Session 2 - “Come and See”: Becoming Disciples (John 1:19–2:25)

Scripture handouts for last week and this week:

• Thurs 4/16 - Session 2 - “Come and See”: Becoming Disciples (John 1:19–2:25)
• Thurs 4/23 - Session 3 - At the Well: Our Deepest Thirst (John 3:1–4:42)

"Radiating Christ" prayer - this is the prayer mentioned in the DVD, written by St. John Henry Newman and used by Mother Teresa and her sisters (thanks to Sharon for this)

Below are some notes related to last week's discussion adapted from The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Francis Martin and William M. Wright IV

• Outline of John 1:19-2:12 [DVD didn't include Cleansing of the Temple (2:13-25)]
• Within the Book of Signs, the first subsection (1:19–4:54) contains a series of incidents and dialogues that occur as Jesus travels back and forth between Judea and Galilee. 
• Throughout this section, the invitation to faith in Jesus is offered to different people. 
• John 1:19–51 contains a sequence of four days of revelation in which different aspects of Jesus’s identity are revealed. 
• Day 1 - Identity of John the Baptist (1:19-28)
• Day 2 - Witness of John the Baptist (1:29-34)
• Day 3 - First Disciples (1:35-51)
• Day 4 - Wedding at Cana (2:1-12)
• This sequence of days of revelation reaches its high point and completion at the wedding feast at Cana (2:1–12).
• In this sequence of days, John introduces us to Jesus, whose identity and role in the divine plan is given in a series of titles, such as the Lamb of God, Messiah, Son of God, and Son of Man.
• Day 1 - Identity of John the Baptist (1:19-28) 
• The Evangelist introduces us to the testimony or “witness” of John the Baptist. Testimony, or witness, is an important term in John’s Gospel. Instead of using the term “evangelize,” John speaks of “witnessing,” which in a Christian context suggests not only personal, firsthand knowledge but also risking one’s all. [Greek word for "witness" is literally translated "martyr"]
• Scriptures relating to John the Baptist and Elijah: Mal 3:23–24, 1 Kings 1:7-8, Luke 1:17, Matthew 17:11-13
• Scripture John quotes re: "voice crying in the wilderness": Is 40:1-5
• Day 2 - Witness of John the Baptist (1:29-34)
• The title Lamb of God combines several biblical allusions. 
• First, the lamb is central in the Passover liturgy, which celebrates the exodus, God’s mighty act to save the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (Exod 12:1–13). New Testament writers depict Jesus as the new Passover Lamb, whose sacrificial death brings about deliverance from sin and reconciliation with God (John 19:14, 36; 1 Cor 5:7; 1 Pet 1:19; Rev 5:9). 
• Second, the title “Lamb” resonates with the temple’s sacrificial system in which lambs, as well as other animals and items of value, were offered to God in worship as sacrifices. Thus “Lamb” alludes to the animal sacrifices by which the people’s sins were ceremonially purged and reconciliation with God was attained (Lev 1:1–13). Jesus, however, is not just one more liturgical sacrifice: he is the Lamb, who definitively lifts off the whole mass of sin and evil that presses upon the whole human race, and he brings about complete reconciliation with God (see sidebar on p. 163). 
• Third, the book of Isaiah describes a Suffering Servant of the Lord, who goes to his death to obtain forgiveness for others’ sins as “a lamb led to slaughter” (Isa 53:7). Since Jesus talks about his death with reference to the Suffering Servant (John 3:14–15; 8:28; 12:32; see Isa 52:13), we can see in the title “Lamb” an allusion to the Suffering Servant.
• Day 4 - Wedding at Cana (2:1-12)
• Why did Jesus use a wedding for His first sign?
• Beyond being the simple report of a wedding banquet, this notice recalls the biblical prophets’ likening of the covenant relationship between God and Israel to a marriage (Hosea 2:16–25): God is the groom, and his people Israel are the bride.
• Isaiah uses marriage imagery to talk about God’s definitive, future act of salvation to redeem his people from sin and reconcile them to himself. God’s saving action is grounded in his covenant faithfulness and love: “For your husband is your Maker; / the LORD of hosts is his name, / Your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” (Isa 54:5). 
• When God performs this saving action and renews the covenant, the resulting situation is likened to a wedding: “As a young man marries a virgin, / your Builder shall marry you” (Isa 62:5). 
• The Sinai covenant, God’s promise of a definitive act of salvation, and its marriage imagery come together here to form a rich context within which John invites us to contemplate the wedding of Cana.
• Notes regarding Mary and her participation in Jesus's sign
• First, she appears only twice in the Gospel: at Cana and at the foot of the cross (19:25–27).
• "Woman, how does your concern affect me?"
• John never refers to the Blessed Mother by her proper name, Mary, but only as the mother of Jesus. By leaving her unnamed, John allows her to have a larger symbolic role in the Gospel. 
• Scripture often personifies the people of God as a feminine figure, such as the Lord’s covenantal bride.
• In the Old Testament, Israel is personified as “daughter Zion” (Ps 9:15; Isa 62:11; Zeph 3:14) or as the children of Mother Zion (Isa 66:7–9; see also 60:1–7), and in the New Testament, the Church is personified as the bride of Christ (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:29–32; Rev 19:6–8; 21:2, 9). At Cana, the mother of Jesus appears as the embodiment, in a single person, of the faithful, obedient people of God. 
• Jesus’ twofold response to his mother has been much discussed. 
• The first part, Woman, how does your concern affect me?, literally reads, “What to me and to you, woman?” “What is this to me and to you?” is a Semitic expression that creates a distance in interest or understanding between two parties. Here, in addition, it serves to place the relationship between the two parties on a new basis.
• While the title “woman” was a typical way of addressing women in antiquity, it was not a form of address for one’s own mother. In this first part of his response, Jesus in a certain sense distances himself from an exclusively mother-son relationship, as he is recorded to have done in the Synoptics.
• Yet through the culturally surprising address of his mother as “woman,” Jesus also reestablishes the relationship between them on a different basis: discipleship and the accomplishment of God’s saving work.
• "My hour has not yet come"
• In the second part of his response, Jesus tells his mother, My hour has not yet come. This is the first time that Jesus speaks of his hour, a frequently recurring topic in the Gospel. Jesus’ hour is the time of his cross and resurrection, when he fully reveals the Father’s love and accomplishes his saving work. 
• It is also grammatically possible to read Jesus’ words here as a question, “Has not my hour already come?” Understood in this way, Jesus would be announcing that the hour to inaugurate his saving work is now, and its completion will be at the cross when Jesus again addresses his mother as “Woman.”
• “Do whatever he tells you”
• Just as the people Israel expressed perfect faithfulness to God at the covenantal wedding at Mount Sinai—“We will do everything that the LORD has told us” (Exod 24:3; see 19:8; 24:7)—so too the mother of Jesus instructs those present at the wedding to “Do whatever he tells you” (2:5; compare Luke 1:38). The mother of Jesus is the model of those obedient to God: she both displays and encourages perfect covenant faithfulness and love for God.