Wedding at Cana
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The wedding at Cana (also called the marriage at Cana, wedding feast at Cana or marriage feast at Cana) is a story in the Gospel of John at which the first miracle attributed to Jesus takes place.<ref name=Loos1965>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Royster1999>Template:Cite book</ref>
In the Gospel account, Jesus, his mother and his disciples are invited to a wedding at Cana in Galilee. When his mother notices that the wine (Template:Langx) has run out, Jesus delivers a sign of his divinity by turning water into wine at her request. The location of Cana has been subject to debate among biblical scholars and archaeologists; several villages in Galilee are possible candidates.
The account is taken as evidence of Jesus' approval of marriage and earthly celebrations. It has now been used as an argument against teetotalism. Grape juice was called wine in Isaiah 16:10 and Jeremiah 48:33, but Leviticus 10:9 was the alcoholic type of wine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Biblical account
The second chapter of the Gospel of John states that Jesus was at a wedding (Template:Langx) in Cana with his disciples.Template:Efn Jesus' mother (unnamed in the Gospel of John) told Jesus, "They have no wine," and Jesus replied, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." His mother then said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you".Template:Efn Jesus ordered the servants to fill containers with water and to draw out some and take it to the chief steward (household official, master of the feast). After tasting it, without knowing where it came from, the steward remarked to the bridegroom that he had departed from the custom of serving the best wine first by serving it last.Template:Efn John adds that: "Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and it revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him".Template:Efn
Interpretation
The Wedding Feast takes place in Cana shortly after the call of Philip and Nathanael. According to John 21:2,Template:Efn Cana was Nathanael's hometown.<ref name=Winstanley>Template:Cite book</ref>
Although none of the synoptic Gospels mentions the wedding at Cana, Christian tradition based on John 2:11Template:Efn holds that this is the first public miracle of Jesus.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is considered to have symbolic importance as the first of the seven signs in the Gospel of John by which Jesus' divine status is attested, and around which the gospel is structured. Jesus will later return to Cana, where John 4:46–54Template:Efn describes him healing a Capernaum official's young son; the second sign in the Gospel of John.<ref name=Winstanley/>
The story has had considerable importance in the development of Roman Catholic theology. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen thought that it is very likely that it was one of Mary's relatives who was being married. This would mean Mary and her relatives would be embarrassed if they appeared inhospitable by running out of wine, giving Mary a reason to ask Jesus to intervene. Sheen further suggests that as Jesus arrived with additional guests, they may have contributed to the wines running short.<ref name=Sheen>Template:Cite web</ref> When his mother advises Jesus that their hosts are running out of wine, he says "Woman, what has this to do with me?" Sheen sees an echo of the Protevangelium of Genesis 3:15 "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers",Template:Efn marking the commencement of Jesus' redemptive ministry.<ref name=Sheen/> Jesus will again address her as "Woman" in John 19:26,Template:Efn when he entrusts his mother to his disciple John, "Woman, behold, your son."<ref name=Winstanley/>
The gospel account of Jesus being invited to a wedding, attending, and using his divine power to save the celebrations from disaster are taken as evidence of his approval for marriage and earthly celebrations. It has also been used as an argument against the teetotalism practiced among certain Protestant Christian denominations.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Interpreted allegorically, the good news and hope implied by the story are in the words of the steward of the Feast when he tasted the good wine, "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).Template:Efn This could be interpreted by saying simply that it is always darkest before the dawn, but good things are on the way. The more usual interpretation, however, is that this is a reference to the appearance of Jesus, whom the author of the Fourth Gospel regards as being himself "the good wine".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Bill Day, the miracle may also be interpreted as the antitype of Moses' first public miracle of changing water (the Nile river) into blood. This would establish a symbolic link between Moses as the first saviour of the Jews through their escape from Egypt and Jesus as the spiritual saviour of all people.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Some commentators have speculated about the identity of the unnamed bridegroom. One tradition, represented by Thomas Aquinas among others, holds that the bridegroom was John the Evangelist himself, a tradition that goes back to Bede.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> PECUSA Bishop John Spong suggests in his book Born of a Woman that the event was the wedding of Jesus himself to Mary Magdalene.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1854, at a time when polygamy was an element of mainstream practice of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Latter-day Saint elder Orson Hyde made a similar suggestion, arguing that Jesus was a polygamist and that the event at Cana was his wedding to Mary Magdalene, Martha and Mary of Bethany.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene is usually dismissed by scholars as pseudohistorical.<ref name=Ehrman2004>Template:Cite book</ref>
Studying Jesus in comparative mythology, the story of the transformation of water into wine bears some resemblance to a number of stories that were told about the ancient Greek god Dionysus, who among others was said to fill with wine the empty barrels that had been left locked inside a temple overnight.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However, scholars generally agree that the Gospel of John was written by a community of Jewish Christians who had recently been excommunicated by the local synagogue for recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, leading some to conclude that it would be making it unlikely the possibility that the Gospel was influenced by ancient Greek mythology.<ref name=Hurtado2005>Template:Cite book</ref> Bart Ehrman argues that the idea that the image of Jesus was influenced by ancient pagan mythology is usually dismissed by scholars as a fringe theory.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The view of the valley looking out towards Nazareth, from Khirbet Qana, would have predominantly been of grape vines, as archeologists have found evidence of 1st-century wine production.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The early 6th-century writer Antoninus Placentinus observed about Nazareth in his day: "it excels in wine and oil, fruits and honey."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> So, if a miracle of turning water into wine had actually occurred at the site, it would likely have had allegorical significance for observers familiar with Greek mythology.
The German theologian Friedrich Justus Knecht (died 1921) points out three lessons that are to be drawn from this account at Cana:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Blockquote
Identification of biblical Cana
The exact location of "Cana in Galilee" (Template:Langx, Template:Transliteration) has been subject to debate among scholars.<ref name=Chw2006>Template:Cite book</ref> Modern scholars Template:Who maintain that since the Gospel of John was addressed to Jewish Christians of the time, it is unlikely that the evangelist would mention a place that did not exist.Template:Citation needed However, Dominican scholar Jerome Murphy-O'Connor cautions that Cana is a very common name, with no known text offering any clue as to which of the dozen towns going by the name would be the correct one, and calls the common choice of Kafr Qanna near Nazareth "probably just a pious guess".<ref name=Salameh>Template:Cite web</ref>
The main candidates for the town from the Gospel of John are:
- Kafr Kanna, in Galilee, locally identified at least since the 8th century with the biblical location;<ref name=Reed>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Khirbet Qana, also in Galilee;<ref name=Reed/><ref name=Laney>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
- Qana, southern Lebanon,<ref name=Salameh/> in an area that was part of historical Galilee.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914, a tradition dating back to the 8th century identifies Cana with the modern Arab town of Kafr Kanna, in Galilee, about Template:Cvt northeast of Nazareth,<ref name=CathCana >Template:Cite CE1913</ref> in today's Israel.
The ruined village of Khirbet Qana (Kanet el-Jelil), about Template:Convert further north,<ref name=CathEncNA>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> is an option presented as certain by William F. Albright in 1923,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> whose name "Qana" is also etymologically closer to Cana than "Kanna".<ref name=Reed/>
Some Lebanese Christians, especially the Lebanese Melkites (Greek Catholics), supported by their Church, believe the southern Lebanese village of Qana to have been the actual location of this event.<ref name=Salameh/>
The spring of 'Ain Kanah ("Kanah Spring") near the village of Reineh, immediately northeast of Nazareth, has been proposed as an equally likely site by Conder in 1878,<ref name=Conder>Template:Cite book</ref> but has little going for it and has been rejected in more recent scholarship as a candidate.<ref name=Laney/>
Vessels and beverage
Stone jars
Jewish purification used water in stone jars to remain pure more easily than in clay jars (Leviticus 6:28 and Leviticus 11:33-34). Many throughout history have sought to recover the lost jars. On 21 December 2004, archaeologists reported finding in Kafr Kanna "pieces of large stone jars of the type the Gospel says Jesus used when he turned water into wine".<ref name=NBC>Template:Cite web</ref> But American scientists excavating the rival site of Khirbet Qana north of it, also claimed to have found pieces of stone jars from the time of Jesus.<ref name=NBC/> Fellow archaeologist Shimon Gibson cast doubt on the value of such finds for identifying the town meant by John, since such vessels are not rare and it would be impossible to link a particular set of vessels to the miracle.<ref name=NBC/> "Just the existence of stone vessels is not enough to prove that this is a biblical site."<ref name=NBC/> Several stone jars of the type described by the Gospel of John were found for instance in Jerusalem: "At least six of them stood in the basement kitchen of the [1st-century CE] 'Burnt house'. They were shaped and finished on a very big lathe, given a pedestal foot and simple decoration. Such stone jars would hold large quantities of water for washing and kitchen needs. Flat discs of stone served as lids. The jars at Cana may have been similar to these", wrote Alan Millard.<ref name=Millard>Template:Cite book</ref>
Wine or beer
In the journal Biblical Archaeology Review, Michael Homan argued that biblical scholars had misinterpreted early texts, translating to 'wine' when the more sensible translation would have been 'beer'.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> However, this has been dismissed by other writers, who pointed out that the Greek Template:Transliteration always means wine, and that the word Template:Transliteration was available if the gospel author wanted to refer to barley beer.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The Coptic Orthodox Church, alone among the apostolic churches, teaches that the wine was non-alcoholic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, the second century Coptic Saint Clement of Alexandria would appear to indicate the opposite when he states that, although the Lord approved of drinking wine, he did not approve of drunkenness.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Feast
The Coptic Church observes the feast of the Wedding of Cana three days after Epiphany, i.e. on the 13th of Tobi according to the Coptic calendar.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is counted as one of the 7 Minor Feasts of the Lord.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Influence
In art
Template:See also Depictions of The Wedding or Marriage at Cana are numerous in art history.
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The calling of Apostle John at the Marriage at Cana, Template:Circa, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen
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Marriage at Cana, 1561, Jacopo Tintoretto
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Marriage at Cana, 1566, Giorgio Vasari
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Marriage at Cana by Giotto di Bondone, 14th century
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Print about the Wedding at Cana. Made at the end of the 16th century. Preserved in the Ghent University Library.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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The Marriage at Cana by Maerten de Vos, Template:Circa
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The Wedding at Cana, by Xu Jihua
In media
- 1988's The Last Temptation of Christ includes a scene in which Jesus attends a wedding and turns water into wine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- In the 2019-present Angel Studios TV series, The Chosen, Season 2 episode, The Wedding Gift, the day of the wedding is portrayed accurately from the Bible's New Testament, with Jonathan Roumie providing the portrayal of Jesus.
In music
Patrick Hawes' first major work was his 1989 cantata The Wedding at Cana, which he has reorchestrated for Choir of the Earth to sing in 2026.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Saint Columba miracle
Sixth-century Irish missionary Saint Columba of Iona supposedly performed an identical miracle when he served as a deacon in Ireland under Finnian of Movilla, replenishing the supply of sacramental wine for a mass.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
See also
Notes
Biblical verses cited
References
Further reading
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- Shea, Mark (10 September 2012) "The Significance of the Wedding at Cana", National Catholic Register.
External links
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