John 2:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Evangelist did not note without purpose, “according to the custom of Jewish purification.” He did this so that no unbeliever would suspect that remnants of wine were in the vessels. Otherwise, when water was poured in and mixed with them, some very weak wine might have been produced. Therefore the Evangelist says, “according to the custom of Jewish purification,” showing that wine was never kept in those vessels. Palestine is a waterless land, and springs and wells cannot be found everywhere there. For this reason the Jews always filled vessels with water, so they would not have to run to the rivers when they became unclean, but would have the means of purification at hand.

The stone water jars were used for the purification of the Jews. The Jews washed almost every day and only afterward took food.

If they touched a leper or a dead body, or had intercourse with a woman, they washed because they were then unclean.

Since Palestine was waterless and many springs could not be found, they always filled water jars with water. Thus they would not need to run to rivers in case of defilement.

He did not say 'according to the custom of Jewish purification' without purpose. He said it so that no unbeliever might suppose that some sediment of wine remained in the vessels.

After water was poured in and mixed with it, someone might think that a very weak wine was produced. He shows that these vessels had never contained wine.

If what is plain in the Gospel is understood, all the mysteries hidden in this miracle of the Lord will be disclosed. He passed over nothing from the ancient Scriptures. It was water, and therefore the Lord called them senseless, because they still thought the water, not the wine, had taste. How, then, did He make wine from water? He opened their understanding and expounded the Scriptures to them, beginning with Moses and going through all the prophets. Therefore, already made drunk, they said, "Did not our heart burn within us on the road, while He opened the Scriptures to us?" (Lk 24:32). For they understood Christ in those Scriptures in which they had not known Him. Thus our Lord Jesus Christ changed water into wine. What had no taste gained taste, and what did not intoxicate began to intoxicate. If He had ordered the water poured out and Himself had poured wine into the vessels from the hidden treasuries of creation, from which He also took bread when He fed so many thousands, wine could indeed have been poured in after the water was emptied. Yet if He had done this, He would have seemed to disapprove the ancient Scriptures. But He changed the water itself into wine, showing us that the ancient Scripture also is from Him. For at His command the water vessels were filled. That Scripture, of course, is from the Lord. Yet it has no taste if Christ is not understood there.

For Christ kept the good wine until now, that is, His own Gospel.

Let us begin, then, to disclose the hidden meanings of the mysteries, sacramentorum operta, as far as He permits in whose name we promised to do this for you. From ancient times there was prophecy, and there was no time without prophecy. Yet prophecy, when Christ was not found in it, was water. For in water wine is hidden in a certain manner. The Apostle says what we must understand by this water: "Until this very day, when they read Moses, a veil lies upon their heart, for it remains unlifted, because it is taken away in Christ. But when one turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away" (cf. 2 Cor 3:14-16). By the veil he means the hiddenness of prophecy, because of which it was not understood. The veil disappears when you come to the Lord. Lack of understanding disappears when you come to the Lord. Then what was water becomes wine for you.

Read all the books of the prophets. If you do not understand Christ there, much will seem senseless and foolish to you. Behold Christ in them, and what you read there will not only become intelligible, but will intoxicate you. Your thought will be drawn away from the body. Forgetting what lies behind, you will stretch toward what lies ahead (cf. Phil 3:13).

Thus, from ancient times, from the very time when men began to be born and the human race began to multiply, prophecy spoke of Christ. Yet it was then hidden, because it was still water. How shall we prove that through all former times, until the age when the Lord came, prophecy declared Christ? We prove it from His own words. When He rose from the dead, He found His disciples full of doubt concerning the One whom they had followed. They had seen Him dead and had no hope that He would rise. All their hope had vanished. Why did the praised thief deserve to be in paradise that very day (cf. Lk 23:39-43)? Because, while crucified on the cross, he acknowledged Christ, whereas the disciples began to doubt Him.

He found them in perplexity, and in some way accusing themselves because they had hoped for resurrection in Him. Yet they grieved over Him as one slain without guilt, for they knew that He was innocent. They themselves said this after His resurrection, when He met some of them sorrowful on the road: "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And He said to them. "What things?" They said to Him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the One to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened" (Lk 24:19-21).

When one of the two disciples going to a nearby village spoke these and other words, He answered them: "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (cf. Lk 24:44-46).

Elsewhere, when He wished the disciples to touch Him with their hands, so that they might believe He had risen bodily, He said: "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets. And in the psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures and said to them: "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Lk 24:44-47).

When these words of the Gospel, which are wholly clear, are understood, then the mysteries hidden in the Lord's miracle are disclosed. Consider that He says everything written about Him had to be fulfilled in Christ. Where was it written? He says: in the Law, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms. He left no part of the Old Scriptures, Scripturarum veterum, without mention. This was water. Therefore the Lord called those disciples foolish, because they still had the taste of water, not of wine. How did He make wine from water? He opened their mind and explained the Scriptures to them, beginning with Moses and going through all the prophets. Therefore they, now filled with drink, said: "Did not our heart burn within us on the road, when He explained the Scripture to us?" (cf. Lk 24:32). Indeed, they understood Christ in those books in which they had not seen Him.

Thus our Lord Jesus Christ turned water into wine. What was not sensed came to be sensed. What did not intoxicate came to intoxicate. If He had commanded the water to be poured from those water jars and had Himself poured wine from the hidden depths of creation, from which He brought bread when He fed many thousands (cf. Mt 14:17-21), He could have done so. Five loaves by themselves could not feed five thousand men, nor fill twelve baskets. The Lord's almighty power was, as it were, a fountain of bread. Likewise, after emptying the jars, He could have poured wine into them. But if He had done this, it would have been evident that He rejected the Old Scriptures.

When, however, He changed the water itself into wine, He showed us that the Old Scriptures also are from Him. For by His command the water jars were filled (cf. Jn 2:6-7). Although those Scriptures also are from the Lord, nothing in them will be understood unless Christ is beheld in them.

Hear, then, what He Himself says: "This was written about Me in the law, and in the prophets, and in the psalms" (Lk 24:44). We know from what point the Law begins its narrative, namely, from the creation of the world: "In the beginning God created heaven and earth" (Gen 1:1). From then until the time in which we now live, six ages have passed, as you have often heard and know. The first age is reckoned from Adam to Noah. The second is from Noah to Abraham. As the Evangelist Matthew traces and divides the order (cf. Mt 1:17), the third is from Abraham to David. The fourth is from David to the deportation to Babylon. The fifth is from the deportation to Babylon to John the Baptist. The sixth extends from there to the end of the world.

Moreover, on the sixth day God created man in His own image (cf. Gen 1:27). So in the sixth age our mind was renewed through the Gospel according to the image of Him who created us (cf. Col 3:10). The water was changed into wine, so that we might know Christ, now revealed in the Law and the Prophets. Therefore there were six water jars there (Jn 2:6), which He commanded to be filled with water.

Those six water jars symbolized the six ages, during which there was no time without prophecy. Those times, divided and articulated as though into six joints, would have been empty vessels if they had not been filled with Christ. Why did I say that the times would have passed in vain if the Lord Jesus had not been foretold in them? The prophecies were fulfilled, and the water jars were filled. Yet for the water to become wine, Christ must be seen in all those prophecies.

But what does it mean that "they held two or three metretes apiece" (cf. Jn 2:6)? This phrase entrusts a great mystery to us. By metretes the Evangelist means certain measures, as if he had said urns, amphorae, or something similar. A metretes is the name of a measure, and this measure takes its name from the word measure, a mensum. The Greeks call a measure metron, μέτρον, mensuram. From this came the Latin word metreta. Thus, "they held two or three metretes apiece."

What shall we say, brethren? If he had said only "three," our mind would quickly have hastened to the mystery of the Trinity. Yet perhaps we must not pass too hastily over the phrase, since he said "two or three." When the Father and the Son are mentioned, the Holy Spirit must also be understood. For the Holy Spirit is not only the Spirit of the Father, or only the Spirit of the Son. He is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. It is written: "If anyone loves the world, the Spirit of the Father is not in him" (cf. 1 Jn 2:15). It is also written: "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Rom 8:9). The Father and the Son have one and the same Spirit. When the Father and the Son are mentioned, the Holy Spirit is understood, for He is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son.

When the Father and the Son are mentioned, it is said, "two metretes apiece." When the Holy Spirit is understood with Them, it is "three metretes apiece." Therefore it is not said that some held two metretes and others three. Rather, the same six water jars "held two or three metretes apiece." It is as if he said: when I say two, I wish the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son to be understood with Them. When I say three, I point quite expressly to the Trinity itself.

Therefore anyone who mentions the Father and the Son must also understand the mutual love of the Father and the Son, that is, the Holy Spirit. Perhaps, if the Scriptures are examined, they will show that the Holy Spirit is love, caritas. I do not say that I could show this to you today, nor that no other proof can be found.

Do not consider love a thing of little value. How could it be of little value, when all things not called cheap are called dear, cara? If what is not cheap is dear, what is dearer, carius, than love itself, caritas? The Apostle commends love when he says: "I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. If I have all knowledge, and know all mysteries, and have prophecy and all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I distribute all my goods and give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing" (cf. 1 Cor 12:31; 13:1-3). How precious is love! Without it men possess other things in vain. With it they truly possess all things. Yet the Apostle Paul, praising love with lofty and abundant speech, said less of it than the Apostle John said briefly. To him belongs this Gospel. For he said without hesitation: "God is love" (1 Jn 4:16). It is also written: "The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5:5).

Why did the Lord change the nature of water in the first of His signs? Was it not to show that the Divinity which changed nature within the jars was the same that changed nature within the womb of the Virgin?

After completing His signs, He opened the tomb, to show that the sting of death had no power over Him.

He sealed and confirmed these two incongruities, birth and death. Water, according to its nature, was turned into wine without the nature of the stone vessels being changed.

This was a symbol of His body, which was wondrously conceived by a woman and wondrously grew without a man in the womb of the Virgin.

Thus He made wine from water in order to give proof of how He Himself was conceived and born.

87. There in Cana one element is changed into another, and nature suffers no diminution and does not know its origin, yet it knows its use. Moreover, the taste of the transformed wine is better than ordinary wine, because the Creator decides what qualities to impart to nature and what nature to appoint for what comes into being. See by what works He proves His purpose. While the servant pours in the water, the fragrance that spreads intoxicates, the changed color instructs, and the taste perceived increases faith.

See Jn 2:1. The waterpots, since they are six, signify the creative capacity for the practice of good works. For the Lord also created the visible world in six days.

What is signified by the number of the six waterpots at the wedding in Cana of Galilee (Jn 2:6)? Answer. God, who created human nature, bestowed upon it being together with will. To this will He joined the creative capacity to accomplish what is fitting.

The six waterpots are the capacity, proper to nature, for fulfilling the divine commandments. Men exhausted their knowledge of this capacity through vain care for material things. Therefore they possessed it empty and without water, and did not know how to be clean from the filth of vice.

The water jars, hydriai, are vessels for water. They were set out for the purification of the Jews, that is, they served them for washing.

They spared them from going far to springs and streams when it was necessary to wash their hands.

By the six water jars, Saint Maximus understands six known forms of almsgiving: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, receiving strangers, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and coming to those in prison.

These six water jars lack the corresponding action because love, from which they are filled as from a spring, has grown cold.

The divine word of the Gospel commandments first filled them with water, that is, with sensory beneficence. Then it replaced this with spiritual beneficence, as with wine.

There were six stone water jars there, standing according to the custom of Jewish purification. According to the law, the Hebrews had to perform washings or purifications in certain cases.

These cases were multiplied by the customs and teaching of the Pharisees. Therefore Jewish homes always had special, fairly capacious vessels for the water of washing.

Interpreting the miracle performed by Christ, John Chrysostom says: 'The Evangelist did not note without purpose that they were for Jewish purification.

'He did this so that no unbeliever would suspect that remains of wine were in the vessels. Otherwise, when water was poured in and mixed with them, some very weak wine might have been produced.

Verse 6. Before the house, according to the established Jewish custom of frequent washings, there stood six stone vessels, each holding two or three measures, or four to eight of our buckets. The measure, metrites, amphora, the Jewish bath, held 432 eggs, and therefore about two buckets. The transformation of such an enormous quantity of water into wine removes the suspicion of those who think the wine had been prepared beforehand. Its quality also shows that the wine was real, and not a phantom that could have acted on the senses through a deceptive impression. The tasting of the wine by the master of the feast, experienced in discerning wines, removes any suspicion of deception in the one who tasted it. His ignorance of where the wine came from also rules out suspicion that the miracle was exaggerated.

Here means either in the very chamber where the feast was taking place, or nearby, in the courtyard. The latter seems more probable. “According to the custom of Jewish purification” means according to the custom of the Jews, as also of other Eastern peoples, to perform frequent washings, especially of the hands, before and after eating food; see the note on Mt 15:2; Mk 7:3-4; Lk 9:39. “Two or three measures”: the text does not show which measure is meant. The Alexandrian translators of the Old Testament use the word employed here to render the Hebrew bath, 2 Chr 4:5; cf. 1 Esd 7:22, a measure somewhat larger than one and a half of our buckets.

Verse 6. 'There were water jars there.' To show the greatness of the miracle at Cana, the Evangelist describes in detail the vessels in which water became wine.

By material they were stone. By use they were intended for water needed according to the custom of 'Jewish purification.' From them water was poured into small vessels for washing hands before a meal (Mt 15:2) and various utensils (Lk 11:39).

Therefore, because of this use, they could have been filled with nothing but water.

They held two or three metretes. Josephus, Antiquities 8.2, equates the metretes with the Hebrew bath; cf. 2 Sam 4:5; Is 7:22.

A bath and a metretes are a little more than two of our buckets. Therefore each tub at Cana contained from four to six of our buckets.