John 2:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Again here some mock, saying: There was a gathering of drunken people there. The taste of the judges had already been spoiled, and they were unable either to understand or to judge what was happening.

Thus they could not recognize whether it was wine or water. The chief steward himself said that they were drunk.

Truly, this is quite ridiculous. But the Evangelist removes even this suspicion. He says that it was not the guests who expressed their judgment about what had happened, but the chief steward.

He was sober and had not yet drunk anything. You know that those entrusted with managing such banquets are more sober than anyone.

He commands the servants to give the drink to the steward of the feast for tasting, and not without purpose.

He does this so that no one might think there was a gathering of drunkards whose taste had become spoiled, and who in drunkenness took water for wine.

To prevent such suspicion, He gives the tasting to the sober man, the steward of the feast.

Those entrusted with service on such occasions strictly abstained, so that under their management everything would take place decently and becomingly.

But let us pray that this may also be accomplished in us. Let a wedding now take place, as it were, that is, the union of God with our soul.

The servants carry out the command, and by an ineffable power the water was then changed into wine. Can anything be difficult for Him who can do all things? Can He who calls what does not exist into being meet difficulty in transforming what has already been created into whatever He wills? They marvel at this deed as extraordinary, for what Christ performed could not have been otherwise.

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).

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.

He calls the chief steward the architriklinos, the chief and manager of the feast, because the couches used at banquets for three persons were called triklinia.

He did not simply change the water into wine, but into good wine, as the chief steward bore witness. For such miraculous works of Jesus Christ were much better than natural products.

The servants were witnesses that water had been changed into wine. The chief steward and the bridegroom were witnesses that the wine was good.

Thus the miracle, having such close witnesses, could not remain unnoticed. Probably the bridegroom also said something further about this, but the Evangelist omitted it as unnecessary.

O that I too, cold, infirm, and unstable, and in this respect no different from water, might be changed into spiritual warmth, density of virtues, and firmness of conduct, so that I might gladden others also.

What child would not be engaged by the very Gospel story of the miracle, when the Lord commands empty vessels to be filled with water and immediately changes that same water into wine?

But when more attentive men hear this, they both honor the sacred history by faith and seek what it suggests by its inner meaning.

He who could change water into wine could also have filled the empty vessels directly with wine. But He commands the vessels to be filled with water.

This is because our hearts must first be filled with the history of sacred reading. He changes the water into wine for us when that very history is applied to spiritual understanding through the mystery of allegory.

Ikos 19: Now I shall praise the waterpots, telling how they were found full of wine, and how unexpectedly and swiftly the water was changed into wine. Then, as it is written, the Teacher clearly said to the servants: “Draw from the wine that was not gathered at the vintage. After this, set the drink before the guests. Fill the cups that have become empty. Let the whole multitude of guests and the bridegroom himself enjoy it, because wondrously I have brought joy to all, I who have made all things in wisdom.”

Then, as soon as the servants had filled the vessels with water, He says to them: 'Now draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast.' And they took it.

Again here some laugh and say: 'There was a gathering of drunken people there. The taste of those judging the wine had already been spoiled.

'They were unable either to understand or to judge what was happening. Thus they could not recognize whether it was wine or water.

'That they were drunk was stated by the steward himself.' Truly, this is quite ridiculous.

But the Evangelist removes even this suspicion. He says that it was not the guests who expressed their opinion about what had happened, but the steward.

The architriklinos was the manager of the feast. The word comes from triklinion, the form of the table at which the feasters reclined, which had the shape of a chamber like the letter P.

He was chosen from persons who knew all the orders and customs of feasts.

The purpose of the miracle in Cana of Galilee was evidently to confirm the disciples in faith. Jesus Christ Himself said: 'Unless ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe' (Jn 4:48).

This was especially necessary for new followers, when they still did not understand much in His preaching.

In some cases they were even scandalized by His teaching and left Him, and 'walked no more' with Him (Jn 6:66).

'Now draw some out and take it': this shows that the miracle was performed from a distance, even without touching the vessels or the water.

It is a most evident manifestation of divine, almighty power. Thus the whole outward setting of this miracle prevented every doubt and unbelief concerning its reality.

'In order to show that He Himself is the One who changes water in the grape and turns rain into wine through the root of the vine, He does in an instant at the wedding what happens in the plant over a long time' (Chrysostom).

'To the steward of the feast,' the architriklinos: the word properly means the chief of the beds or couches.

During feasts and suppers the ancients reclined; cf. the note on Mt 23:6 and parallels. Low couches were sometimes arranged for this.

'Draw some out now, and take it to the architriklinos.' The architriklinos is the chief, the manager of the feast.

In Pollux the term is trapezopoios, 'the manager of the table, the one who busies himself with everything concerning the table.'

The Savior orders this man to judge His new wine. By his position, he had to know the value of the things needed at table.

Busy with the order of the feast, he remained 'sober and had drunk nothing' (Chrysostom).

The architriklinos was amazed where such excellent wine had come from, and how it had been kept until the end of the meal.

Thus one who knew the worth of wine fully approved the new wine. The servants knew well that they had poured in water.

Now not only the servants and not only the architriklinos, but all who were at the feast learned that water had become excellent wine.