On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of
Jesus was there. Jesus and His disciples were also invited to the wedding. When
the wine ran short, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said
to her, “Woman, why are you bringing Me into it? It is not My time yet.” His
mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you to do.”
Now, sitting nearby were six stone water jars, which were used for Jewish rites
of purification, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the
servants, “Fill up the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim. Then
He said to them, “Draw out some water now, and take it to the host of the
banquet.” They did so, and when the host of the feast tasted the water now
converted into wine, not knowing from where it came (although the servants who
had drawn the water knew), the host of the feast called the bridegroom and said
to him, “Everyone puts out the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk
freely, the poorer wine is set out; but you have kept the best wine till now.”
Thus, it was that here in Cana of Galilee, Jesus performed the first of His many
miraculous signs, and revealed His glory; and His disciples put their faith in
Him. After the wedding, He went down to Capernaum with his mother, his siblings
and His disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
(John 2:1-12)
No one knows for certain where the village of Cana was. Scholars believe the most probable site is about eight miles northeast of Nazareth. Evidence of buildings, cisterns and tombs remain.
Until after the tenth century C.E., weddings were not performed in a church, but were family and community events. The primary purposes of marriage were for procreation and as a means of passing down property through inheritance. At the same time, we must recognize that religion was part and parcel of everything that happened in daily life in Israel, so blessing by a priest or rabbi would, of course, have been part of the proceedings.
Weddings were known to last a week or more. The wedding feast began the celebrations. Jewish law provided that the actual ceremony for virgins take place on a Wednesday, late in the evening, after the feast. After the ceremony the bride and groom were placed upon a litter and, like royalty, carried through the streets of the village, and taken by as long a route as possible, so that as many people as possible could wish the newlyweds well. They would arrive at the bridegroom’s home where they held open house for a week. They wore crowns and were treated as king and queen for the entire time.
For a wedding feast, wine was essential. To fail to provide adequate refreshments for wedding guests would cause social disgrace. In a small village such as Cana, where everyone knew everyone else, the newly married couple would never have been able to live down this social error. To prevent this disgrace, Jesus’ mother, Mary, came to the rescue. It is possible that Mary had had something to do with the arrangements, and that the bride and groom might have been relatives, as she apparently had authority to tell the servants to obey Jesus. Further, it is evident that by now Mary was comfortably acquainted with Jesus’ Person and power. Earlier we read how, when unusual occurrences happened–when people alluded to Jesus’ position as Someone who would make a great difference in the world–Mary would “ponder all these things in her heart,” giving the impression that she was someone meek and reserved. This time Mary is seen taking charge and delegating to Jesus the responsibility to “fix things.”
The response Jesus gave to His mother might sound quite familiar, as well as rude, to modern sensibilities. Mary tells Jesus that the wine has run out, to which Jesus responds, Aw, Ma, leave me alone. That’s not my problem. The translation of the wording in the KJV sounds even more discourteous: “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” But it just isn’t so. Jesus would never have been rude or discourteous to His mother! In the original language, the word for Woman was gunai, and was a word of respect. Jesus used the same word when he spoke to His mother from the cross (John 19:26), and when He spoke to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection (John 20:15). Obviously, Mary wasn’t put off by Jesus’ reply, but merely turned to the servants and told them to obey Jesus’ instructions. Jesus may have felt that it wasn’t His time yet, but Mary knew differently.
Sitting in a corner were six very large water jars. Purification was a very important part of Jewish life. The streets in Israel were not paved. They were either dusty in dry weather, or muddy in wet. Everyone wore sandals, and upon entering a household, they had their feet washed, so as not to track the dirt all over the place. Further, every meal involved ritual hand washing. Hands were washed before each meal and after every course. Additionally, it was customary to dilute the wine with water. While wine was the beverage of choice in Israel, the intention for drinking it was not to get drunk, so the wine was diluted.
John makes it very clear that Jesus told the servants to put only water into the jars. When the jars were full, Jesus ordered the servants to remove a cup of the water from a jug and take it to the person in charge of the banquet. This person was not the groom, but would have been someone like the headwaiter or party manager. When the one in charge of the banquet tasted the wine, he was very much impressed. He called to the bridegroom and said, “Everyone puts out the good wine first, and when the guests have dulled their taste buds on the good stuff, then they put out the poorer wine, but you have kept the best till now.”
What can we learn about this story of Jesus at the Wedding Feast at Cana? First, that Jesus liked having a good time. So many people have the mistaken idea that being Christian is dull, prudish and boring. The reality is that when Jesus comes into it, life becomes joyful, rich, exciting, and purposeful.
If you do the math, you’d discover that the six twenty-to-thirty-gallon jars of water came to be some 120 to 180 gallons of wine! That would have made quite a party, even if the whole village had attended. Jesus certainly wasn’t stingy with His miracle.
Jesus didn’t just perform miracles for the multitudes. They weren’t acts performed simply to push Jesus’ agenda, but to help the people. This was a wedding feast in a private home located in a very small village. It is clear that Jesus’ only concern was to help the young couple save face with their community, demonstrating Jesus’ compassion, in a situation we might consider seemingly unimportant, such as running out of wine at a wedding. In reality, since hospitality was a hallmark of the Jewish people, and since lack of hospitality was considered a cardinal sin, the lack of wine would have been a serious transgression in the minds of the others in the community. Jesus rescued the day! It should be a reminder to us that Jesus can be found in the details. No request is too small; no concern is too minor for Jesus. We can have faith and trust that in all things, Jesus cares.
John tells us that this, Jesus’ first miracle, helped put a bond of faith and trust between Him and the disciples. After the feast, Jesus traveled with His family and disciples to Capernaum, where they stayed for a period of time. This is the first time Jesus’ siblings are mentioned, and it is entirely possible that they too had been invited to the feast. According to Mark 6:3, Jesus had four brothers and some sisters. One family member, conspicuous by his absence, is Joseph. Scholars assume that by now he had passed away. Further, it may be that the reason Jesus didn’t begin his ministry until he was around thirty years of age, was that he was at home working to support the family till the other children had grown up.
There are some Christian denominations, most notably Roman Catholic, which insist that Jesus never had any siblings. They support the idea of Mary’s perpetual virginity, stating that Mary could not have had other children. They offer other options to explain them away, including the idea that they might have been Joseph’s children from a previous marriage, which is a possibility, since scholars generally believe that Joseph was an older man when he wed Mary. The other main theory that is expounded is that they were really Jesus’ cousins. However, the Greeks had a word for cousin which was anepsios, but that was not the word that John used. It should be noted also that the theory that Mary remained a lifelong virgin contradicts Matthew 1:25, which says that Joseph had no relations with Mary UNTIL she gave birth to Jesus.
This ends our study for today.
Points to Ponder