The Significance of Jesus at Cana - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

“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” (John 2:1–2).

A wedding was a major social event in first-century Palestine, and the ensuing celebration could last as long as a week. It marked the culmination of the betrothal period, which often lasted for several months. The couple was considered legally man and wife during their betrothal period. They did not, however, live together or consummate the marriage during that time (cf. Matt. 1:18). On the night of the ceremony, the groom and his friends would go to the bride’s house. They would then escort her and her attendants to the groom’s house, where the ceremony and banquet would be held.

John states that a particular wedding was held in Cana. That both Jesus and His mother attended suggests the wedding involved relatives or friends of the family.

By attending this wedding and performing His first miracle there, Jesus sanctified both the institution of marriage and the ceremony itself. Marriage is the sacred union of a man and a woman whereby they become one in the sight of God. The ceremony is an essential element of that union, because that’s when the couple publicly vow to remain faithful to each other.

That Jesus attended the celebration also reveals the marked difference between His ministry and that of John the Baptist. Instead of being a voice in the wilderness, Jesus had the more difficult task of mingling with the crowds and ministering to them in their daily existence.

When your time is your own, when the conversation is light, when you feel a long way from the workweek or the usual pressures of life, are you still looking for opportunities to be used of God and helpful to others?

A gorgeous discourse on the First Miracle and its meaning is the chapter entitled Cana of Galilee in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

It is as beautiful as it is profound.

Those who find only misery in the magnificent works of Dostoevsky should read this chapter.

An excerpt:

"I love that passage: it's Cana of Galilee, the first miracle.... Ah, that miracle! Ah, that sweet miracle! It was not men's grief, but their joy.
Christ visited, He worked His first miracle to help men's gladness....
'He who loves men loves their gladness, too'... He was always repeating that, it was one of his leading ideas... 'There's no living without joy,' Mitya says.... Yes, Mitya.... 'Everything that is true and good is always full of forgiveness'"

And this, which I particularly love (Father Zossima is the beloved mentor of Alyosha, who is experiencing this vision. Father Zossima, whom he adored, has just died.) :

"'But what's this, what's this? Why is the room growing wider?...
Ah, yes... It's the marriage, the wedding... yes, of course. Here are the guests, here are the young couple sitting, and the merry crowd and... Where is the wise governor of the feast?
But who is this?
Who?
Again the walls are receding.... Who is getting up there from the great table? What!... He here, too? But he's in the coffin... but he's here, too. He has stood up, he sees me, he is coming here.... God!'...
Yes, he came up to him, to him, he, the little, thin old man, with tiny wrinkles on his face, joyful and laughing softly. There was no coffin now, and he was in the same dress as he had worn yesterday sitting with them, when the visitors had gathered about him. His face was uncovered, his eyes were shining. How was this, then? He, too, had been called to the feast. He, too, at the marriage of Cana in Galilee....
'Yes, my dear, I am called, too, called and bidden,' he heard a soft voice saying over him. 'Why have you hidden yourself here, out of sight? You come and join us too.'
It was his voice, the voice of Father Zossima. And it must be he, since he called him!
The elder raised Alyosha by the hand and he rose from his knees.
'We are rejoicing,' the little, thin old man went on. 'We are drinking the new wine, the wine of new, great gladness; do you see how many guests?'

One evening when my family and I were all together, daughter, grandchildren, I lit candles and by candlelight played an audiorecording of this beautiful chapter, the splendid Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation (pity those of us who cannot read it in the original Russian, but theirs is by far the best translation). It brought tears to my eyes. All were moved, including my grandchildren.

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