5. The beginning of "The Hour"

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Throughout the Gospels whenever there is a warning, like thunder, of the Cross, there is an accompanying flash of the glory of the Resurrection; whenever there is the approaching shadow of redemptive suffering, there is also the light of spiritual freedom that will come after it. That counterpoint of joy and sorrow in the life of Christ is found again in His first miracle which took place in the village of Cana. It is part of His pattern, that He Who came to preach a crucifixion of disordered flesh, should have begun His Public Life by assisting at a marriage feast.

In the Old Testament, the relation between God and Israel was compared to the relation between a bridegroom and his bride. Our Lord suggested that the same relation would henceforth exist between Himself and the new spiritual Israel, which He was going to found. He would be the Bridegroom, His Church would be the bride. And since He came to establish this kind of union between Himself and redeemed humanity, it was fitting that He should commence His public ministry by assisting at a marriage. St. Paul was not introducing a new idea when he wrote to the Ephesians later on that the union of man and woman was the symbol of the union of Christ and His Church.

You who are husbands

Must show love to your wives,

As Christ showed love to the Church

When He gave Himself up on its behalf.

EPHESIANS 5:25

A marriage feast is an occasion for much joy; and wine is served as a symbol of that joy. At the feast of Cana, which had such symbolic importance, the Cross did not cast a shadow over the joy; rather the joy came first, and then the Cross. But when the joy had been accomplished the shadow of the Cross cast itself over the feast.

Our Lord had already been affirmed as the Lamb of God in the river Jordan; He had also chosen five disciples from among the followers of John the Baptist: John the Evangelist, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael. These He brought to the wedding feast which was already in progress and which altogether lasted several days. In those days, fathers of the bride had greater burdens than today. For the rejoicings and the expenses could continue for eight days. One of the probable reasons for the wine giving out was that Our Lord had brought in so many uninvited guests. Since the great excitement at the Jordan, when the heavens opened to affirm that He was the Son of God, His presence had been attracting hundreds of stray followers, who also came to the feast. He was coming to the marriage not just as the village carpenter, but as the Christ or the Messias. Before the rejoicings came to an end, it would be revealed that He had a rendezvous with the Cross.

Mary, His Blessed Mother, was present at the wedding feast. This is the only occasion in the life of Our Lord where Mary is mentioned before her Son. Mary was to be the instrument of His first miracle, or sign, that He was what He claimed to be, the Son of God. She had already been an instrument for the sanctification of John the Baptist in his mother’s womb; now, by her intercession, she sounded the trumpet for a long procession of miracles—an intercession so strong that it has inspired souls in all ages to invoke her name for other miracles of nature and grace.

John the Evangelist, who had already been chosen to be a disciple, was present at the feast; and it was he who was both an eye-and-ear witness to what Mary did at Cana. He was also with her at the foot of the Cross, and he recorded both events faithfully in his Gospel. In the temple and in the Jordan, Our Lord received His Father’s blessing and sanction to begin His work of Redemption. At Cana, He received the assent of His human parent. Later, in the terrible isolation of Calvary, there would come a dark moment when His Father would seemingly withdraw from Him and He would quote the psalm that begins:

My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?

PSALM 21:1

Another moment would come when He would seem to withdraw from His mother:

Woman, behold thy son.

JOHN 19:26

When the wine gave out at Cana, it is interesting to note that Mary was more concerned with the guests than was the wine-steward; for it was she, and not he, who noticed their need of wine. Mary turned to her Divine Son in a perfect spirit of prayer. Completely confident in Him and trusting in His mercy, she said:

They have no wine left.

JOHN 2:3

It was not a personal request; she was already a mediatrix for all who were seeking the fullness of joy. She has never been just a spectator, but a full participant willingly involving herself in the needs of others. The mother used the special power which she had as a mother over her Son, a power generated by mutual love. He answered her with apparent hesitation:

Woman, what is that to Me and to thee?

My Hour is not yet come.

JOHN 2:4

First, consider the words, “What is that to Me and to thee?” This is a Hebrew phrase which is difficult to translate into English. St. John rendered it very literally into Greek, and the Vulgate preserved this literalism in Quid mihi et tibi, which means, “What to Me and to thee?” The word “that” is not represented in the original phrase; it has been added in the English translation to make the idea more understandable. Knox translates it freely, “Why dost thou trouble Me with that?”

In order to understand His meaning more fully, consider the words, “My Hour is not yet come.” The “Hour” obviously refers to His Cross. Whenever the word “Hour” is used in the New Testament, it is used in relation to His Passion, death, and glory. References to this “Hour” are made seven times in John alone, some of which are noted here.

They wanted therefore to seize Him,

But no one laid hands on Him

Because His Hour had not yet come.

JOHN 7:30 

 

Jesus spoke these words in the treasury,

While teaching in the temple.

And no one seized Him, because His Hour had not yet come.

JOHN 8:20 

 

But Jesus answered them,

The Hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

JOHN 12:23 

 

Now My soul is troubled. And what shall I say?

Father save Me from this Hour!

No, this is why I came to this Hour.

JOHN 12:27 

 

Behold, the Hour is coming, and has already come,

For you to be scattered, each one to his own house,

And to leave Me alone. But I am not alone,

Because the Father is with Me.

JOHN 16:32 

 

These things Jesus spoke; and raising His eyes to heaven,

He said: Father, the Hour has come!

Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee.

JOHN 17:1

The “Hour,” therefore, referred to His glorification through His Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. At Cana, Our Lord was referring to Calvary and saying that the time appointed for beginning the task of Redemption was not yet at hand. His mother was asking for a miracle; He was implying that a miracle worked as a sign of His Divinity would be the beginning of His Death. The moment He showed Himself before men as the Son of God, He would draw down upon Himself their hatred, for evil can tolerate mediocrity, but not supreme goodness. The miracle she was asking for would be unmistakably related to His Redemption. 

There were, in His life, two occasions when His human nature seemed to show an unwillingness to take on His burden of suffering. In the Garden, He asked His Father if it be possible to take away His chalice of woe. But He immediately afterward acquiesced in His Father’s will: “Not My will, but Thine be done.” The same apparent reluctance was also manifested in the face of the will of His mother. Cana was a rehearsal for Golgotha. He was not questioning the wisdom of beginning His Public Life and going to death at this particular point in time; it was rather a question of submitting His reluctant human nature to obedience to the Cross. There is a striking parallel between His Father’s bidding Him to His public death and His mother’s bidding Him to His public life. Obedience triumphed in both cases; at Cana, the water was changed into wine; at Calvary, the wine was changed into blood. 

He was telling His mother that she was virtually pronouncing a sentence of death over Him. Few are the mothers who send their sons to battlefields; but here was one who was actually hastening the hour of her Son’s mortal conflict with the forces of evil. If He agreed to her request, He would be beginning His hour of death and glorification. To the Cross He would go with double commission, one from His Father in heaven, the other from His mother on earth. 

As soon as He had consented to begin His “Hour,” He proceeded immediately to tell her that her relations with Him would be henceforth changed. Until then, during His hidden life, she had been known as the mother of Jesus. But now that He was launched on the work of Redemption, she would no longer be just His mother, but also the mother of all His human brethren whom He would redeem. To indicate this new relationship, He now addressed her, not as “Mother” but as the “Universal Mother” or “Woman.” What a ring those words had to people who lived in the light of the Old Testament. When Adam fell, God spoke to Satan and foretold that He would put enmity between his seed and “the Woman,” for goodness would have a progeny as well as evil. The world would have not only the City of Man which Satan claimed as his own, but also the City of God. The “Woman” did have a seed, and it was her Seed that was standing now at the marriage feast, the Seed that would fall to the ground and die and then spring forth unto new life.

The moment the “Hour” began, she became “the Woman” she would have other children too, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. If He was to be the new Adam, the founder of a redeemed humanity, she would be the new Eve and the mother of that new humanity. As Our Lord was a man, she was His mother; and as He was a Savior, she was also the mother of all whom He would save. John, who was present at that wedding, was also present at the climax of the “Hour” on Calvary. He heard Our Lord calling her “Woman” from the Cross and then saying to her, “Behold thy son.” It was as if he, John, was now the symbol of her new family. When Our Lord raised the son of the widow of Naim from the dead, He said, “Give him back to his mother.” On the Cross, He consoled His mother by giving her another son, John, and with him the whole of redeemed humanity.

At the Resurrection He gave Himself back to her, to show that while she had gained new children, she had not lost Him. At Cana, the prophecy that Simeon had made to her in the temple was confirmed: henceforth, whatever involved her Son would involve her, too; whatever happened to Him would happen to her. If He was destined to go to the Cross, so was she; and if He was now beginning His Public Life, then she would begin a new life too, no longer as just the mother of Jesus, but as the mother of all whom Jesus the Savior would redeem. He called Himself “Son of Man,” a title embracing all humanity; she would be henceforth the “Mother of Men.” Just as she was at His side as He began His Hour, so would she be at His side at its climactic finish. When she took Him away from the temple as a boy of twelve, it was because she sensed that His Hour had not yet come; He obeyed her then and returned to Nazareth with her. Now, He told her that His Hour had not yet come, but she bade Him begin it, and He obeyed. At Cana, she gave Him as a Savior to sinners; on the Cross He gave her as a refuge to sinners.

When He suggested that His first miracle would lead unerringly to His Cross and death, and that she would become henceforth a Mother of Sorrows, she turned at once to the wine-steward and said:

Do whatever He tells you.

JOHN 2:5

What a magnificent valedictory! She never speaks again in Scripture. Seven times she had spoken in the Scriptures, but now that Christ had shown Himself, like the sun in the full brilliance of His Divinity, Our Lady was willingly overshadowed like the moon, as John later on described her.

The six waterpots were filled, making about one hundred and twenty gallons, and in the beautiful language of Richard Crashaw, “the unconscious waters saw their God and blushed.” The first miracle was something like creation itself; it was done by the power of “the Word.” The wine He created was so good that the bridegroom was reproached by the steward with the words:

Every man at first sets forth the good wine,

And when they have drunk freely,

Then that which is poorer.

But thou hast kept the good wine until now.

JOHN 2:10

Truly the best wine was kept. Up until then in the unfolding of revelation, the poor wine had been the prophets, judges, and kings, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Josue—all were like the water awaiting the miracle of the Expected of the Nations. The world generally gives its best pleasures first; afterward come the dregs and the bitterness. But Christ reversed the order and gave us the feast after the fast, the Resurrection after the Crucifixion, the joy of Easter Sunday after the sorrow of Good Friday.

This first of His signs Jesus worked at Cana of Galilee;

And He manifested His glory,

And His disciples believed in Him.

JOHN 2:11

The Cross is everywhere. When a man stretches out his arms in relaxation, he unconsciously forms the image of the reason for the Son of Man’s coming. So too at Cana, the shadow of the Cross was thrown across a “Woman,” and the first stroke of the “Hour” was sounded like a bell of execution. In all the other incidents of His life, the Cross came first, then the joy. But at Cana, it was the joy of the nuptials that came first —the nuptials of the Bridegroom and the Bride of redeemed humanity; only after that are we reminded that the Cross is the condition of that ecstasy.

Thus He did at a marriage feast what He would not do in a desert; He worked in the full gaze of men what He had refused to do before Satan. Satan asked Him to turn stones into bread in order that He might become an economic Messias; His mother asked Him to change water into wine that He might become a Savior. Satan tempted Him from death; Mary “tempted” Him to death and Resurrection. Satan tried to lead Him from the Cross; Mary sent Him toward it. Later on, He would take hold of the bread that Satan had said men needed, and the wine that His mother had said the wedding guests needed, and He would change them both into the memorial of His Passion and His death. Then He would ask that men renew that memorial, even “unto the consummation of the world.” The antiphon of His life continues to ring: Everyone else came into the world to live; He came into the world to die.

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