(4) This first miracle is emblematic of the whole redemptive work of Christ. Is it possible that while He first put forth His power to restore the joy of these wedding guests. He should not have seen in the wine a symbol of the blood He was to shed for the refreshment and revival of men ? The Baptist, whose mind was nourished with Old Testament ideas, called Christ the Bridegroom, and His people the Bride. Must not Jesus also have thought of those who believed in Him as His bride, and must not the very sight of a marriage have set His thoughts working regarding His whole relation to men ? It is to the marriage supper of the Lamh, of Him who was slain, and has redeemed us by His blood, that we are invited. It is the " Lamb's wife " that St. John saw adorned as a bride for her Husband. And whoso- ever would sit down at that feast which consummates the experience of this life, terminating all its vacillation of trust and love, and which opens eternal and unlimited joy to the people of Christ, must wash and make white his garments in this blood. He must not shrink from the closest fellowship with the purifying love of Christ.
142 THE FIRST SIGN
^ Dr. Johnson, on a famous occasion, pronounced that " this merriment of parsons is mighty offensive," which is the judgment of Josephus repeated in another age ; and Dr. Davidson's imagina- tion of the child Jesus as " grave, retired and sad " is in the same key. In a half-comic way, that has given the law for men's behaviour in church, where they sit with such preternatural solemnity of countenance, as if religion were, of all interests, the most depressing. But think of Francis, that troubadour of Christ, with his wealth of sunny inspirations, with song and laughter and llowers woven in with that perpetual ministry to the Lord and His poor ; was that unevangelical ? Or think of Pascal, when his eyes were opened, elated to such an extent that his sister had to ask what his spiritual director would think of such a gleeful penitent ? Or, above all, think of Jesus and the disciples, these children of the bride-chamber, who lived one day at a time, and found each as it came the very flower and glory of days. I suspect that true souls are always hilarious, and that one step towards the restoration of the evangel in the Church would be the breaking of this tradition and the letting in of the sun. Dr. Davidson says of Mohammed that he had that indispensable requisite of a great man, he could laugh with all his might. And in a follower of Jesus something like that is still desirable.^
III.
The Resulting Faith.
"And his disciples believed on him."
There is nothing more remarkable in the Gospel of St. John than the clearness with which it brings before us the moral side of miracles. They are emphatically "signs" or "works" — facts which lead us to look deeper into the mysteries of life as samples of the silent, unnoticed action of God. And they are represented not only as signs and works, but also as tests of faith. Christ manifested His glory, " and his disciples believed on him."
1. " His disciples believed on him." It is not said that those who were before unbelieving were overpowered by what they saw and forced into faith ; it is said only that those who had already followed Christ cast themselves, so to speak, upon Him with an absolute trust when they recognized the workings of His Divine power. The outward event might be disregarded or ^ "W. M. Llacgi egor, Jesus Christ the Son of God, 115.
ST. JOHN II. II 143
explained away or cavilled at ; the inner meaning was discernible only to the spiritual eye. The wedding guests for the most part, so far as we know, went away unconscious of the meaning of what they had witnessed, but the disciples believed.
2. " His disciples believed." Those who had welcomed Christ and followed Him now believed on Him. Their " belief " was a response of the soul to Him as one having the glory of God. It was not necessarily a full recognition of Jesus for what He was, but it was the personal trust that makes ever-increasing know- ledge possible. And as the disciples' faith grew, so would their spiritual insight and understanding deepen more and more.
(1) This was not the beginning of their faith. Jesus had already cast the unearthly spell of His purity and beauty upon them, and drawn them to His side as the magnet draws the iron. They had forsaken all and followed Him.
(2) Nor was it the miracle that first produced their faith. They had already believed, not as the result of any display of supernatural power, but before any miracle had been done. Had it not been for this preparedness as the result of previous belief, the miracle of Cana, wrought as it was, so quietly and naturally, would not have produced such a profound impression upon the disciples. But brought thus into a state of quickened sympathy with Him, they understood the significance of the miracle, and their faith was rewarded and confirmed by it. They knew more perfectly who He was, and confided in Him more implicitly. The miracle was wrought in themselves ; the water of their previous weak faith was changed into the wine of a nobler, a more devoted faith, which, working by love, purified their hearts, and enabled them to overcome every obstacle and temptation as they followed Jesus in the way.