Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
2nd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle C)
Readings:
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 96:1-3, 7-10
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
John 2:1-12
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: The Divine Bridegroom and the
Bride
The First Reading and the Gospel Reading take us to a
wedding. Both readings introduce us to another dimension of our covenant
relationship with God. He is our Divine Father by our adoption through the
saving work of Jesus and the Sacrament of Baptism when we become children in
His covenant family. However, as a corporate covenant people, like the faithful
of the Sinai Covenant, the New Covenant Church is also seen as the chaste Bride
of Jesus Christ, the Divine Bridegroom.
In the books of the Old Testament prophets, marriage was one of the four recurring symbolic images of Yahweh in covenant with His chosen people (see the chart the Symbolic Images of the Old Testament Prophets). Marital imagery is an aspect of covenant unity with the Divine first mentioned in salvation history at the marriage initiated by God between Adam and Eve in Eden (Gen 2:23-24) and then reaches its fulfillment at the climax of the Bible in the Book of Revelation at the Wedding of the Lamb and His Bride (Rev 19:9; 21:9; and 22:17).
When the chosen people are in covenant union with God, Scripture often expresses the wholeness of that relationship as a marriage covenant between God the Bridegroom and the covenant people as His beloved Bride (Ez 16:1-6-14; Hos 2:18-22). But when the people apostatize from their vows of faithfulness to the covenant, the once pure Bride falls into the sin of adultery and becomes an unfaithful spouse (see Jer 2:20-36; 3:1-13; Ez 16:15-63; Hos 2:4/2-7). Despite the failures of the covenant people, the love of God for His Bride (His covenant people) never ceases. He is always willing to reclaim the Church as His Bride, as in our First Reading. The Fathers of the Church saw the passage from our First Reading as a prophecy of the wedding banquet of the Lamb and His Bride, the New Covenant Church, and the prophesied "new name" of "the Bride of Christ" (Rev 2:17; 3:12).
The Responsorial Psalm is one of a group of psalms celebrating the kingship of Yahweh by inviting the peoples of the earth to give glory to God in a new song and to join in praising Him by invoking His name in the Liturgy of worship. Yahweh welcomes them to bring their offerings and acknowledge that He is the divine King of all nations, dispensing justice with equity, bringing blessings and keeping His covenant promises.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul reminds us that God loves us and gives His Spirit of love to all the members of His Church family. At the same time, God recognizes that we are all different, and He reveals His response to our differences in the different kinds of gifts of the Holy Spirit that He gives us. To make his point, St. Paul names nine types of spiritual gifts. Even though these are "different workings" or ministries, it is the same God who produces those works in us to advance the Kingdom of the Church.
St. John the Baptist announced that Jesus is the divine Bridegroom (Jn 3:29). When Jesus began His ministry, it is significant that His first public sign took place at a wedding where He changed water into wine (our Gospel Reading). His miracle prepared us to take part in His royal wedding feast as He neared the climax of His mission at the Last Supper. In the parable of the Wedding Feast (Mt 22:1-14) and the announcement of His New Covenant at the Last Supper (Mt 26:27-28; Lk 22:19-20), Jesus calls all the faithful of humanity to become betrothed to Him. Through the power of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Baptism, we are reborn to become "one flesh" with Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist (Eph 5:21-33; 2 Cor 11:2). Through the Sacrament of Baptism, Jesus, our divine Bridegroom offers the gift of universal salvation. The reason we sing a "new song" is to acknowledge our joy in that gift, to declare God's "glory among the nations" and "His marvels to every people" in today's Psalm (Ps 96:2b-3).
The First Reading Isaiah 62:1-5 ~ The Splendor of God's
Bride
1 For Zion's sake I
will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her
vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch. 2 Nations shall behold your vindication, and all
kings your glory; you shall be called a new name pronounced by the mouth of the
LORD [Yahweh's mouth]. 3 You shall
be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD [in Yahweh's hand], a royal diadem held
by your God. 4 No more shall men
call you "Forsaken ['azubah]," or your land "Desolate," but you shall be called
"My Delight [hephzibah]," and your land "Espoused [beulah]." For the LORD [Yahweh]
delights in you and makes your land his spouse. 5 As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you
[your sons shall marry you]; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will
your God rejoice in you. [...] = words in the Hebrew text; IBHE, vol. III,
page 1,725.
The prophet Isaiah used the symbolic imagery of God's relationship with the Old Covenant Church in Jerusalem as Bridegroom to Bride in Isaiah 61:10. In the First Reading, he continues the marriage imagery. Yahweh will unite Himself to Zion (a symbolic name for the redeemed covenant people) as His Bride forever. Marriage is one of the reoccurring symbolic images of the Old Testament prophets, describing a covenant relationship or lack of a relationship between Yahweh and His covenant people. See the chart the Symbolic Images of the Old Testament Prophets. The prophets longed for the day when God took back His dispossessed covenant people as His Bride (see Hos 2:16-19, 21-25). Then, His redeemed people would see their final salvation.
Isaiah uses three aspects to describe Zion's marriage to Yahweh:
The Temple in Jerusalem was Zion's home where the people offered Yahweh liturgical worship and communed with Him in the sacred meal of the "thanksgiving" Todah (Lev 7:1-5/11-15; Num 15:9-10. For the sake of Jerusalem, God will not be silent until her righteousness and salvation shine forth (verse 1). Other nations and their kings would see the beauty of God's Bride, a beauty that was not external because it was rooted in her righteousness and the glory of God's grace she radiated. As His redeemed people, she would receive "a new name" and "a crown of splendor" in God's hand (verses 2-3).
Zion's judgment for her past sins in the Babylonian conquest and exile had been so horrific that neighboring nations saw her as "forsaken" and "desolation." But when God rescues His people from their captivity and returns them to Jerusalem, Zion will receive new names signifying her newly restored covenant relationship to her Divine Spouse. Hephzibah means "my delight is in her," and "Beulah" means "married" (verse 4).
One can translate verse 5 as either "your sons will marry you" or "your rebuilder/maker/Creator will marry you," depending on the placement of the vowels. The reason is that Hebrew was originally written only in consonants, and the placement of vowels can change the meaning of a word.
The Fathers of the Church saw verse 5 as a prophecy of the Wedding of the Lamb and His Bride, the New Covenant Church, and the prophesied "new name" as "The Bride of Christ" from the Book of Revelation 19:5-9. The "sons" who will wed/marry her will be the New Covenant priests of the Latin Rite. They are the "sons of the Church" that take a vow to wed themselves to the Church a lifetime commitment to serving the Bride of Christ, as Jesus requested (but did not command). In Matthew 19:12, Jesus said, "There are eunuchs born so from their mother's womb, there are eunuchs made so by human agency, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can."
Since the sixth-century AD, this poem has been part of the Church's Liturgy on Christmas Day. A sermon from the Middle Ages beautifully expressed the concept of Christ's union with His Bride, the Church: "Like the bridegroom who comes out of his chamber, the Lord came down from heaven to dwell on earth and to become one with the Church through his incarnation. The Church was gathered together from among the Gentiles, to whom he gave his dowry and his blessings—his dowry when God was made man; his blessings, when he was sacrificed for their salvation" (Fausto de Riez, Sermo 5 in Epiphania).
Responsorial Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8, 9b-10a, c ~ A Call to
Rejoice in Yahweh
The response is: "Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all
the nations."
1 Sing to the LORD a
new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! 2a
Sing to the LORD, bless his name.
Response:
2b Announce his
salvation, day after day. 3 Tell
God's glory among the nations; among all peoples, God's marvelous deeds.
Response:
7 Give to the LORD,
you families of nations, give to the LORD glory and might]; 8a give to the LORD the glory due his name!
Response:
8b Bring gifts and
enter his courts... 9b Tremble before
God, all the earth; 10a say among
the nations: "The LORD is king." 10c He
rules the peoples with fairness.
Response:
Psalm 96 is one of a group of psalms celebrating the kingship of God (Ps 93-100). God's divine name, Yahweh (rendered LORD in this translation), appears ten times (verses 1 twice, 2, 4, 5, 7 twice, 8, 9, and 10). The Psalm invites the whole earth to give glory to Yahweh in a new song of praise and join in singing and praising God by invoking His name in worship. Psalm 33:3, 40:3, and Isaiah 42:10 also mention the singing of a "new song." Because of God's promise of salvation (verse 2b), He invites all peoples to bring Him their offerings to His Temple and take part in the Liturgy of worship (verses 7-8). Psalm 96 calls the people of the earth to acknowledge Yahweh as the divine King of all nations, dispensing justice with equity by causing evil to disappear, bringing blessings, and keeping His promises.
The Second Reading 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ~ Gifts of the
Holy Spirit
4 There are
different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; 5 there are different forms of service but the
same Lord; 6 there are different workings
but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 7 To each individual the manifestation of the
Spirit is given for some benefit. 8 To
one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression
of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9
to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the
one Spirit; 10 to another mighty
deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another
varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit produces all of
these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.
St. Paul's point is that God loves us, and He gives His same Spirit of love to all members of His covenant family of the Church. At the same time, however, God recognizes that we are all different, and He reveals His response to our differences in the different kinds of gifts of the Spirit that He gives us.
Grace is the first and most profound of the gifts of the Holy Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. The Catechism teaches: "Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an 'adopted son' he can henceforth call God 'Father,' in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church" (CCC 1997).
Grace includes the gifts the Spirit grants us in associating us with His work, enabling us to have a part in the salvation of others and the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church (CCC 2003). The different kinds of graces the Spirit grants are:
Paul refers to what the Catechism calls the "graces of state" in 1 Corinthians 12:29 and Romans 12:6-8; see CCC 2004.
To make his point, St. Paul names nine different kinds of beneficial gifts of the Spirit in verses 7-10: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, good deeds, prophecy, discerning spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
Prophecy is often interpreted as predicting future events. However, the Biblical meaning, expressed by the Hebrew word hozeh (Strong's H2374), and propheteia (Strong's G4397) in Greek, is more general. It can refer to a vision or an interpreted revelation, for example, discerning the meaning of Sacred Scripture. Discerning Sacred Scripture is the meaning St. Peter used when he wrote: we must recognize that the interpretation of Scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual. For no prophecy ever came from human initiative. When people spoke for God it was the Holy Spirit that moved them (2 Pt 1:20-21). Peter's point was that the Church has the power and authority to interpret the intent of God's meaning in Sacred Scripture. However, the individual does not have the authority to challenge the Church's understanding of Scripture. The Church never interprets Scripture apart from the context of the verse, the book, or the Bible as a whole. There must be continuity and agreement of interpretation.
"Speaking in tongues" refers to the gift of utterance that can be an unknown "heavenly" language or an "angelic tongue" (13:1) for prayer and praise, or it can be a known language the person receiving the gift didn't previously understand. It was a gift present in the early Church that Paul possessed (14:18), but the legitimate manifestation of the gift is relatively unknown or rare in the Church today. The value of "tongues" to the community is when someone can interpret the message of prophecy for the good of the faithful. Paul addressed the benefits and abuses of this gift in Chapter 14.
11 But one and the
same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each
person as he wishes.
There are many kinds of spiritual charismata/gifts, but they
have features in common despite their diversity:
Even though these are the "different workings" or ministries, it is the same God who produces those works in us to advance the Kingdom of the Church.
The Gospel of John 2:1-12 ~ Jesus's First Public Sign at
the Wedding at Cana
1 On the third day
there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to
the wedding. 3 When the wine ran
short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your
concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever
he tells you." 6 Now there
were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding
twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus
said to them, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Draw some out now and take
it to the headwaiter." 9 So they took
it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without
knowing where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the
headwaiter called the bridegroom 10 and
said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk
freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now." 11 Jesus did this at the beginning of his signs
in Cana in Galilee, and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe
in him. 12 After this, he and his
mother, his brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there
only a few days.
Cana in Galilee is probably the modern village of Keb Kenna, about four miles northeast of Jesus's hometown of Nazareth. The Jewish Talmud directs that the marriage of a virgin should be on the fourth day of the week, our Wednesday. The only day with a "name" was the Sabbath, Saturday. Sunday was the "first" day of the week (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:1-2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1); therefore, as the ancients counted, the "fourth" day is Wednesday (there was no concept of a 0 mathematical place-value in the 1st-century AD).
On the third day
The reference is to the third day from the previous day
mentioned in 1:43.
In John 1:29, 35, and 43, Scripture repeats the words "the
next day." In each case, it is the Greek word epaurion. The literal
translation of this word is "on the morrow." If there is a "tomorrow," that
suggests there was a previous day:
The next verse, John 2:1, begins three days later, "on the third day" from the last day mentioned in verse 43 as the ancients counted without the concept of a zero place-value. The fourth day plus three more days yielded the 7th day when the wedding at Cana took place.
Notice how St. John continues his Creation imagery from the Gospel's prologue. In John 1:1-5, John gave Creation imagery using the words "light" and "darkness" and in the "Word" of God who brought Creation into being. Then in verse 32, St. John the Baptist testified: I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. The dove is the symbolic imagery of God the Holy Spirit (in Hebrew ruah means wind, breath, or spirit) descending from Heaven and hovering above the waters of the Jordan River over Christ just as God's Spirit descended and hovered over the waters of Creation in Genesis 1:2.
John Chapter 2 continues the Creation imagery. On the 7th day of Creation, there was a wedding—the wedding of Adam and Eve! For this reason, in the Old Covenant tradition, a wedding celebration lasts seven days. The custom was for the groom's father to decide when the wedding could occur. The usual festivities consisted of a procession in which the bridegroom and his friends escorted the bride to the groom's house. The blowing of a trumpet (shofar) signaled the beginning of the procession (see 1 Thess 4:16 where the shofar announces Christ the Bridegroom coming for His Bride, the Church in His Second Advent). After the bridegroom escorted the bride to his father's house, the wedding feast lasted seven days. For a Biblical reference, see Genesis 29:27; Judges 14:8-10,18; Tobit 11:15-20. Also, see the Jewish Talmud where the "seven blessings," the Sheva Berachot, are repeated each day (also noted in The Jewish Book of Why, vol. I, page 45).
According to the ancient custom, on the 7th day of the feast, the bridegroom finally lifted the veil that covered his bride's face. She would be fully revealed to him for the first time, and the marriage could be consummated that night. In the first-century AD, this moment of revelation in lifting the veil was called "the apocalypse," from a Greek word that means, "the unveiling." Understanding the significance of this moment is key to understanding St. John's other great book: "The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ to His Servant John." It is the last book in the New Testament and concerns the "unveiling" of the Bride (the Church) as Christ, the Bridegroom, receives her in His Father's home in Heaven.
In the story of Creation, on the 7th day, God rested. Yes, but there is more. On the 6th day of Creation, God created the beasts and Adam. Then knowing that Adam needed a companion (Gen Chapter 2), God put Adam into a deep sleep and created "woman" (ishshah), identified by Adam in Genesis 2:2-23. Adam would not name her Hawwah, "Eve," "the mother of all living," until after their fall from grace in Genesis 3:20 and the birth of their sons. According to Old Covenant Hebrew tradition, the man (ish) and the woman (ishshah) awoke from their deep sleep the next day, the 7th day. God joined them together with Adam, acknowledging the union by saying, "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken." And Scripture continues: That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife and the two become one body [flesh] (Gen 2:23-24).
In John Chapter 2, St. John brings the Creation imagery he used in Chapter 1 to the 7th day of Creation, recalling the wedding of Adam and Eve, and he applies it to the wedding at Cana. Immediately after that first wedding, Adam and Eve fell from grace. Now Jesus, the "new Adam" (1 Cor 15:22-45), will begin His ministry and restore the grace lost through Adam and Eve's sin. The connection between the Cana wedding and the Genesis story of the woman's link to man's fall from grace is also connected by the way Jesus addresses His mother when she made her request to Him, and He called her "woman." The wedding at Cana is the 7th day of the New Creation, as Mary, the "new Eve," helps her son begin to restore the grace lost by the failure of the first woman and man.
But there is a nagging question: Why didn't John number the days up to the Wedding at Cana in a more straightforward manner? Why did he purposely establish a "third-day" reference (Jn 2:1, On the third day...) which is also the 7th day? Remember, nothing in Sacred Scripture is an accident. There is always a reason why the inspired writers use certain wording or word order, which is why an accurate translation is so important. The answer is that there is another Old Testament connection to the 3rd and the 7th day. The Old Testament book of Numbers lists the regulations for purification when an Israelite came in contact with death. The "holy water" used in the purification ritual was mixed with the ashes of a red heifer that was without fault or blemish and has never borne a yoke (Num 19:1-10). These ashes were then mixed with water and blessed by a priest. This "holy water" was used for ritual purification, just as Jesus used the "holy water" in stone vessels in the miracle of turning water into wine.
In Numbers 19:11-13, a person who became impure through contact with a dead body became "as though he were dead" to his community through his contamination. The person must be ritually purified on the 3rd day and again on the 7th day to be restored/resurrected. In other words, under the old Law, two resurrections were required before the impure individual could be restored/resurrected to the covenant people of God. The connection to Christ and the salvation that He will give to us through His Passion, death, and resurrection is that those of us who are "dead" to sin will experience two resurrections:
For this reason, the Fathers of the Church were fond of saying, "Born once, die twice; born twice, die once."
What is the symbolism then illustrated by referencing the 3rd day and the 7th day in John's Gospel and its connection to the old Law ritual cleansing of those made impure by contact with the dead? Jesus has come to cleanse the defiled people of the Old Covenant who are dead in their sins. Purified and reborn by Christ in the Sacrament of Baptism, they will no longer be cut off from God but will be able to approach Him in His Tabernacle. And where is God in His Tabernacle? St. John tells us in John 1:14, And the Word became flesh and Tabernacled among us. In the miracle of the wedding at Cana, Christ was preparing and purifying His people to approach Him during His earthly ministry that will end in His victory over sin and death.
In addition to His mother, Jesus's "brothers" (and perhaps sisters) also attend this wedding (1b and 12). The Greek word "brothers," adelphoi (meaning from the womb, plural), can refer to both kinds of siblings, brothers and sisters, when in the plural form. However, the reference to brothers does not mean that Jesus had brothers and sisters born of the marriage between Mary and Joseph.
The tradition from the Apostles' time was that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life (CCC# 496-7; 499; 502-507). In Hebrew and Aramaic (the common language spoken at the time of Jesus), there was no single word for cousin or stepbrother or stepsister or kinsman/relative. Aramaic and Hebrew expressed all of these relationships with one word, rendered in Greek as adelphos, "brother." There are words in Greek for "cousin" or stepbrother, etc.; however, the sacred writers used the Aramaic/Hebrew tradition. This custom is evident in Acts 1:16, where Peter addressed the 120 believers of the New Covenant Church in the Upper Room, men and women, as adelphoi = "brothers" and the crowd of Jews in the same way in Acts 2:29. In the Western Rite Catholic tradition, we understand these kinsmen and women to be cousins. However, in the Eastern Rite tradition, they are believed to be both cousins and stepbrothers and stepsisters from Joseph's earlier marriage (see the ancient document The Protoevangelium of James). Since Joseph, Jesus's legal father, is not mentioned, the assumption is that he was no longer living. For more information on the question of Jesus's "brothers/sisters," see the document Did Jesus have Brothers and Sisters and CCC# 500).
We do not know how many of Jesus's disciples attended the wedding feast at Cana, but we know of at least six from the information in Chapter 1. Notice that John gives Mary prominence over Jesus and the other men by naming her first. Mary is the central part of this story. John will mention Mary as Jesus's mother eight times in his Gospel (Jn 2:1, 3, 5, 12; 6:42; 19:25, 26 twice, and 27), but he will refer to Mary by the title "the mother of Jesus" only three times (Jn 2:1, 3; and 19:25). John not only places the Virgin Mary in his Gospel narrative at the beginning of Christ's ministry in this passage but also at the end in John 19:25 at the foot of the cross on Cavalry.
3 When the wine ran
short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."
During the seven days of feasting, the women in attendance
would have looked after the food preparation; therefore, it is not unusual that
Mary would have been aware of the emergency caused by the lack of wine.
4 Jesus said to her,
"Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come."
This verse is a scandal to some and a stumbling block to
many. It becomes a stumbling block to those who incorrectly interpret this
passage as a rebuke and an expression of Jesus's separation from Mary,
suggesting that she is not more important to Him than any other sinner in need
of salvation. It is also a scandal for Catholics who love Mary
and cannot understand why Jesus would speak so disrespectfully to His mother!
The problem lies in interpreting a Hebrew idiom rendered in Greek as ti emoi
kai soi. This idiom should be translated,"What to me and to you?"
which means, "What has it to do with me and you?" This expression implies a
divergence of views, but the precise meaning must be determined, as always,
from the context of the passage that clearly shows His comment to His mother
was not a rebuttal, much less a rebuke!
Jesus kept the Laws of the Sinai Covenant perfectly; He was the only one who could. The commandments in Exodus 20:12, Leviticus 19:3, and Deuteronomy 5:16 are to honor one's parents. It is the only commandment that contains a promise which is the blessing of a long life. However, the penalty for not showing honor and respect to one's parents was death (Lev 20:9). Is it possible that Jesus rebuked His mother publicly in this passage? Absolutely not! He would have been sinning by violating the Law and the cause of a scandal at the wedding feast. It is unthinkable that He should do such a thing!
It is helpful to look at this same Hebrew idiom in verse 4 in other passages in Scripture. For example, it appears in five Old Testament passages of the Greek translation:
The Greek phrase "ti emoi kai soi" = "what to me and to you," appears six times in the New Testament:
These passages show that the phrase does not always imply a reproach but sometimes suggests a divergence of opinion. The shade of meaning can be determined from the context. In this passage, Jesus's objection is only that His hour has not yet come.
References to "the coming hour" will be made repeatedly in John's Gospel. There are fourteen references:
| Scripture reference in John's Gospel |
Scripture passage referring to the "coming hour" (emphasis added) |
| 1. 2:4 | Jesus to His mother: "my hour has not yet come." |
| 2. 4:21 | Jesus to the Samaritan woman: "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." |
| 3. 4:23 | Jesus to the Samaritan woman: "But the hour is coming, indeed is already here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth..." |
| 4. 5:25 | Jesus to the Jewish crowd: "In all truth (amen, amen) I tell you, the hour is coming; indeed it is already here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live." |
| 5. 5:28 | Jesus to the Jewish crowd: "Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice." |
| 6. 7:30 | They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him. |
| 7. 8:20 | He spoke these words in the Treasury while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. |
| 8. 12:23 | Jesus replied to them: "Now the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. |
| 9 & 10. 12:27 | Jesus to His disciples: "What shall I say: Father, save me from this hour? But it is for this very reason that I have come to this hour." |
| 11. 13:1 | Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved those who were his in the world, loved them to the end. |
| 12. 16:25 | Jesus to the disciples: "I have been telling you these things in veiled language. The hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in veiled language but tell you about the Father in plain words." |
| 13. 16:32 | Jesus at the Last Supper linking His "hour" to the disciple's "hour": "Listen; the hour will come; indeed it has come already when you are going to be scattered, each going his own way and leaving me alone" |
| 14. 17:1 | After saying this, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: "Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that Your Son may glorify you" |
To some scholars, the reference to "the hour" refers to the "hour" of his glorification. To others, the "hour" marks the beginning of His public ministry and His manifestation as the Messiah. But all scholars will agree that in John's Gospel, the reference to Jesus's "hour" most often points to the "hour" of Christ's passion and death on the cross. It is an hour that man will not determine but an "hour" that is in God's control. That interpretation fits in the context of this passage where Jesus mentions the "hour" of his death in association with the "best wine" in John 2:10 that He provided through the miracle at the wedding at Cana. His blood will be shed and become the "best wine" of Holy Communion that provides blessings for all humanity through His sacrificial death.
Did God know this event would take place? Of course, God knows everything; therefore, Jesus could not have been surprised by her request. The purpose of this incident is to instruct us and to help us to understand the power of Mary's intervention, not just on behalf of the bride and groom at Cana, but her concern and ability to intervene for all her children who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus (Rev 12:17). The wonderful thing about Mary is that when we petition our Holy Mother for her assistance, she always prays for us according to the Father's will for our lives and not just according to our requests.
Understanding the idiom in John 2:4, coupled with the context of the passage and Jesus's reference to His "hour," indicates that although it was not necessarily part of God's plan to use His power to solve the problem of the wine, Mary's request moves Him to do what she requested. Addressing this passage, St. Irenaeus (m. 201 AD) pointed out that it could not be a reproach but is instead, as Jesus indicated by the mention that his hour had not yet come," Jesus was telling Mary, "this is not the plan but leave it to me" (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.17.7).
The question remains if Jesus isn't rebuking His mother, why does He call her "Woman"? Remember the recurring Genesis imagery and the warning in Genesis 3:15: I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [seed] and hers [her seed]; He will strike at your head while you strike at his heel (NJB). This prophecy is known as the Protoevangelium or "the first Gospel." It is the first prophecy of the future Messiah who will redeem fallen humanity and defeat the serpent/Satan (Rev 12:9). Jesus calls Mary "Woman" because that is her title. She is the "Woman" whose seed will defeat the serpent. Only two women in salvation history have the title "Woman," the virgin Eve and the Virgin Mary (see Gen 2:23; Jn 2:4, 19:27).
In Greek, "woman" is the word gune, which does not have the force of the English equivalent "woman" but is instead a gentler expression. It was not unusual for a man to refer to a woman as "gune" in the 1st century, but it is unusual that in Mary's case that there is no article or pronoun associated with the word (i.e. "the woman," "my woman," etc.). However, at various times Jesus addressed women simply as "gune" (for example, see Mt 15:28; Lk 13:12; Jn 4:21; 8:10; 20:15). But only here in this passage and chapter 19, does Jesus use the word "gunai" in addressing his mother Mary, which some scholars translate as "dear woman"; an apparent reference to her unique God-ordained role as the new Eve promised in Genesis 3:15.
Mary is the "new Eve." St. Irenaeus, writing in circa AD 180, expressed Mary's role as the "new Eve" this way: "Eve, however, was disobedient; and when yet a virgin, she did not obey. Just as she, who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband—for in Paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for having been created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children and it was necessary that they first come to maturity before beginning to multiply,--having become disobedient, was made the cause for death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race...Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith" (St Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3,22,4).
Approximately 30 years later, the great Christian apologist Tertullian wrote: "For it was while Eve was still a virgin that the word of the devil crept in to erect an edifice of death. Likewise, through a Virgin, the Word of God was introduced to set up a structure of life. Thus, what had been laid waste in ruin by this sex, was by the same sex re-established in salvation. Eve had believed the serpent; Mary believed Gabriel. That which the one destroyed by believing, the other, by believing set straight" (Tertullian, The Flesh of Christ, 17, 4 AD 208-212). The Catechism also expresses this view of Mary's role in the plan of redemption in Catechism # 411, 511 and 975.
The two Eves contrasted:
| THE VIRGIN EVE | THE VIRGIN MARY |
| Daughter of the first Covenant | Daughter of the Sinai Covenant |
| Pledged obedience under the covenant | Pledged obedience under the covenant |
| Eve's disobedience resulted in the fall into sin of the entire human race. The result was death: physically and spiritually. | Mary's obedience to God resulted in the offer of the gift of salvation to the entire human race. The result was eternal life |
Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.' Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert 'The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.' Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary 'the Mother of the living' and frequently claim" 'Death through Eve, life through Mary'" (CCC 494 quoting St. Irenaeus, Epiphanius, and St. Jerome).
How perfect is God's plan. Although sin and death entered the world through the disobedience of the woman Eve (who led the man Adam into sin), we can now compare the role of women in salvation history to the woman Mary, the new Eve, who led her son, Jesus, the new Adam, to His first glorious work at Cana! All women have Mary as their role model in fulfilling their vocation as mothers to raise holy children who will continue to work for God's plan of salvation. Satan used the virgin Eve to bring destruction, and God used the Virgin Mary to bring about our redemption from sin. Just as a woman and a man cooperated in bringing sin into to world, in God's plan of redemption, a woman (in her obedience to God) and her Son cooperated to bring God's salvation. Without Mary's role as the new Eve, women would still bear the burden and condemnation for leading Adam into sin. Mary releases women from that burden.
However, there may be more to Mary's petition than merely helping a young couple in an embarrassing situation during their wedding celebration. Her petition has theological significance. She asked Jesus to provide wine as a divine gift at a wedding banquet attended by the covenant people. Her request was for Jesus to initiate a prophetic act to launch His ministry. In the recurring symbolic images of the prophets, drinking the best wine at a banquet in the presence of God is the image of Israel in restored communion with her God.
| Image Group |
Part I Covenant relationship |
Part II Rebellion |
Part III Redemptive Judgment |
Part IV Restoration Fulfilled |
|
Drinking Wine |
Joy of drinking good wine | Becoming drunk | Loss of wine and drinking the "cup of God's wrath" | Rejoicing in the best "new wine" at the Master's table |
| [examples in Scripture] |
Jeremiah 40:12; Isaiah 62:8-9 |
Isaiah 5:11-12; 28:1;
Jeremiah 8:13; 48:26; 51:7; Joel 1:5 |
Joel 4:13; Isaiah 51:17; 63:2-3;
Jeremiah 13:12-14; 25:15-31; 48:26 Ezekiel 23:32-33 |
Promise: Zech.9:15-16 Filled: Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; Revelation 19:7-9 |
In the book of Revelation, the passage that refers to the fulfillment of the New Covenant people's relationship with God is a wedding feast: the wedding feast of the Lamb and His Bride the Church (Rev 19:6-9). In her petition, Mary, the faithful daughter of Israel, is asking God the Son to begin His mission to bring the restoration of covenant union to her people with Yahweh in a prophetic ot, a symbolic act by a prophet that points to a future work of God in salvation history. Jesus, providing the best wine to a faithful remnant of the old Israel at a wedding banquet, prefigures the promised restoration of the new Israel in the Eucharistic banquet that will sustain Mary's New Covenant children on their journey to salvation. It is God's plan until the time when the redeemed would enjoy the wine of salvation at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and His Bride in the heavenly Sanctuary (Rev 12:17 identifies all those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus as Mary's children).
5 His mother said to
the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial
washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Mary's direction to the servants indicates her understanding
of Jesus's comment to her in 2:4.
Her command to the servants shows that she has understood
from Jesus's response that He will honor her petition concerning the problem of
the wine. She has confidence that her Son will fulfill her request, so she
instructs them to do exactly as He tells them. It is the same advice Mary
gives to all her spiritual children in the family of God: to do as her Son
tells them and to be obedient to the will of God in their lives.
Writing to a predominantly Gentile-Christian community, John again instructs his readers about Old Covenant customs. Ritual purification was essential under the Laws of the Old Covenant. We know that these jars held "holy water" because John tells us that they are stone vessels and not the usual fired pottery vessels that contained wine. Water for ritual purification was kept in stone vessels. Using the symbolism of numbers, John may be calling attention to the number six as just short of perfection, which according to tradition was the number seven. The Old Covenant rituals of purification were not complete or perfect but were only a preparation for the purity and perfection promised in the New Covenant.
The six stone vessels that John mentions were outside the wedding reception room and were the same type of containers mentioned in Chel. 10.1 [Keley Abhanim] of the Talmud as being expressly used for purification of hands (see The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah page 247 and the Mishnah, Seder Tohoroth). It was customary to have these large water jars of stone in or near the room where a feast took place so water might be available for the ceremonial washing of hands prescribed before and after meals (see Mk 7:3; 2 Kng 3:11; etc.). For example, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb or goat kid was eaten in a sacred meal, hands were ritually washed three times: before, during, and after eating the food. In this case, each stone vessel held two or three measures. A measure is about eight gallons, so each jar held between 20 to 30 gallons of water for a total of approximately 150 gallons of water.
7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." 9 So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)
Since this event was during the feast, some of the water was drawn out of the jars for the customary ritual purification of hands before the meal. Now Jesus instructed the servants to make sure they filled the jars to the brim, emphasizing the superabundance and magnificence of the gift produced by the miracle.
Sacred Scripture promised that the Messiah would bring an abundance of gifts to the people: Psalms 85:12; Joel 2:24; Amos 9:13-15, etc. These passages emphasize the superabundance of the riches of Redemption and Salvation. For the miracle to occur, Mary stressed to the servants that they must be obedient to Jesus's commands. For us, her instruction to the servants emphasizes the importance of obedience to the will of God in even the most minor details of our lives.
Can you see the humorous side of this part of the story? You can imagine the expression on the faces of the servants, worrying that they would be blamed for bringing water to the president of the feast instead of wine, followed by their amazement when he enthusiastically pronounces that they have brought him the choicest wine!
the headwaiter called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine
first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have
kept the good wine until now."
The president of the feast was not a servant but is a friend
of the groom. Some scholars suggest that he was what we would call "the
best-man"; it is a suggestion that fits theologically with what John the Baptist
would teach at the end of chapter 3. What does this superior wine coming at the
end of the feast suggest to you symbolically? St. Thomas Aquinas and other
Fathers of the Church saw this abundance of good wine kept for the end of the
celebrations as symbolizing the crowning moment in Salvation History when God
has sent His Son, whose teaching will perfect the old revelation of God received
by the patriarchs and Old Covenant Church. Now the graces Christ brings will
far exceed their expectations. The wine replacing the water, in essence,
symbolized the replacement of the Old Covenant and the superabundance of the
New Covenant, the temporal blessings of the Old Covenant with the eternal blessings
of the New. They also saw this good wine coming at the end as prefiguring the
reward and the joy of eternal life, which God grants to those who desire to
follow Christ in obedience (see St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on St. John).
11 Jesus did this at
the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee, and so revealed his glory, and
his disciples began to believe in him. 12 After
this, he and his mother, [his] brothers, and his disciples went down to
Capernaum and stayed there only a few days.
The miracle of the wine at Cana was the first of Jesus's "signs"
(verse 11a). St. John uses the term "signs," semeion in the common
Greek, seventeen times in his Gospel. He uses the word "sign" because these
works performed by Jesus were not just supernatural miracles but signs that unveil
the glory and power of God working through Jesus the Messiah. These "signs"
also recall those performed by God's first holy prophet Moses in Exodus 4:8; 4:28-31.
In John's Gospel, Jesus performs eight miracles, of which six are not in the
Synoptic Gospels. Seven of these miracles are public "signs" that reveal Jesus
as the Messiah. That John recorded seven public signs draws our attention to
seven as a number indicating perfection and fullness (see the document The significance of numbers in scripture).
| #1 2:1-11 | The sign of water turned to wine at the wedding at Cana |
| #2 4:46-54 | The healing of the official's son |
| #3 5:1-9 | The healing of the paralytic |
| #4 6:1-14 | The multiplication of the loaves to feed the 5,000 |
| #5 9:1-41 | The healing of the man who was born blind |
| #6 11:17-44 | The raising of Lazarus from the dead |
| #7 2:18-20* | The Resurrection of Jesus that will be fulfilled in 20:1-10 |
*This sign is prophesized by Jesus in 2:18-20 but not fulfilled
until chapter 20.
The private sign meant only for His Apostles is in Chapter 6
when Jesus walks on the Sea of Galilee and calms the storm, a revelation that
identifies Jesus as the prophet "greater than Moses." Therefore, in John's Gospel,
there are eight miracles, seven public and one private. Seven is the number symbolizing
perfection [especially "spiritual" perfection]. Eight is the number symbolizing
rebirth (i.e., circumcision is on the eighth day of a boy's life when he is "born"
into the Sinai Covenant), and the number of salvation and resurrection as
represented by the eight people saved in Noah's Ark after passing through the floodwaters,
a foreshadow of Christian Baptism.
There is also another Old Testament reference connecting stone jars and Moses. In John Chapter 1, there was Creation imagery and references to Moses, the great prophet and "Lawgiver" of the Old Covenant who turned the water of the Nile into blood, including the water in stone vessels (Ex 7:19). Now, in John Chapter 2, these "signs" of Jesus recall the "signs" of Moses in Egypt as Jesus transformed water in stone vessels into wine. However, later, at the Last Supper, He will complete the link to Moses's miracle when He turns wine into His blood (Lk 22:20). Jesus is the new Moses, the prophet, lawgiver, covenant mediator, and miracle worker of the New Covenant. His mother is the new Miriam (they had the same name in Hebrew). She would support Him throughout His mission just as Miriam, Moses's sister, supported him.
Catechism References (* indicated Scripture is either
quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Isaiah 62 (CCC 1611*);
62:4-5 (CCC 219*)
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (CCC 249*); 12:6 (CCC 308*); 12:7 (CCC 801, 951); 12:9 (CCC 1508*)
John 2:1-12 (CCC 2618*); 2:1-11 (CCC 1613*); 2:1 (CCC 495); 2:11 (CCC 486*, 1335*)
The Father's will fulfilled in Christ (CCC 462*, 516*, 2568*, 2824*)
To welcome the Kingdom, welcome the Word of God (CCC 543*, 544*, 545*, 546*)
Christ the source of Christian vocation (CCC 873-874)
The dignity of the body (CCC 364*, 1004*)
Helping children discover their vocation (CCC 1656, 2226)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2015; revised 2022 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.