The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 224

~tt'mation. At. firat the ordor must havo M much 11s this. They lmew the pll\in fact aeem('(I like folly, I\S when Mosee oa.lled on that it was not I\ wine-vat or wine-ce.ek, but I~rn.el to "go fnrw1trd" into the Reel Sea, a water-jar, from which they hnd clrnwn in nr RA when ,Tesus ~Rid to the pn,r1tlytio, order to fi II the chalices in their hl\nde. •· Tako up thy bo,1, and walk." " They 'fhey became, therefore, gul\mutors of the bC'RT it,.'' mysterious sign. How much more tho.11 Yer. 9.-When the govemor of the feaet "whence" it WR.II had dawned on their miml tasted the water whioh had beoome wine. we e&nnot say. The govemor of the feast Luther tre.nsl1tted, "Den Wein dor Wasser oalleth the bridegroom. We may judge froru gcwesen war"-" The wine which had been t.his that this responsible person was not in th& we.to:.." No other exple.ne.tion is possible room where the six water-ju.re wero plnced, than one thRt asserts e.n 11,Stounding contra- and that he either approuched the bride- Tention of the ordinary evolutions and groom in his see.t of honour, or called to him sequences of n1tture. If wine has taken the from his own, and expressed, by o. convivio.l place of water, there bas been added to the boast and equivooal complimont, his sense of water that which was not there before. The the excellence of the wine which harl thus, ,·ine, with all its wondrous processes-tho at the end of the fee.et, been lavished on Yineyo.rd, the wine-press, and other ap- the guests, who had been hitherto kept pliances-have all been dispensed with, and strangely ignore.nt of the resources of the the se.me power which S11,1d, "Let there be host. It is unnecessary to put into the light," ca.lled these e.dditional elements to- words any meaning deeper tho.n the epi- gether, origine.ted them by bis will. The gmmmatic humour in which he revealed his new propP.rties presente>d themselves to the sense of the reality of the objective fa.et percipient senses. In this respect the trans- which had been brought to his knowledge. formation is profoundly different from the Ver. 10.-And saith, Every man at the supposed change which occurs in the Holy first setteth on the good wine, and when men Eucharist. There the acridentll and ele- have drnnk deeply, then that whioh is worse ments all remain ; the su.bstantia underlying (Ii terall y, smaller) : thou hast kept (guarded) them is supposed to be replaced by another the good wine until now, The classical 8'UJstantia; but neither the one nor the other passages supposed to illustrate this jovial substance has ever been present to the saying throw little light upon it. The senses. Here a new substance, with pre- meaning is obvious enough, and there is no viously undiscovered attributes, presents need to search in ancient wit for the original itself. The uncompromising opponents of of a speech which is not too recondite to have tlie supernatural will accept almost any been originated on this occa.sion. The best interpretation but that which lies on the wine is appropriately given when the senses surfaoe. 'l'he mtionalistic, mythical, poetic are keenest, but when the climax of the mystic explanations all alike a.re encum- festival has come, when they h11ve drnnk bered with special difficulties. The evan- too deeply, or a.re intoxicated, then the gelist who held Christ to be the Logos weaker, poorer, and less fragrant wine is incarnate saw nothiug inconceivable in the acceptable. There need be no reference event. It was one of many phenomena whatever to the present company. Tholuck which accompanied his life as the "Bon of and the Revised Version modify the force man," which helped to create the under- of µ.r8v<T6ii,rr,; Meyer, Godet, and others see lying presupposition on which the Gospel no difficulty in assigning to the word its was written. Like the testimony of the last proper meaning (cf. Luke xii. 45; l Thess. of the prophets and the earliest of the dis- v. 7; Eph. v. 18; Rev. xvii. 2). The whole ciples, it is part of the evidence that the saying simply asserts, by an outsider, the Logos dwelt among us. When the governor concreto reality of a wonderful change that tasted wine drawn from these water-pots, had occurred. ,He knew nothing of o. miracle. and knew not whenoe it wu. He he.d He merely guaranteed unwittingly the phe- known all the resources of the feast, but nomena that came within the range of his this puzzled him by its novelty. "Whence senses. This becomes more impressive be- bas it come? "Where has it been stored? ca.use he knew nothing of the ea.use, and was Whose is it?" .A.n interesting parenthesis profoundly ignorant of the claims of his is here introduced. to contrast the ignorance strange and wonderful Guest. No further of the ruler of the feast with the over- remark is offered. We a.re not told how the whelmiog mystery of knowledge given to fact was referred to the will or authority of the servants (the disciples of Jesus himself), Jesus, to the kindness or generosity of the [llut the aervants (6,c£xo1101) who drew the mother ; or whether the company generally wat.er knew]; knew, i.e., whence it was learn.ad the mysterious powers of their fellow- and, it seems to me, what it wu. Meyer Guest. The bridegroom thus honoured and others say they did not know that they me.de no reply that is recorded ; and, by hr,d broug-ht wiQe. lt is impo~sible to assert emphatic silence, the impre&Biou is conve1ed Ott, U. 1-26.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. ,JOHN. 86