biblical meditation on the second mystery of the light rosary (completion)
P. Vojtěch Brož
Verse 6. There were six stone jars (for water) for the purification of the Jews, each holding two or three measures. The jars symbolize the Old Testament with all its religious institutions. The number six is one less than seven. Seven is the number of fullness, six is the incompleteness. “The jars that served for the purification of the Jews are empty! Are they thereby declared empty Jewish purification rituals? The reader remembers the words of John the Baptist about Jesus: ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (1:29). Is cleansing from sins to be found only in him?”1 The wedding at Cana in Galilee shows us the relationship between the Old and the New Covenant. The old Jewish jars are necessary for the new wine. Water is likewise necessary, the element created at the beginning by God (Gen 1:6 ff.), which destroyed sin in the flood (Gen 6:17), parted ways for the freed people during the exodus from Egypt (Ex 14:21 ff.) etc. Jars and water are therefore necessary, yet they alone mean nothing. Only when Jesus uses them. He accepts in the water the whole creation and in the Jewish jars the entire tradition of the Old Covenant people and transforms them, giving them new content and new meaning. Brown points out that Cana is the beginning of signs regarding the theme of the relationship of the Old and New Testament, or the relationship of Old Testament realities to Christ:2
One of the themes in the second part (chapters 2-4) of the "Book of Signs" (chapters 1-12) is the replacement of Jewish religious institutions; the third part (chapters 5-10) is dominated by the actions and words that Jesus performed and spoke during the Jewish festivals, whose theme he replaced with himself. Jesus is the true Temple; the Spirit he gives replaces the necessity of Jerusalem cult; his teaching and his body and blood give life, as mana in the Exodus never did; at the Feast of Tabernacles, it will not be a ceremony that summons rain, but Jesus himself who gives living water; not the lighting of the temple courtyard, but Jesus himself is the true light; during the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, not the temple altar, but Jesus himself is sanctified by God. In light of this theme of replacement, it seems evident that when the evangelist presents Cana as the first in a series of signs that will follow, he tries to focus attention on the replacement of the water prescribed for the purification of the Jews with the choicest wine. This replacement is a sign of who Jesus is, namely sent by the Father, who from now on is the only way to the Father. All prior religious institutions, customs, and festivals lose their meaning in his presence.
There were six jars, not seven, which is a symbol of incompleteness. They were empty. But large. One “measure” contains about 40 liters. Six jars of two to three measures means a total of 5 to 7 hectoliters. When the jars are filled with Jesus' wine, their emptiness will be transformed into overwhelming abundance. Abundance is one of the signs of God's gift (cf. 3:24; 4:14; 6:13 ff.; 10:10; 21:6,11). “At the wedding in Cana it is not about the hunger (thirst) of the people, but about their feast and their joy. The people do not lack bread, which is essential for survival, but wine, which is necessary for the feast to continue... Through the gift of wine, Jesus shows that he has come to bring joy that never ends... In the high priestly prayer, he asks the Father for his disciples, ‘that they may have the fullness of my joy’ (17:3).”3
V. 7–8. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water!” And they filled them to the brim. / And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast!” They did so. Jesus takes the situation into his hands. He gives instructions to the servants. What is interesting is that Jesus does not take the situation into “his” hands, but allows people to act. He enables the servants to perform a miracle. He only asks for their obedience. The servants obey literally: Jesus said to them: “Fill the jars with water!” ... “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast!” They: They filled them to the brim... they brought. The servants fill Jesus' commandments without delay. They are to bring the master of the feast water! Nevertheless, they carry it out. This literal obedience is a result of Mary's instruction. Her role was thus a mediator between Jesus and the servants, much like Moses' mediation at the conclusion of the Sinai Covenant. John does not use the term dúloi for the servants as he does, for instance, in 4:51; 15:15; 18:10, but diakonoi. This word is found in Jesus’ words in 12:26: “If anyone serves me (diakoné), let him follow me; and where I am, there my servant (diakonos) will be.” Here, the servant is the one who follows, that is, the disciple. The servants in Cana, who perfectly respond to Jesus' word, are a model of disciples. At least on that higher mysterious level; ultimately, they will not be mentioned alongside the disciples who believed when Jesus performed the beginning of signs. The servants probably did not believe. They do not have the faith that makes one a disciple of Jesus. They do, however, have obedience, without which a disciple cannot stand.
V. 9. When the master of the feast tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from – but the servants who had drawn the water knew – he called the bridegroom. The miracle is not described; we are informed of it only by the reaction of the master of the feast. He did not know where the wine came from. “Where” in John's Gospel is a significant word with which people ask about the origin of Jesus or his gift (cf. 4:11; 7:27 ff.; 8:14; 9:29 ff.; 16:28; 19:9). The question of the origin of the wine is also a Christological question. Where is the wine? The master of the feast does not know, but the servants do know, because at Jesus' command, they drew the water which became wine. The wine thus comes from Jesus. Do they, however, know where Jesus comes from? Only the one who knows where Jesus is knows where the wine truly comes from.
The master of the feast, astonished, calls the bridegroom. He does not know where the wine is from; that it is from Jesus. Through his misunderstanding, however, he contributes to the revelation of Jesus as the true bridegroom. Throughout the passage, there is no mention of the bridegroom and bride who were celebrating the wedding. John is not interested in them at all. The persons that he focuses on are Jesus and his Mother. Here Jesus emerges as the bridegroom, and Jesus’ mother as the bride. This interpretation is further confirmed later in the gospel by John the Baptist's words, when he identifies Jesus as the bridegroom and himself as the friend of the bridegroom: “The bridegroom is the one who has the bride; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands with him and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (3:29-30).
Jesus is the true bridegroom at the messianic wedding, which is a metaphor for the New Covenant. This was prophesied by the prophets, among other things, also as a symbol of the wedding between the Lord and his people (Hosea 2:16-25; Jeremiah 2:1-2; 3:1,6-12; Ezekiel 16; Isaiah 50:1; 54:4-8; 62:4-5). The Song of Songs and Psalm 45/44 were understood by Jewish and Christian traditions in a messianic sense. Jesus is the divine Bridegroom, God's partner in the New Covenant, who invites to the wedding feast and offers the new wine of his revelation. Jesus establishes the new covenant. Initially, he performs the beginning of signs.
“The transformation of water into wine was a sign, a symbol in which Jesus revealed himself as the divine Bridegroom of the new people of God, with whom he has decided to establish a new and eternal covenant, which will find its ultimate fulfillment in the Paschal mystery.”4 Jesus’ act in Cana should be understood precisely as a “sign” that points elsewhere. “Jesus did not come to relieve people of the worry about wine at their earthly weddings... He came to prepare for them a great feast, to give them the fullness of joy that lasts and finds its fulfillment at the heavenly banquet (cf. Matthew 22:1-14). With him came the Bridegroom, and the feast began. His presence on earth is already a time of joy (cf. John 3:28-30; Mark 2:19-20).”5 The bride in the prophesied messianic wedding is Israel. Jesus' bride is the true Israel, embodied by his mother, who grows into the Church. Therefore, Jesus' true bride is the Church. “The story of the wedding at Cana is a narrative transposition, characteristic of the Johannine style, of what the letter to the Ephesians says about the marriage of Christ and the Church, the primal reality and foundation not only for Christian marriage but for every state of life inspired by Christian faith.”6 The Church itself in its prayer understands the sign at Cana as its own nuptial mystery, its betrothal to the Bridegroom Christ, as evidenced by the antiphon to Zechariah's canticle on the feast of the Epiphany: “Today the Church is betrothed to her heavenly Bridegroom, for Christ washed away her sins in the Jordan; the wise men hurry with gifts to the royal wedding; and the guests rejoice from the water changed into wine. Alleluia!”
Jesus is the true bridegroom at the wedding in Cana. He “replaces” the bridegroom. This only occurs when the entire scene is shifted to the symbolic level. When we return to the visible everyday world, Jesus has not replaced the bridegroom. He does not overpower human actors with his power. On the contrary, he set the servants in motion. The water was changed into wine in their hands! “Jesus transforms, with his presence, his words and his actions, the people who surround him. This human environment thereby receives new content... Jesus does nothing ‘instead of’ others... The divine Bridegroom not only remains but gives, provides, and offers joy to the earthly bridegroom. More and better than the ‘friend of the bridegroom,’ this Bridegroom is the first to be fascinated by the joy of the newlyweds. He gives the bridegroom and bride the opportunity to exist in their personal being and in their unique relationship. This is given to them by Jesus and his Mother.”7 Only when the “body” of visible reality is preserved can “the Word” speak through them. The visible Church is the sacrament, the sign of Christ's nuptial mystery, which it bears.
V. 10. ... and he said to him: “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” The beginning of the sign which Jesus made at the wedding in Cana lies in the gift of good wine, and that in a wasteful abundance. What does this wine signify? In the Old Testament tradition, it has deep meaning from the beginning. Wine is a gift from God to man for joy, as the psalm says: “You give wine to gladden the heart of man” (Psalm 104:15). After the cosmic covenant between the Lord and all mankind following the flood, Noah plants a vineyard (Genesis 9:20). In Jacob's blessing of Judah, where messianic elements can also be discerned, wine is mentioned: “Judah shall not be gone from the scepter, nor a lawgiver from between his feet... He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes” (Gen 49:10-11). In the messianic messages, the promise of good wine in abundance is a symbol of the new covenant. Wine is one of the key elements of the messianic banquet. The prophets promise it (Amos 9:13-14; Joel 2:24; 4:18; Isaiah 25:6), and it is also a symbol of the covenant. In the Song of Songs, wine celebrates the union between the bridegroom and the bride (Song 1:2,4; 4:10; 5:1; 7:3,9; 8:2). In early Judaism (the last centuries before Christ), the symbol of wine develops: it is associated with Wisdom. Wisdom itself has prepared a feast and invites people to drink the wine she has poured (Proverbs 9:2,5; Sirach 24:17-31). To eat and drink from the table of Wisdom means to accept her message. Wisdom itself thus offers itself for knowledge; otherwise, it remains inaccessible. In Job 28:12,20; Baruch 3:14-15, the question is posed: “Where is wisdom?” This echoes the question of the origin of the wine in Cana. In rabbinic literature, wine is one of the favorite symbols for the Torah, and thus, of course, for the law, which the Messiah will teach. In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus himself speaks of his Gospel as new wine that belongs to new wineskins (Matthew 9:17).
Against this background, we can see in the wine that Jesus gave in Cana a symbol of the eschatological revelation that he himself brings. “Good wine is the messianic wine, which he has kept until this moment, but it comes from the water in the jars that were meant for the purification of the Jews. These jars were therefore filled with the water of Moses' Law, representing Jewish legislation. Jesus changes this water into the wine of the New Covenant by revealing himself. Christian purification will no longer occur through the Law, but through the Gospel, through Jesus' word (15:3), through his truth (cf. 8:32).”8 The good wine is Jesus' revelation, the water is Moses' law. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (1:17). Thus, the wine is identified with the Gospel. Augustine says: “Bonum vinum Christus servavit usque adhuc, id est evangelium suum.”9 Ultimately, Jesus himself is the true Wisdom, the incarnate Word (1:14). The new wine, given by changing water, is therefore Jesus' revelation of himself, he himself as God's Wisdom, God's Word, Truth and Grace, Life and Light. “We are at the point of transition from the old economy of salvation to the new, from the Old to the New Testament.”10 “The miracle of water transformed into wine appears to us as a true turning point in the gospel history... The messianic time seems to be fulfilled.”11
Matthew places the Sermon on the Mount, introduced by the Beatitudes (5:3-10), at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Jesus proclaims a new teaching, his “Law,” connected with beatitude. In John, Jesus comes with the gift of good wine. If the wine is a symbol of Jesus' gospel, then between Matthew and John, there is perfect agreement. In both, Jesus brings the gift of his truth for our beatitude, for joy.
V. 11. Thus Jesus did this, the beginning of signs, at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. Jesus performed the beginning of his signs, the arche-sign, the archetypical sign that foreshadows the meaning of his entire mission: the messianic wedding, in which he is the true Bridegroom and the Church, symbolically embodied in Jesus' mother, is the Bride. By this, Jesus revealed his glory, which is already here, just as once on the cross, is the glory of love that gives itself away. The gift of his love, his self-giving, self-revelation is symbolized by the gift of good wine in incredible abundance. Man no longer needs to stand helplessly over empty jars. The bridegroom has kept the good wine until now. It is enough to come and draw. The necessary attitude for receiving the new gift of salvation is faith. That, and only that, is what Jesus wanted when he performed the sign (cf. 4:48). The whole narrative culminates in the report that Jesus' disciples believed in him. “It is not said whether the bystanders noticed the miracle of transformation at all, whether they praised Jesus as a miracle worker, which he wanted to avoid anyway. It is only said that his disciples believed in him. This is the only success he values.”12 Ludger Schenke comments on the faith of the disciples as a reaction to Jesus’ sign as follows:13
Neither the master of the feast, nor the bridegroom or bride or anyone else among the wedding guests notices Jesus' sign. They do not ask the fundamental question, where the wine is from... Only the disciples are said to have come to faith. They, however, already believed beforehand (1:39,40-42,49 ff.). Do signs convince only those who already believe? The servants do not come to faith in any case. And Jesus' mother, who plays such a large role here? Does she not believe? Or does she already believe before the sign and precisely her faith prompts the sign so that she does not come to faith through the mediation of the sign?
Invited to the Lamb's Wedding Feast
According to some Fathers (Clement of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, Cyprian) the “excellent wine” from the narration about Cana recalls the Eucharistic wine. That Christians already in antiquity associated Cana with the Eucharist is attested by a fresco from the 2nd or 3rd century in the Alexandrian catacombs, which connects the scene of the transformation of water into wine with the multiplication of loaves. John's Gospel itself leads in this direction: the hour that Jesus refers to explicitly “has come” at the Last Supper (13:1). Both Cana (2:13), the multiplication of loaves (6:4), and the Last Supper (13:1) are all dated in immediate proximity to the Passover celebrations. They all merge into that Hour of the cross, where again the “woman,” “the mother of Jesus” is present when Jesus' side is opened for blood and water to flow from it. In the Eucharist, the wine is transformed into the blood of Christ. In Cana, the wine replaced the water of purification. What actually replaced every purification ritual is “the blood of his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:7).14
The wedding at Cana is a symbolic celebration of the New Covenant, which Jesus seals with his blood on the cross, where he gives his Bride his body. The Eucharist is the sacrifice of the New Covenant, the Lamb's wedding feast. What was begun and foreshadowed in Cana is fulfilled on the cross, and we partake in it in the Eucharist. In it, we already experience what will one day be our eternal joy, when the Woman's childbirth pains cease (cf. John 16:20-23; Revelation 12:2), when the glory of the Bridegroom shines in full light, no longer in that paradoxical form of hiddenness, weakness, and cross, but when “he comes in the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (Revelation 1:7), when his adorned Bride, the heavenly Jerusalem, descends from the new heaven to the new earth. Then, after all sorrow and pain, there will remain only eternal joy, as John’s prophetic words testify: “And then I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns! Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’ – for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’” (Revelation 19:8-9).
