Wedding at Cana

• This page is edited by James E. West, Quartz Hill School of Theology, United States of America.
• ANCIENT SOURCES: see Wedding at Cana (sources)
• LIST OF SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Wedding at Cana (subject)

The Wedding of Cana refers to an episode in the lives of Jesus of Nazareth and Mary of Nazareth. The episode is narrated only in the Gospel of John (2:1-11).

Overview

According to the Gospel of John, the Wedding at Cana was the 'first of Jesus' miracles.' The only Gospel to record this miracle is John and it is never referenced elsewhere in the New Testament at all. This suggests that the story had a particular significance to the author of The Gospel of John.

The miracle itself consists of the filling of six large water jars with water and those jars then being delivered to the 'head-waiter' of the marriage celebration where he announces that he has never had such excellent wine. There is no explicit mention of Jesus changing the water into wine. There is only the suggestion that he had done so.

In terms of the meaning of the event, the jars used were large purification jars, made of stone, and each containing a fairly substantial sum of water. If 6 large purification jars were at hand, and were filled with water, a huge crowd could have been rendered ritually pure since, according to Rabbinic tradition (admittedly later than the first century) the amount of water required for purification was, in volume, the amount that would fit in an egg (or about an ounce to an ounce and a half). Six large jars each holding 20-30 gallons of water could thus provide purification for a countless multitude.

When the water for purification was changed to wine, John simply implies that Jesus will provide purification for all comers (by his blood, represented, naturally, by that wine).

External links

• Wikipedia