You have kept the good wine until now!

 

 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  

 

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it. 

 

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"

 

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. 

 

- John 2:1–12 

 

In yesterday's reading, we were given the fourth day of Christ's public ministry: The following day (after Andrew and Simon Peter became His disciples) Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said to him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"  Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe?  You will see greater things than these."  And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

 

  On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  On the third day is an expression which my study Bible says means "two days later," as it includes the current day in its calculation.  Therefore this begins the sixth day of Christ's public ministry.  Paralleling the creation of man and woman in Genesis 1:26-31, the wedding in Cana of Galilee takes place, giving birth, so to speak, to Christ's ministry in Galilee.  My study Bible further explains that this setting is significant.  In the Old Testament, marriage feasts symbolized the union of God with His Bride, Israel.  Jesus intentionally begins His ministry at Galilee (see yesterday's reading, above) which had a large Gentile population; this was a sign of the spread of the gospel to all the world.  That the wedding took place on the third day gives a resurrectional tone to this event, showing that the marriage of God and God's Church will be fulfilled in the Resurrection of Christ.  There are other parallels to this marriage and the Resurrection account in John 20:1-18, which my study Bible names as that involve a woman named Mary who makes an appeal, and in both passages the disciples are invited to witness the event.  Moreover, the Resurrection account (John 20:11-18) has a striking similarity to Song of Solomon 3:1-5, again showing the unity between marriage and the Lord's Resurrection.   Additionally, by Christ's presence at the wedding He declares marriage to be holy and honorable (Hebrews 13:4), a sacrament of the Church.

 

 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  This is an example of Mary's gift of intercession.  Even now, my study Bible says, Mary continually speaks to her Son on our behalf and she is our preeminent intercessor before His Throne.  This is confirmed as Jesus grants her request in this passage.  Here, wine is symbolic of life; so, there are two levels of meaning in Mary's statement, "They have no wine."  First, a marriage is not complete without the presence of Christ; and second, the old covenant was not able to bestow life even on the most faithful people.  My study Bible moreover notes that, contrary to certain modern usages, Woman is a sacred title in Scripture, and it conveys deep respect and distinction (John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; 20:13; compare to Genesis 2:23).  "What does your concern have to do with Me?" is translated more literally, "What is that to Me and to you?"  Most significantly, in the Greek, these are the same words used by the widow Zarephath in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, when she questioned Elijah after the death of her only son following her help to the prophet (1 Kings 17:18).  In effect Jesus is using a kind of "shorthand" with His mother, asking if she is prepared for what is to follow once His signs (or miracles) begin.  Christ's hour is the time of his great glorification in the Cross at His Passion.  That Christ fulfills her request teaches several things, according to my study Bible:  First, that He is Lord over hours and seasons and is not subject to them.  Second, the wedding party needed to be aware of their lack of wine first so that they might learn that it is Christ who fulfills all needs.  Third, we need to have perseverance in our petitions before God (Matthew 15:21-28).  Finally, the intercessions of the righteous have great power (James 5:16).  

 

 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  Waterpots were made of stone because, according to rabbinical teaching, stone could not contract ritual impurity.  That there are six of them (one less than the perfect seven) indicates that the Law, illustrated by water reserved for Jewish purification, was incomplete, imperfect, and unable to bestow life.  My study Bible says that this water is changed into wine, symbolizing the old covenant being fulfilled in the new, which is capable of bestowing life.  The overabundant gallons of wine illustrate Christ's overflowing grace which is granted to all. 

 

 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  My study Bible comments that in patristic commentary this transformation is seen as prefiguring the transformation of bread and wine into the Body Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

 

 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.  Christ's glory, according to my study Bible, refers both to His divine power shown in His signs and wonders, and also to His humble service to humankind, shown most perfectly on the Cross (John 12:23-32; 13:31).  Through such manifestations of glory, Jesus reveals that He is the One sent from the Father.  This beginning of signs, the transformation of water to wine, is the first sign of seven in the Gospel of John.  According to my study Bible, John uses the term "signs" to show that these miraculous actions point beyond themselves to the truth that the Kingdom of God has come among us in the Person of Jesus Christ.  The following day ("after this He went down to Capernaum") marks the seventh day in this beginning of Christ's ministry, and it parallels the seventh day of rest in the creation story (Genesis 2:1-3).

 

Over the past two readings, we have taken note in commentary how Christ's ministry has unfolded on a very human scale.  The disciples have been called one by one, and they have personal connections to one another (two are brothers; a third comes from the brothers' same hometown; they are first introduced to Christ as the Lamb of God by John the Baptist as they were John's disciples earlier; Jesus personally calls Phillip by finding him and telling him, "Follow Me," Nathanael understands that Christ knows him in ways he finds impossible to explain).   But here, finally, on this sixth day given in John's Gospel, we have a striking example of the manifestation of Christ's glory, His miraculous first sign of turning water to wine.  My study Bible gives in its notes cited above many reasons for this setting and its meanings.  But perhaps in the context of our previous commentary we might note how Christ's Incarnation and its step by step, rather plodding growth of His ministry in the persons of the disciples who come to join Him is in stark contrast to this lightning-fast sign of water becoming wine.  This is impossible to understand except through divine help and power, where both time and space are seemingly suspended for what is a natural process to take place in a miraculous way.  One means to say that it is not impossible to turn water to wine through the addition of grapes and the process of fermentation, that this is a common human endeavor (and particularly so in Christ's time and place).  But in the case of Jesus, it is His divine will and power at work that creates this miracle, and it is a sign of God's presence with Him, a manifestation of God's grace and glory in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son.  Perhaps it is, in fact, this deeply human story of the Incarnation that is itself the backdrop and contrast to Christ's miraculous power so that we truly understand the stupendous shock of the presence of God in our midst.  That very contrast teaches us about Christ and His identity and the transcendent reality of the Incarnation.  One also finds that this "secret" process of the water transforming within these large stone pots as a kind of parallel to the Incarnation itself.  This great transformation takes place hidden from human eyes, inside the darkness of the waterpots set aside for purification as holy vessels in some sense, and Christ Himself is also hidden in the plain sight of the fully human Jesus.  He is both fully human, and fully divine, but not all will understand His divinity, and it will remain hidden -- as it does today -- to many, despite His "signs."  Our faith, even until today, works in this same sense.  We can't see God's presence obviously among us and in our world, we don't perceive the kingdom of heaven ("The kingdom of heaven does not come with observation" - see Luke 17:20-21), but it is within us, it dwells among us; it lives in us through faith; it is present in our sacraments and liturgies, and Jesus Himself has taught that "where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).  So the Incarnation of Christ, among its many attributes, also helps us to know by contrast the power that is in Him, His divinity, as well as to understand how in our every day world the hiddenness of the Kingdom is something we live with, and through faith we know its presence, and may participate in it, and moreover that Kingdom may even participate in us, for Christ has come not only to assume all the aspects of life as one of us, but to share with us even His divinity and grace as well, including all the gifts and fruit of the Spirit.  As St. John writes, "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:16-17).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come

 

 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  

 

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  

 

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

 

- John 2:1–12 

 

On Saturday we read that Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"  Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe?  You will see greater things than these."  And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

 

  On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  The wedding in Cana is the setting for the first of seven miracles or "signs" performed by Jesus in John's Gospel.  Marriage feasts, my study Bible explains, symbolized the union of God with His Bride, Israel, according to the Old Testament.  Jesus begins His ministry at Galilee, which had a large Gentile population.  So this is a sign of the spread of the gospel to all the world.  That the wedding took place on the third day sets a resurrectional tone.  My study Bible explains that this shows that the marriage of God and God's Church will be fulfilled in Christ's Resurrection.  Additionally, we may understand that by Christ's presence at this wedding, marriage is further declared by Him to be holy and honorable (Hebrews 13:4).  In the Orthodox Church this passage is read at weddings, and its images are incorporated into many prayers in the wedding service.  

 

And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."   My study Bible has extensive commentary on this passage.  First, this an example of Mary's gift of intercession.  Even now, my study Bible explains, Mary continually speaks to her Son on our behalf, and she is our preeminent intercessor before His Throne.  An Orthodox prayer states, "The intercessions of a mother have great effect to win the favor of the Master."  This is affirmed in the granting of her request by Christ in this passage.  Additionally, wine is symbolic of life, and so there are two levels of meaning to Mary's statement, "They have no wine."  First, a marriage is not complete without Christ's presence.  Second, the old covenant was not able to bestow life even on the most faithful people.  Jesus uses the title Woman to address His mother.  My study Bible comments on this that "Woman" is a sacred title in Scripture.  It is an address that conveys deep respect and distinction (John 4:21, 8:10, 19:26, 20:13; compare to Genesis 2:23).  Jesus asks His mother, What does your concern have to do with Me?  More literally, this reads, "What is that to Me and to you?"  This is not a refusal of Mary's intercession, but a declaration that the time had not yet come for Him to be revealed.  Moreover, it is also Mary who must consider what will come for her once Christ begins to be revealed in His public ministry.  These words in Greek are an exact mirror of the words in the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament with which the widow at Zarephath addresses Elijah, upon the death of her son which followed her help to the prophet (1 Kings 17:17-18). Jesus is forewarning His mother, in some sense, what she will also experience.  That He fulfills her request teaches several things.  First, that Christ is Lord over hours and seasons and is not subject to them.  Second, the wedding party needed to be aware of their lack of wine so that they might learn that it is Christ who fulls all needs.  Third, we need to have perseverance in our petitions before God (Matthew 15:21-28).  Finally, the intercessions of the righteous have great power (James 5:16).    

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  Waterpots were made of stone because, according to rabbinical teaching, stone would not contract ritual impurity.  My study Bible comments that there are six -- one less than the perfect or complete seven -- indicating that the Law, illustrated by water reserved for Jewish purification, was incomplete, imperfect, and unable to bestow life.  This water is changed into wine, and thus it symbolizes the old covenant being fulfilled in the new -- which is indeed capable of bestowing life.  The overabundant gallons of wine show us Christ's grace for grace which overflows and is granted to all.  

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  In patristic commentary, this transformation is seen as prefiguring the transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. 

 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.  John uses the term signs for the miracles performed by Jesus to show that these miraculous actions are pointing beyond themselves, and to the truth that the Kingdom of God has come among us in the Person of Jesus Christ. 

 

 "Signs" are things that point to something else, and John's Gospel is the gospel of signs.  There will be seven signs given altogether:  the first is the one we read about today, the changing of water to wine.  The others that follow will be the curing of a nobleman's son (John 4:46-54), the healing of a paralytic (John 5:1-15), the feeding of five thousand (John 6:1-14), walking on water (John 6:15-21); opening the eyes of a blind man (John 9:1-41), and raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-44).  Each sign gives a divine attribute of Jesus Christ, revealing His identity as Son, and as my study Bible says, teaching us about the presence of the Kingdom of God among us.  These are the ways in which we know and understand who Jesus is, just as from the beginning of the Gospel, John has let us know that He is the Light, and also the Word.  In connection with this understanding that He is the Word, the Gospel began with the words "In the beginning," giving us a parallel to the creation story of Genesis 1.  Today's reading concerns the sixth and seventh days of this first week of Christ's earthly ministry.  On Saturday, we read about events of the fourth day given in the Gospel.  Today's reading begins with the phrase "on the third day."  This phrase actually means "two days later," as it includes the current day in the calculation.  The wedding takes place, therefore, on the sixth day, reflecting the creation of man and woman on the sixth day of the creation story in Genesis 1:26-31.  Finally, we're given the seventh day of Christ's ministry, in which Jesus rests at Capernaum with His mother, His brothers, and His disciples. echoing the Genesis creation story in which God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3).  Each of these facets of this Gospel -- the seven signs, as well as these first seven days of Christ's earthly ministry, and combined with the Prologue introducing us to the Son and Word -- give us elements that point beyond themselves to the divine reality of God, even of the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, who has come to us as Jesus.  It's crucially important to remember that the story of Jesus Christ is not the story of two parallel worlds, earthly and divine, but rather the story of how the Kingdom of God has come into the world, and Christ has come to us as both fully human and fully divine.  Our faith is not one meant to be understood as one that separates the created world from the divine, but quite the opposite.  It is a story of God coming to erase that separation, to claim us as God's own, to bring God's Kingdom into the world, just as Jesus will teach us to pray to our Father, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).   While the evil in the world gives us a stark contrast to the ways in which Christ teaches us to live, let us not forget that the Cross becomes the meeting place for all.  It's where Christ must go -- and it is the hour of His glory to which He refers in today's reading in His response to His mother.  This is in keeping with His words given in this Gospel (see John 12:27-33).  For God reaching to us is the story of Jesus Christ, and the revelation of God who is love (1 John 4:8).  God has come into the world as one of us, to extend love and grace to us, to claim us back in full union through that grace and by adoption, to leave us with the gift of the Holy Spirit always with us.  This world, if we but seek it, is permeated with grace, even (for so it appears at the Cross) in the seeming worst of times.  Let us remember to live in His light, walk in His light, be grateful for His grace, and always seek that Kingdom He brings to us in the midst of our lives and of this world.  For where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst of us (Matthew 18:20), and His Kingdom is indeed within us and among us (Luke 17:21).   The myriad saints, known and unknown, testify to this ongoing intervention of the Kingdom in our world, even as angels of heaven always accompany us to help (Matthew 18:10).  Let us look to the fullness of marriage as the full union of God with God's people and the destiny for which Christ has come into the world as one of us.  Even so, the paradox of our faith appears in this first sign which comes at the instigation of a saintly woman, by whom we are all blessed as we, too, may become her children, with Him. 

 

 

Go your way; your son lives

 

 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. 

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  

 

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  So Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. 

 

- John 4:43–54 

 

Yesterday we read that, after Christ had begun to speak with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, His disciples returned from purchasing food in the town, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all thing that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

 

  Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast. Christ's own country is Galilee (John 1:46; 2:1; 7:42, 52; 19:19).  There were Galileans present at Jerusalem during the Passover (see this reading), where Jesus had performed many signs.  My study Bible comments that  while the Galileans received Christ, having seen His signs at the Feast, St. John Chrysostom gives greater credit to the Samaritans (see yesterday's reading, above) for having accepted Christ based on words alone, without the accompanying signs (see also John 20:29).  

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."   My study Bible comments here that Christ is admonishing the people in general (as you in this last verse here is plural both times), and not only the nobleman.  It says that faith based on miraculous works alone is insufficient for salvation; such a type of incomplete faith will quickly turn to scorn when the miracles cease (John 19:15).  

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  So Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"   Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This nobleman's great concern is clearly for his child, although his faith in Christ is weak.  My study Bible says that he does not understand that Christ is Lord over illness even from a  distance, nor does he grasp that Jesus would have the power to heal even if the child were to die.  Then he asks about the timing of the healing, as he still does not completely trust the Lord's authority.  It's only after all is confirmed that he and his whole household believe.  Therefore, it notes, in healing the child from a distance, Jesus heals not just the body of the child, but also the soul of the nobleman.

This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. This is the second of seven signs that Christ performs as reported in John's Gospel.  My study Bible says that as He has revealed He can see into the hearts of people from a distance (John 1:45-48), Christ now demonstrates that He can heal from a distance; therefore, His divine power knows no earthly limits.  There are some similarities between this sign and the miracle which is recorded in Matthew 8:5-13, there are also some crucial differences; they are two different encounters.

It's rather interesting that Jesus has come again to Cana in Galilee -- where He made the water wine -- and here is also the setting for this second sign in John's Gospel.  We might wonder what it is about Cana specifically that enables or allows Christ to perform such miracles, as they are also dependent upon faith (Matthew 13:58).  We remember that, as my study Bible explains it, John uses the term "signs" in his Gospel, to show that these miraculous actions point beyond themselves to the truth that the Kingdom of God has come among us in the Person of Jesus Christ.  So, while the first sign was turning water to wine at the wedding in Cana, here Christ heals the nobleman's son from a distance.  It is a clear statement of Christ's authority as One who is divine, who is God, for who else could perform such an action?  Indeed, this is the point of the encounter with the centurion in the similar story in Matthew 3:5-13.  We have to wonder at the statement that forms a central crux of the story in today's reading, though, Christ's declaration, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."   Possibly, having returned from Jerusalem, and coming again to Cana, Jesus felt that more signs and wonders would not be necessary, that His previous signs both at Cana and in Jerusalem at the Passover would be enough.   He is apparently disturbed enough by this to remark upon the lack of faith He's finding.  Perhaps He's disappointed in these demands for signs and wonders, but that also becomes another reason for the healing.  The "little" faith the nobleman starts with in asking Christ to heal his son is enough for Christ to go on, so as to build up and strengthen a beginning faith.  For, after all, Christ has come into the world in order to save, and for salvation, it is necessary to have faith.  At any rate, we might assume, also, that the nobleman is used to giving orders himself, having a high rank in the society.  At this stage, Jesus (although not a nobleman, nor even a Levitical priest or member of the ruling Council) in some sense is socially equal to the nobleman; it is the nobleman who must approach him and plead for help, demanding that He "come down" to heal his son.  But Jesus need not travel down to where the boy is, and with only the words "your son lives" the boy is healed.  This is a command indeed, that traverses space and time so as to be instantaneous.  There are no barriers to Christ, and thus what we see is an expression of power and authority that knows no boundaries at all, beyond the capacity of the nobleman to imagine.  It places Christ squarely in the place of the divine, the One to whom "every knee should bow" (Philippians 2:10).  So Christ is beyond the nobleman in this sense, someone with superseding authority beyond all that we know.  This is the great sign of God's Kingdom being present in Him, yet again, for the second sign given in John's Gospel.  He has insight into those who would become His disciples, insight into the Samaritan woman at the well to whom He directly revealed His divine identity, and now here, He heals at a distance as well, without needing to be shown, without needing to be present, without being told about the ailment leading to death of the boy.  All of our conventional understanding of limitation are not present to Him, but He is clearly present in all ways to us.  That is, in His Incarnation, He heals what ails, and brings His divinity to our humanity.  If He can heal this boy, He can also hear our prayers, for there is no stopping the action and intention of the Lord.  All we need is our faith.

 

 

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him

 

 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  

 

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. 

 

- John 2:1–12 

 

Yesterday we were given the fourth day of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, corresponding to the fourth day of creation in Genesis.  The Gospel told us that Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said to him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"  Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe?  You will see greater things than these."  And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

 

  On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  This wedding in Cana is the setting for the first of seven signs performed by Jesus which are given to us in John's Gospel.  John uses the term "signs" to show that these miraculous actions are pointing beyond themselves to the truth of the presence of the Kingdom of  God, come among us in the Person of Jesus Christ, as my study Bible notes.  It adds that the setting is very significant.  In the Old Testament, marriage feasts were symbolic of the union of God with God's Bride, Israel.  Jesus starts His ministry in Galilee.  My study Bible notes that Galilee had a large Gentile population, and so this is a sign of the spread of the gospel of Christ to all the world.  That this wedding took place on the third day gives a resurrectional tone.  It shows that the marriage of God and God's Church will be fulfilled in the Resurrection of Christ.  There are other parallels between this marriage and the Resurrection account in John 20:1-18 cited by my study Bible are that both involve a woman named Mary who makes an appeal, and in both passages the disciples are invited to witness this event.  Moreover the Resurrection account (John 20:11-18) has a striking similarity to Song of Solomon 3:1-5, which again shows the unity between marriage and Christ's Resurrection.  Moreover, Jesus' presence at the wedding is a declaration that marriage is holy and honorable (Hebrews 13:4).  Today's passage is read at weddings in the Orthodox Church, and the images in today's reading incorporated into many prayers in the wedding service.  On the third day is an expression which means "two days later" (after the events of our previous reading, above), as it includes the current day in the calculation. 

And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  My study Bible calls this an example of Mary's gift of intercession.  Even now, Mary continually speaks to her Son on our behalf and is our preeminent intercessor before Christ's throne.  In the words of an Orthodox prayer, "The intercessions of a mother have great effect to win the favor of the Master."  This is illustrated in today's reading when Jesus grants her request.  Additionally, my study Bible notes that wine is symbolic of life, and so there are two levels of meaning to Mary's statement, "They have no wine."  First, without the presence of Christ, a marriage is not complete; second, the old covenant could not bestow life even on the most faithful people.  Here, we are also to understand that Woman is a sacred title in Scripture.  It's an address which my study Bible says conveys deep respect and distinction (John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; 20:13; compare to Genesis 2:23).  Christ's question, "What does your concern have to do with Me?" is an important one.  It is more literally understand, "What is that to me and to you?"  However, in Greek it is an exact quotation from a passage in the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament, found in 1 Kings 17:18, in the story of the widow Zarabeth.  Zarabeth addresses it to Elijah when her only son dies after she helped the prophet.  In this Christ is warning her, even reminding her of what is to come once His signs become well known.  That Christ fulfills her request teaches several things, according to my study Bible:  First, He is Lord over hours and seasons and is not subject to them.  Second, the wedding party first needed to be aware of their lack of wine so they ight learn it is Christ who fulfills all needs.  Additionally, it teaches us to have persistence in our petitions before God (Matthew 15:21-28).  Finally, there is great power in the intercessions of the righteous (James 5:16). 

 

 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.   These waterpots are made of stone because, in accordance with rabbinical teaching, stone could not contract ritual impurity.  There there are six (which is one less than the perfect seven) is an indication that the Law, illustrated by water reserved for Jewish purification, was incomplete, imperfect, and not able to bestow life.  This water changed into wine symbolizes the old covenant fulfilled in the new, my study Bible says, which is capable of bestowing life.  These overabundant gallons of wine portray the overflowing grace which Christ grants to all.

 

 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  In patristic commentary, this transformation of water to the good wine is seen as prefiguring the transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. This concludes the sixth day given in John's Gospel of this beginning of Christ's public ministry.  The wedding at Cana parallels the sixth day in Genesis 1:26-31, the creation of man and woman. 

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. Here in this first sign Christ manifested His glory as expression of His divinity Incarnate in His human life, to which the disciples are witness.  Jesus going down to Capernaum with His mother, His brothers, and His disciples parallels the seventh day of creation in Genesis 2:1-3, in which God rested.

That Christ manifested His glory in this sign before the disciples is an aspect of something we understand throughout His ministry, and indicated in the word "epiphany."  To manifest is root of that word "epiphany" in Greek, literally coming from an original word that means "light."  In other words, to bring to light, to show forth.  While the past two readings have shown us Christ's ability to know and to fully see into people as part of the divine nature He brings to the world, today's "sign" is a more full expression that the Kingdom of God is present in Jesus Christ, as my study Bible put it -- and all the disciples, plus Christ's Mother Mary, are witness to it.  Moreover, those who know the story, and those who tasted the wine, can affirm it was indeed "the good wine" that was in those waterpots.  My study Bible has an interesting note in a passage on the identity of Christ (the knowledge of which is called Christology).  It notes that Christ acts both as God and as human being, doing what is appropriate for each nature in the unity which is provided by His one divine Person.  It suggests that never does divine nature and activity become changed into human nature and activity; thus, the two are in union without confusion.  But Christ "energizes" human nature with divine energy (this is the activity of grace), so that human nature is redeemed from sin an death and brought into union with God.  So, therefore, Christ present and Incarnate in our world "deifies" humanity.  So the manifestation of Christ's miracles in this sense are extremely important, for as He has said Himself, "With God all things are possible"  (Matthew 19:26), and the angel Gabriel said to Mary, "For with God nothing will be impossible" (Luke 1:37).  The "impossible" is the manifestation of the glory of God, the glory that belongs to Christ in His divine nature.  Without God's grace manifesting to us, where would we be?  What would we know?  Let us remember that all the work of grace is for us, given to us from the love of God. 

 

 

 

 

Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe

 

 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

 

- John 4:43–54 

 

 Yesterday we read that, while Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

 

  Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  The region of Galilee is Jesus' own country.  This powerful statement, that a prophet has no honor in his own country, appears in all four Gospels (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24).  There were Galileans present at Jerusalem during the first Passover given in John's Gospel which Jesus has attended during His public ministry (John 2:13-25), during which Jesus performed many signs.  My study Bible comments that while the Galileans received Christ, having seen His signs, St. John Chrysostom gives greater credit to the Samaritans (about whom we've read in our past two readings) for accepting Christ based on words alone without the accompanying signs (see John 20:29).  

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  Again, the emphasis here is on belief or faith that comes only through seeing signs and wonders.  The "you" here is plural both times, so this is an admonition by Jesus to the people in general, not just to the nobleman.  My study Bible comments that faith based on miraculous works alone is insufficient for salvation -- this kind of incomplete faith quickly turns to scorn if the miracles cease (John 19:15).  For the sign of turning water to wine at the wedding at Cana (the first sign given in the Gospel), see this reading.

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  My study Bible comments that the nobleman's concern is clearly for his child, although his faith in Christ is weak.  It says that he does not understand that Christ is Lord over illness even from a distance, nor does he grasp that Jesus would have the power to heal even if the child were to die.  Finally, he inquires about the timing of the healing, as he still does not completely trust Christ's authority.  It is only after the healing was confirmed that he and his whole household believed.  Therefore, my study Bible says, in healing the child from a distance, Jesus heals not just the body of the child, but also the soul of the nobleman.

 

 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.  In today's reading we're given the second of seven signs in John's Gospel.  Christ has already revealed (to the disciples) that He can see into the hearts of people from a distance (John 1:45-48).  Here He demonstrates that He can heal from a distance, which shows that His divine power has no earthly limits.  My study Bible also comments that while there are certain similarities between this sign and the miracle recorded in Matthew 8:5-13, there are also many crucial differences, and that these are clearly two different encounters.

 

 It's interesting to observe that the first two signs or miracles in John's Gospel involve a kind of knowing on Jesus' part that is not part of the capacity for human beings.  He "knew" about wine in the waterpots, somehow having the capacity to turn this pure water into wine.  He "knew" about the boy and how to heal from a distance.  Jesus displays both omniscience and omnipotence:  a universal awareness and a power that seemingly has no limits.  He can turn what is lacking into fullness (water into the best wine at the wedding); He can transform what ails into wholeness (the healing of the nobleman's son).  In both of these signs or miracles, Jesus restores to rightful completeness that which threatens to diminish human life -- running out of the important element of wine at the wedding; the nobleman and his household are threatened with the loss of this important life of his son.  We might remark upon the fact that when we pray, it is so frequently in response to what seems to be lacking in our lives, or what is threatened to be taken from us, the things that make for our sense of wholeness, completeness, fullness.  But we can read Christ's disparaging of a faith that relies solely on signs, and think about what it is we pray for, and how we determine what that is.  In a modern age with robust modern economies there are choices and "must haves" that no one in Christ's time could possibly have imagined for themselves.  We have a proliferation of choices to make and things to consume -- and also demand to keep up with -- that has never before occurred in history.  In the cases of the two miracles or signs so far in John's Gospel, the things we read about are considered to be necessary:  wine was a traditional symbol and accompanying to union or covenant (such as in a marriage); and we can consider for ourselves the significance of this nobleman's son and his importance to the household.  But in a modern world we might find ourselves praying for things we don't always truly need, as demand is so often generated through market forces, advertising, and other pressures to which we (and especially our children as well) are vulnerable.  In the modern context, faith becomes all the more important, if only so that we can discern what is truly needful and good for us, and what is truly important for our wholeness, and what we lack that harms human life.  For we might imagine that we need all kinds of things; we might find we worship all kinds of things, like the social status that some goods would confer, or the image of ourselves in the eyes of others whose values or care for us may be questionable in the first place.  We might be putting our faith in things that are improper for us, and so sometimes when those prayers go unanswered, the loss of what we hoped to gain puts us in a better place to reconsider our values, and what it is we are "worshiping" with our requests.  Even though the loss of the nobleman's son would be a deep loss and tragedy, Christ still pauses to make a general comment about the people's reliance upon signs and wonders for faith.  But what if our faith and its object in the first place was the only guarantor of true richness and value?  If we place our faith in Christ to begin with, would that not help us to know what it is we really need in life, what restores and blesses human life, and what deep needs we might be lacking, such as love and beauty and truth?  We place emphasis on faith in the first place -- and the correct object of that faith -- so that we know what we need and what we pray for, so that our own thinking is in the right place to begin with.  It's too easy to rely on lies about what we need, or what would make our lives "perfect" -- and to overlook the things that are of the essence for restoration of family, relationship, a sense of balance and peace.  So, for today, let us consider what we pray for and what we think we need.  Most of all, let us open up to the need for faith in the first place -- and faith that is based in the right place, focused on the right object, the Person of Christ.  For this basic trust makes all the difference in what it is we think we need, the things we believe will make our lives whole and good.  Do we need love?  Do we need to live with a sense of love, of compassion, of kindness?  Is our wholeness based on acquiring this for ourselves as part of the blessings and gifts of the Holy Spirit -- the greatest gift of all?  Let us consider how essential to us is our faith, and Whom we trust with that faith to begin with. 

 

 

You have kept the good wine until now!

 

 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

 

- John 2:1-12 

 

On Saturday, we were given the fourth day reported in John's Gospel of the beginning of Christ's public ministry.  Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"  Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe?  You will see greater things than these."  And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

 

  On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.    On the third day is an expression which means "two days later," as it includes the current day in the calculation.  So, this is the sixth day of seven given in this beginning of Christ's public ministry.  My study Bible comments that the wedding in Cana parallels the creation of man and woman on the sixth day in Genesis 1:26-31.   My study Bible also adds that this setting is significant.  In the Old Testament, marriage feasts symbolized the union of God with God's Bride, Israel.  Jesus begins His ministry here in Galilee, which had a large Gentile population.  This is a sign of the spread of the gospel to all the world.  Also, that the wedding took place "on the third day" sets a resurrectional tone, which shows that the marriage of God and God's Church will be fulfilled in Christ's Resurrection.  There are other ties between Christ's Resurrection and marriage; both involve a woman named Mary how makes an appeal (in the next verse) and the disciples are invited to witness both events.  Moreover, John's Resurrection account  (John 20:11-18) has a striking similarity to Song of Solomon 3:1-5, showing once again a unity between marriage and the Lord's Resurrection.  Finally, by His presence at this wedding, Jesus further declares marriage to be holy and honorable (Hebrews 13:4); therefore this passage is read at weddings in the Orthodox Church, and these images are incoporated into many prayers in the wedding service.  

And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."   My study Bible says that this is an example of Mary's gift of  intercession.  She is "blessed among women" (Luke 1:28).  It adds that even now, the Church understands that Mary continually speaks to her Son on our behalf (prays for us) and is our preeminent intercessor before His Throne.  An Orthodox prayer declares, "The intercessions of a mother have great effect to win the favor of the Master."  This is confirmed by Jesus' response that comes in the next verses.  We should remember also that here, wine is symbolic of life, and therefore my study Bible comments that there are two levels of meaning in Mary's statement, "They have no wine."   First, that a marriage is incomplete without the presence of Christ; and second, the old covenant was not able to bestow life even on the most faithful people. 

 

Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."    In contrast to how modern ears may hear it, the term Woman is a sacred title in Scripture; my study Bible calls it an address which conveys deep respect and distinction (John 4:21; 8:10; 19:26; 20:13 -- compare to Genesis 2:23).  What does your concern have to do with Me? can be read more literally, "What is that to Me and to you?"  It is also a parallel to the words from Zarabeth to Elijah in 1 Kings 17:18; in the Greek of the New Testament and of the Septuagint Old Testament, they are identical statements.  In this parallel sense, Jesus is giving Mary a warning, as a widow who will lose her only son, about what is to come once His ministry becomes fully known.  My study Bible says that this answer of Jesus is not a refusal of Mary's intercession, but a declaration that the time had not yet come for Christ to be revealed.  That Christ will fulfill Mary's request teaches several things.  First, Christ is Lord over hours and seasons and is not subject to them.  Second, the wedding party needed to be aware of their lack of wine first so they might learn that it is Christ who fulfills all needs.  This also teaches us that we need perseverance in our petitions before God (Matthew 15:21-28); and finally, that the intercessions of the righteous have great power (James 5:16).  Let us note also Mary's great confidence in Jesus in her reply, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

 

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  Waterpots were made of stone, my study Bible explains, because, according to rabbinical teaching, stone would not contract ritual impurity.  That there are six (one less than the perfect seven) indicates that the Law, which is illustrated by water being reserved for Jewish purification, was incomplete, imperfect, and unable to bestow life.  This water is changed into wine -- which symbolizes the old covenant being fulfilled in the new, which is capable of bestowing life.  My study Bible adds that the overabundant gallons of wine illustrate the overflowing grace which Christ grants to all.  Regarding wine and wedding as metaphor for the new covenant, see also Matthew 9:15-17.

 

 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  In patristic commentary, this transformation is seen as prefiguring the transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.  In today's reading, we are given the first of seven signs which are reported in John's Gospel, as manifesting Christ's glory (John 11:4, 40), which also includes His humble service to human beings, shown most perfectly on the Cross (John 12:23-32).  The seventh day given in John's Gospel in the day after the wedding in Cana, when Jesus rests at Capernaum with HIs mother, His brothers, and His disciples -- paralleling God resting on the seventh day in Genesis 2:1-3.

 

This first of seven signs in John's Gospel really tells us quite a bit about Jesus and His ministry.  There are all the elements noted above, especially the important symbolism of a wedding and of marriage.  It teaches us about union with Christ, but a union that spreads out relatedness to a wider community, that brings so many also into itself, as part of itself.  A marriage is a covenant, and so this deep relationship as blessed and sanctified by God brings much out of itself.  Jesus tells us that the "two shall become one flesh" -- even leaving behind parental ties for this new union brought together by God (see Mark 10:5-9).   Seen in this light, marriage is also a "new covenant," and in Christ's language, one made so powerful and potent through God's sanctification, that the two become one.  Moreover, as we can see from the wedding at Cana, weddings have historically been community affairs.  Through marriage extensive relationships are established within communities and between many people, and this image is also what we must draw upon when we think of Christ and His covenant with us, with His people.  He brings in all those with faith, "in His name," within this covenant which -- like marriage -- bestows new identity through this union of faith.  Because, after all, what is a union between two people but a kind of faith, a trust which is placed one in the other, and for the union which is produced and whatever fruit it bears?  This wedding teaches us also about the deep faith Mary, Jesus' mother, has in Jesus as Messiah, as the Christ.  For she has kept all the things in her heart which were revealed to her through angels and through prophecy (see Luke 1:26-56; Luke 2:8-52; especially 2:19, 51).  Now Mary acts in that confidence, together with all the experiences of life with Him as His mother.  And it is her great faith -- her prayer, essentially -- that initiates this first sign of seven, and the beginning of Christ's Galilean ministry, which manifests His glory in a very public way, uniting all in the wine, as a prefiguring of the Eucharist.  Let us contemplate the deep meanings and connections here, and especially the way that Christ gives us relationship and community, through God's great grace and blessings for us.  For this is indeed the "good wine" in which we share.

 

 

 

 

Go your way; your son lives

 

 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  

 

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

 

- John 4:43-54 

 

Yesterday we read that, while Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (just after His revelation that He is the Christ), at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."  And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

 

 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  Jesus' own country is Galilee.   John reports Jesus' testimony that a prophet has no honor in his own country; this statement is present in all four Gospels (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24).  Galileans were present at Jerusalem during the Passover (John 2:13-25), when Jesus performed many signs, my study Bible explains.  While the Galileans received Christ having seen His signs, St. John Chrysostom gives greater credit to the Samaritans (see the readings from Wednesday and Thursday) based on words alone without the accompanying signs (see also John 20:29).  

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  My study Bible comments that Christ is admonishing the people in general (you in Christ's statement is plural both times) and not merely the nobleman.  Faith based on miraculous works only is insufficient for salvation.  This kind of incomplete faith quickly turns to scorn should the miracles cease (John 19:15).  

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This nobleman's concern is clearly for his child, although his faith in Christ is weak, my study Bible says.  He doesn't understand that Christ is Lord over illness even from a distance, nor does he sense that Jesus would have the power to heal even if the child were to die.  He finally asks about the timing of the healing, still not completely trusting in the authority of Christ.  It's only after everything is confirmed that he and his whole household believe.  My study Bible concludes that thus, in healing the child from a distance, Jesus heals not just the body of the child, but also the soul of the nobleman.  

This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.   As the text tells us, the story of the nobleman's son in today's reading is the second sign of seven reported in John's Gospel.  My study Bible remarks that having revealed that He can see into the hearts of people from a distance (see the story of the calling of Nathanael, John 1:45-48), Christ now demonstrates that He can heal from a distance, showing us that His divine power knows no earthly limits.  There are certain similarities between this sign and the miracle recorded in Matthew 8:5-13, but there are also many crucial differences, which make clear they are two different encounters.  

Why is ti important for us to know that Christ can heal from a distance?  This revelation must be given to us for a reason.  It not only reveals Christ to be divine, but it also adds certain perspectives on our faith to us, that are relevant to our own lives and how we experience faith itself.  We need to understand Whom it is with which we engage in communion and relationship.  My study Bible comments that Christ's action in today's reading shows that His divine power knows no earthly limits. This is a theme which appears in many of the miraculous signs in the Gospels.  But if His power is not bound by the worldly limits to which we're subject -- that of distance, in this case -- then it means that His power can also effectively reach us.  It means that when we enter into worship and prayer, we're not just practicing something alone that we do from a distance.  Rather, this "unlmiting" of earthly limits mean that Christ can be present with us, too ("I am with you always, even to the end of the age" - Matthew 28:20).  And not only Christ enters into communion with us, but when we worship there also present that great cloud of witnesses to whom St. Paul refers in Hebrews 12:1.   In the readings involving the Samaritan woman of the past two days, Jesus revealed that "the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."  To worship in spirit and truth indicates a lack of earthly barriers; not only does it mean that as temples of God (1 Corinthians 3:16), God's spirit may dwell in us, but it also means that there are no barriers within our participation in the life of Christ, and Christ in us.  In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says to the disciples, "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:28-31).  Therefore we are to understand that our unlimited God sees everything, and is with us in all the details, even to the number of hairs on our head.  So everything that Christ does tells us of Gods' concern and care and presence with us.  From a distance He heals this nobleman's child, and in so doing, He heals the nobleman as well.  This is another aspect of what it means that Christ's power is unlimited, for it reaches into all aspects of our lives and can heal in ways we don't even understand that we are broken.  Our lives intersect with God's power and love which reaches everywhere, but so often we don't understand how God cooperates with us in our lives and requires our cooperation as well.  Building on even a weak faith, Christ can come to us and dwell with us (John 14:23).  Our expectations of life are one thing, and also what we call perfection, but there are times when even an infirmity or sadness may be used by God to help expand our faith (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Let us consider, at each moment of our day, in every tiny place in our lives, how Christ can be present with us, for our God is the God who sees, who is with us even when we are abandoned (Genesis 16:7-13).  Today's passage tells us that when Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives," this man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  We don't all know what it would be like to speak to Jesus face-to-face, as human being, but let us seek to take confidence in His word, in our time with Him in worship, and in private prayer.