Mary at the wedding at Cana

The Johannine literature, the latest and most mature of the New Testament, is particularly rich in theological reflection. In it, more than anywhere else, the narrative is at the service of the message. This does not mean that the Johannine writings do not deal with history; nevertheless, it is a “symbolic-sacramental” history that at once conceals and reveals highly spiritual realities.

In the humility of the events of this world, divinity made its entrance (“the Word became flesh”) and reality was invested and transfigured by the glory of God. Events, actions, gestures, and characters display a strong Christological orientation: they are at the service of the revelation of the Son of God. In this light, the figure of Mary must also be considered.

The Johannine tradition, unlike what occurs in Luke, is quite sober, quantitatively, with regard to Mary: it speaks of her only at the beginning (at Cana) and at the end of the Gospel (by the Cross), and indirectly in Revelation 12. But, at least as far as the Gospel is concerned, it can be said that quantity is inversely proportional to quality: in the two episodes, of Cana and of the Cross, we reach the summit of the reflection on Mary in the New Testament. She is no longer merely the faithful one and the mother of Jesus but, precisely because she is faithful and a mother, she is placed at the beginning and at the end of the Gospel, at the service of the faith and the life of the disciples of the Lord. In this way, she is directly and uniquely involved with the person and the work of the Son.

Jn 2:1-11[12] is a passage that has been studied over the course of time, yet it still holds mysterious, almost inexhaustible riches. It is a fundamental episode not only for understanding the figure of Mary, but above all for entering into the heart of the Gospel of John, into its message and, in particular, into its Christology. After the crucial opening chapter, which includes the hymnic Prologue (1:1-18) and the narrative prologue (1:19-51) with the testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus and the call of the first disciples (all marked by a precise sequence of days and hours, important for the evangelist), in the very next chapter we find the presence of the mother of Jesus. The episode of Cana does not concern Mary in the first place, even though she is deeply inserted into it. On the contrary, precisely because she is “set” within the revelation of the mystery of Jesus, among grand theological and salvific realities, the figure of the Virgin takes on a singular prominence. This becomes more evident when we compare the scene of Cana with that of Mary by the cross (Jn 19:25-27). Placed at the beginning and at the summit of the mystery of Jesus and of the “signs” that reveal Him, these two passages form something like a fundamental inclusion. They constitute, in a certain way, the extremes between which the whole saving work of Christ is accomplished.

“The beginning of the signs” (Jn 2:11): the narrative structure and the theological symbolism of the sign of Cana

As can already be glimpsed, the richness of the scene of Cana is striking. The text begins with a determination of time and place and ends, in parallel, with a spatial-temporal indication:

Jn 2:1: “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee…”
Jn 2:12: “After this he went down to Capernaum…”

An episode framed with such care cannot be a simple wedding feast, but a saving event that unfolds in the time and in the space of human existence. To dispel any misunderstanding, the voice of the evangelist arrives right on cue and, at the close of the episode, comments: “thus Jesus did in Cana of Galilee the first of his signs” (v. 11).

The “sign” is an action or work performed by Jesus to reveal His identity as the Son of God, the presence among us of the Word made flesh. Cana is the “beginning” of the signs to come: an archetype, a type-sign, which stands at the beginning, prefigures and anticipates all the others, revealing their meaning and their purpose. It is not, therefore, a simple episode, but a fundamental event that inaugurates the mission of Jesus. With it, He reveals His glory, the splendor and the power that He had with the Father before the creation of the world (cf. Jn 1:1ff; 17:5) and that with which He will be clothed in His resurrection.

The sign manifests the glory, and the contemplation of the glory leads to faith: “and his disciples, the evangelist concludes, believed in him!” (see Jn 2:11). These fundamental realities of Johannine theology — sign-glory-faith — show how the episode of Cana is deeply rooted in the Fourth Gospel and announces its principal developments. We shall not be surprised to see dense realities and symbolisms emerge beneath apparently ordinary terms and realities.

“The third day” (Jn 2:1): paschal typology, resurrection symbolism, and the Hebrew cultural context

The passage begins, therefore, with the expression “the third day” (v. 1). This is not merely a simple chronological datum, but a formula evocative of the mystery of the resurrection, the sign par excellence in which the glory of Jesus was truly manifested and His disciples believed in Him. “The third day” still expresses our faith in the resurrection today. On the other hand, “the third day” evokes the event of the covenant at Sinai with the giving of the Law, which prefigures the new covenant with the new Law given by Christ.

In this broad and significant context of memory and prophecy, the Fourth Gospel introduces Mary: “and the mother of Jesus was there” (v. 1). The narrative begins by emphasizing her presence. In the passage she is repeatedly referred to as “the mother of Jesus” (vv. 1, 3, 5, 12). As such, in verse 3, she intercedes with Jesus to remedy a difficult situation.

The mother of Jesus, “the woman” and the “hour”: the parallelism between Jn 2:1-12 and Jn 19:25-27

As generally happens with the Johannine characters (cf. Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the Jews, the man born blind…), she at first places herself and speaks on a human level: “They have no wine” (v. 3). Jesus, however, immediately raises her to a different and higher level, presenting to her another kind of intervention and presence: “What is there between me and you, woman? My hour has not yet come” (v. 4). It is a phrase that at first sight is enigmatic and disconcerting, from which, nevertheless, valuable revelations emerge.

By calling her “woman” and not mother (which would have been the logical thing), Jesus distances Himself from family ties in order to affirm His identity and His mission. His answer, in the form of a question, echoes the one given to His father and mother in the temple of Jerusalem: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49), and recalls the words of Jesus about His mother and His brethren (cf. Mk 3:31-35; Mt 12:46-50; Lk 8:19-21). Flesh and blood must give way to the demands of the Father and of the mission He received.

The term “woman”, despite the first impression, does not have a negative connotation: it will be taken up again and explained in the parallel text of the Cross (Jn 19:26), where the new identity and the special role of the mother of Jesus in the mystery of salvation will be revealed. Already at Cana, however, the term seems to have a positive and new meaning, as can be inferred from the words that the mother addresses immediately to the servants (cf. v. 5).

In any case, Jesus claims His own space also in relation to His mother. For the moment, however, His hour has not yet come (cf. v. 4). The hour of Jesus is the time of His passion-death and glorification, in which the Father and the Son will be glorified (cf. Jn 13:31; 17:1). The whole existence of Jesus is directed toward that hour: it is a tension-inclusion that runs through and embraces the entire Fourth Gospel, from the initial expression “my hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:4) to that of its fulfillment, “Father, the hour has come” (Jn 17:1).

An hour determined by the Father and that no one could anticipate. After the mysterious and at the same time revealing answer of Jesus, the intervention of Mary, previously related to a contingent situation, is transformed and becomes an invitation to the servants to do the will of the Son: “Do whatever he tells you” (v. 5). Note that this formula echoes the ancient profession of fidelity to the covenant on Mount Sinai (cf. Ex 24:7). With these words, linked to a fundamental experience of the past, a new event about to take place is introduced, a “sign” that will reveal the glory of the Son of God and will inaugurate the faith of the disciples.

Symbol, memory, and prophecy: the sign of Cana as the opening of the definitive “hour” of Jn 19

It becomes ever more evident that the episode of Cana is not merely a simple wedding: everything in it is symbolic-sacramental and evokes other gestures, such as the one in which Jesus multiplies the loaves and reveals that the true bread is His body and the true drink is His blood (cf. Jn 6:55).

Everything at Cana becomes symbol, memory, and prophecy: the wedding is the sign of the final communion of God with His people, a marriage that is accomplished in Christ, the bridegroom of the Church. It is no accident that in the following chapter, Jn 3:29, John the Baptist refers to himself as “the friend of the bridegroom”, in reference to Jesus, the bridegroom of the community of the faithful. At a wedding there is naturally a banquet, and at table wine cannot be lacking. Wine is particularly emphasized in our passage (it appears five times out of six in the Fourth Gospel) and its meaning emerges especially in contrast with the water used for the purification of the Jews. The water, a ritual element bound to the ancient law, is transformed into new wine, a symbol of the messianic times finally present, with the joy that characterizes them.

The wine indicates not only the messianic times with the new Law that characterizes them, but also Christ. The master of the banquet, in fact, does not know “where it comes from”: according to the language typical of the Gospel of John, as for Jesus, the world does not know “where he comes from”, unlike the servants who, by doing what he said, became his friends, to whom Jesus revealed everything (cf. Jn 15:14f). He does not understand why the bridegroom (who in reality is Jesus) had kept the good wine until now. The answer is that the messianic times are fulfilled and the bridegroom has poured out abundantly the goods of salvation. The evangelist can therefore conclude, revealing the exceptional density of the episode narrated:

“This Jesus did as the beginning of the signs
he manifested his glory
and his disciples believed in him” (Jn 2:11).

In this dense text, Mary initially appears as “the mother of Jesus”, a title repeated three times (vv. 1, 3, 5). The evangelist, however, does not intend to emphasize this traditionally acknowledged fact: he wants to highlight the presence of the “woman” beside Jesus, at the service of the mission of the Son and of the faith of the disciples. She, as mother, becomes a disciple of Christ, passing from a contingent request, “they have no wine”, to a total adherence of faith. Indeed, to an act of mediation, similar to that of Moses, for the benefit of the servants of the Lord and of fidelity to the covenant.

As “woman”, she has a mission, in continuity with the ancient Daughter of Zion, at the service of the whole people of God, but this will become clearer in the scene of Calvary. The mother of Jesus, finally, by her faith, is the first of the disciples of the Lord, of those who, receiving the word of Jesus, constitute the community of the new covenant. She, together with the disciples who became faithful, is the true bride of Him who, beyond the symbols, is the bridegroom of the Church and of humanity: Jesus, the Word of God made flesh.

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On the role of Mary at the wedding at Cana and her maternal intercession, see the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater of Pope John Paul II.