Danger of self-deceit. II. 4. Ps. 6, 5. 181 others, we learn that we have been deceived when the know- JOHN ledge of it will profit us nothing. In the grave, saith David, who shall give Thee thanks? Let us then repent here, that we may obtain the everlasting goods, which may God grant we all do, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory, for ever and ever. Amen. HOMILY XXII. 5, 17. JOHN ii. 4. Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. IN preaching the word there is some toil, and this Paul 1 Tim. declares when he says, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. Yet it is in your power to make this labour light or heavy; for if you reject our words, or if without actually rejecting them you do not shew them forth in your works, our toil will be heavy, because we labour uselessly and in vain: while if ye heed them and give proof of it by your works, we shall not even feel the toil, because the fruit produced by our labour will not suffer the greatness of that labour to appear. So that if you would rouse our zeal, and not quench or weaken it, shew us, 1 beseech 1 koμν- you, your fruit, that we may behold the fields waving with corn, and being supported by hopes of an abundant crop, 3 al.'our' and reckoning up your riches, may not be slothful in numb,' carrying on this good traffic. τα 3 lit. al.be weary' 1 It is no slight question which is proposed to us also to-day. For first, when the mother of Jesus says, They have no wine, Christ replies, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. And then, having thus spoken, He did as His mother had said; an action which needs enquiry no less than the words. Let us then, after calling upon Him Who wrought the miracle, proceed to the explanation. The words are not used in this place only, but in others c. 8, 10. also; for the same Evangelist says, They could not lay All things ordered by Christ. a II. 4. 1 οὐδεὶς αὐτόν. G. T. 1. 183 hands on Him', because His hour was not yet come; and JOHN again, No man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come; and again, The hour is come, glorify Thy Son. enlaσev What then do the words mean? I have brought together more instances, that I may give one explanation of all. And c. 7, 30. c. 17, 1 what is that explanation? Christ did not say, Mine hour is not yet come, as being subject to the necessity of seasons, or the observance of an hour; how can He be so, Who is Maker of seasons, and Creator of the times and the ages? To what else then did He allude? He desires to shew this; that He works all things at their convenient season, not doing all at once; because a kind of confusion and disorder would have ensued, if, instead of working all at their proper seasons, He had mixed all together, His Birth, His Resurrection, and His coming to Judgment. Observe this; creation was to be, yet not all at once; man and woman were to be created, yet not even these together; mankind were to be condemned to death, and there was to be a resurrection, yet the interval between the two was to be great; the law was to be given, but not grace with it, each was to be dispensed at its proper time. Now Christ was not subject to the necessity of seasons, but rather settled their order, since He is their Creator; and therefore He saith in this place, Mine hour is not yet come. And His meaning is, that as yet He was not manifest to the many, nor, had He even His whole company of disciples; Andrew followed Him, and next to him Philip, 2 al. bebut no one else. And moreover, none of these, not even His mother nor His brethren, knew Him as they ought; for after His many miracles, the Evangelist says of His brethren, For c. 7, 5. neither did His brethren believe in Him. And those at the wedding did not know Him either, for in their need they would certainly have come to and entreated Him. Therefore He saith, Mine hour is not yet come; that is, "I am not yet known to the company, nor are they even aware that the wine has failed; let them first be sensible of this. I ought not to have been told it from thee; thou art My mother, and a Ben. Morel. and Ms. in Bodl. read: ἀλλὰ διὰ τῶν οὕτως εἰρημένων τοῦτο δηλῶσαι κ. τ. λ. b Morel. and Ms. in Bodl. read: ἀλλὰ Ἰωάννης ἐνταῦθα τὸ Οὔπω ἤκει ἡ side XXII. 184 Compliance of Christ with the request of the Virgin. HOMI.. renderest the miracle suspicious. They who wanted the wine should have come and besought Me, not that I need this, but that they might with an entire assent accept the miracle. For one who knows that he is in need, is very grateful when he obtains assistance; but one who has not a sense of his need, will never have a plain and clear sense of the benefit." Mat.15, 26. Why then after He had said, Mine hour is not yet come, and given her a denial, did He what His mother desired ? Chiefly it was, that they who opposed Him, and thought that He was subject to the hour, might have sufficient proof that He was subject to no hour; for had He been so, how could He, before the proper hour was come, have done what He did? And in the next place, He did it to honour His mother, that He might not seem entirely to contradict and shame her that bare Him in the presence of so many; and also, that He might not be thought to want power, for she brought the servants to Him. 1 Besides, even while saying to the Canaanitish woman, It 1 Baλeîy is not meet to take the children's bread, and to give 1 it unto G. T. dogs, He still gave the bread, as considering her perseverance; and though after His first reply, He said, I am not sent save unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, yet even after saying this, He healed the woman's daughter. Hence we learn, that although we be unworthy, we often by perseverance make ourselves worthy to receive. And for this reason His mother remained by, and openly brought to Him the servants, that the request might be made by a greater number; and therefore she added, 2 al. wisely 2 Ver. 5. Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it. For she knew that His refusal proceeded not from want of power, but from humility, and that He might not seem with3 ἁπλῶς out cause ३ to hurry to the miracle; and therefore she “ἐπιρρίπτ brought the servants", Ver. 6,7. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill τειν. This passage is wanting in the d Morel. and Ms. in Bodl. read: δι ̓ ὁ καὶ τὴν ὑπακοὴν ἀναβάλλεται. Water changed to wine without a fresh Creation. 185 the waterpots with water; and they filled them up to the JOHN brim. II. 6, 7. It is not without a reason that the Evangelist says, After the manner of the purifying of the Jews, but in order that none of the unbelievers might suspect that lees having been left in the vessels, and water having been poured upon and mixed with them, a very weak wine had been made. Therefore he says, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, to shew that those vessels were never receptacles for wine. For because Palestine is a country with but little water, and brooks and fountains were not every where to be found, they always used to fill waterpots with water, so that they might not have to hasten to the rivers if at any time they were defiled, but might have the means of purification at hand. "And why was it, that He did not the miracle before they filled them, which would have been more marvellous by far? for it is one thing to change given matter to a different quality, and another to create matter out of nothing." The latter would indeed have been more wonderful, but would not have seemed so credible to the many. And therefore He often purposely lessens1 the greatness of His miracles,1 lit. that it may be the more readily received. clips round' "But why," says one," did not He Himself produce the water which He afterwards shewed to be wine, instead of bidding the servants bring it?" For the very same reason; and also, that He might have those who drew it out to witness that what had been effected was no delusion: since if any had been inclined to be shameless, those who ministered might have said to them, "We drew the water, we filled the vessels." And besides what we have mentioned, He thus overthrows those doctrines which spring up against the Church. For since there are some who say that the Creator of the world is another, and that the things which are seen are not His works, but those of a certain other opposing god, to curb these men's madness He doth most of His miracles on matter found at hand. Because, had the creator 2 Úπоκειμένων of these been opposed to Him, He would not have used what KÉPWV was another's to set forth His own power. But now to shew that it is He Who transmutes water in the vine plants, and Who converts the rain by its passage through the root 2 |