My thoughts on the wedding in Cana, and this is my speculation by my own admission just in case anyone wants to flip out over it.....
Wedding in those days were family affairs. And as in every wedding, the family throws the party. Now, my suspicion is that it’s a wedding in Jesus’ family and Mary was responsible for provisions or somehow connected with it. Since there was no mention of Joseph in the NT after Jesus childhood and the Jesus in the Temple episode, one could conclude that he had died.
That would leave Jesus as the oldest child. Therefore, when Mary realizes that there’s no wine, she comes to Him with the problem. Or maybe she was just worrying about it out loud to Him.
Anyway, she comes to Him with this problem probably expecting Him to fix it but certainly not knowing HOW He’s going to do that. Regardless, He takes action to rectify the situation and instead of sending out the servants to BUY more wine, He makes it.
I seriously doubt that she knew He was going to provide it miraculously and it passage does not support the idea that Jesus cannot refuse any request of His mother, as I’ve heard Catholics argue.
Thanks for your reply, metmom. And thanks for not catching me up on that bear-bare typo :-)
I understand what you say: “this is my speculation by my own admission”.
It’s true that weddings were “family affairs” in those days. But it helps a lot to be familiar with the wedding customs of that time and culture. In the village setting, the groom would leave his house and pass by all the houses of the village, gathering the wedding party as he went to his final destination, the house of his bride. Everyone was invited. It was a village event. The people joining in the party’s journey from the house of the groom to the house of the bride had to carry their lanterns—or torches. That’s the point of the parable about the bridesmaids and the oil for their lamps.
The Bridegroom Jesus left his Father’s house to come among us. He gathers his followers along his earthly pilgrimage among us—and those of his eternal wedding party are cautioned to keep their lamps filled with oil (oil in Biblical language is also for healing and honor and and blessing)
So actually everyone in the village was included in the party— the measure of their participation was the measure of their joy.
So—I don’t see the wedding feast as something that was a party of Jesus’ family—in fact, I read that passage as Jesus and his mother and the disciples being invited guests.
It won’t come to you as a surprise that I don’t believe that Jesus was the “oldest son”. I believe that He was the only Son. But that’s already been discussed too often on these threads, and I don’t want to start that topic up again.