The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
Jesus also was called, as the cousin of the bridegroom. “ Jesus being called,” says S. Chrysostom, “was present at the marriage, not having regard to His dignity, but to our profit.” He was present (1.) to pay respect to His kinsfolk, and to honour their nuptials by His presence. 2. To give an example of humility, in being present at the marriage of poor people. As S. Chrysostom says, “ He who did not disdain to take the form of a servant, was not ashamed to be present at the wedding of servants.” Or, as S. Augustine says (de Verb. Dom. Serm. 41), “ Let man blush to be proud, since God became humble. Behold, He came to the marriage, who, when He was with the Father, instituted marriage.” 3. That by the miracle He might make Himself known to His disciples, and show them that He was the Messiah. 4. That He might give His sanction to marriage, and sanctify it by His presence, and so condemn the Encratites, and the followers of Tatian, who were to arise in after times, and revile marriage as a filthy invention of the devil. So SS. Austin, Cyril, and Bede. Hear what this last says (Hom. in Domin. 2, post Epiph.) : “ If there were any fault to be found with wedlock, duly and chastely celebrated, the Lord would not have been present at a marriage. Good is holy wedlock, better is the continence of widowhood, best of all is perfect virginity. Thus Christ was born of a virgin ; He was blessed by the prophetic lips of the widow Anna ; He came an invited guest to a wedding.”
And His disciples. You will ask, Who were these disciples ? For Jesus did not gather together His apostles until after the imprisonment of S. John the Baptist : and this had not then taken place.
I reply, it is probable they were Nathanael and Philip, and perhaps Andrew and Peter. For they had visited Jesus three days before, and for a time adhered to Him as their Master; though afterwards they went back to their fishing until they were called to the apostolate.
And when wine failed , Greek, ὑστερήσαντος, was deficient, because the bridegroom, being poor, had only provided a little, the Mother of Jesus , &c. As though she said, “ Our relations, the bride and bridegroom , have no wine. Consider their modesty, O my Son, that they be not put to shame before their guests. I know Thou art able to do this, for Thou art the Son of God, and it is becoming both to Thy kindness and Thy providence, so that by now performing a miracle Thou mayest make manifest both to Thy disciples and all the guests that Thou art the Messiah.” So S. Cyril.
Observe the modesty of the Virgin. She does not bid, or even ask. She does not say, My Son, provide wine for them. She did not doubt that Jesus in His providence and love would provide it. Hear what S. Bernard says (Serm. 2, de B. Virg .) : “ Those words of hers are a most sure index of innate meekness, and virgin modesty. Accounting the reproach of others her own, she could not bear it; she could not profess ignorance of the wine having failed. When indeed she was reproved by her Son, forasmuch as she was meek and lowly in heart, she neither answered again, nor yet despaired. She only bade the servants do what He told them.”
Moreover, the Mother having a certain confidence that she would obtain, here tacitly asks her Son to procure wine. During the thirty years that they had lived together in close companionship she had learnt from Him that He had been sent by the Father, that, by His heavenly doctrine and miracles, He might convert men to Himself and God. It is impossible to doubt that when Christ bade good-bye to His Mother, when He was going to John’s baptism, and after that to enter upon His office of preaching, He had expressly told His Mother the same. Wherefore, she deeming that the present was a fitting occasion for Jesus, by a miracle, to gain authority and belief in Himself, fearlessly asked for a miracle, not doubting that Christ would perform it, and by so doing would gratify His Mother and His relations, and would advance His own office and dignity.
Ver. 4 . — And Jesus saith , What is it to Me and to thee, &c. Meaning , What have I to do with thee in this matter? ( Quid mihi tecum in hac re est negotii ?) Observe, the Blessed Virgin did not out of ostentation, or in an untimely, unbecoming, or indiscreet fashion ask this miracle of her Son, as S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius think: but out of necessary charity and piety, as SS. Cyril, Bernard, and others say. Therefore there was no blame attaching to her. Therefore Christ did not really blame her. And yet He seems to reprove her, that He might teach, not her, but us, that in things pertaining to God, and miracles, parents have no right or authority. They must not be done in accordance with their affections and desires, but only for God and charity’s sake. The meaning, therefore, is this, “ Thou, O Mother, in this matter, art not My Mother, but as it were another woman. For, from thee I have received human nature, not Divinity. It belongs to My Divine nature to work this miracle, not in accordance with thy desires, and those of relations, but in accordance with the will of God My Father. According to that will I shall work, when the hour and time decreed by God shall come.” Hear S. Augustine on this passage: “The word woman is used simply to express the female sex.” “ He, as God,” says Euthymius, “ said not ‘ Mother,’ but ‘woman.’” “He means,” says S. Bede, “that He had not received in time from His Mother the Divinity by which He was about to perform a miracle, but that He had It eternally from the Father.” “ He means to say,” says the Interlinear Gloss, “ What is there in common between My Divinity and thee My Mother according to the flesh?” “Thou didst not beget, or produce (genuisti ) My Divinity, which works the miracle,” says S. Augustine. S. Chrysostom adds, “ He speaks thus, lest the miracle should seem to be the result of collusion. He should have been asked by those who needed the wine, not by His Mother.”
Mine hour, &c., i.e., when I may appropriately work this miracle. I wish to wait a little while until the wine has wholly failed, that all the guests may perceive the miracle more clearly, and that all may know that I have wrought it, and so may believe in Me. For he who does not experience the need, will not greatly feel the necessity. So S. Chrysostom. The same S. Chrysostom gives another explanation : “ Mine hour is not yet come, because I proposed to work My first miracle in Jerusalem, the capital of Judea : nevertheless at thy prayers, O My Mother, I will change My purpose, and will do it here in Cana of Galilee.”
S. Augustine gives another explanation, to the following effect : The hour of My passion is not yet come, in which I will show what I have to do with thee My Mother, that indeed I have of thee truly assumed man’s nature, and that I am thy Son. When in the weakness of My human nature, of which thou art the Mother, I shall hang upon the cross, then I will acknowledge thee. For He commended her then to His disciple.
Ver. 5. — His Mother saith, &c. His mother modestly holds her peace, and rightly yields to her Son, as being the Son of God. Although the Son seems to deny His Mother, the Mother knows His filial piety. Therefore with all confidence she bids the servants what to do. S. Gaudentius comments in these words, “ The Mother would not have said, Whatsoever He saith unto you do it, unless being full of the Holy Ghost from her birth she had foreseen the whole process of Christ’s turning the water into wine.” Wherefore S. Bernard on these words (Hom. 2) says, “ I see plainly that it was not as being wroth, or as wishing to confound the shrinking modesty of His Virgin Mother, that He said, What have I to do with thee, but for our sakes, that the care of parents according to the flesh should not trouble those who are converted to the Lord.” For Christ presently obeys His Mother, and to honour her performs the miracle.