CANA AND MARRIAGE
After his temptation in the Wilderness by Satan and his baptism in the river Jordan by his cousin John, Jesus returned to Galilee to see his family and begin selecting disciples. He visited his home briefly in Nazareth, then traveled about 10 or 15 miles to Cana, the home of Nathaniel. Both these places were villages. At this point only Andrew and his brother Simon, Philip and Nathaniel were following Jesus. Three days after his arrival, Jesus attended a wedding. Mary the Blessed Mother, was staying at the bridegroom’s home, a close friend if not a relative of the family. The early Church called her Theotokos, the God Bearer. I consider here the greatest person, apart from her son, who has ever lived on earth.
Jesus turned water into wine at this wedding. Anyone who carefully reads the account cannot escape from the conclusion that our Lord wants his people to enjoy themselves. This was Jesus’ first miracle and it happened at the request of his mother Mary. I believe that this is the only record of Mary speaking once Jesus began his ministry.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." [John 2:1-5]
Six stone water jars [these were metretes kraters which could hold 75 to 115 liters each] amounting to at least 120 gallons conservatively were nearby for the convenience of the guests. They were for washing and the ritual purification required in Mosaic Law. The Torah instructed the faithful to use spring or river water only for ritual purification. The bride and groom have ritually bathed before their marriage. Guests walked from their homes in the village or surrounding farms wearing sandals. They needed a place and water to wash their feet. Hence the need for large stone containers for water.
The water provided by the family, had been used for these purposes, so Jesus instructed the servants to refill them. They did so the account reads to the brim. Jesus immediately transformed the water into wine and instructed the servants to take some to the steward of the feast. He did so somewhat reluctantly, for it was a very public occasion and he did not want to draw attention to himself. Five 750ml bottles of wine equals one gallon, so if you do the math, our Lord’s gift of 120 gallons to the bridegroom and bride was 50 cases or 600 bottles.
When the steward tasted the water that had become wine… (He) called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have kept the good wine until now." 2:8,9]
We may also conclude that Jesus toasted the bride and groom and drank wine with those present. As he later said, the son of Man came both eating and drinking. The Psalmist says that God gives wine that gladdens the heart of man. [104:15] Those who have placed their trust in him shall eat and drink as he promised at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, in the New Jerusalem.
In context, we may find 120 gallons a reasonable gift, because there were many guests. Let me set the stage. For today I wish for us to consider other lessons from this event: the significance of a wedding to a Galilean Jewish family, the place of Mary in this drama; and what this first miracle implies about our Saviors’ view of marriage and contrast it with that of today.
A Jewish wedding was more than a time of merriment and festivity. The pious fasted before it, confessing their sins. The bridegroom and bride had been legally betrothed for up to one year. From the moment of betrothal the parties were regarded and treated in law [as to inheritance, adultery and need of formal divorce] as if actually married without living together and sexual intimacy. Weddings today rarely last a full day. In biblical times they were weeklong festivals. Most of the village would be invited to participate and it was considered an insult to not attend. Family and friends would often travel long distances to be present. The invited guests were considered ‘children of the bride chamber.’ [Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah V.I, p. 354, 1883] A great deal of preparation preceded the event so that there would be food and wine in abundance. Peasant people who rarely ate meat could look forward to roasted lamb and even beef! The parents of the bride and groom wanted this to be a day never to be forgotten, regardless of expense. The man and woman on their wedding day symbolized the union of God with Israel. This wonderful metaphor is found in many places in the Old Testament. Our reading from Isaiah today is just one of three places where that prophet spoke about the intimacy between the Lord and His people.
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. [62:3-5]
The nation of Israel is described as feminine gender as contrasted with the muscularity of Yahweh. This theme continues throughout the New Testament wherein the Church is metaphorically the “bride of Christ.” [Eph.5:22-24]
The evening of the marriage, the bride was led from her paternal home to the home of her husband. This was typically a large clan compound that the bridegroom had been adding personal rooms to for his bride to be in the preceding year. Modern Christians and Jews of Nazareth and Druze people of the Golan Heights maintain this custom today. Their homes are very large and accommodate an extended intergenerational family.
The bride arrived to the accompaniment of music, “veiled, her long hair flowing,” surrounded by the companions she had known since childhood all wearing chaplets of flowers. [Edersheim, Ibid.] The friends of the bridegroom and the ‘children of the bride chamber’ led her procession. All the participants wore special garments and carried torches or lamps on poles. It was a loud raucous event. Many voices at the same time praised the bride for her beauty, her modesty and virtue. Arriving at her husband’s family home the pair would be crowned with garlands and then a legal document would be signed where-in the man promised to honor, keep and care for his wife in the manner of the men of Israel. The bridegroom also promised to add a significant amount of money to the bride’s dowry [increasing it by at least half of its value]. This was a form of ‘life insurance’ for the bride, because it remained her possession to keep or use for life. A marriage was a beautiful community occasion. It was also sacramental, “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” Then followed the wedding feast. As the psalmist promised: How priceless is your love, O God! Your people take refuge under the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. [Psalm 36:8]
At the point when Mary spoke to her son, many of those present had been there for days eating and drinking. The family apparently still had enough food but was running out of wine. To not have enough wine broke the laws of hospitality. The Blessed Mother was not asking her son to perform a miracle, but to help their friends solve an embarrassing problem. He had as yet performed no miracles. Since she asked her son, not Joseph, it is presumed that Joseph the Carpenter was deceased. Mary was concerned for the family. But Mary does not cross the line-she asked Jesus to help but was fully prepared to allow him to do what he thought best. Her discretion is apparent in her word to the servants: do whatever he tells you. She had learned in the last 30 years was absolute confidence in Jesus! Do whatever he tells you. It is advice we should all follow … and advise each other to follow. We would also do well to follow the example of Jesus and give generously to wedding couples who are dear to us.
Finally, what can we learn from this event and others about our savior’s view of marriage? Much has been made of this being his first miracle. We know that our Lord acted deliberately in everything that he did. It was clearly his intent to make a point of being present and participating in the recognition and blessing of this marriage at the beginning of his ministry. Symbolically his presence and actions at Cana rank very close to that of his choice to be baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness. He intended for his followers to be baptized. He intended for his followers to marry. Theologians have likened his presence at Cana to God the Father bringing together Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Jewish folklore of the time held that the Archangels Michael and Gabriel acted as groomsmen at this first marriage and a wedding hymn was sung by an angelic choir. Who knows? What we do know is that Jewish and Christian scholars alike historically have considered marriage to be an institution that God established, not man. The Old and New Testaments speak of marriage occurring only between a man and a woman. Both Matthew and Mark record Jesus (1:5 and 10:8 respectively), quoting Genesis 2:24, say a man shall leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. John’s gospel makes another point: in this miracle at Cana Jesus … revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. The faith of Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathaniel in the Son of God was just beginning. As the great Puritan divine Matthew Henry wrote in 1708 “the strongest men begin as babes, so do the strongest Christians.”
Since about 1200 A. D. the state has been involved in conferring a legal status on marriages. In the last two decades many nations have sanctioned a non-biblical form of marriage. In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) the US Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision legalized all same sex marriages. In Obergefell, the Court ruled no state could refuse to recognize a lawful same-sex marriage performed in another state on the grounds of its same sex character. Same sex marriage prohibitions were largely due to Mosaic Law and Christian doctrine. Personally stand on the argument from nature: the union of a man and woman continue the species; and the argument from image: Jesus only sanctioned marriage between a man and a woman. In the Bible there is also the symbolism of marriage between the LORD GOD and Israel in the Old Testament and Christ and his Church throughout the New Testament. One example is Ephesians 5:25: Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. I tremble when we as a people sidestep such holy mysteries with what may prove to be only social experiments. We live in a post-Christian era. This has led to a deep social, cultural and political divide. Our politics are pluralistic with a multitude of groups seeking to uphold their divergent points of view. Our courts interpret the law on secular grounds following constitutional judicial traditions. Sometimes the legal or political winds are in keeping with Christian traditions but often they just manifest socio-political trends.
Jesus famously said to Pontius Pilate My kingdom is not of this world. St. Augustine clarified this in his City of God: The Earthly City will never be the Heavenly City. Oh, but we so want it to be. In Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis created a planet in our solar system governed by an Eldil, an angelic creature who is the ruler of the planet. I have sometimes wished we had angels governing this world. However, we can individually submit to the lordship of Christ in our hearts and minds.
I will have been married for 59years the 29th of this January. This does not make me an expert, but it does give me some personal insights. Done well, even a biblical marriage is difficult. Personal conflicts occur, as G.K. Chesterton, the leading 20th Catholic writer observed, “Marriage is a duel to the death which no man of honor should decline.” Louisa May Alcott, the 19th century author of Little Women, once said: Women are the only realists; their whole object in life is to pit their realism against the extravagant, excessive and occasionally drunken idealism of men.”
All marriages have intimacy issues; and children bring joy but also complications. There are always money issues, whether affluent or poor. Temptations take place. Yet heterosexual marriage has the sanction of the word of God, the Universal Church, and every society on the face of the earth. No one doubts its authenticity. Children proceed from it according to nature. Studies of the family have long shown that children have a better chance for a balanced upbringing when a mother and a father raise them.
As a nation and Western civilization, we face these and similar fundamental questions. How we respond as believers should be free of cliché’s, prejudgments and malice. Whatever position we take in the public square must be measured and gracious. Women and men who differ religiously or philosophically from you or me are souls for whom Christ died. My prayer is that we will be governed by leaders who follow Jesus guided by Scripture, Christion Tradition and Reason. So doing we would be following the Blessed Mother’s counsel to the servants: do whatever Jesus tells you.
God be Praised,
Soli Dei Gloria
Joseph J. Muñoz Christ the King Episcopal Church
Professor Emeritus Feather River College