I. Introduction
In the introductory chapter to this Gospel of John we were privileged to meet the Eternal Word; the Word become flesh (“John Chapter One Commentary”); even Jesus Christ who, as we learned, fast purposed to visit the Gentile badlands of Galilee to plant some seedlings in that spiritually dry, spiritually rough, spiritually unplowed ground, and to garner a following from some fishermen soon to become fishers of men. In this chapter we find Him laying the tip of His Plow ( His eternal Word that is) into that unplowed ground yonder in Galilee, quite purposing to turn it over, to turn it inside-out, to expose it, to the eternal Truth inherent in His Word, thus setting into motion the purposes of God for humankind, even Redemption unto Salvation. And in keeping with those purposes are we surprised that His first order of business concerns a credentials-verifying miracle that involves some blood-red wine at a marriage feast, not unlike some blood-red wine that involves also His last order of business and a fourth cup no less miraculously filled at a Marriage Supper (“The Fourth Cup”)? No, we are not surprised. The purposes of Jehovah God are from first to last consummated in the One who is the First and the Last, the Eternal Word. None other than this Consummate One is Able; able to satisfy the purposes of Jehovah God. Thus, we find Him embarking on a purposes-satisfying ministry in this chapter (“He Who Sent Me”).
We will follow this format:
Verse of Scripture utilizing the YLT text followed by an NASB mouse over of that verse. Key words in the YLT text will be footnoted with a link to a word study based on the Greek text, and/or a general discussion relative to the given word (we are not biblical Greek or Hebrew scholars, please consider our grammatical constructions with a critical eye).
Commentary We shall be commenting on this passage keeping before us at all times the crucial fact that every jot and every tittle comprising these verses came forth under the inspiration of the blessed Holy Spirit. We pray that He, by His grace, helps us along the way.
II. John Chapter Two Commentary Verses
2:1-11-Blood-Red Wine (Cana, Cross, Kingdom)
YLT TEXT: And the third[1] day a marriage[2] happened in Cana of Galilee[3], and the mother of Jesus was there, and also Jesus was called[4], and his disciples, to the marriage; and wine[5] having failed[6], the mother of Jesus saith unto him, ‘Wine they have not;’ Jesus saith to her, ‘What — to me and to thee, woman[7]? not yet is mine hour come.’ His mother saith to the ministrants[8], ‘Whatever he may say to you — do.’ And there were there six water-jugs of stone, placed according to the purifying[9] of the Jews, holding each two or three measures[10]. Jesus saith to them, ‘Fill the water-jugs with water;’ and they filled them — unto the brim; and he saith to them, ‘Draw[11] out, now[12], and bear to the director of the apartment[13];’ and they bare. And as the director of the apartment tasted the water become wine, and knew not whence it is, (but the ministrants knew, who have drawn the water,) the director of the feast doth call the bridegroom, and saith to him, ‘Every man, at first, the good wine doth set forth; and when they may have drunk freely, then the inferior; thou didst keep the good wine till now.’ This beginning of the signs[14] did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him (John 2:1-11, cf. John 2:1-11, NLT—the “dear” at John 2:4, NLT, is maybe a little overly non-literal: “…TI EMOI KAI SOI GUNAI…”).
COMMENTARY: Who, what, when, and where concern us at the outset of this commentary. Who: Jesus, the disciples, the mother of Jesus, a bride and a bridegroom. What: A marriage feast. When: A Monday. Where: Cana of Galilee: “…And the third day a marriage happened in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and also Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage…”. Possibly bride and bridegroom were somehow related to Jesus. Conspicuously missing, not mentioned, is Joseph. Given his absence in the further ministry of Jesus it is possible that he had passed away before this the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
A marriage feast. Marriage. Feast. Aren’t those lovely words? How exceedingly appropriate for Jesus to begin His ministry therewith. This is no accident. The point of interest is the blood red wine. A marriage feast is but a formality; wine, gives it life. And the life had failed, deceased: “…and wine having failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, ‘Wine they have not;’…”. No life. Thus the predicament, this tight spot, is posed to the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), by His mother, who sustained the life of the God-Child for a time with her blood, and delivered Him covered by that same blood. This is the way of life for all—mother, woman, and child, by His design, He taking no exceptions, identifying with the same. The predicament is just posed here; she specifically asks of Him nothing. But still, good for her, she knows the right One to engage in matters concerning Life, though His hour had not yet come to manifestly address this business of Life, itself the mainstay of His ministerial purposes (John 10:10). It is presaged here, this Life—Life per se (Leviticus 17:11), and that of two special Marriage Feasts (John 2:9, Matthew 26:29)—in that blood red wine that had deceased (Genesis 3:19, John 2:3), and come to life again (John 2:9, 14:19). Yes, come to life again per the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, even Jesus Christ.
In His response to His mother—this woman, who miraculously bore Him via the Spirit of Jehovah God, and delivered Him, Jesus affirms His ministerial purposes—Life—which presses upon His willing lips a bitter-sweet cup He must drink in due time, when His hour has come (Mark 14:36, 1Corinthians 11:25-26), and yet He folds into His response the concerns of His mother, for suggested is that which He is about to do for her in her immediate predicament, for He gives Life at all scales: “…Jesus saith to her, ‘What — to me and to thee, woman? not yet is mine hour come.’…”. But of course, her hour, not at all like His, and consequent to His, has come. This is left unsaid but demonstrated to her presently. Two “hours,” one for our Lord in due time, for the Life of many, and one for His mother presently, for the life of a few, that nevertheless looks forward to a bigger Feast. We shall take the angle that Jesus’ response is a question that begs a reflective comparison upon two hours—Jesus is a Teacher. In this way, ultimately, He reveals Father God through His many teachings found all over Scripture.
Jesus’ mother issues the model response to Jesus’ words—let us embrace her wisdom: “… ‘Whatever he may say to you — do.’…”. Yes, do. These “whatever” things of His to be done we find in His Word today. Not difficult at all to discern these whatever things. Much harder to do oftentimes, but we must give it our best effort and depend on Him to do that which He knows we cannot do. And now the doing in this context: “…Jesus saith to them, ‘Fill the water-jugs with water;’ and they filled them — unto the brim…”. There we have it—thus and so is well done when servants fill things to the brim when the Master says “do it,” do thus and so. Let us not cheat God or cozy up to shortcuts. In the same way He fills us, to the brim, with His Spirit (Luke 11:13)—no shortcuts here, no way. Now comes the pivotal moment in these verses; it concerns drawing and bearing. Drawing, and bearing—there is the Christian life in a nutshell if you will. Precisely then is when miracles happen, particularly, Salvation. Drawing on Jehovah God and bearing that which is drawn to whichever “director of the feast” our Lord wishes to bless through our bearing is the stuff of miracles. Bearing per se literally, as in carrying, yea, carrying each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), or maybe bearing long, bearing for the Master (Jeremiah 15:15). All good, rich: “…and they bare [so it is spelled here]…”.
Those to whom we bear the Word of God and the things of God are oftentimes ignorant of the same: “…And as the director of the apartment tasted the water become wine, and knew not whence it is, (but the ministrants knew, who have drawn the water)…”.This is why God wants us to bear to them of course, so that intimacy might by-and-by follow; a taste of, or perhaps better put, for, the divine. O that those to whom we bear might in fact taste (Psalms 34:8). And notice please that the servants, those who bear, “know.” Exactly what do they know that some others do not? Far greater things than water become wine as in this context, namely, the spirit within become the Spirit of God throughout, this change—a miracle to say the least. Thus are they servants after all.
We see by means of testimony how good Jesus’ wine is: “…the director of the feast doth call the bridegroom, and saith to him, ‘Every man, at first, the good wine doth set forth; and when they may have drunk freely, then the inferior; thou didst keep the good wine till now.’…”. Moreover, no hoodwinking with Jesus here. In other words, man would have it: put out the good wine and let all drink freely such that the cheaper, inferior wine can be served sort of inconspicuously, unawares, and sooner than later, for the rest of the day or evening, but with Jesus it is all good all the time. If we may lean on the wine-life analogy once more, then we might read too at this point the inferior life up front down here followed by the superior Life that Jesus provides. The mundane reality of this world, and this life, is inferior to the superior reality of Heaven, and life eternal in Jehovah God’s presence (Salvation). The “wine” will not fail there, literally and figuratively (“A Letter of Invitation”).
And finally, we may deduce that Jesus’ ministry was signs-intensive (John 20:30-31): “…This beginning of the signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee…”. In this way He identified Himself, very Glory, for He does not expect belief in Himself, and by association Father God (John 17:5), to lack a factual foundation: “…and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him…”.
2:12-Headquarters Capernaum
YLT TEXT: after this he went down to Capernaum[15], he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples; and there they remained not many days. (John 2:12, cf. John 2:12, NLT).
COMMENTARY: From Nazareth, and that misguided expulsion (Luke 4:16ff), Jesus’ Galilean ministry found itself headquartered in Capernaum (possibly suggested by Matthew 4:13, 9:1-“own city”, Luke 4:31-part of the Nazareth expulsion account), a fishing village on the shore of Lake Galilee, roughly 127 kilometers/79 miles from Jerusalem (Fig. 1, background). So our text places the Great One Jesus back at His headquarters after His first great public miracle in Cana. Soon He departs for Jerusalem and the Passover.
2:13-25-One Cleansing of the Temple, Three Eye-Witness Accounts
YLT TEXT: And the passover[16] of the Jews[17] was nigh, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem[18], and he found in the temple those selling oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the money-changers[19] sitting, and having made a whip of small cords, he put all forth out of the temple, also the sheep, and the oxen; and of the money-changers he poured out the coins, and the tables he overthrew, and to those selling the doves he said, ‘Take these things hence; make not the house[20] of my Father a house of merchandise[21].’ And his disciples remembered that it is written, ‘The zeal of Thy house did eat me up;’ the Jews then answered and said to him, ‘What sign dost thou shew to us — that thou dost these things?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this sanctuary[22], and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews, therefore, said, ‘Forty and six years was this sanctuary building, and wilt thou in three days raise it up?’ but he spake concerning the sanctuary of his body; when, then, he was raised out of the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this to them, and they believed the Writing, and the word that Jesus said. And as he was in Jerusalem, in the passover, in the feast, many believed in his name, beholding his signs that he was doing; and Jesus himself was not trusting[23] himself to them, because of his knowing[24] all men, and because he had no need that any should testify concerning man, for he himself was knowing what was in man (John 2:13-25, cf. John 2:13-25, NLT).
COMMENTARY: We had this before via the synoptic gospels (“Holy Week”). Here we get John’s version—one cleansing, three eye-witnesses to the facts (Matthew, Peter as related to Mark, and John). One of the beauties of the Gospel, particularly, the ministry of Jesus Christ, is its consistency despite the different vantage points of the eye-witnesses to the events each of these inspired authors recorded. Very inspiration necessitated that each record the facts as they were called to record them—not through the lens of their worldviews, no way, but precisely through the lens of the view of the world from Jehovah God’s perspective as related to the given author (John here) by Him. Of course, God did this on purpose, for our edification, unto holiness (Christlikeness). We will discuss John’s version here.
John has been led to focus on signs, as we saw in the Cana miracle record. Here, in apt continuity with that, John continues this signs-focus. We get here a new sign, a heads-up sign, as to the impending vexations to Jesus’ Spirit that would attend His soon-to-blossom ministry—the frictions inherent in it, the antagonists standing against it and Him (1Timothy 6:5). Let us remember that His identity was settled in Cana—this was the first sign; makes sense: here is Messiah, very deity in our midst. And this next sign is a ship-righting (local, global) sign that bespeaks of Jesus’ ministerial goals, and it must necessarily be conveyed to the hearer of this gospel next; makes sense too. The reach of these two signs covers everything about Jesus and His ministry, though neither is fully grasped. It is terrific how John gets this angle concerning the next sign; it says a thing or two about his gospel. The thing about it is, what we mean is, he places the cleansing up front in Jesus’ ministry (John’s gospel is not Synoptic-chronological, it is Sign-theological; this is quite deliberate [John 20:30-31]). Jesus’ ministry was certainly Redemption-Salvation (life eternal in Jehovah God’s presence); but, in no small way, He came to set a ship aright (local, global), and the (local) ship that was foundering was scraping the bottom because it thought to play God the fool via its super-added, phony, even oppressive religiosity, and to hold Him hostage to a building, namely, the Temple here in view. God would soon tear that building down stone by stone (Matthew 24:2, ”Matthew Chapter Twenty-Four Commentary”), from the outside-in as it were, and here He passionately rips it apart from the inside-out (Malachi 3:1-5—last canonical book of the Old Testament presaging Jesus Christ the Refiner). Outside-in because of its façade-like religiosity, inside-out because of the perversion of His Name which He was pleased to attach to it, in the way of servicing its spiritual facades at the expense not only of His Name, but at the expense of the much-beloved ones embracing Him inside. Of course, this cleansing is a warning of what is to come. A last warning. There had been plenty of warnings before (going way back before Jesus’ day even), but nobody was listening. This was the last warning, and quite animated, lest anyone miss the sign. God was in flame here, cord in hand John tells us, burning with passion, zeal, for His House (Psalms 69:9): “…and he found in the temple those selling oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the money-changers sitting, and having made a whip of small cords, he put all forth out of the temple, also the sheep, and the oxen; and of the money-changers he poured out the coins, and the tables he overthrew, and to those selling the doves he said, ‘Take these things hence; make not the house of my Father a house of merchandise.’ And his disciples remembered that it is written, ‘The zeal of Thy house did eat me up…”. Zeal for God’s House, which consisted not of endearing, lovely stones and mortar here in Jesus’ thinking, but of flesh and blood (Hebrews 3:5-6). Flesh and blood that was getting duped, and fleeced, and misled, and ripped, under the auspices of His Name, as broadcast by what was humanly being condoned “inside” in His Name, and the Temple stood for all of that. So, Jesus rips it here. And as suggested above, this was only the beginning (Titus leveled the place later). But of course, these same money-grubbing religious frauds that felt the cord of the Refiner would be and were a vexation to our Lord’s Spirit throughout His ministry, and would and in fact did kill Him, like unto His prophets and servants of old, setting into motion the Wheels of Salvation nevertheless, that turn on the Redemption that, ironically, the cord-bloodied Refiner wrought at Calvary. Jesus signals as much a priori: “…’ the Jews then answered and said to him, ‘What sign dost thou shew to us — that thou dost these things?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this sanctuary [as I know you will is understood; here is prophecy], and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews, therefore, said, ‘Forty and six years was this sanctuary building, and wilt thou in three days raise it up?’ but he spake concerning the sanctuary of his body; when, then, he was raised out of the dead [Resurrection], his disciples remembered that he said this to them, and they believed the Writing, and the word that Jesus said…”. The Resurrection fulfills prophecy and is central to believing in Jesus. Without the Resurrection the whole edifice of Christianity topples over and Christian Salvation is but a sham. That in no small part is why Jehovah God gave us primary-source testimonies concerning it. This second sign (the cleansing) is loaded with theological import and is second in import only to the Cana self-disclosure sign of Jehovah God. The reader may deduce these things from whichever gospel they choose to read; in the end the gospels say the same thing because that is the intention of the blessed Author, even the Refiner.
It’s the heart you (and I) know too well: “…And as he was in Jerusalem, in the passover, in the feast, many believed in his name, beholding his signs that he was doing; and Jesus himself was not trusting himself to them, because of his knowing all men, and because he had no need that any should testify concerning man, for he himself was knowing what was in man…” (Job 15:15-16, Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:17-20).
Praised be your Name Eternal Word Jesus. Amen.