“It was
Jesus.”
Everybody
knows this story.
The story,
as told by the Apostle John, begins like this: “On the third day there was a
wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus
and His disciples were invited to the wedding.”
A Galilean Wedding
In saying
“the third day,” John is referring to the third day after he had left off the
previous event in his narrative of the life of Jesus. As regards to the
wedding, we do not know who was getting married, although some have tried to
speculate who it may have been. I will not speculate. We do not know. We do not
even know where the village of Cana was located. Only that it was in the
Galilean region, which is in the northern part of Israel.
The village
of Nazareth, where Jesus had grown up, was also in this region. This may
partially explain why Mary was there. She must have known the family. Jesus had
also been invited, and as is often the case at weddings, even people who did
not know the couple getting married were invited
just because they were associates of an invited guest, as were the disciples.
just because they were associates of an invited guest, as were the disciples.
Actually, in
those days, the entire village was most often invited to a wedding. Weddings
were huge affairs, often lasting an entire week. Wine was a staple at these
celebrations, because the wedding was
a celebration.
We all know
that alcohol can be abused and over used, but the simple fact is, that in the
Bible, wine is very often associated with celebration. Not excessiveness – I
will also say that. Not inebriation. Not drunkenness. But drinking celebratory
glasses of wine is very common in the Bible.
A Great Problem
The presence
of wine was also very important at this wedding. I would say that the people in
Cana of Galilee, during that wedding feast, placed much more importance on the
presence of wine at their feast than you or I likely would. At least me, if I
had been placed in charge, would likely take the attitude – “The wine is gone,
but there is still coffee and juice! I think that I can find some milk for
you!”
But that
attitude would not do in that time and place. In that case, when the wine ran
out, the mother of Jesus came to him and said, “They have no wine.”
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