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JOHN -
43The next day he* decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”b 46But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite.* There is no duplicity in him.” 48* c Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the g tree.” 49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God;* you are the King of Israel.”d 50Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the g tree?* You will see greater things than this.” 51And he said to him, “Amen, amen,* I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”e
2The Wedding at Cana.
1* On the third day there was a wedding* in Cana* in Galilee, and
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the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also
invited to the wedding. 3When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4* [And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern a ect me? My hour has not yet come.”b 5His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”c 6* Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,d each holding twenty to thirty gallons. 7Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they lled them to the brim. 8Then he told them, “Draw
1:49
Philip already knows who Jesus is: the promised Messiah, the one foretold by Moses and the prophets. But only gradually will the disciples realize what that really means.
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Jesus alludes to the Old Testament story of Jacob’s dream: “He had a dream:
a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God’s angels were going up and down on it.. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he
said, ‘Truly, the LORD is in this place and I did not know it!’ He was afraid and said: ‘How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!’” (Genesis 28:12, 16-17). Jesus describes himself as the ladder that Jacob dreamed about: the bridge between earth and heaven.
CHAPTER 1
b. [1:45] 21:2.
c. [1:48] Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10.
d. [1:49] 12:13; Ex 4:22; Dt 14:1; 2 Sm 7:14; Jb
1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps 2:7; 29:1; 89:27; Wis 2:18; Sir 4:10; Dn 3:92; Hos 11:1; Mt 14:33; 16:16; Mk 13:32.
e. [1:51] Gn 28:10–17; Dn 7:13.
CHAPTER 2
a. [2:1] 4:46; Jgs 14:12; Tb 11:8.
b. [2:4] 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1; Jgs 11:12;
1 Kgs 17:18; 2 Kgs 3:13; 2 Chr 35:21; Hos 14:9; Mk 1:24; 5:7; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1.
c. [2:5] Gn 41:55.
d. [2:6] 3:25; Lv 11:33; Am 9:13–14; Mt 15:2;
23:25–26; Mk 7:2–4; Lk 11:38.
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* [1:43] He: grammatically, could be Peter, but logically is probably Jesus.
* [1:47] A true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him: Jacob was the rst to bear the
name “Israel” (Gn 32:29), but Jacob was a man of duplicity (Gn 27:35–36).
* [1:48] Under the g tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf. Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10).
* [1:49] Son of God: this title is used in the Old Testament, among other ways, as a title
of adoption for the Davidic king (2 Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7; 89:27), and thus here, with King of Israel, in a messianic sense. For the evangelist, Son of God also points to Jesus’ divinity (cf. Jn 20:28).
* [1:50] Possibly a statement: “You [singular] believe because I saw you under the g tree.” * [1:51] The double “Amen” is characteristic of John. You is plural in Greek. The allusion is
to Jacob’s ladder (Gn 28:12).
* [2:1–6:71] Signs revealing Jesus as the Messiah to all Israel. “Sign” (sēmeion) is John’s
symbolic term for Jesus’ wondrous deeds (see Introduction). The Old Testament background lies in the Exodus story (cf. Dt 11:3; 29:2). John is interested primarily in what the sēmeia signify: God’s intervention in human history in a new way through Jesus.
* [2:1–11] The rst sign. This story of replacement of Jewish ceremonial washings (Jn 2:6) presents the initial revelation about Jesus at the outset of his ministry. He manifests his glory; the disciples believe. There is no synoptic parallel.
* [2:1] Cana: unknown from the Old Testament. The mother of Jesus: she is never named in John.
* [2:4] This verse may seek to show that Jesus did not work miracles to help his family and friends, as in the apocryphal gospels. Woman: a normal, polite form of address, but unattested in reference to one’s mother. Cf. also Jn 19:26. How does your concern a ect me?: literally, “What is this to me and to you?”—a Hebrew expression of either hostility (Jgs 11:12; 2 Chr 35:21; 1 Kgs 17:18) or denial of common interest (Hos 14:9; 2 Kgs 3:13). Cf. Mk 1:24; 5:7 used by demons to Jesus. My hour has not yet come: the translation as a question (“Has not my hour now come?”), while preferable grammatically and supported by Greek Fathers, seems unlikely from a comparison with Jn 7:6, 30. The “hour” is that of Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection, and ascension (Jn 13:1).
* [2:6] Twenty to thirty gallons: literally, “two or three measures”; the Attic liquid measure contained 39.39 liters. The vast quantity recalls prophecies of abundance in the last days; cf. Am 9:13–14; Hos 14:7; Jer 31:12.
* [2:8] Headwaiter: used of the o cial who managed a banquet, but there is no evidence of such a functionary in Palestine. Perhaps here a friend of the family acted as master of ceremonies; cf. Sir 32:1.