As often, dearly beloved brethren, as we read that our Redeemer came to a wedding, we ought not to suppose that He did it for the delight of gluttony, as did the scribes and Pharisees, who said that He was a winebibber and a friend of publicans; but we ought to believe that He came for the winning of souls. For just as a skilled fisherman and a wise hunter stretch out their nets in that place where they know that many fish or many birds or beasts come, so as to catch some of them when many shall be gathered together: so the Lord willed to come to a banquet or to a wedding, where many were assembling, that He might catch some of them by the word of His preaching.
But spiritually, when the Lord came into the world, the wine failed, because the Jews had lost the sweetness of the law which they formerly had. Jesus said to her: 'Woman, what is that to Me and to thee? My hour is not yet come' (John 2). We ought not to suppose that the Lord dishonored His mother, He who commands us to honor our parents. But He says this to her in order to lift up her mind to the power of His divinity. It is as though the Lord were saying to her: 'Woman, what has thy lowliness in common with the miracle? What thou seekest belongs to divine power, to work powers and miracles. My hour is not yet come'—that is, the hour of My Passion has not yet come, when I shall openly manifest what the humanity which I received from thee can suffer.
Which hour was then fulfilled when, hanging on the cross, He said: 'Woman, behold thy son'; as if to say: 'Behold what I assumed from thee can suffer and die; the miracle which thou seekest cannot be worked without divinity.' His mother said to the servants: 'Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye' (ibid.). Holy Mary understood in those words that the Lord said He was not exasperated, and on that account with confidence she told the servants to do the commands of her Son. Now there were there six stone waterpots set out according to the purification of the Jews, holding each two or three measures.
It was the custom of the Jews, and especially of the Pharisees, that at banquets and at weddings they should have vessels ready full of water for the washing of hands, or for whatever else was necessary. Jesus said to them: 'Fill the waterpots with water.' And they filled them up to the brim, and they were turned into wine. Certainly, dearest faithful, the Lord could well have filled the empty waterpots with wine, He who created all things out of nothing before they existed; but He commanded first that they be filled with water, and afterwards He turned it into wine. This signifies that when our Lord came upon earth, He did not give another law than that which He had given through His servant Moses, but He opened the spiritual understanding which was hidden in the law itself.
Spiritually, however, these waterpots signify the hearts of the holy teachers, who have in themselves the water, that is, the knowledge of the Scriptures; and in this, that they were of stone and six in number, they signify the hearts of the saints, which are always firm and strong against the temptations of the devil; and these six waterpots signify the six ages of the world. The first age of the world was from Adam to Noah; the second was from Noah to Abraham; the third from Abraham to David; the fourth from David to the transmigration of Babylon; the fifth from the transmigration of Babylon to the coming of Christ in the flesh; the sixth age is that which now continues, from the coming of the Lord to the end of the world.
In all these ages the almighty God sent holy men, who always preached the divine words. In the first age of the world we read that God made man from earth after His image and likeness, and from the side of him who was sleeping He took one of his ribs and made Eve. And after these things He placed them in paradise, and commanded them to eat of every fruit of paradise, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil He commanded them not to touch. Afterwards, seduced by the serpent, that is, by the devil, they ate the fruit which had been forbidden them. Therefore the Lord was angry, and cast them out of paradise. Whoever shall have heard this, and shall have feared to transgress the commandment of the Lord, he finds in the first age a waterpot full of water;
And if he has found her, he has understood her spiritually: by Adam our Lord, who took flesh from the Virgin, and by Eve he understood the holy Church, which was formed from the Virgin and from the side of Christ hanging upon the cross. At once the water-jar, which was full of water, was turned into wine. In the second age we read that the Lord commanded Noah to build an ark on account of the flood; and He willed to send it upon the earth, because all men had abandoned the commandments of God and were working evil. Whoever hears these things, and desires to be saved with the few rather than to perish with the many, finds in the second age a water-jar full of water.
And if he is willing to understand it spiritually: by Noah, who built the ark, our Lord, who was the builder and ruler of the holy Church; and by the flood which He willed to send upon the earth and to destroy sinful men, is understood baptism, in which sins are destroyed. He who understands these things spiritually in this way has his water-jar, which at first he had full of water, changed into wine. In the third age we read that He commanded Abraham to go forth from the land of his kindred and from the house of his father; and he came into the land which He would show him, and at once, as God had commanded him, he did this.
Whoever hears these things, and considers in his heart with how great zeal he ought to obey God, has in the third age a water-jar full of water; and if he wills to understand it spiritually, by Abraham God the Father, the water-jar which before he had full of water is changed into wine. In the fourth age we read that David was a king who was humble and merciful, and who endured much suffering and tribulation from king Saul. Whoever hears these things, and is willing to follow the humility of David, finds in the fourth age a water-jar full of water.
If he wills to understand it spiritually, by Saul the people of the Jews, who persecuted the Lord, and by David he wills to understand our Lord, who deigned to pray for His persecutors, he has the fourth water-jar changed into wine, which before held water. In the fifth age we read that the people of the Jews transgressed the commandment of God, and for this the Lord delivered them into the hand of the king of Babylon, who led them captive into Babylonia and destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Whoever hears these things and fears to sin against the Lord, lest infirmity or some tribulation come upon him, he finds in the fifth age a water-jar full of water.
And if he is willing to understand spiritually by the people of Israel the human race, and by Babylonia to understand hell, and by the king of Babylon the devil, who ever desires to drag the human race into hell: he who thus understands has his water-jar, which he had full of water, changed into wine. In the sixth age we read that our Redeemer deigned to become man for all, and on the eighth day was circumcised, and on the thirty-third day was presented in the temple. Whoever hears these things, and considers in his heart with how great zeal he ought to keep the commandments of God, he in the sixth age finds a water-jar full of water.
And if he wills to understand spiritually that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless in this present life we have been purified by confession and almsgiving, he has his water-jar turned into good wine. And each of these six water-jars held two or three measures apiece, that is, two or three portions. Now the servants who filled the water-jars signify the holy apostles and the doctors of the Church, who preach the commandments of God, of whom it is rightly said: And they filled them up to the brim. Certainly from the beginning of the world there has been no time in which there was not someone mindful of Him, who daily made Him manifest by teaching, or by good example, or by preaching. And Jesus says to them:
Draw out now, and carry it to the master of the feast; and they carried it (John 2). The master of the feast is the steward of the house, and he signified the doctors of the holy Church, who knew how to distinguish between the Old and the New Testament, and between good and evil. The master of the feast calls the bridegroom, and says to him: Every man first sets forth the good wine, and when they have well drunk, then that which is worse (ibid.). There are many who say that this bridegroom was Saint John the Evangelist, who, because of the miracle he saw, left the wedding and followed the Lord. This beginning of signs Jesus made in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
The disciples of our Redeemer, before this miracle was done, believed Him to be only a mere man; but after they had seen this, with great confidence they believed Him to be true God and true man. And let us, dearest brethren, at all times believe His works, and do His commandments, and always announce His teaching to others, that in the age to come we may rejoice with Him. By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, etc.