TIMES OF OUR LIVES: IN A MONOMYTHPreview
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WEDDING AT CANAAN, INTERPRETATION

Interpretation

The Wedding Feast takes place in Cana shortly after the call of Philip and Nathanael. According to John 21:2,[e] Cana was Nathanael's hometown.[3]

Although none of the synoptic Gospels mentions the wedding at Cana, Christian tradition based on John 2:11[f] holds that this is the first public miracle of Jesus.[4] 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 4:46–54[g] describes him healing a Capernaum official's young son; the second sign in the Gospel of John.[3]

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.[5] 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",[h] marking the commencement of Jesus' redemptive ministry.[5] Jesus will again address her as "Woman" in John 19:26,[i] when he entrusts his mother to his disciple John, "Woman, behold, your son."[3]

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 sects.[6]

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).[j] 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".[7] 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.[8]

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.[9][10] Bishop John Spong suggests in his book Born of a Woman that the event was the wedding of Jesus himself to Mary Magdalene.[11] 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.[12][13][14] However, the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene is usually dismissed by scholars as pseudohistorical.[15]

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 empty barrels that had been left locked inside a temple overnight with wine.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18]

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 first century wine production.[19] The early 6th century writer Antoninus Placentinus observed about Nazareth in his day: "it excels in wine and oil, fruits and honey."[20] So, if a miracle of turning water into wine had actually occurred at the site, it would have 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:[21]

  1. The power of Mary's intercession. This first miracle, which confirmed the faith of our Lord's disciples, was wrought at Mary’s intercession, for it was by her persuasion that He first manifested His glory by a striking miracle at Cana instead of at Jerusalem. Let us contemplate Mary's compassion on the distress of the poor bride and bridegroom, her living faith in the omnipotence of Jesus, and her confidence in His goodness.
  2. Matrimony. By His presence at the marriage-feast of Cana Jesus honoured and sanctified marriage, which had already been instituted in Paradise.
  3. Lawful pleasures. The fact of our Lord taking part in the marriage-feast teaches us that it is lawful and pleasing to God that we should take part in innocent recreations and harmless pleasures, rejoicing with those who rejoice.