John 2:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

She wished both to please the guests and to glorify herself through her Son. Perhaps she had something human in mind, like His brothers, who said, “Show Yourself to the world” (Jn 7:4), desiring to gain glory for themselves through His miracles. For this reason Christ answered her so strongly: “What is that to Me and to you, Woman? My hour has not yet come.” Yet hear from Luke’s narrative how greatly He honored His parent, for Christ was obedient to His parents. This same evangelist, John, also shows how He cared for His Mother at the very time of His sufferings on the Cross. When parents do not in any way hinder works pleasing to God, or obstruct them, one must and ought to obey parents. Disobedience in such a case is very dangerous. But when they ask for something untimely and forbid some spiritual work, it is not safe to obey them. Therefore in this case Christ answered as He did, and likewise in another place: “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” (Mk 3:33). At that time they did not yet have a proper understanding of Him. His Mother, because she had borne Him, wished to command Him in all things according to the custom of all mothers. Yet she ought to have honored Him as Lord and worshiped Him. For this reason He answered her in that way then. Consider what it meant when, before all the people surrounding Him, before a great assembly of attentive hearers, and while He was teaching, His Mother entered the gathering. She began to draw Him away from His preaching in order to speak with Him privately. Nor did she remain with Him in the house, but drew Him outside from there, alone, to herself. This is why He said, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” By this He did not insult His Mother. No, He gave her the greatest benefit, by not allowing her to think lowly of Him. If He cared for others, and directed everything toward instilling in them a proper understanding of Himself, He cared far more in this respect for His Mother. But since she, probably even after hearing this from her Son, did not wish afterward to obey Him, but wished, as mother, to have precedence in every case, He answered as He did. Otherwise He could not have raised her from this lowly conception of Him to a higher one. She would always have expected honor from Him as from a son, and would not have acknowledged Him as Lord. For this reason He said here, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?”

There was also another reason, no less important. What was it? He wished that the miracles He performed should not be suspected. Those in need, and not His Mother, ought to have asked Him. Why? What is done at the request of relatives, even if important, often appears unseemly to outsiders. But when the needy themselves ask, the miracle rises above every suspicion. Then praise is impartial and the benefit is great. Suppose a physician, even an excellent one, entered a house where there were many sick persons. If he heard nothing from the sick themselves or from those around them, but only his own mother pleaded with him, he would become suspect and displeasing to the sick. Neither those lying ill nor those attending them would expect anything great and good from him. For this reason Christ then rebuked His Mother, saying, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?” He taught her not to do anything similar in the future. He cared for His Mother’s honor, but far more for her soul’s salvation and for the good of men, for whose sake He clothed Himself in flesh. Therefore Christ spoke these words to His Mother not from any arrogance, but with a special purpose. He wished both to set her herself in a proper relation to Him, and to have the miracles performed with fitting dignity. That Christ greatly honored His Mother is sufficiently clear, besides other instances, from the very words that seem to rebuke her. In His displeasure itself He showed that He honored her greatly. How this is so we shall say in the following discourse.

Reflecting on this, if you hear how a certain woman said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nursed You,” and He answered her, “Rather, blessed are those who do the will of My Father” (Lk 11:28), understand these words in the same sense. The Savior’s answer to His Mother did not express rejection of His Mother. It meant that even bearing Him would have brought her no profit if she herself had not possessed great virtue and faith. If, without virtue of soul, even Mary herself would not have profited from Christ being born of her, then much less can we profit if we have a virtuous and valiant father, brother, or son, while we ourselves are far from his virtues. “A man,” says David, “shall by no means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him” (Ps 48:8). After the grace of God, the hope of salvation must be placed in nothing else but one’s own excellences. If Christ’s birth in itself could have profited the Virgin, it would likewise have profited the Jews, since Christ was their kinsman according to the flesh. It would have profited the city in which He was born, and would have profited His brothers. Yet His brothers, so long as they did not care for themselves, received no profit from their lofty kinship. They were even subject to condemnation along with the rest of mankind. But when they shone forth through their own virtues, then they were glorified. The city was destroyed and burned, receiving no profit from having been the place of His birth. His kinsmen according to the flesh were destroyed and perished most miserably, gaining nothing for their salvation from kinship with Him. This was precisely because they had no protection in their own virtue. But the apostles were glorified above all, because they attained kinship with Christ in a true manner worthy of our emulation, through obedience to Him.

From this we learn that in every case we need faith and a pure and radiant life. This alone can save us. Christ’s relatives were for a long time honored everywhere, so that they were even called “the Lord’s.” Yet now we do not even know their names. But the life and names of the apostles are glorified everywhere. Let us not be puffed up by nobility according to the flesh. Even if we had thousands of famous ancestors, let us strive ourselves to surpass them in virtues. Let us know that the merits of others will bring us no profit at the coming judgment. They will even increase the severity of our condemnation, because, being descended from virtuous fathers and having such close examples, we still did not follow such teachers. I say this now with many pagans in mind. When we call them to faith in Christ and urge them to become Christians, they point to their relatives, ancestors, and household, and say, “All my relatives, close kin, and household have already become faithful Christians.” But what is that to you, wretched man? This very thing will destroy you, that you showed no regard for so many close to you and did not hasten to turn to the truth. Others are already believers, yet live carelessly. When you exhort them to virtue, they present the same thing and say, “My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were very pious and virtuous men.” But this will especially serve for your condemnation, that being descended from such people, you do deeds unworthy of your lineage. Hear what the prophet says to the Jews: “Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep” (Hos 12:12). And Christ says, “Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was glad” (Jn 8:56). The virtues of the ancestors always turn not only to the praise of the Jews, but also to their greater accusation. Knowing this, let us do everything so that we may be saved by our own deeds. Otherwise hopes placed in others may deceive us, and we may learn of our deception only when this knowledge will no longer profit us. “In the grave,” it is said, “who will give You praise?” (Ps 6:6). Therefore let us be corrected here, that there we may attain the eternal good things. May we all be counted worthy of them by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory and dominion to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages. Amen.

There is some labor in teaching. Paul shows this when he says, “Let the presbyters who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching” (1 Tim 5:17). But it depends on you to make this labor either light or heavy. If you reject our words, or if you do not reject them but fail to fulfill them in your deeds, then this labor will be burdensome for us, as vain and fruitless labor. But if you attend to our words and show this in your deeds, then we shall not even feel the difficulty of teaching. The fruit that comes from these labors will not let us notice their weight. Therefore, if you wish to stir up our zeal and not extinguish or weaken it, then show us fruit, I beg you. Seeing flourishing fields, nourished by hope of abundance, and hoping for our future wealth, we shall not grow faint in these good tasks.

Today too a subject of no small importance is set before us. When the Mother of Jesus said, “They have no wine,” Christ answered, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman? My hour has not yet come.” Yet after such words, He did what His Mother had spoken of. This subject requires no less inquiry than the previous one. Therefore, having called upon Him who performed this miracle, let us approach the resolution of the question.

But He reproves Her, and not without reason. If there is no wine, He says, then those who lack it ought themselves to have come and asked, not thou, My Mother.

When one's own relatives ask for a miracle, those who see it take offense. But when the needy themselves ask, the matter is free from suspicion.

'Neither is Mine hour yet come,' He said, not because He depends on time or observes fixed hours. How could this be fitting for the Creator of times and ages?

He said it because He does all things at the proper time. He was still unseen and unknown to many, for not all were His disciples.

Even those present at the wedding did not know Him. Otherwise they themselves would have asked for wine.

In these words the Savior shows us that it was not fitting to hasten in performing this miracle. Nor should He appear as though He were a self-willed wonderworker.

Rather, He should come to it only when called, thereby giving grace to need and not to spectators.

Moreover, the reception of what is desired seems more pleasant when it is not given to those asking immediately and without effort. Through a slight delay, it calls forth a better hope.

Besides this, Christ thereby shows the remarkable honor owed by children to parents. Out of respect for His Mother, He proceeds to do what He did not yet wish to do.

Finally, although the Evangelist clearly bears witness that he knew the Mother of Christ, he says nothing about His birth, as Matthew and Luke do. Nor does he recall His baptism together with the three other Evangelists. Rather, after briefly mentioning there, in lofty and exalted terms, the testimony of John, he passes with Him to the wedding in Cana of Galilee.

There, although the Evangelist himself indicates that she was His Mother, He nevertheless says, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?” He was not rejecting her from whom He received flesh. Rather, by turning water into wine, He was most fully manifesting the Godhead, the Godhead which made her a woman but was not itself formed in her.

Because of this evident mystery, He seems not to have acknowledged the Mother from whose womb He came forth as the Bridegroom. He said to her, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman? My hour has not yet come” (cf. Jn 2:4).

What does this mean? Did He come to the wedding in order to teach contempt for mothers? Certainly the man to whose wedding He came married in order to beget children, and so that those whom he wished to beget would honor him. Did Christ then come to the wedding to shame His Mother, when marriages are celebrated so that children may be born to whom God commands honor toward parents?

Without any doubt, brethren, a certain mystery is hidden here. Indeed, the question is so weighty that some, whom, as we said above, the Apostle admonished to be cautious, chose from this story an argument for their error. He said to them, “I fear lest, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity and purity that are in Christ” (2 Cor 11:3).

Not trusting the Gospel, and saying that Jesus was not born of the Virgin Mary, they decided to take from this story a proof for their error. They say, “How was she His mother, if He says to her, ‘What is that to Me and to you, Woman?’”

Therefore we must answer them and explain why the Lord spoke thus. Otherwise they, in their folly, may think they have found something contrary to saving faith. By this the chastity of the virgin bride, that is, the faith of the Church, could be violated.

Indeed, brethren, the faith of those who prefer falsehood to truth is crushed. Those who seem to honor Christ by denying that He had flesh preach nothing but falsehood. What do those who build falsehood in men take from them, if not the truth?

They imitate the devil and cast out Christ. They imitate the betrayer and drive out the Bridegroom. They are indeed attendants of the serpent, or rather his agents. For they say things by which the serpent may take hold of men, and Christ may be driven out by them.

When does the serpent possess a man? When falsehood takes hold of him. When lying takes hold of him, then the serpent possesses him. When truth draws a man, then Christ possesses him. For He Himself declared, “I am the truth” (Jn 14:6). Of that serpent He said, “He did not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him” (Jn 8:44).

Christ is so truly the truth that every true thing you receive, you receive in Christ. True Word, God equal to the Father, true soul, true flesh, true man, true God, true Nativity, true suffering, true death, true Resurrection. If you call any of these false, decay begins. From the poison of the serpent the worms of falsehood are born, and nothing remains sound.

What then, such an erring man will say, is the meaning of the Lord’s saying, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?” Perhaps the Lord shows us in what follows why He said it. “My hour,” He says, “has not yet come” (Jn 2:4). For He says the whole sentence thus: “What is that to Me and to you, Woman? My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:4). We must examine why this was said.

But first let us restrain the assault of the heretics. What does the decrepit serpent, the ancient tempter, say as he hisses forth poison? What does he say? “Jesus did not have a woman as His mother.” How do you prove this? Because, he says, He declared, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?”

Who reported this, that we should believe He said it? Who reported it? Certainly the Evangelist John. And the same Evangelist John said, “The Mother of Jesus was there” (Jn 2:1). He told it in this way: “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there. He also came, having been invited to the wedding, together with His disciples” (cf. Jn 2:1-2).

Thus we have two statements of the Evangelist. “The Mother of Jesus was there,” the Evangelist said. The same Evangelist said that Jesus spoke to His Mother. Let us see, brethren, how he said that Jesus answered His Mother, after first saying, “His Mother says to Him.” Let us look at this, so that you may keep the purity of heart untouched and guard it from the tongue of the serpent.

There, in the Gospel itself, the Evangelist himself narrates: “The Mother of Jesus was there,” and again, “His Mother said to Him.” Who related this? The Evangelist John. And what did Jesus answer His Mother? “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?” Who relates this? The same Evangelist John.

O most trustworthy and most truthful Evangelist, you tell me that Jesus said, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?” Why did you add the word “Mother,” if He does not acknowledge her? You said that the Mother of Jesus was there, and that “His Mother said to Him.” Why did you not prefer to say, “Mary was there,” and “Mary said to Him”?

You say both: “The Mother of Jesus was there,” and “Jesus answered her, ‘What is that to Me and to you, Woman?’” Why is this so, if not because both are true? These heretics wish to believe the Evangelist when he says that Jesus said to His Mother, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?” Yet they do not wish to believe the Evangelist when he said, “The Mother of Jesus was there,” and “His Mother said to Him.”

Who then is the one who opposes the serpent and holds fast to truth, whose heart’s virginity is not violated by the devil’s snares? It is the one who believes both things are true: that the Mother of Jesus was there, and that Jesus answered His Mother in this way. If he does not yet understand why Jesus said, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?” let him nevertheless believe that He said it, and said it to His Mother.

Let piety first abide in the believer. In time this will bear fruit also for the one who desires understanding.

I ask you, faithful Christians: was the Mother of Jesus there? You will answer, “She was.” How do you know? You will answer, “It is said in the Gospel.” What did Jesus answer His Mother? You will answer, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman? My hour has not yet come.” And how do you know this? You will answer, “It is said in the Gospel.”

Let no one corrupt this faith in you, if you wish to preserve virgin purity for the Bridegroom. If someone asks you why He answered His Mother in this way, let the one who understands say so. But let the one who does not yet understand nevertheless believe most firmly that Jesus answered in this way, and that He answered His Mother.

By this piety he will also be counted worthy to learn why He answered thus, if he knocks at the doors of truth with prayer and does not approach them in a desire for dispute. Let him be so watchful that he does not force himself to believe that the Evangelist lied when he says, “The Mother of Jesus was there.” Nor should he believe that Jesus Himself suffered an unreal death for our sins. Showed unreal scars for our justification, or spoke falsehood when He said, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (Jn 8:31-32).

If she is not a true Mother, then the flesh is not true, the death is not true, the wounds of the Passion are not true, and the scars after the Resurrection are not true. Then it was not truth that made those who believe in Him free, but rather falsehood.

On the contrary, let falsehood yield to truth. Let all be confounded who wish to think themselves speakers of truth because they strive to present Christ as a deceiver. They do not want to be told, “We do not believe you, because you lie,” while they themselves say that Truth itself is false.

Nevertheless, if we ask them, “How do you know that Christ said, ‘What is that to Me and to you, Woman?’” they answer that they believe the Gospel. Why then do they not believe the Gospel when it says, “The Mother of Jesus was there,” and “His Mother said to Him”? Or, if the Gospel lies here, how do they believe what Jesus said, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?”

Why do those wretched men not prefer to believe that the Lord answered thus, not a woman alien to Him, but His Mother? And why do they not sincerely seek to know why He answered thus? There is a great difference between one who says, “I want to know why Christ answered His Mother in this way,” and one who says, “I know that Christ did not say this to His Mother.”

It is one thing to wish to know what is hidden. It is another not to wish to believe what is evident. He who says, “I want to know why Christ answered His Mother in this way,” wishes to open for himself the Gospel in which he believes. But he who says, “I know that Christ did not answer this to His Mother,” accuses of falsehood the very Gospel from which he learned that Christ so answered.

Now, brethren, if you please, after these heretics have been answered, and those who wander constantly in their blindness unless they are healed through humility, let us try to answer why our Lord answered His Mother in this way.

He alone was born of the Father without a mother, and of a Mother without a father. Without a mother as God, without a father as man. Without a mother before the ages, without a father at the end of the ages.

What He answered, He answered to His Mother, for “the Mother of Jesus was there,” and “His Mother said to Him.” The Gospel reports all this. There we learn that the Mother of Jesus was there, where we also learn that He said to her, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman? My hour has not yet come.” Let us believe everything and seek to know what we do not yet understand.

First take care that the Manichaeans do not find in the Lord’s words, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman?” an opportunity for their inventions. And let astrologers not find in His words, “My hour has not yet come,” an occasion for their falsehood.

If He said this according to the notions of astrologers, then we committed sacrilege when we burned their books. But if we acted rightly, as was done in the times of the apostles (cf. Acts 19:19), then the Lord did not say, “My hour has not yet come,” according to the notions of astrologers.

Vain talkers and deceived deceivers say, “See, Christ was under the power of fate, for He says, ‘My hour has not yet come.’” To whom then must we first give answer, to the heretics or to the astrologers? Both came from that serpent, filled with thirst to violate the chastity of the Church’s heart, which she preserves in undefiled faith.

First, if you please, let us answer those whom in fact we have already largely answered. But lest they think we can say nothing about the words the Lord spoke in answer to His Mother, we will give you further instruction against them, although I believe enough has already been said to refute them.

Why then did the Son say to His Mother, “What is that to Me and to you, Woman? My hour has not yet come”? Our Lord Jesus Christ was both God and Man. Insofar as He was God, He had no Mother. Insofar as He was man, He had one.

Therefore she was the Mother of His flesh, the Mother of His humanity, the Mother of the weakness which He assumed for our sake. The miracle He intended to perform He was about to perform according to His divinity, not according to weakness. He would perform it according to His being born God, not according to His being born weak. Yet “the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor 1:25).

'My time has not yet come,' that is, I do not act by compulsion. Let them notice for themselves that the wine is lacking, and let all desire to drink.

He said this so that His gift might appear glorious in their eyes. Mary was hasty, and for this reason He instructed Her.

Or, 'My time has not come' means the time of His death. If the guests had become drunk (Jn 2:10), He would scarcely have escaped torments had He violently poured out His gifts upon them.

For this was still only the beginning of His Gospel. Since Mary thought that the motive of His miracles was to acquire glory and honor among the Jewish crowd, He said: 'My time has not come.'

He did not perform the deed according to the calculation Mary supposed. Rather, He wished to suppress this thought of Hers.

The words “My hour has not yet come” mean the following. Teaching carried out by signs comes first, because, on account of unbelievers, teaching needs teaching through signs.

There Jesus had not yet taught, sensing their unbelief. Therefore He said, “My hour has not yet come.” See Jn 2:1.

'Jesus saith to Her: What is that to Me and to Thee, Woman?' What need have We of what Thou askest? What compels Us to such haste?

It may also be understood otherwise: What do I have in common with Thee? I, as God, know the proper time for miracles. Thou, as a human being, dost not know it.

He did not say 'Mother,' but 'Woman,' as God. 'Mine hour is not yet come.' The time has not yet arrived to perform the miracles Thou askest.

It will come when those who need the miracle know that I can perform it and themselves ask for it. Now the Mother's request was not only untimely, but could arouse suspicion and reproach.

For with Him there is nothing unfulfilled or untimely, just as with the Father there is nothing meaningless. Everything is predetermined beforehand by the Father, and is accomplished by the Son as is fitting and necessary in its time.

Therefore, when Mary hastened Him toward the accomplishment of the wondrous miracle with the wine, and wished before the time to take part in the mystical cup, the Lord restrained her untimely haste.

He said, “What is this to Me and to You, Woman? My hour has not yet come,” waiting for the hour predetermined by the Father.

He reproves His Mother for the untimeliness of Her reminder to God, since He has no need of reminder. By what He suggests, He means, “Do not think that I am only man. I am also God.

But the time of My manifestation has not yet come, and they do not yet know who I am.”

Blessed Mary says: 'They have no wine' (Jn 2:3). Jesus answers Her as though in anger: 'What is that to Me and to Thee, Woman?'

Who doubts that these are the words of one who is angry? Yet I think this happened because His Mother so timidly reported the lack of bodily wine to Him who had come to give the whole world the cup of eternal salvation.

By saying, 'Mine hour is not yet come,' He promised that most glorious hour of His Passion. He promised the wine of our redemption, which is profitable for the life of all.

What Mary asked concerned temporal grace. What Christ spoke of concerned eternal joy.

Yet the generous Lord can grant the lesser thing while the greater has not yet come.

Ikos 10: But Christ, seeing that His Mother said to Him, "Grant Me My request," immediately said to Her, "What is that to Me and to You, Woman? My hour has not yet come." Some have used these words as a pretext for their impiety and heresy. They claimed that Christ was subject to necessity. They said that He was the slave of certain periods of time. But they do not understand the meaning of His words.

Yet the mouths of the impious, who do evil, were stopped. For immediately after these words, He performed this miracle, He who made all things in wisdom.

Ikos 11: "Now answer, My Child," said the all-holy Mother of Christ. "You who hold the periods of time in measure, how, My Son and Lord, do You say that You await some appointed time, when all time is subject to You?

For the senseless, even the saying 'What is that to Me and to Thee, Woman? Mine hour is not yet come' will turn into the opposite of the meaning they invent.

It will be brought to pious and true divine wisdom. If someone carefully investigates the occasion on which this was said, and divine grace assists and helps the inquiry, he will find something clear.

These words render glory and honor to the Mother rather than conveying any contempt at all.

In miracles, the Mother had nothing in common with the Son. It belongs to the Godhead to work miracles by itself. Human nature does so not by itself, but because of the Word who assumed it.

Yet even where the Mother has nothing in common with the Son, see how He displays an excess of honor precisely in the distinction.

The answer of Jesus Christ to His Mother, 'What is that to Me and to Thee, Woman? Mine hour is not yet come,' cannot be considered a harsh and rude expression of disrespect toward the Theotokos.

On the contrary, because of its special meaning and use among the Jews, these words can be regarded as an expression of reverence and love, as also on the Cross (Jn 19:26).

By the words 'Mine hour is not yet come,' Jesus Christ wished to show that He had not yet begun His public ministry.

He had come to His homeland and was present in the house, and likewise at the feast, as a private person. Therefore He did not wish to perform a miracle openly there.

Yet the miracle became known. As the first among His disciples, it is counted as the beginning of signs and points to the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy concerning Galilee (Is 11:1).

'What is that to Me and to Thee, Woman?' and so forth: this form of expression is such that at first one might see in it not only a refusal to fulfill the desired request, but even something joined with reproach.

Compare Theophylact and Chrysostom, who speak of an intervention in this matter. But the Most Holy Mother did not take it as either refusal or reproach.

With full faith in the fulfillment of Her intercession, She commands the servants to do whatever the Lord commands (Jn 2:5). This certainly shows that the Lord's words do not have such a meaning and force.

The same is shown by the fact that the Lord immediately performed the miracle, fulfilling His Mother's intercession and helping those in need.

The lack of wine moved the Mother of Jesus to expect help from Her Son. Out of modesty and reverence, She only reminds Him of the need: 'They have no wine.'

Jesus' answer was: 'What is that to Me and to Thee, Woman? Mine hour is not yet come.'

The Hebrew saying, 'What is that to me and to thee?' receives different meanings according to the disposition of the one who pronounces it.

In the mouth of Jephthah, who desired peace with the Ammonites (Judg 11:12), and of David, patient under Shimei's insults (2 Sam 16:10), it expresses gentleness.

But it means something else in the mouth of Elisha (2 Kgs 3:13), when he rebukes the impious Joram. It also differs in the mouth of the Shunammite, lamenting the loss of her son (1 Kgs 17:18).