RSV ~ John 2 Notes

Jn 2:1 | ISB Notes

the third day: Chronologically, this refers to the third day since Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael (1:43-51). Theologically, it has two levels of significance. (1) The third day is actually the seventh day of Jesus’ opening week of ministry. The evangelist hints at this when he delineates the successive days in 1:29, 35, 43, and 2:1, implying that the creation fashioned in seven days (Gen 1:1-2:3) is being transformed and renewed through Jesus (2 Cor 5:17; Rev 21:1-5). (2) Jesus manifests his glory on the third day at Cana (2:11), just as he reveals his glory by rising on the third day after his death (1 Cor 15:4).

See word study: Signs.

marriage at Cana: Jewish weddings, like this one five miles north of Nazareth, could be celebrated for an entire week or more (Judg 14:12; Tob 11:19). Curiously, the young couple is never identified, leaving Jesus and his Mother to hold center stage for the entire episode (2:111).

• Traditional exegesis holds that Jesus sanctifies the covenant of marriage by his presence at the wedding at Cana (CCC 1613).

Jn 2:3 | ISB Notes

the mother of Jesus: Mary is never called by her personal name in the Fourth Gospel (2:12; 19:25).

no wine: An embarrassing predicament for the young couple. Mary’s concern for the situation may suggest she is a relative of the wedding party.

• Vatican II affirms the propriety of the title “Advocate” for the Mother of Jesus (Lumen Gentium, 62). It means that just as Mary intervened at Cana for the needs of others, so she continues to make heavenly intercession for the needs of the saints on earth (CCC 969).

Jn 2:4 | ISB Notes

woman: Although it might offend the standards of modern etiquette, this was a title of respect and endearment in antiquity (4:21; 8:10; 20:13). There is, however, no ancient example of a son addressing his mother in this way.

• Genesis 3 is the reverse image of the Cana episode. As Eve prompted Adam to defy the Lord and drag the human family into sin, so Mary prompts Jesus, the new Adam, to initiate his mission of salvation. The description of Mary even alludes to Gen 3:15, where Yahweh speaks of a “woman” whose son will trample the devil underfoot (CCC 489, 494). what have you to do with me? The expression is a Hebrew idiom rendered in Greek (literally, “what to me and to you?”). It typically presupposes some perceived tension between two parties having contrary perspectives (Judg 11:12; 1 Kings 17:18; Mk 5:7), though not always (2 Chron 35:21). When the idiom is used in response to a person’s request, either stated or implied, the speaker sometimes capitulates to the expressed will of the other (2 Kings 3:13) and sometimes not (2 Sam 16:10).

Here the former pattern is evident: Jesus complies with Mary’s request (Jn 2:7-8), and Mary herself appears perfectly confident that Jesus will respond favorably to her petition (2:5). In effect, Jesus would not have initiated the miracle at Cana, but neither does he refuse his Mother’s prompting.

My hour has not yet come: The assertion hides an important assumption. The statement would seem exaggerated unless the provision of wine was somehow connected with Jesus’ appointed “hour”. This points beyond the historical hour of his Passion to the commemoration of that hour in the eucharistic liturgy, where Christ is present behind the visible sign of wine (CCC 2618).

See topical essay: The “Hour” of Jesus at Jn 4.

Jn 2:5 | ISB Notes

Do whatever he tells you: The final words of Mary in the NT, which ring out as her spiritual testament for all disciples of Jesus.

• The command to follow Jesus echoes the command to follow Joseph in Gen 41:55. As the patriarch went on to provide bread in abundance during a time of famine, so Jesus supplies wine in abundance at a time of need.

Jn 2:6 | ISB Notes

six stone jars: Together holding over 120 gallons of water.

• The purpose of these water jars is outlined in Num 19:11-22, which stipulates that any Israelite defiled by contact with the dead must be purified with water on the third day and then again on the seventh day. Curiously, the Cana miracle takes place on the third day (2:1), which, according to John’s chronology, is also the seventh day. See note on Jn 2:1.

• The first sign performed by Jesus (water into wine) recalls the first sign performed by Moses (the first plague, water into blood, Ex 7:19). Note that wine is called the “blood” of the grape in Hebrew poetry (Gen 49:11; Deut 32:14).

Jn 2:9 | ISB Notes

the bridegroom: The unidentified groom at the wedding. Jesus fulfills this role on a spiritual level (3:29; Mt 25:113; CCC 796).

Jn 2:10 | ISB Notes

the good wine: A biblical symbol capable of many associations. (1) An abundance of wine is a sign of the messianic age (Is 25:6; Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13). (2) It signifies the joys of marital love (Song 1:2; 4:10; 7:9). (3) The transformation of water into wine anticipates the transubstantiation of wine into blood when Jesus gives himself to the world in the eucharistic liturgy (6:53; 1 Cor 10:16). (4) The wine of the marital celebration looks beyond this life to the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven (Rev 19:7-9) (CCC 1335).

Jn 2:12 | ISB Notes

Capernaum: A village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and the headquarters of Jesus’ Galilean ministry (Mt 4:13).

his brethren: Not full brothers of Jesus but his close relatives (CCC 500). See note on Mt 12:46.

Jn 2:13 | ISB Notes

The Passover: Celebrated every spring to commemorate Israel’s rescue from Egyptian slavery (Ex 12). Three times the Passover is mentioned in John, indicating that Jesus’ ministry extended beyond two years (6:4; 13:1). . Jerusalem: Nearly 80 percent of John’s narrative places Jesus in Jerusalem. The Synoptic Gospels give greater attention to the ministry of Jesus in Galilee.

Jn 2:14-22 | ISB Notes

The cleansing of the Temple is recorded in all four Gospels. One difference among them is that John places the event at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, while the other Gospels place it at the end of his ministry. Two explanations for this are possible. (1) All four accounts may refer to the same event. If so, John moved the episode to the beginning of his narrative to highlight an important truth. As it stands, the Temple cleansing makes the same theological point as that in the preceding Cana episode: Jesus brings a New Covenant that supersedes the institutions of the Old. (2) Jesus may have cleansed the Temple twice. In fact, some have dated the episode in John around A.D. 27 or 28, calculating “forty-six years” from the time Herod the Great began renovating the Temple in 19 or 20 B.C. (2:20). This date fits more easily into the early period of Jesus’ ministry than the latter part of it.

Jn 2:14 | ISB Notes

In the temple: The Jerusalem Temple was divided into several courts. The outermost court, open to Gentile pilgrims, was used for selling sacrificial animals and exchanging foreign currency for the appropriate coins needed to pay the annual Temple tax. Jesus is angry that the merchants are robbing Israel through infla

ted rates of exchange and robbing the Gentiles of the opportunity to worship and pray (CCC 583-84). See note on Mt 17:24.

Jn 2:15 | ISB Notes

poured out … overturned: The aggressive actions of Jesus are a prophetic sign of the Temple’s imminent destruction (Mk 13:1-2). The expulsion of oxen, sheep, and pigeons (2:14) from the precincts likewise signifies the termination of animal sacrifice in the Temple (4:21-24). See note on Mk 11:15.

• Allegorically (Origen, Comm. in Jo. 10, 16): the sanctuary is the undisciplined soul, filled, not with animals and merchants, but with earthly and senseless attachments. Christ must expel them with the whip of his divine doctrine to make spiritual worship possible.

Jn 2:17 | ISB Notes

Zeal for your house: A reference to Ps 69:9.

• Psalm 69 depicts the suffering of the righteous, who are pained by the insults that sinners heap upon God. Jesus, burning with righteous indignation, is outraged that business dealings have taken the place of prayer in the Temple courts.

Jn 2:19 | ISB Notes

Destroy this temple: Jesus challenges his critics to destroy, not the sacred building, but his own body (2:21-22). Ironically, the latter is destined to replace the former: after the Crucifixion, the Temple of Jerusalem will be razed to the ground in divine judgment while the temple of Jesus’ body will be raised from the grave in divine glory (CCC 586, 994).

Jn 2:25 | ISB Notes

he knew all men: The supernatural knowledge of Jesus is often highlighted in the Gospels (4:39; 16:30; Mt 9:4; 17:27; Mk 11:2-4; Lk 22:9-13). Here he detects deficient faith in those who marvel at his miracles but fail to grasp the significance of his mission. In the next episode, Nicodemus is representative of such inadequate belief (3:1-15) (CCC 473).