The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 222

11n wine," ii hrr0mcs llingnlA.tly iuterosting water would be supplied to o.11 those whCI t.0 observe the method of onr Lord. The ooine to him; wheu the blood ho wouhl shed reque,t for a •npply of additionRl eolRoo and would be II Divino stream, olen.r o.s oryslnl, refreshment tMII eomplied with. The sug- for the rcfl"C'shment of nil nn.tions; wlwn o.t ,::-cstiou lo ,bow himself to the world was as another m11rringc-supper of a so.vcd hmno.nity resolutely withheld. There was no pomp, the precious blood should be an ample supply no clnim, no eelf-88Bertion ; there was quiet, of costly wiue for all the world, Moreover, boundless, affluent love. The glory of Divine the link at the present moment between love WR.I! manifeet.ed, the need WM satisfied; our Lorn o.nd his mother must begin to but the impression was not intended to go shade into something more spiritual. It beyond the be&rte of those being-s who would was not possible tho.t he should be holclen partially uuder!'tand it, at the right time. by it. A sword "l\'Otlld pierce through her '\'er. 4.-Witb this thought, the reply of mntern11I hcnrt when she became grn<lually Jesus to the premature suggestion of the alive to the fact that they th11t clo the will mother boeomee perfectly e-0mprehensible. of bis Father, the same were his "brothers, What is there to me and thee, 0 woman , sisters, and mother." Kille hour baa uot yet oome. The appella- Ver. 5.-B:is mother se.ith unto the ser- tion "wome.n " WR.I! used by him upon the vants (~1Cl.1<0110,, not VlrT/l'ffa<, not 5ovAo,). oross, when he was concerned. most humo.nly The ho.bits of 01·ientA.l life at the present and tenderly with her great grief and desola- day make it extremely probo.ble that the tion, and therefore had no breath of unfilial disciples of Jesns were themselves ta.king harshness in it (ef. eh. xix. 26; Dio C1LSsius, the place of those who gro.cioUBly waited • Risi.,' Ii. 12, where Augustus addressee npon the guests. If so, the language of Cleopatra., eapu,, ~ ~,,a.,. Maldone.tns ad- Mary to them, o.nd the speefal effect of·the mits that Catholics "in ,·arias ta.men de whole scene upon their minds, become eensu hujUB loci sententias distracti sunt "). marked and suggestive. Be that o.e it may, But the proverbial TI </Ull t<al uo{; whereso-- the mother of Jestis clearly understood by ever the worde occur, imply, if not personal the gentle rebuke she received, tho.t Christ, estrangement, yet a.s to the matter in ho.nd her Son, ho.d read her heart, and was going 110me divergence of feeling (see Matt. viii. in some way, n:ot to gratify her darling wish, 29 ; Mark i 24 ; Lnke viii. 28 ; see o.lso but at leo.st to take her hint for the consola- 2 Sam. xvL 10; l Kings xvii. 18 ; 2 Cbron. tion of her young friends, and to attend to xxxv. 21). Almost all commentators seem her snggestion. Whatsoever he ee.ith unto to suggest that onr Lord refused to be guided you, do it. Though in some sense slighted by a mother's direction; that he wished her or reproved, she exhibits the most entire to understand that he was breaking off from confidence in her Son and .Lord. She her control e.nd from that silent snbmissi.on enconrages the servants to do whatever 'he which he had hitherto willingly yielded might command. More may have passed (so Meyer, Hengstenberg, Go<let, Westcott, between them than is reported. The evan- Tholuck, Ebre.rd, and Lange). Schall" has gelist often suggests omitted details (as in quoted from the Fe.then before the Nest-Orie.n eh. xi. 28; iii. 1, 2; o.nd elsewhern). The controversy clear proof that they admitted faith of Mary was not depressed by the censure, and therefore blame, in the blessed discovery that there ·were· depths of cha- Virgin Mary. Still.it seems to me that the ra.cter in her Son which she could not canse of the censure, coupled with an :qnme- fathom. Obedience to Christ will A.lwe,ys die.t.e response to her special reqnest about be our dnty, even thongh we cannot pene- the wine, has not been snfficiently appre- trate the reasons of his command. An· ci.e.ted. He so.id, "Mine hour is not yet interesting illnstro.tion of Mary's words 100.y come." It wonld have come if the provision be seen iu Gen. xii. 55, where Pharo.oh of wine was the ground of divergence of sen- gives the like injunction to his servants· timent:; if the moment for the snpply of these concerning Joseph. At·chdeacou Watkins· t.empora.l wo.nts were the point of difference records a curious tradition, mentioned by : between them. The " hour " for Christ to Jerome in his Prologue to the Gospel; that t.ell the world all that Mary knew bad not John we,s himself the bridegroom, but that, come. The honr of the full revelation of guided by the miracle, he left o.11 o.nd fol- his Messianic claims had not come, nor did lowed Christ (see Sears' •Heart of Jesus,' , it come in the temple, or by the lake, or in Trench, 'Miracles,' p. 98). the feeat-dey; not till the awful moment of Ver. 6.-Now there were (set,-or) plaoed rejection, when death WILS hovering over there six water-pots of atone; after the Je'We' him, and the biow WILB a.boot to fall, did manner of purifying, containing two or three lie 11t1,y, "The hour has oome" (see eh. flrl!ina apiece. St-0ne was often med for xii. 2cl; xvii. I)-the hour of his greatest these receptacles, as more calculated to pre- glory. "The hour bad not yet come." The serve the purity of the water (Wiinsche hour would oowe when rivers of living refers to• Dez11,' ii. 2; Westcott quotes' Sota,' utl, II, 1-26,] 1'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'fO ST. JOHN. 83