The Wedding At Cana
Preaching
Preaching the Miracles
Series II, Cycle C
Object:
1. Text
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.1 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.2 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."3 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come."4 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."5 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.6 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.7 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it.8 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom9 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."10 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.11
2. What's Happening?
It was John's task to introduce Jesus. For John, the Word was important. His purpose was to show that Jesus is the Word, the light, the Christ. Citing six signs that Jesus offers as witness and evidence, John married Word with deed. The story of this miracle is the first of John's selection of Jesus' acts.
The Gospel of John is interpretive. The writer of John had time to reflect, to mull things over, and to muse. Consequently, he wrote more from a greater distance than with the immediacy of a direct observer. This Gospel differs in its purpose from the Synoptic Gospels. John tells many stories, such as this miracle and Miracle 6, The Post-Resurrection Catch (John 21:1-14), that have no Gospel parallel. In the Synoptics, Jesus speaks in metaphors. In John, the narrator speaks with metaphors. Much of John's teaching is about Jesus and Jesus' relationship to God.
First Point Of Action
Jesus, his disciples, and the mother of Jesus are guests at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Second Point Of Action
In a conversation between Jesus and his mother at the wedding feast, Jesus' mother tells him the wedding party has run out of wine. Jesus says not to worry because his hour has not yet come.
Third Point Of Action
Jesus' mother instructs the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them.
Fourth Point Of Action
Jesus directs the servants to fill with water six twenty- or thirty-gallon stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification. The servants fill the jars to the brim. Jesus tells them to draw some wine and take it to the chief steward. They do so.
Fifth Point Of Action
Not knowing where it came from, the steward tastes the water that has become wine. Attesting to the good quality of the wine, the steward calls the bridegroom. He tells him that everyone serves the good wine first, not last.
Sixth Point Of Action
The writer of John's gospel comments that Jesus worked the first sign in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory. His disciples believed in him.
3. Connecting Points -- Conversations
How is God present in this miracle? God is present as Jesus acting in the world. God is present as change, as doing a new thing, as possibility. God continually surprises us by giving us a new sign.
Interviewing The Mother Of Jesus
Asker: The writer of John suggests the importance of your role as the mother of Jesus. He tells us in the first sentence of this story that you were at the wedding banquet. Women would not have been invited to a banquet. In your day, men and women did not eat together at banquets. Mother of Jesus, may I call you Mary?
Mary: Call me Mary. I could have been there in the background and still not eaten at the banquet table.
Asker: True, but Jesus brought you into a prominent position. Further, I have been thinking about your son's addressing you "woman" at the wedding feast and your calling him "child" at the temple.
Mary: We went up to Jerusalem during the festival of the Passover when my son was twelve years old. We became separated from Jesus at the temple. Of all the times I called my son, "Jesus," here I addressed him as "child."
Asker: You were an anxious, frantic parent after three days of searching for him. Were you emphasizing to your son, and to us, that he was still a child, only a child?
Mary: Jesus needed to come home with us, to grow and mature.
Asker: Jesus did not call you "mother" or "woman" then. He said only, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (See Luke 2:42ff.)
Mary: I did not understand then what he had told us.
Asker: You know now?
Mary: Yes, it was about letting go of my child so he could be about accomplishing what he was meant to do. As a parent, I constantly met the dilemma of knowing when to speak up and when to remain quiet, watching. On the one hand, Joseph and I supervised Jesus as his first and closest teachers. On the other hand, we had to give him enough growing room for his personality to emerge.
Asker: Your son's identity, his "I am who I am," showed at the temple among other teachers.
Mary: Even then, as a child, Jesus had a sense of himself and what his life was to be. Perhaps that is why, as an adult, he addressed me as "woman."
Asker: The writers call you Jesus' mother. Jesus calls you "woman." At first I thought he was putting you down by calling you "woman." Is there a message in the generic "mother" or "woman"? I also have a son. He does not call me "woman" but does refer to the other women in his life as "woman." I, too, sense that this does not demean. I hear respect and honor and pride for his women friends.
Mary: At the cross, my son also addressed me as "woman." My son lifts up women by calling them woman rather than something else. He dignifies us.
Asker: The servants came to you, Mary. They had heard about Jesus. They knew he worked miracles, but they were hesitant to ask him.
Mary: They were shy about approaching my son directly.
Asker: They needed more wine.
Mary: They knew I would tell Jesus.
Asker: I can hear you coming up to Jesus and quietly mentioning that the party has run out of wine. Sometimes the words of a story are not enough. I wonder how Jesus actually sounded as he responded to your words. His tone of voice might have been impatient. In what sounds to me like an uncharacteristic snap, was he abrupt as he said, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?" Or, did he speak with a tender, understanding voice?
Mary: Sometimes direct, straightforward words appear curt. My son did not say, "What concern is that to you?" He said, "... to you and to me." He could guess my thoughts. Putting the situation into context, he added, "My hour has not yet come."
Asker: How close you and your son were that you understood each other's silences. You had the role of messenger to Jesus. Your response to the servants was also that of counselor. You told the servants to do as Jesus might direct them.
Mary: My son would take care of it.
Asker: I keep thinking about the silences in this story and what they might mean. Some silences come simply from summarizing the story. One silence might have occurred after Jesus told you not to be concerned. Possibly as an afterthought, he added that his hour had not yet come. I hear another silence between Jesus' dismissing the exhausted wine supply and his deciding to do something about it.
Mary: Silence does not mean the absence of thoughts. Women in my time were not always free to speak their minds. That is what comes to my mind when you mention the silences. Silence is a time for pondering -- a time for plenty unsaid. Silence between my son and me often meant a nod of the head or a meeting of our eyes. Words are not always necessary.
Asker: Then silences can invite us to hear our inner voices and find the connecting points.
Interviewing Jesus
Asker: Jesus, those around you ask you to give a sign that you are Messiah. Why do you refuse?
Jesus: A sign is evidence of God's promise, "I will be with you." I am the sign. I came. Is there a better sign of God's "I am with you"? Still, I gladly and easily give signs to the disciples and others who have the eyes to see behind signs to their message.
Asker: In my day, a writer, retelling the story in the 1977 film, Oh, God, put these words into God's mouth. The late actor George Burns said, "I don't do miracles. They're too flashy and besides, they upset the natural balance." The octogenarian said if you want to see a real miracle, try making a fish. Still, the movie God did do a few spectacular miracles, seemingly for the sake of keeping the attention of the store manager. Is this how you feel about miracles, Jesus, that they are too flashy?
Jesus: Plenty of miracle workers misuse healing miracles for their own glory. I am not interested in directing that sort of attention to myself. God is the source of miracles. You are aware that many religious officials looking for trouble in the synagogue misinterpret my works.
Asker: Your signs and miracles do not lead people inevitably to faith. They often attract the curiosity seekers. Those crowds flock to you as they would to any wonder worker. Is this why you sometimes tell the healed to keep quiet about the healing?
Jesus: A sign reassures us. It does not by itself convince beyond all doubt. Have you not asked God to give you a sign, any sign, to show or affirm God's plan for you? Faith still requires a leap. One must have the eyes to see and the ears to hear to understand the meaning of the sign. Those who see with the eyes of faith understand the miracles and know who I am.
Asker: Jesus, the writers of the Gospels repeatedly report that you sigh deeply in your spirit and say no sign will be given to this generation. (See Mark 9:12.) I understand about the work of your healing miracles. I have never known you to do or say anything without good reason. You have the gift for making a point. You make an object lesson out of everything you do. However, with the turning of water into wine, dare I say this miracle seems playful compared with a work of healing?
Jesus: Through the years, many have wondered about the wedding miracle at Cana. Have you thought that people may have been at that wedding feast with whom I otherwise had no contact? My life is too short to waste any meeting. On the other hand, because the disciples, my mother, and I were all invited, this wedding party may have consisted of close friends.
Asker: The writer of John suggests this miracle was designed primarily for those closest to you, your family and your disciples. Does it have meaning that only the inner circle could interpret? Did you give them this sign so they could look back later and see the changing of water into fine wine? Did it offer a comparison of that time when your hour had not come with the time of your death?
Jesus: You have said so. Think also about the prophet Isaiah's use of the metaphor of marriage and God's doing new things. Think about calling God by a new name. (See the Old Testament lesson for Epiphany 2, Isaiah 62:1-5.)
Asker: Is this miracle to point us toward the wine and the bread, the blood of Christ and the body of Christ at your Last Supper?
Jesus: Some scholars say the water may represent Judaism and the wine, Christianity. Even my disciples are human, doubting persons who need some proof of God-with-us. The whole issue of miracles and signs is not of proof-miracles but the miracle of a changed life, a new way of relating to other people. John saw this.
Interviewing The Writer Of John
Asker: Writer of John, when you speak of signs as they relate to Jesus, I sense a change in the air. Why was Jesus adamantly opposed to giving signs in the Synoptic Gospels and freely giving of them according to this Gospel? Is this your telling, divulging, reporting the signs as you saw them? Is Jesus giving in by showing a sign?
John: People have always asked God to show them a sign. We need visible and tangible signs to help our unbelief. Miracles catch our attention as if to say, "Have you noticed, Jesus is not the usual person?" Jesus is God's way of trying to connect with humankind.
God has always sent us signs. Read the books of Jewish history. The Pharisees and Sadducees, while often misinterpreting signs and using them for their own purposes, seemed to understand the human need for a sign. The trouble these religious leaders had with Jesus was with an unknown person who might be giving false signs. In their eyes, this was blasphemy. They did not connect Jesus with God. One cannot coerce the claiming of Jesus as Savior. We proclaim Jesus as Savior only as we make the God-human connection through the Holy Spirit.
Asker: Your task is to connect Jesus with God. You were trying to convince us, as if you had heard one last person finally say, "Please, give us a sign." You say this miracle is the first sign of Jesus' messiahship. Signs, six in a row, tell us repeatedly, "This Jesus is a special one. You need not doubt him."
John: My whole purpose is to connect Jesus with God. The Word is God. Signs show us that the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. Jesus is more than words. The Word acts. Jesus not only preached but acted. He showed us evidence of God-with-us. His words were not empty but full of disclosure. His healing miracles were signs of the immediacy of God's presence and power. He showed that the Word is true.
Asker: People believe Jesus is for real when they witness his miracles.
John: For me, in his first sign in Cana, Jesus "revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him." (See John 4:11). May I ask, what signs do you give God today of your faith? What clues do you give that this mystery named Jesus Christ offers a sign for you?
4. Words
Sign
A sign suggests the presence or existence of a fact, condition, or quality. It is an action or a gesture used to convey an idea. A symbol is a touchable object representing something invisible. Miracles are events apparently inexplicable by the laws of nature. A sign, a symbol, or a miracle can point the way.
The author of commentary on the word "sign" in The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible1 suggests that a sign offers visible evidence and support, the action of God's word. Miracles both witness to the character of God's actions and confirm God's word.
A sign makes an impact on the senses, especially sight. The visible or historical concreteness of signs used with miracles points to the invisible power and activity of God in the world.
We need proof, something to hold onto beyond words. We need to know we are not just whistling an illusion. God seems to understand this human spiritual need for a bridge. God provides signs as a way to talk with us. God's signs say, "I am connecting with you."
In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, "miracle" is not used. However, "sign" is a translation of the Hebrew word for miracle. With 46 references to "sign," Old Testament and New Testament storytellers emphasize the complexity of signs.
The stories of the Bible show that God willingly gave signs. God sent the rainbow: "I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth" (Genesis 9:13). God showed divine presence with Moses with a sign: "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain" (Exodus 3:12).
God sent the final sign showing willingness to connect with humankind: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). Among the initial New Testament connections we make with signs and Jesus is in the Nativity Story: "This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12).
For good reason, Jesus showed a negative attitude toward signs in the earlier part of his ministry. The religious authorities repeatedly tested Jesus, asking him to give them a sign that he was Messiah. (See Matthew 12:38, 16:4; Mark 8:11; and Luke 11:16.) However, Jesus refused to perform a spectacular sign of his messiahship to fuel their misuse of his actions. (See Matthew 12:39; 16:4; and Luke 11:29, 30.)
It is not God who needs to do miracles but we who need to receive them. The lectionary reading from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 suggests God comes in the specific personal signs God gives to us as our unique spiritual gifts.
Sign means Jesus' own acts. The second sign, John 4:46-54, parallels the healing of the centurion's servant in Luke 7:1-10. (See Miracle 7 in this volume.) The third sign, John 5:1-9, is Jesus' healing the man at the Bethzatha pool on the Sabbath. The feeding of the multitudes, John 6:1-15, is the fourth sign, with parallels in Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and Matthew 14:13-21. (See Cycle A, Miracle 7.) As the fifth sign, John 9:1-41, Jesus heals a man blind from birth (See Cycle A, Miracle 2.) The sixth sign, John 11:1-45, tells the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (See Cycle A, Miracle 3.)
Third Day
The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible2 tells us that next to seven, the number "three" occurs most frequently with sacred matters. It suggests the idea of completeness -- the beginning, the middle, and the end.
This miracle story begins with the words, "On the third day" (John 2:1). On that day of creation, "the earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it" (Genesis 1:12). Consider the connection of the third day of creation with the 38 other biblical references to the third day. This was the day of creating "trees of every kind bearing fruit" and fruit "with the seed in it."
Important life-giving or life-enabling events happened on the third day. Among them are as follows: On the third day of Abraham's testing, God spared Abraham's son Isaac by sacrificing instead a lamb. (See Genesis 22:4ff.) As governor, Joseph informed his brothers they would be tested. On the third day, he told them what to do to live: "Do this and you will live, for I fear God" (Genesis 42:18). God told Moses to prepare the people for the third day as he would visit Mount Sinai then with the Ten Commandments. (See Exodus 19:11ff.)
1 Corinthians 15:4 gives two other Old Testament references according to the scripture. To the dying King Hezekiah came these words: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord" (2 Kings 20:5ff). The prophet Hosea spoke to Ephraim: "Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him" (Hosea 6:1-2).
Of the fourteen New Testament references, twelve point to Easter morning. In Acts 27:19ff, the story of the shipwreck on the way to Rome, Paul told the sailors to take heart: "... there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship" (Acts 27:22). Is it by chance that the John 2:1-11 reference tells the story of the first sign?
Woman
Might Jesus have used terms such as "woman" and "child" as deliberate connectors with persons of all time? At two poignant moments, Jesus chose to address two important persons as "woman." From the cross, he put the care of his mother into the heart of the disciple he loved. In turn, he addressed Mary, "Woman, here is your son" (John 19:26). At the empty tomb, Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" (John 20:15).
Jesus addresses others besides his mother as woman. See the Canaanite woman with the tormented demon (Matthew 28); the woman bent over with an infirmity (Luke 13:12); the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:21); the woman caught in adultery (John 8:10); and Mary Magdalene at the tomb (John 20:15).
The writers of the Synoptic Gospels and of the Gospel of John use the term "woman." Forty-eight NRSV references to "woman" and twenty references to "women" compare with 230 references to "man" and 22 references to "men."
Other forms of address or mention include 44 references to "child," nine to "girl" or "servant-girl" and 47 to "mother." Jesus uses the following words for females: daughter, woman, girl, mother, and child. Other passages in which Jesus uses "woman" are Matthew 15:28, 26:10; Luke 7:44, 13:11, 12; and John 4:21, 8:10, 16:21. (See Cycle B, Miracle 2 for more on the role of women.)
Address
Jesus used no direct address in six of the nine Cycle C miracles. Jesus called his mother "woman" in the present miracle. In Miracle 8, Jesus addressed the son of the woman outside the gate at Nain as "young man." He called his disciples with the empty fishing nets "children." (See Miracle 6.)
In six of the Cycle A miracles, Jesus used no direct address when speaking to those he healed. Jesus called Lazarus by name in the third story. (See John 11:1-14.) In the fourth and ninth, respectively, he greeted Mary Magdalene at the tomb and the mother whose daughter a demon tormented as "woman." (See John 20:1-18 and Matthew 15:21-28.)
Jesus used no direct address in seven of the Cycle B miracles. However, he addressed the hemorrhaging woman as "daughter" and the sick child as "little girl" (or "child") in the pair of stories in Miracle 7. (See Mark 5:21-43.) He greeted the paralytic as "son" (Matthew 9:2) or "friend" (Luke 5:20) in the fourth miracle.
Cana
Cana was a village in Galilee. Cana means "place of reeds." Its site might have been at Kefr Kenna, about four miles from Nazareth on the road to Bethsaida and Capernaum. It might also have been at Qana, nine miles north of Nazareth on an ancient plain. Cana was the home of the disciple Nathanael. (See John 21:2.) Besides the wedding feast, the healing of the son of the Capernaum official took place at Cana. (See John 4:46-54.) The writer of John named these two stories as the first and second of the six signs pointing to his messiahship.
Wonder
Today's people prefer to explain away wonder with psychology or other sciences. Then we thwart the element of mystery in a miracle. To the person of faith, a miracle is an event that shows God revealing God. Part of the wonder of a miracle is our receptivity. When it happens at an important time in our life, we recognize God's role and presence in the event. The longing to connect with God is universal. It keeps us watching for everyday signs of God's presence despite practical explanations. One might define faith as human readiness to find signs of God in all life. Awe is being in touch with the mystery of God's nearness.
Hour Has/Has Not Come
The writer of John's gospel uses seven of the eight biblical passages with this phrase. Jesus spoke the words first to the disciples who had slept while he prayed at Gethsemane the night before his death: "He came a third time and said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners' " (Mark 14:41).
While the first use in John in the present miracle may suggest there is still time to relax, it also starts the wondering. "And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come' " (John 2:4). If Jesus' time has not yet come, then it is still coming. When will it come?
Following in sequence, John 7:30 and 8:20 speak again of his hour had/has not yet come, causing no one to arrest Jesus during the Jewish feast of Booths (Tabernacles). The meaning here implies that the timing must be right.
Jesus uses the term three times: John 12:23, 16:21, and 17:1. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday and the disciples saw trouble ahead. When some persons from Greece approached Philip to bring them to Jesus, Philip and Andrew went to Jesus. Jesus told them directly, yet still at a distance, "... 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified' " (John 12:23).
By Passover, John tells us of Jesus' certainty that there was no turning back: "Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father" (John 13:1a). He uses the metaphor of a woman giving birth to comfort his disciples as they, too, realize there is no turning back for him: "When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world" (John 16:21). The hour will come and it will pass. Jesus (and his disciples) will come out on the other side of suffering.
Finally, in the opening verse of Jesus' other Lord's Prayer for all who believe, John 17:1-26, Jesus speaks these words to God: "After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.' "
Wine and Banquet
Considering wine a necessity of life, families in Jesus' day used wine in everyday meals and offered it in abundance at banquets. It was an article of trade and a gift to a superior. The Hebrew word for banquet or feast means drinking. Consumption of wine and rich foods was the chief feature of the banquet in biblical times.
The writer does not tell us whose wedding this was, but six 20-30 gallon water jars contain much wine, wine enough probably for many wedding parties. At the least, it would last the wedding couple a long time. The excellent wine Jesus provided was not mere filler wine generally offered after guests became too intoxicated to taste what they drank.
Consider this wine as a metaphor for all God's gifts to us. It was of highest quality. It was plentiful. Wine came because of asking for it. Passages such as Genesis 27:28, Joel 2:24, and Amos 9:13 suggest abundant wine was an expression of God's blessing.
An intoxicant, Palestinian wine was almost exclusively fermented grape juice. Wine was also used as medicine. Wine mixed with myrrh or gall was a drug. The soldiers offered this mixture to Jesus on the cross.
Because of its color, wine was also called the "blood of the grape." (See Genesis 49:11 and Deuteronomy 32:14.) Consider the new meaning Jesus gave to the wine in the institution of the Last Supper: "Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins' " (Matthew 26:27-28). See also 1 Corinthians 11:25 from today's lectionary epistle.
Today's lectionary Psalm speaks of "all people" feasting on the abundance of God's house and God's giving them "drink from the river of [God's] delights" (from Psalm 36:8). "For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light" (Psalm 36:9).
5. Gospel Parallels
John 2:1-11 is the sole rendering of this story. However, several word cross-references given below may be helpful.3
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there (John 2:1).
References to John 1:29, 35, and 43 are "the next day" happenings leading up to the "third day." John 4:46 verifies that Jesus had been to Cana.
Jesus and his disciples were guests at the wedding (John 2:2).
See John 1:40-49. In these verses preceding the marriage at Cana, John lists Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael as Jesus' disciples.
When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine" (John 2:3).
For other references to Jesus, the mother of Jesus, and the disciples being together, see Mark 3:31 and John 19:26.
And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4).
Other leave-me-alone passages are Mark 1:24 ("and he cried out, 'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God' ") and Mark 5:7 ("and he shouted at the top of his voice, 'What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.' ") For references to the hour not yet come, see the words of the two persons tormented by demons in Matthew 8:29 ("Suddenly they shouted, 'What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?' ") See also John 7:6, 8, 33, and 8:20.
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5).
No cross-references.
Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons (John 2:6).
Mark 7:3 and John 3:24 also mention purification rituals.
Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it (John 2:7-8).
No cross-references.
When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ... (John 2:9).
See John 4:46.
[A]nd said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now" (John 2:10).
Another reference to good wine is Luke 5:39.
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him (John 2:11).
All cross-references for "signs" are in John. John 2:23, 3:2, 6:14, 7:31, and 9:16 say the signs were confirmation that led to the growing belief in Jesus. John 6:2 and 12:18 point to the curiosity resulting from the signs Jesus gave. In John 6:26, Jesus himself offers a reason for the following of the multitude who had eaten the loaves and fish. John 9:16, 11:47, and 12:37 suggest the signs presented a problem for the Pharisees and chief priests. John 4:54 partially catalogs the six signs which John reports that "Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee." John 20:30 reports that "Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book."
John 1:14 mentions God's revelation: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth."
____________
1. See Volume 4.
2. See Volume 4.
3. Cross-references are from the self-pronouncing reference RSV edition of The Holy Bible (Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1962). Texts are from NRSV.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.1 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.2 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."3 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come."4 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."5 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.6 Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim.7 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it.8 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom9 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."10 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.11
2. What's Happening?
It was John's task to introduce Jesus. For John, the Word was important. His purpose was to show that Jesus is the Word, the light, the Christ. Citing six signs that Jesus offers as witness and evidence, John married Word with deed. The story of this miracle is the first of John's selection of Jesus' acts.
The Gospel of John is interpretive. The writer of John had time to reflect, to mull things over, and to muse. Consequently, he wrote more from a greater distance than with the immediacy of a direct observer. This Gospel differs in its purpose from the Synoptic Gospels. John tells many stories, such as this miracle and Miracle 6, The Post-Resurrection Catch (John 21:1-14), that have no Gospel parallel. In the Synoptics, Jesus speaks in metaphors. In John, the narrator speaks with metaphors. Much of John's teaching is about Jesus and Jesus' relationship to God.
First Point Of Action
Jesus, his disciples, and the mother of Jesus are guests at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Second Point Of Action
In a conversation between Jesus and his mother at the wedding feast, Jesus' mother tells him the wedding party has run out of wine. Jesus says not to worry because his hour has not yet come.
Third Point Of Action
Jesus' mother instructs the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them.
Fourth Point Of Action
Jesus directs the servants to fill with water six twenty- or thirty-gallon stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification. The servants fill the jars to the brim. Jesus tells them to draw some wine and take it to the chief steward. They do so.
Fifth Point Of Action
Not knowing where it came from, the steward tastes the water that has become wine. Attesting to the good quality of the wine, the steward calls the bridegroom. He tells him that everyone serves the good wine first, not last.
Sixth Point Of Action
The writer of John's gospel comments that Jesus worked the first sign in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory. His disciples believed in him.
3. Connecting Points -- Conversations
How is God present in this miracle? God is present as Jesus acting in the world. God is present as change, as doing a new thing, as possibility. God continually surprises us by giving us a new sign.
Interviewing The Mother Of Jesus
Asker: The writer of John suggests the importance of your role as the mother of Jesus. He tells us in the first sentence of this story that you were at the wedding banquet. Women would not have been invited to a banquet. In your day, men and women did not eat together at banquets. Mother of Jesus, may I call you Mary?
Mary: Call me Mary. I could have been there in the background and still not eaten at the banquet table.
Asker: True, but Jesus brought you into a prominent position. Further, I have been thinking about your son's addressing you "woman" at the wedding feast and your calling him "child" at the temple.
Mary: We went up to Jerusalem during the festival of the Passover when my son was twelve years old. We became separated from Jesus at the temple. Of all the times I called my son, "Jesus," here I addressed him as "child."
Asker: You were an anxious, frantic parent after three days of searching for him. Were you emphasizing to your son, and to us, that he was still a child, only a child?
Mary: Jesus needed to come home with us, to grow and mature.
Asker: Jesus did not call you "mother" or "woman" then. He said only, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (See Luke 2:42ff.)
Mary: I did not understand then what he had told us.
Asker: You know now?
Mary: Yes, it was about letting go of my child so he could be about accomplishing what he was meant to do. As a parent, I constantly met the dilemma of knowing when to speak up and when to remain quiet, watching. On the one hand, Joseph and I supervised Jesus as his first and closest teachers. On the other hand, we had to give him enough growing room for his personality to emerge.
Asker: Your son's identity, his "I am who I am," showed at the temple among other teachers.
Mary: Even then, as a child, Jesus had a sense of himself and what his life was to be. Perhaps that is why, as an adult, he addressed me as "woman."
Asker: The writers call you Jesus' mother. Jesus calls you "woman." At first I thought he was putting you down by calling you "woman." Is there a message in the generic "mother" or "woman"? I also have a son. He does not call me "woman" but does refer to the other women in his life as "woman." I, too, sense that this does not demean. I hear respect and honor and pride for his women friends.
Mary: At the cross, my son also addressed me as "woman." My son lifts up women by calling them woman rather than something else. He dignifies us.
Asker: The servants came to you, Mary. They had heard about Jesus. They knew he worked miracles, but they were hesitant to ask him.
Mary: They were shy about approaching my son directly.
Asker: They needed more wine.
Mary: They knew I would tell Jesus.
Asker: I can hear you coming up to Jesus and quietly mentioning that the party has run out of wine. Sometimes the words of a story are not enough. I wonder how Jesus actually sounded as he responded to your words. His tone of voice might have been impatient. In what sounds to me like an uncharacteristic snap, was he abrupt as he said, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?" Or, did he speak with a tender, understanding voice?
Mary: Sometimes direct, straightforward words appear curt. My son did not say, "What concern is that to you?" He said, "... to you and to me." He could guess my thoughts. Putting the situation into context, he added, "My hour has not yet come."
Asker: How close you and your son were that you understood each other's silences. You had the role of messenger to Jesus. Your response to the servants was also that of counselor. You told the servants to do as Jesus might direct them.
Mary: My son would take care of it.
Asker: I keep thinking about the silences in this story and what they might mean. Some silences come simply from summarizing the story. One silence might have occurred after Jesus told you not to be concerned. Possibly as an afterthought, he added that his hour had not yet come. I hear another silence between Jesus' dismissing the exhausted wine supply and his deciding to do something about it.
Mary: Silence does not mean the absence of thoughts. Women in my time were not always free to speak their minds. That is what comes to my mind when you mention the silences. Silence is a time for pondering -- a time for plenty unsaid. Silence between my son and me often meant a nod of the head or a meeting of our eyes. Words are not always necessary.
Asker: Then silences can invite us to hear our inner voices and find the connecting points.
Interviewing Jesus
Asker: Jesus, those around you ask you to give a sign that you are Messiah. Why do you refuse?
Jesus: A sign is evidence of God's promise, "I will be with you." I am the sign. I came. Is there a better sign of God's "I am with you"? Still, I gladly and easily give signs to the disciples and others who have the eyes to see behind signs to their message.
Asker: In my day, a writer, retelling the story in the 1977 film, Oh, God, put these words into God's mouth. The late actor George Burns said, "I don't do miracles. They're too flashy and besides, they upset the natural balance." The octogenarian said if you want to see a real miracle, try making a fish. Still, the movie God did do a few spectacular miracles, seemingly for the sake of keeping the attention of the store manager. Is this how you feel about miracles, Jesus, that they are too flashy?
Jesus: Plenty of miracle workers misuse healing miracles for their own glory. I am not interested in directing that sort of attention to myself. God is the source of miracles. You are aware that many religious officials looking for trouble in the synagogue misinterpret my works.
Asker: Your signs and miracles do not lead people inevitably to faith. They often attract the curiosity seekers. Those crowds flock to you as they would to any wonder worker. Is this why you sometimes tell the healed to keep quiet about the healing?
Jesus: A sign reassures us. It does not by itself convince beyond all doubt. Have you not asked God to give you a sign, any sign, to show or affirm God's plan for you? Faith still requires a leap. One must have the eyes to see and the ears to hear to understand the meaning of the sign. Those who see with the eyes of faith understand the miracles and know who I am.
Asker: Jesus, the writers of the Gospels repeatedly report that you sigh deeply in your spirit and say no sign will be given to this generation. (See Mark 9:12.) I understand about the work of your healing miracles. I have never known you to do or say anything without good reason. You have the gift for making a point. You make an object lesson out of everything you do. However, with the turning of water into wine, dare I say this miracle seems playful compared with a work of healing?
Jesus: Through the years, many have wondered about the wedding miracle at Cana. Have you thought that people may have been at that wedding feast with whom I otherwise had no contact? My life is too short to waste any meeting. On the other hand, because the disciples, my mother, and I were all invited, this wedding party may have consisted of close friends.
Asker: The writer of John suggests this miracle was designed primarily for those closest to you, your family and your disciples. Does it have meaning that only the inner circle could interpret? Did you give them this sign so they could look back later and see the changing of water into fine wine? Did it offer a comparison of that time when your hour had not come with the time of your death?
Jesus: You have said so. Think also about the prophet Isaiah's use of the metaphor of marriage and God's doing new things. Think about calling God by a new name. (See the Old Testament lesson for Epiphany 2, Isaiah 62:1-5.)
Asker: Is this miracle to point us toward the wine and the bread, the blood of Christ and the body of Christ at your Last Supper?
Jesus: Some scholars say the water may represent Judaism and the wine, Christianity. Even my disciples are human, doubting persons who need some proof of God-with-us. The whole issue of miracles and signs is not of proof-miracles but the miracle of a changed life, a new way of relating to other people. John saw this.
Interviewing The Writer Of John
Asker: Writer of John, when you speak of signs as they relate to Jesus, I sense a change in the air. Why was Jesus adamantly opposed to giving signs in the Synoptic Gospels and freely giving of them according to this Gospel? Is this your telling, divulging, reporting the signs as you saw them? Is Jesus giving in by showing a sign?
John: People have always asked God to show them a sign. We need visible and tangible signs to help our unbelief. Miracles catch our attention as if to say, "Have you noticed, Jesus is not the usual person?" Jesus is God's way of trying to connect with humankind.
God has always sent us signs. Read the books of Jewish history. The Pharisees and Sadducees, while often misinterpreting signs and using them for their own purposes, seemed to understand the human need for a sign. The trouble these religious leaders had with Jesus was with an unknown person who might be giving false signs. In their eyes, this was blasphemy. They did not connect Jesus with God. One cannot coerce the claiming of Jesus as Savior. We proclaim Jesus as Savior only as we make the God-human connection through the Holy Spirit.
Asker: Your task is to connect Jesus with God. You were trying to convince us, as if you had heard one last person finally say, "Please, give us a sign." You say this miracle is the first sign of Jesus' messiahship. Signs, six in a row, tell us repeatedly, "This Jesus is a special one. You need not doubt him."
John: My whole purpose is to connect Jesus with God. The Word is God. Signs show us that the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. Jesus is more than words. The Word acts. Jesus not only preached but acted. He showed us evidence of God-with-us. His words were not empty but full of disclosure. His healing miracles were signs of the immediacy of God's presence and power. He showed that the Word is true.
Asker: People believe Jesus is for real when they witness his miracles.
John: For me, in his first sign in Cana, Jesus "revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him." (See John 4:11). May I ask, what signs do you give God today of your faith? What clues do you give that this mystery named Jesus Christ offers a sign for you?
4. Words
Sign
A sign suggests the presence or existence of a fact, condition, or quality. It is an action or a gesture used to convey an idea. A symbol is a touchable object representing something invisible. Miracles are events apparently inexplicable by the laws of nature. A sign, a symbol, or a miracle can point the way.
The author of commentary on the word "sign" in The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible1 suggests that a sign offers visible evidence and support, the action of God's word. Miracles both witness to the character of God's actions and confirm God's word.
A sign makes an impact on the senses, especially sight. The visible or historical concreteness of signs used with miracles points to the invisible power and activity of God in the world.
We need proof, something to hold onto beyond words. We need to know we are not just whistling an illusion. God seems to understand this human spiritual need for a bridge. God provides signs as a way to talk with us. God's signs say, "I am connecting with you."
In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, "miracle" is not used. However, "sign" is a translation of the Hebrew word for miracle. With 46 references to "sign," Old Testament and New Testament storytellers emphasize the complexity of signs.
The stories of the Bible show that God willingly gave signs. God sent the rainbow: "I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth" (Genesis 9:13). God showed divine presence with Moses with a sign: "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain" (Exodus 3:12).
God sent the final sign showing willingness to connect with humankind: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). Among the initial New Testament connections we make with signs and Jesus is in the Nativity Story: "This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12).
For good reason, Jesus showed a negative attitude toward signs in the earlier part of his ministry. The religious authorities repeatedly tested Jesus, asking him to give them a sign that he was Messiah. (See Matthew 12:38, 16:4; Mark 8:11; and Luke 11:16.) However, Jesus refused to perform a spectacular sign of his messiahship to fuel their misuse of his actions. (See Matthew 12:39; 16:4; and Luke 11:29, 30.)
It is not God who needs to do miracles but we who need to receive them. The lectionary reading from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 suggests God comes in the specific personal signs God gives to us as our unique spiritual gifts.
Sign means Jesus' own acts. The second sign, John 4:46-54, parallels the healing of the centurion's servant in Luke 7:1-10. (See Miracle 7 in this volume.) The third sign, John 5:1-9, is Jesus' healing the man at the Bethzatha pool on the Sabbath. The feeding of the multitudes, John 6:1-15, is the fourth sign, with parallels in Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and Matthew 14:13-21. (See Cycle A, Miracle 7.) As the fifth sign, John 9:1-41, Jesus heals a man blind from birth (See Cycle A, Miracle 2.) The sixth sign, John 11:1-45, tells the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (See Cycle A, Miracle 3.)
Third Day
The Interpreter's Dictionary Of The Bible2 tells us that next to seven, the number "three" occurs most frequently with sacred matters. It suggests the idea of completeness -- the beginning, the middle, and the end.
This miracle story begins with the words, "On the third day" (John 2:1). On that day of creation, "the earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it" (Genesis 1:12). Consider the connection of the third day of creation with the 38 other biblical references to the third day. This was the day of creating "trees of every kind bearing fruit" and fruit "with the seed in it."
Important life-giving or life-enabling events happened on the third day. Among them are as follows: On the third day of Abraham's testing, God spared Abraham's son Isaac by sacrificing instead a lamb. (See Genesis 22:4ff.) As governor, Joseph informed his brothers they would be tested. On the third day, he told them what to do to live: "Do this and you will live, for I fear God" (Genesis 42:18). God told Moses to prepare the people for the third day as he would visit Mount Sinai then with the Ten Commandments. (See Exodus 19:11ff.)
1 Corinthians 15:4 gives two other Old Testament references according to the scripture. To the dying King Hezekiah came these words: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord" (2 Kings 20:5ff). The prophet Hosea spoke to Ephraim: "Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him" (Hosea 6:1-2).
Of the fourteen New Testament references, twelve point to Easter morning. In Acts 27:19ff, the story of the shipwreck on the way to Rome, Paul told the sailors to take heart: "... there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship" (Acts 27:22). Is it by chance that the John 2:1-11 reference tells the story of the first sign?
Woman
Might Jesus have used terms such as "woman" and "child" as deliberate connectors with persons of all time? At two poignant moments, Jesus chose to address two important persons as "woman." From the cross, he put the care of his mother into the heart of the disciple he loved. In turn, he addressed Mary, "Woman, here is your son" (John 19:26). At the empty tomb, Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" (John 20:15).
Jesus addresses others besides his mother as woman. See the Canaanite woman with the tormented demon (Matthew 28); the woman bent over with an infirmity (Luke 13:12); the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:21); the woman caught in adultery (John 8:10); and Mary Magdalene at the tomb (John 20:15).
The writers of the Synoptic Gospels and of the Gospel of John use the term "woman." Forty-eight NRSV references to "woman" and twenty references to "women" compare with 230 references to "man" and 22 references to "men."
Other forms of address or mention include 44 references to "child," nine to "girl" or "servant-girl" and 47 to "mother." Jesus uses the following words for females: daughter, woman, girl, mother, and child. Other passages in which Jesus uses "woman" are Matthew 15:28, 26:10; Luke 7:44, 13:11, 12; and John 4:21, 8:10, 16:21. (See Cycle B, Miracle 2 for more on the role of women.)
Address
Jesus used no direct address in six of the nine Cycle C miracles. Jesus called his mother "woman" in the present miracle. In Miracle 8, Jesus addressed the son of the woman outside the gate at Nain as "young man." He called his disciples with the empty fishing nets "children." (See Miracle 6.)
In six of the Cycle A miracles, Jesus used no direct address when speaking to those he healed. Jesus called Lazarus by name in the third story. (See John 11:1-14.) In the fourth and ninth, respectively, he greeted Mary Magdalene at the tomb and the mother whose daughter a demon tormented as "woman." (See John 20:1-18 and Matthew 15:21-28.)
Jesus used no direct address in seven of the Cycle B miracles. However, he addressed the hemorrhaging woman as "daughter" and the sick child as "little girl" (or "child") in the pair of stories in Miracle 7. (See Mark 5:21-43.) He greeted the paralytic as "son" (Matthew 9:2) or "friend" (Luke 5:20) in the fourth miracle.
Cana
Cana was a village in Galilee. Cana means "place of reeds." Its site might have been at Kefr Kenna, about four miles from Nazareth on the road to Bethsaida and Capernaum. It might also have been at Qana, nine miles north of Nazareth on an ancient plain. Cana was the home of the disciple Nathanael. (See John 21:2.) Besides the wedding feast, the healing of the son of the Capernaum official took place at Cana. (See John 4:46-54.) The writer of John named these two stories as the first and second of the six signs pointing to his messiahship.
Wonder
Today's people prefer to explain away wonder with psychology or other sciences. Then we thwart the element of mystery in a miracle. To the person of faith, a miracle is an event that shows God revealing God. Part of the wonder of a miracle is our receptivity. When it happens at an important time in our life, we recognize God's role and presence in the event. The longing to connect with God is universal. It keeps us watching for everyday signs of God's presence despite practical explanations. One might define faith as human readiness to find signs of God in all life. Awe is being in touch with the mystery of God's nearness.
Hour Has/Has Not Come
The writer of John's gospel uses seven of the eight biblical passages with this phrase. Jesus spoke the words first to the disciples who had slept while he prayed at Gethsemane the night before his death: "He came a third time and said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners' " (Mark 14:41).
While the first use in John in the present miracle may suggest there is still time to relax, it also starts the wondering. "And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come' " (John 2:4). If Jesus' time has not yet come, then it is still coming. When will it come?
Following in sequence, John 7:30 and 8:20 speak again of his hour had/has not yet come, causing no one to arrest Jesus during the Jewish feast of Booths (Tabernacles). The meaning here implies that the timing must be right.
Jesus uses the term three times: John 12:23, 16:21, and 17:1. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday and the disciples saw trouble ahead. When some persons from Greece approached Philip to bring them to Jesus, Philip and Andrew went to Jesus. Jesus told them directly, yet still at a distance, "... 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified' " (John 12:23).
By Passover, John tells us of Jesus' certainty that there was no turning back: "Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father" (John 13:1a). He uses the metaphor of a woman giving birth to comfort his disciples as they, too, realize there is no turning back for him: "When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world" (John 16:21). The hour will come and it will pass. Jesus (and his disciples) will come out on the other side of suffering.
Finally, in the opening verse of Jesus' other Lord's Prayer for all who believe, John 17:1-26, Jesus speaks these words to God: "After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.' "
Wine and Banquet
Considering wine a necessity of life, families in Jesus' day used wine in everyday meals and offered it in abundance at banquets. It was an article of trade and a gift to a superior. The Hebrew word for banquet or feast means drinking. Consumption of wine and rich foods was the chief feature of the banquet in biblical times.
The writer does not tell us whose wedding this was, but six 20-30 gallon water jars contain much wine, wine enough probably for many wedding parties. At the least, it would last the wedding couple a long time. The excellent wine Jesus provided was not mere filler wine generally offered after guests became too intoxicated to taste what they drank.
Consider this wine as a metaphor for all God's gifts to us. It was of highest quality. It was plentiful. Wine came because of asking for it. Passages such as Genesis 27:28, Joel 2:24, and Amos 9:13 suggest abundant wine was an expression of God's blessing.
An intoxicant, Palestinian wine was almost exclusively fermented grape juice. Wine was also used as medicine. Wine mixed with myrrh or gall was a drug. The soldiers offered this mixture to Jesus on the cross.
Because of its color, wine was also called the "blood of the grape." (See Genesis 49:11 and Deuteronomy 32:14.) Consider the new meaning Jesus gave to the wine in the institution of the Last Supper: "Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins' " (Matthew 26:27-28). See also 1 Corinthians 11:25 from today's lectionary epistle.
Today's lectionary Psalm speaks of "all people" feasting on the abundance of God's house and God's giving them "drink from the river of [God's] delights" (from Psalm 36:8). "For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light" (Psalm 36:9).
5. Gospel Parallels
John 2:1-11 is the sole rendering of this story. However, several word cross-references given below may be helpful.3
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there (John 2:1).
References to John 1:29, 35, and 43 are "the next day" happenings leading up to the "third day." John 4:46 verifies that Jesus had been to Cana.
Jesus and his disciples were guests at the wedding (John 2:2).
See John 1:40-49. In these verses preceding the marriage at Cana, John lists Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael as Jesus' disciples.
When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine" (John 2:3).
For other references to Jesus, the mother of Jesus, and the disciples being together, see Mark 3:31 and John 19:26.
And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4).
Other leave-me-alone passages are Mark 1:24 ("and he cried out, 'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God' ") and Mark 5:7 ("and he shouted at the top of his voice, 'What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.' ") For references to the hour not yet come, see the words of the two persons tormented by demons in Matthew 8:29 ("Suddenly they shouted, 'What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?' ") See also John 7:6, 8, 33, and 8:20.
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5).
No cross-references.
Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons (John 2:6).
Mark 7:3 and John 3:24 also mention purification rituals.
Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it (John 2:7-8).
No cross-references.
When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ... (John 2:9).
See John 4:46.
[A]nd said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now" (John 2:10).
Another reference to good wine is Luke 5:39.
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him (John 2:11).
All cross-references for "signs" are in John. John 2:23, 3:2, 6:14, 7:31, and 9:16 say the signs were confirmation that led to the growing belief in Jesus. John 6:2 and 12:18 point to the curiosity resulting from the signs Jesus gave. In John 6:26, Jesus himself offers a reason for the following of the multitude who had eaten the loaves and fish. John 9:16, 11:47, and 12:37 suggest the signs presented a problem for the Pharisees and chief priests. John 4:54 partially catalogs the six signs which John reports that "Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee." John 20:30 reports that "Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book."
John 1:14 mentions God's revelation: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth."
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1. See Volume 4.
2. See Volume 4.
3. Cross-references are from the self-pronouncing reference RSV edition of The Holy Bible (Cleveland and New York: The World Publishing Company, 1962). Texts are from NRSV.
