a disciple of Jesus, and coming to Him by night⁷ for fear of the Jews, he said to Him: “Rabbi, we know that Thou art come a teacher from God, for no man can do these miracles⁸ which Thou doest, unless God be with him.” Then Jesus explained to him how he was to become a

¹ Some. These were the priests and elders, who were provoked at this authoritative proceeding on the part of Jesus.

² What sign. They meant to say: “This market is held in the outer court with our consent. If you take upon yourself to object to it, you must prove by some miracle (sign) that you have received the authority to do so from God Himself.”

³ Raise it up. When Jesus perceived their unbelief, He would work no miracle then, but foretold to them his violent death at their hands and the miracle of his Resurrection on the third day.

⁴ Six and forty years. Herod’s additions to the Temple were begun in the year 16 B. C. Jesus was now thirty years old, so that the building had already been going on for forty-six years.

⁵ Temple of His Body. The Body of Jesus was, in fact, the temple of His Divinity. “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporally” (Col. 2, 9).

⁶ A ruler. A member of the Sanhedrin. This was the highest court of justice among the Jews, and consisted of seventy-one members, priests, scribes, and elders, over whom the High Priest presided

⁷ Be night. In order not to be seen. He feared to make known to his unbelieving townsfolk his belief in Jesus.

⁸ These miracles. The miracles which Jesus had wrought in Jerusalem after the purifying of the Temple, had convinced Nicodemus that Jesus was sent by God. But he did not yet believe in His Divinity; he only believed Him to be a prophet. His will, however, was right, and he had an interior desire to be taught by Jesus about the kingdom of the Messias. Our Lord knew that Nicodemus desired to enter into the kingdom of God, and therefore explained to him the conditions of admission.

— XV. JESUS DRIVES THE SELLERS OUT OF THE TEMPLE.—NICODEMUS.

member of His mystical Body on earth, which is the Church, and told him: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man be born again¹ of water and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” These words referred to the Sacrament of Baptism.

He next instructed Nicodemus in the mystery of the Redemption. “As Moses”, said He, “lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up², that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge³ the world, but that the world may be saved by Him. He that believeth in Him⁴ is not judged⁵, but he that doth not believe is already judged.” In these words the Saviour taught Nicodemus⁶ that He would redeem the world by His Passion and death upon the Cross.

¹ Born again. Jesus meant to say: “You think that the kingdom of the Messias is to be an earthly one, in which the Jews will reign supreme; but it is a spiritual kingdom, and mere blood-descent from Abraham does not give admission to it. He who wishes to belong to this kingdom, must be created anew spiritually, and become, interiorly, a new man, this new birth being given by the Holy Ghost by means of water, i. e. by Christian Baptism.”

² Lifted up. Our Lord pointed to the raising up of the brazen serpent (Old Test, XLII) as a type of Himself raised up on the Cross. Our Lord calls Himself the “Son of Man” to show that He is a true son of Adam—and that seed of the woman which was one day to crush the head of the internal serpent. Jesus, therefore, meant to say to Nicodemus: “You think of the Messias as a mighty king, who will make Israel great in the eyes of the world, and free it from the power of Rome; but I say to you that even as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent on the tree, so shall I, the Messias, be lifted up on the Cross and die. And as in the desert all those who, full of faith and confidence, looked up at the brazen serpent, were healed from the deadly bites of the fiery snakes, even so all those who believe in the crucified Messias, shall be saved from the bite of the internal serpent (i. e. from sin and from eternal death), and made participators of eternal life.” But why has faith in the crucified Son of Man such saving power? This Jesus explains in the following part of His discourse

³ To judge. God might have sent His Son to judge and condemn the sin-laden world; but not He did not send Him to pass sentence, but that through Him the world might be saved from being condemned, and might be given eternal happiness.

⁴ Him. The Divine Redeemer.

⁵ Not judged. The believer is not judged, i. e. condemned, but the unbeliever is judged, because he stands self-condemned by the very fact that he does not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God who is truth itself.

⁶ Nicodemus. We shall see in chapter LXXV that this teaching was not thrown away on Nicodemus.

— 446 XV. JESUS DRIVES THE SELLERS OUT OF THE TEMPLE. -NICODEMUS COMMENTARY.

The Divinity of Jesus Christ is in this chapter proved 1) by His words, 2) by His deeds, and 3) by the prophecy He made.

1. In the Temple and in the presence of many leading Israelites, Jesus distinctly declared Himself to be the Son of God, calling the Temple the house of His Father. If God be His Father, He must be the Son of God.

2. He proved His Divinity by the power and majesty of his indignation when He drove the buyers and sellers from the Temple, quelling in the most wonderful way every sign of resentment or resistance on their part (Origen).

3. He showed His Divinity, or, to speak more exactly, His omniscience, by distinctly foretelling that the Jews would kill Him (destroying the temple of His Body), and that He would raise His dead Body to life again on the third day.

Different ways of receiving grace. Our Lord’s miracles served to increase the faith of the disciples, who perceived in His action in the Temple the fulfilment of the prophecy that the Messias would be full of zeal for the house of God. The miracle and our Lord’s direct testimony to His own Divinity were likewise a grace for the Jews who happened to be in the outer court of the Temple. The grace of faith was offered to them, and they resisted it: they would not believe, and demanded a fresh miracle in confirmation of the first. God gives His grace to all men. But man has the power of resisting it.

The Body of Christ was the living Temple of God, because in Him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead; He being the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, with all power, wisdom and holiness. Our bodies, too, become the temples of the Holy Ghost by Baptism and Confirmation, because God the Holy Ghost dwells in us by His grace. “Know you not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are” (1 Cor. 3, 16 17). This living temple of God is defiled by every mortal sin, especially by those against holy purity.

Behaviour in the House of God. Jesus, full of a holy zeal, reproved and punished the buyers and sellers who were behaving themselves irreverently in the outer court of the Temple. A Catholic church is far more holy than was the Jewish Temple; and Christians who behave without reverence inside, or near it, deserve sharper reproof and heavier punishment than did the sellers in the Temple.

Holy Scripture is not the only source of faith. Scripture, after relating the purifying of the Temple, says that Jesus performed many miracles in Jerusalem and the neighbourhood; but what these miracles were, the holy Evangelists do not tell us. This shows us that not

— XV. JESUS DRIVES THE SELLERS OUT OF THE TEMPLE.—NICODEMUS. 447

everything which Jesus did and taught is related in Holy Scripture. St. John writes thus at the end of his Gospel (21, 15): “There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written!” Christian revelation is, therefore, only partly contained in Holy Scripture.

In His Discourse with Nicodemus our Lord has revealed to us the chief truths of the Christian religion.

1. The Holy Trinity. The words of our Lord imply that there are three Persons in God: God the Father, who gave His only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, of whom man must be born again.

2. The Incarnation. The only-begotten Son of God, who came into the world, is also the Son of Man, the divine and human natures being in Him united in one Person.

3. The Sufferings of Christ. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Jesus therefore knew definitely from the beginning that He would die on the Cross; and His bitter Passion and Death were ever before Him! To offer Himself on the Cross was the object of His Incarnation!

4. The Object of His Passion and Death is also clearly stated in the words: “that the world may be saved by Him”, and “that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting”. He willed to suffer and die in order to save man from eternal loss, and obtain happiness for him. He died for all men, and is therefore the Redeemer of the whole world.

5. The infinite Love of God. Why was it the will of the Son of God to redeem us? What was the motive of His Incarnation and Death? It was, in a word, His infinite and divine love for man. “God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son!” What! God, the Most Holy, loved the world, laden with sin and a curse! He loved the men who had offended Him and turned against Him millions of times. And He loved them so much as to give for them all that was greatest and dearest, even His only-begotten Son, to suffer for them humility, poverty, persecution, and even a miserable death upon the Cross! O, unfathomable and inconceivable love of God!

6. The necessity of Baptism. Only he who is born again of water and of the Holy Ghost has any part in the kingdom of God. By Baptism man becomes a member of God’s kingdom upon earth, i. e. the Church of Jesus Christ, and an heir of God’s kingdom in heaven. Thus Baptism is absolutely necessary to salvation.

7. Original sin. The words of our Lord testify to the existence of original sin. They suppose that by our natural birth we have not that spiritual divine life in our soul which was given to our first parents in Paradise, and consequently that we have lost the principle of that

— XVI. JESUS AT THE WELL OF JACOB.

life, sanctifying grace and all that was connected with it. We are born (spiritually) dead. This is the sin of our origin from Adam.

8. Necessity of faith in the Divine Redeemer. Our Lord teaches the necessity of such faith by these words: “That whosoever believeth in Him may not perish”; - “He that believeth in Him is not judged, but he that doth not believe is already judged.” He who wilfully refuses to believe in the Incarnate Son of God has no part in Redemption. Such an unbeliever refuses to have a Redeemer. He is hopelessly lost, because he refuses to be saved! “The wrath of God abideth in him” (John 3, 36).

APPLICATION. Your body, too, is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Have you ever defiled it by unworthy pursuits? Make a firm resolution to honour your body as the temple of the Holy Ghost, and never to defile it!

Many Christians behave irreverently in church, in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Such people deserve indeed to be driven out of church with scourges! Our Lord does not, it is true, drive them out now, but at the Day of Judgment He will deal more severely with them than He dealt with the buyers and sellers in the Temple at Jerusalem.

Do you thank God every day for your Baptism, and for all the graces which, without any merit of your own, you received with it?

Do you love God, who is so infinitely good, with your whole heart? How do you show your love? Do you pray willingly and devoutly? Do something special to-day, for the love of God.