Jesus at the Cana wedding

Who is Jesus? part 34 – John 2:1-11

Weddings don’t always go as planned. My wife and I had our wedding in late April, and it was ruined by heavy snow. Some guests couldn’t attend because the Pennine passes were closed. It was definitely a white wedding! The Saturday before, I had been wearing a t-shirt in warm sunshine.

40 years later out Ruby Wedding celerations were blighted by the COVID pandemic and lockdown.

Our eldest daughter’s wedding reception nearly faced a disaster when I accidentally knocked over her glass of red wine, which spread across the table and almost reached her white wedding dress.

This wasn’t the first wedding where there was nearly a wine disaster…

[A] 2 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 

[B] ³ When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 

[C] ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

[D] ⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 

[D’]⁸ And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 

[C’] ⁹ When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew),

[B’] the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 

[A’] ¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

John 2 :1-11 ESV UK broken into sections to show the poetic form.

These three chapers form what is called the Cana cycle. There is a structure to these three chapters; they are one big chiasmus. Chiasm, meaning crossing over, is a poetic form used in nearly all Psalms and is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. Where there is a central section, here marked X, that is usually the focus of the poem.

A. John 2:1-11 Miracle at Cana – Water into wine.
B. 2:12-22 Temple cleansed – new Temple of his body.
C. 2:23-3:13 We must be born from above.
X. 3:14-21 God so loved the world that He gave His Son.
C’. 3:22-4:3 Christ comes from above.
B’. 4:4-46 Temple to be replaced by a new place of worship.
A’. 4:47-54 Miracle at Cana – healing of a nobleman’s son.

The guest

But this passage is also a chiamus, this time without a central section. So it’s difficult to say from the structure what the main point is. The next thing to look at as structure when there’s no central section is to look at the A/A’ sections, but they are pointing to Cana. Cana is a link, back to the stories of Philip and Nathanael which happened at Bethsaida, only 10km (6 miles) from Cana.

It also shows Jesus in the role as a guest. If you look at Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ ministry following his baptism has three sections. A Galilean ministry with no obvious effect, a successful Galilean ministry and a period with opposition. The first period is glossed over in a few words by Matthew.

It’s up to John to explain this first period. The wedding at Cana happens early on. Jesus has some disciples and is teaching them, but he hasn’t started his public ministry yet. Until now.

The son

The B/B’ section discusses Mary, Jesus’ Mother, speaking to Jesus and the master of the feast addressing the bridegroom. Unlike John the Baptist, who isolated himself in the wilderness by the River Jordan, Jesus is enjoying social gatherings and engaging with people’s everyday lives.

Jewish wedding celebrations lasted about a week, requiring ample food and drink for all guests to avoid any embarrassment from running out. Although there’s no mention of food shortages, it seems some guests indulged in binge drinking. The host’s remark to the bridegroom, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine,” suggests that many guests were quite inebriated by then.

Would Jesus have done anything without his mother’s concern about the catering? That is one of those nobody knows type questions.

The host

Mary’s concern about the catering and her instructions to the servants show she was involved, either by knowing the bride or groom or being a caterer herself. She doesn’t tell Jesus what to do but trusts him to handle the situation, but tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

The C/C’ and D/D’ parts of the structure have Jesus instructing the servants, in fact you could say this passage in the Bible is about the servants

Jesus takes on the role of the host, instructing the servants to fill the water jars and then draw some off to bring to the master of the feast. The servants are simply doing their job, as servants always obey.

Servants

There is a parallel to the Cana cycle at the end of John’s Gospel, forming a chiasmus over several chapters. It starts in Chapter 13 with Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, a task meant for a servant. He tells them, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Jesus acts as a servant and encourages his followers to do the same by serving each other.

We could do well to heed Mary’s advice, “Do whatever he tells you.”

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