John 2
New Catholic Bible
The First Sign Worked by Jesus
Chapter 2
The Wedding Feast at Cana.[a] 1 On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana[b] in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. 3 When the wine was exhausted, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 Jesus responded, “Woman,[c] what concern is this to us? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now standing nearby there were six stone water jars, of the type used for Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus instructed the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When they had filled them to the brim, 8 he ordered them, “Now draw some out and take it to the chief steward,” and they did so.
9 When the chief steward tasted the water that had become wine, he did not know where it came from, although the servants who had drawn the water knew. The chief steward called over the bridegroom 10 and said, “Everyone serves the choice wine first, and then an inferior vintage when the guests have been drinking for a while. However, you have saved the best wine until now.”[d]
11 Jesus performed this, the first of his signs,[e] at Cana in Galilee, thereby revealing his glory, and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this, he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brethren,[f] and his disciples, and they remained there for a few days.
Worship of the Father in Spirit and Truth[g]
The Mystery of the New Temple
Jesus Casts the Merchants Out of the Temple.[h]13 When the time of the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, including the sheep and the cattle. He also overturned the tables of the money changers, scattering their coins, 16 and to those who were selling the doves he ordered, “Take them out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” 17 His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
18 The Jews then challenged him, “What sign can you show us to justify your doing this?” 19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews responded, “This temple has taken forty-six years to build, and you are going to raise it up in three days!” 21 But the temple he was talking about was the temple of his body. 22 After he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
The Mystery of the New Covenant
23 Jesus in Jerusalem.[i]While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many people saw the signs he was performing and came to believe in his name. 24 However, Jesus would not entrust himself to them because he fully understood them all. 25 He did not need evidence from others about man, for he clearly understood men.
Footnotes
- John 2:1 The evangelist calls special attention to the presence of the Mother of Jesus. Her role is to call Jesus to the cross and then stand by him in his Passion (Jn 19:25-26).
- John 2:1 Cana was five miles northeast of Nazareth.
- John 2:4 Woman: a universal address from son to mother; it is used again in Jn 19:26, where its meaning becomes evident: Mary is the new Eve, mother of the living (Gen 3:15, 20). My hour has not yet come: the hour is that of Jesus’ glorification and return to the Father (see Jn 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1; 19:27). It is determined by the Father and cannot be anticipated. The miracle worked at Mary’s intercession is a prophetic symbol of it.
- John 2:10 The first wine represents the first Covenant, the second better wine represents the New Covenant. Jesus is prefiguring the Messianic banquet.
- John 2:11 Signs: a term used by John to indicate Jesus’ miracles, emphasizing the significance rather than the marvelous character of the event (see Jn 4:54; 6:14; 9:16; 11:47). These signs reveal Jesus’ glory (Jn 1:14, Isa 35:1-2; Joel 4:18; Am 9:13).
- John 2:12 Brethren: that is, his close relatives. See notes on Mt 12:46-50 and 12:47.
- John 2:13 The author of the fourth Gospel brings us from one Jewish feast to another; he seems to want to make them the points of reference with which to link the discourses of Jesus.
The incidents that follow are therefore connected with the feast of Passover. They attest that Jesus has come to establish a new and spiritual worship that is no longer reserved to a single people or to a place. - John 2:13 Passover is the feast of Unleavened Bread, a sign of renewal (see Ex 12:15). Jesus knows, better than the Prophets (Isa 1:11; Jer 7:4; Am 5:21), that his Father has nothing to do with this traffic in sacrifices and offerings, if the interior gift of the heart is lacking.
In fact, in the evangelist’s view, this temple of stone has already lost its function, and the true dwelling of the Father among human beings will be the humanity of the risen Jesus, who is the focal point of all worship. The construction of the new temple in Jerusalem had been begun by Herod the Great in 20–19 B.C. According to v. 20, then, we are in the year A.D. 27–28. - John 2:23 To be filled with wonder at what Jesus can do, as was Nicodemus, is not yet faith. Faith is acceptance of the testimony of Jesus about God and about the plan of Jesus. Faith is another life, a transformed existence. The flesh—i.e., we with our material and intellectual possibilities—does not have the power to transform our life.
This transformation comes like the wind—mysterious and surprising—the same word in Hebrew and Greek expressing spirit and wind. The idea here is to bring to mind an event (rebirth) in which God alone has the initiative. Only those who open themselves to the Spirit, those who want to be reborn in Baptism and transformed as children of God, can believe in the new life that Jesus reveals and whose source is the Spirit—for they live it as by a gift.
Yochanan 2
Orthodox Jewish Bible
2 On Yom HaShelishi, there was a Chasunoh (Wedding Feast) in Kanah in the Galil; and the Em (Mother) of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was there.
2 He and his talmidim were also invited to the Chasunoh (Wedding Feast).
3 And when yayin (wine) was lacking, the Em of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach says to him, They do not have yayin.
4 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach says to her, Mah lanu valach, Isha? [BERESHIS 3:15] My sha’ah (hour, time) has not yet come. [Mt 26:18, 27-28]
5 The Em of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach says to the mesharetim, Asher yomar lakhem ta’asu (Do whatever he tells you). [BERESHIS 41:55]
6 Now there were shesh (six) stone water jars lying there. These were for the Jewish tohorot, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach says to them, Fill with mayim. And they filled them up to the top.
8 And he says to them, Draw now and bring to the Rosh HaMesibba (Head of the Reception, Feast). And they brought it.
9 And when the Rosh HaMesibba tasted the mayim having become yayin, and when he did not have da’as of where it came from‖but the mesharetim had da’as, the ones having drawn the water‖the Rosh HaMesibba summoned the Choson (Bridegroom).
10 And the Rosh HaMesibba says to him, Everyone sets out the yayin hatov first, and when they have become drunk, he sets out the inferior; you have kept the yayin hatov until now.
11 This was the reshit (beginning) of the otot (miraculous signs) Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach accomplished in Kana of the Galil, and he manifested the kavod (glory) of him, v’ya’aminu bo (and they put their faith in him) [SHEMOT 14:31].
12 After this he went down to K’far-Nachum and the Em of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach and the achim and his talmidim also, and there they remained not many yamim (days).
13 And Pesach was fast approaching, and Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach went up to Yerushalayim [DEVARIM 16:1-6].
14 And he found in the Beis Hamikdash the ones selling oxen and sheep and doves [VAYIKRA 1:14; DEVARIM 14:26] and the coin-dealers sitting [DEVARIM 14:25].
15 And having made a shot (whip) out of ropes Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach drove all of them out of the Beis Hamikdash, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the machalifei hakesafim (money-changers) and overturned their tishen (tables).
16 And to the ones selling doves, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said, Take these things from here. Do not make the Bais Avi a bais hasokharim (house of merchants). [ZECHARYAH 14:21]
17 The talmidim of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach remembered that it had been written, KINAT BETECHA AKHALATNI (The zeal for Your bais will devour me [TEHILLIM 69:9].
18 In reply, those of Yehudah then said to Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, What ot (miraculous sign) do you show us for these things you do?
19 In reply, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to them, Bring churban to this heikhal and in shloshah yamim [YONAH 1:17; HOSHEA 6:2] I will raise it.
20 Those of Yehudah then said, In forty and six years this Heikhal was built and you in shloshah yamim will raise it?
21 But that one was speaking about the heikhal of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach’s basar. [Gn 47:18; Ps 16:9-10; Job 19:25-27; Isa 53:10-11]
22 Therefore, when he underwent the Techiyas HaMoshiach (Resurrection of the Moshiach), his talmidim remembered that this he was saying and v’ya’aminu (and they put their faith SHEMOT 14:31) in the Kitvei Hakodesh [TEHILLIM 16:9-10] and the dvar which Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said.
23 And when Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was in Yerushalayim during Pesach at the Chag (Feast), many from Yehudah had emunah (faith) in ha-Shem of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, seeing his otot (miraculous signs) which he was doing.
24 But Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was not entrusting himself to them, because he had da’as of kol Bnei Adam.
25 And he had no need that anyone should give solemn edut (testimony) about them [YESHAYAH 11:3], for he knew what was in Bnei Adam [Dt 31:21; 1Kg 8:39].
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International