THE CANA WEDDING


 THE WEDDING AT CANA

1On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.

3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.”

And they filled them up to the brim.

8And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.”

So, they took it.

9When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.

And his disciples believed in him.

JOHN 2:1-11

COMMENTARY

On a certain day, Jesus’ family was invited to a wedding in a nearby town from Nazareth, called Cana.

Many have speculated over the reason Mary, the mother of our Lord, was there and Jesus was invited, making it sound as if it was Mary’s duty to be there, and Jesus was invited as a side event. But Scripture does not say the reason why St Mary was invited with all her family to this wedding. The most probable reason is that the marrying family, were close friends of Joseph and Mary, and that is why she was there helping the ceremony, and not just as a common invite. That would explain her concern about the wine and her authority over the kitchen personnel.

It also seems to be that Joseph may have passed away already.

Lord Jesus was an adult now, about to start his own ministry, of about 30 years of age (Luke 3:23). St Joseph’s ministry had been completed, about protecting, providing and educating the Son of God into a full Jewish man of honor. That would also explain why Mary approached Jesus instead of her husband, but due to the supernatural powers of Lord Jesus, this cannot be conclusive. It may have been the natural response given the emergency.

Mary knew Jesus’ power always. That is clear in Scripture; and that is why she told Jesus that there was no more wine to continue with the celebration.

Considering that the wedding had already started and was well advanced, it may have been late in the evening, and hard if not impossible to buy more wine at the time. That would be the reason why nobody went to buy more wine, but Mary instead, out of her own initiative, asked her son for a miracle.

That Mary expected a miracle from Jesus, is seen in the exclamation of our Lord “My hour has not yet come” (v.4). In other words, Jesus objected to the request, by declaring that a public miracle, like that, would initiate his public ministry, instead of a later day considered by our Lord first.

St Mary, knowing her son better than any other, and listening to his objection, but trusting anyway that Jesus would do the right thing and would help in the occasion, told the staff: “Do whatever He ask you” (v.5) and left the problem to his discretion.

She thought in requesting the miracle, quickly as a woman, but she did not intend to contravene God’s plans.

Out of mercy, Lord Jesus converted nearly 180 gallons of water into the finest wine ever, so good, that the Kitchen Master commented that it was an error to have kept this best wine to the final part of the celebration.

There are two main important lessons here about the character of God.

1 – The wedding was advanced, and the invites were somehow drank, so much, that they had spent all the wine programed for the day.

The mention of the Butler that the best wine should be served first, before the dinners start drinking, is an allusion to the ability to taste the difference, indicating indirectly that most people were intoxicated with alcohol, and unable to value the better quality of the later wine.

However, Jesus gave them more wine to drink.

He knew this, and the hypothesis that this wine, was grape juice and not fermented wine, is left aside by the allusion that they were unable to tell the difference. No Juice alters the senses.

Nevertheless, Jesus the Son of God provided more alcoholic drink and of high quality for the people. Because the decision to drink or not to drink was personal.

Jesus provided the wine, because wine is not evil, neither is to drink it. What is evil, is to drink it in excess, so that a person should intoxicate with it.

But Lord JESUS respected the human freedom in choosing to get drunk or not. Humans are totally responsible of their own decisions and the consequences of them. And Jesus acted accordingly this day.

2 – It was not his time yet to start making miracles. But to the need of the time, He did it anyway.

Mary acted with the authority of a mother, indicating that she was a good mother in the full sense of the word. However, by not insisting once Jesus said that his time had not come yet to start performing public miracles, she submitted not to her human son, but to God in Him.

Nevertheless, Jesus saved the problem, and acted outside the time appointed to the made Himself public. He did this, to show us that GOD is always merciful, and He will even stop the Sun if this is needed for our protection (Joshua 10:13).

And so, this day marked the first day of the public life of Jesus.

Omar Flores

 

 

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