The wedding at Cana
1 Three days later there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there.
2 Jesus was also invited to the wedding with his disciples.
3 When all the wine provided for the celebration had been served and they had run out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
4 Jesus replied, “Wom an, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 However his mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby were six stone water jars meant for the ritual washing as practiced by the Jews; each jar could hold twenty or thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim.
8 Then Jesus said, “Now draw some out and take it to the steward.” So they did.
9 The steward tasted the water that had be come wine, without knowing from where it had come; for only the servants who had drawn the water knew. So, he called the bride groom
10 to tell him, “Everyone serves the best wine first and when people have drunk enough, he serves that which is ordinary. Instead you have kept the best wine until the end.”
11 This miraculous sign was the first, and Jesus performed it at Cana in Galilee. In this way he let his Glory appear and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this, Jesus went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers and his disciples; and they stayed there for a few days.
Jesus clears the temple
13 As the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 In the Temple court he found merchants selling oxen, sheep and doves, and money-changers seated at their tables.
15 Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the Temple court, together with the oxen and sheep. He knocked over the tables of the money-changers, scattering the coins,
16 and or dered the people sell ing doves, “Take all this away and stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
17 His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your House devours me as a fire.
18 The Jews then questioned Jesus, “Where are the miraculous signs which give you the right to do this?”
19 And Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews then replied, “The building of this temple has already taken forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?”
21 Actually, Jesus was referring to the temple of his body.
22 Only when he had risen from the dead did his disciples remember these words; then they believed both the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken.
23 Jesus stayed in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival and many believed in his Name when they saw the miraculous signs he per formed.
24 But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all of them.
25 He had no need of evidence about anyone for he himself knew what there was in each one.
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Comments John, Chapter 2
• 2.1 THE SIGNS OF JESUS
The Week of Discovery ends with the wedding at Cana. Indeed Jesus was at the wedding and brought his disciples to join in the singing, dancing and drinking wine. His pres ence and participation sanctified not only marriage but also festive celebrations and together ness.
The disciples began to know Jesus, but some one else already un derstood and believed in him: Mary his mother. How did it ever occur to her to ask him for a miracle? Did she know that Jesus could perform miracles? Mary did not ask for the conversion of sinners, or for bread for the hungry; rather, what she wanted was a miracle or something like it to free the groom from embarrassment.
Jesus answered her with a phrase which, di rected to a stranger, could be interpreted as a reproach, but said in a different tone to his mother demonstrated a familiarity and a mutual understanding that went beyond words. Apparently Jesus had no thought of beginning his mission in that manner or at that moment, but his spirit recognized the Spirit speaking through his mother, and he granted this first miraculous sign.
It is worth noting that John relates only seven miracles of Jesus, and sometimes he calls them works, sometimes signs. They are works of the Son of God in which he manifests his power. They are signs, that is to say, visible things adapted for us by which he enables us to under stand his true work – that of bringing life and renewal to the world.
This is why John mentions some details of this event that were symbolic of spiritual realities. Jesus participated in a wedding, and what was he trying to do, but to prepare for other weddings – of God with humanity? Jesus speaks of his hour that had not yet come, for, in reality, his true hour will be that of his Passion and Resurrection.
John adds that Jesus made use of the water that the Jews set aside to purify themselves. The Jews were obsessed with avoiding “defilement,” so their religion multiplied the rites of purification (v. 6). Jesus, by changing the blessed water into wine, signified that true religion should not be confused with the fear of sin: what is important is to receive from Jesus the Spirit which, like heady wine, makes us break from established norms and the narrowness of our own knowledge and learn ing.
The water changed into wine: Jesus comes into our house to sanctify our daily life – its routine and its chores.
It was thus Jesus manifested his glory to those who were beginning to discover him. Mary brought grace to John the Baptist (Lk 1:39); again she intervenes to hasten the beginnings of the Gospel. She will not speak again in the Gos pel, and her last words are: Do whatever he tells you (v. 5).
In those first days after John’s baptism, Jesus was still living among his relatives and town mates whom the Gospel calls “his brothers”: see commentary on Mark 3:31.
• 12. With the wedding at Cana, the first section of the Gospel we have called the Week of Discovery ends. An other section begins in which Jesus defines himself in relation to the Jewish world and their hopes. John presents four scenes:
– Jesus in the Temple: The priests are materialistic, and Jesus judges them severely.
– Jesus and Nicodemus: Nico demus ex presses the concerns of the learned and believing Jews.
– the Samaritan Woman: This is the dialogue of Jesus with the townspeople who are believers in their own way.
– Jesus heals the son of an official: Jesus points out that the majority of those who come to him, seek him because of his miracles.
• 13. Jesus had not yet begun his preaching. He went to the Temple of Jerusalem that was the heart of the Jewish nation and the symbol of their religion (Mk 11:12). The Temple, however, was not immune from corruption and lust for power. In the Temple the peo ple had to make use of the priests’ services to offer their sacrifices. The priests’ authority and power derived from the Temple. The Temple was the place where the community’s offerings and gifts were brought; and there the chief priests disposed of this treasure. Besides this, they also received the taxes that the sellers and money changers paid.
Zeal for your house devours me as a fire, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. This is taken from Psalm 69. Actually the hatred of the chief priests for Jesus would bring him to his death.
The apostles could not understand these words: for at that time nothing was more sacred to them than the Temple and the Scripture. Later, they would know that the most ordinary word of Jesus had as much weight as the whole of Scripture. They would also understand that Jesus is the true Temple. Until then, people constructed temples and looked for places where they could meet God and obtain his favors. Now God has made himself present in Jesus: it is he who delivers God’s riches to us.