Wedding Feast @ Cana? What's the big deal?

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Do you agree with this statement below? What else would you add to better help us understand this mystery?

The lesson to be learned from Jesus’s first miracle is that when Mary asks her son to do something for another, Jesus will then give an order or orders to another or others and a miracle will result if the order or orders are executed.
 
Mary’s intercession is one lesson. Although the meaning of a passage is not exhausted once one sound interpretation is acquired. There’s lots more to be learned from the passage too.
 
teeboy said:
Do you agree with this statement below? What else would you add to better help us understand this mystery?

The lesson to be learned from Jesus’s first miracle is that when Mary asks her son to do something for another, Jesus will then give an order or orders to another or others and a miracle will result if the order or orders are executed.
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The statement is very narrow. Considering the Wedding at Cana is one of the mysteries to be meditated upon in the Holy Rosary means that the depth of what happened is difficult to completely comprehend. Like ever.

The Blessed Mother (knowing the immense power of her Son) asked Him to intercede for the wedding guests, possibly because she felt a divine sign that this was to be the start of her Son’s ministerial life. I imagine she asked because she was compelled to ask. This is Mary pointing us to Jesus.

“Do whatever He tells you.” Indeed. This was the beginning of Jesus “telling” the people the word of God. The message of salvation. Mary is commanding us to listen and adhere.

Like you said, it is the first public miracle performed by Christ.
It unofficially (I guess) marks the beginning of the public ministry of Christ.

Pretty big deal in my opinion.
 
The Pope was recently in S. America. One thing he told the people was to ensure they do whatever Jesus tells them to do in the event Jesus tells them to do something.
 
Not all miracles are signs, but all signs are miracles. First miracle is significant, but first sign is even moreso. It was most fitting, therefore, that his first miracle was a sign.
 
A big thing here is surrender, as well. They only had water to give Jesus but they offered all they had to him and He made it into the best wine they had had yet. We see something similar in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, as well. One isn’t to sit around and say “gosh, I don’t have much to give to Jesus right now” but instead to give all they do have and Jesus will multiply whatever it is.

Of course Mary’s intercession is huge, too.
 
Billy112 said:
A big thing here is surrender, as well. They only had water to give Jesus but they offered all they had to him and He made it into the best wine they had had yet. We see something similar in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, as well. One isn’t to sit around and say “gosh, I don’t have much to give to Jesus right now” but instead to give all they do have and Jesus will multiply whatever it is.

Of course Mary’s intercession is huge, too.
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Him*

Excuse me.
 
There is much in this event …John’s Gospel is a replay of Salvation history …Genisis …in the beginning…

In Genesis God rests in the 7th day …in the Gospel of John we have Cana …where Jesus performs the duty of a Jewish Groom …providing the wine …

The imagery of the Gospel of John is multilayered and deeply rich…from its first verse to its last.
 
teeboy said:
The lesson to be learned from Jesus’s first miracle is that when Mary asks her son to do something for another, Jesus will then give an order or orders to another or others and a miracle will result if the order or orders are executed.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you have been programming computers for too long. You are describing the event as a logical sequence.

One problem I am seeing recently is that people now think like computers. Just logic - nothing else.

Please instead put yourself into the position of the people who were there and witnessed the event. Think of your response on all levels: emotional, logical, spiritual, physical. The facts of the event have been recorded. You can learn from this spiritually by placing yourself in the event. This requires meditation. The Rosary can help you focus. But, it takes practice,so you have to want the experience. So first, pray for the desire to have the experience. The rest will follow.
 
John’s story starts with John the Baptist, and, following that narrative, counting the days from when it starts, the wedding at Cana occurs on the seventh day.

The prelude to the narrative quite clearly alludes back to the creation story of Genesis. It starts with the same phrasing and places the Word at Creation. The Creation narrative can be read and understood as having a wedding on the seventh day between Adam and Eve.

Jesus (the new Adam) and Mary (the new Eve) are the only named characters at a wedding on the seventh day (of John’s narrative). Please don’t take this as implying anything inappropriate about the relationship between Jesus and his mother.

Now let’s also understand that Jesus’ nuptial covenant with his bride, the Church, is consummated on the cross. Jesus’ covenant is seen as a marriage covenant. We see the same marriage imagery in Revelation, also written by John (or at least Johannine tradition). Jesus’ first miracle at a wedding gets us thinking of weddings as we read the Gospel. Jesus is frequently referred to as the bridegroom, and here Jesus performs the role of the bridegroom in providing wine for the wedding.

The idea that Jesus honors his mother’s requests is also a valid understanding, though not the only one, the same way petitioners approached Solomon’s mother instead of the king because they felt Solomon more likely to honor her requests.

Jesus also turns baptismal water into wine, and we understand that he turns wine into blood (John’s readers would already have been familiar with the synoptic traditions). You could see an allusion to Moses turning water into blood in this as well.

The Messianic age was also supposed to be overflowing with abundant wine as well, and having this as Jesus’ first miracle would have brought that instantly to mind for any Jew.

The wedding imagery continues immediately after Cana, too. Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, and the brides of Isaac, Jacob, and Moses were met at wells. That wouldn’t have been lost on John’s audience. The woman was married five times, and is now with a man not her husband! This is historically true but also symbolizes idolatry practices brought in by the Samaritans. Who is the true bridegroom in salvation history? Jesus. Who’d just come from a wedding, in which he acted as the bridegroom.

This post feels all disordered. Those are just some thoughts. I’m not proposing any one as THE interpretation, but there is certainly a lot that can be unpacked from the wedding at Cana.
 
The wedding feast of Cana is only truly understood when read in context of the readings in the weeks of Year C. In Year C, the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Gospel Reading is the Wedding Feast of Cana. It is the third “epiphany”, of sorts - the first being the Visitation of the Magi, and the second being the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. There are a few more “epiphanies” - the Multiplication of the Loaves, the Transfiguration, the Passion/Resurrection, and the Ascension.

In addition, Jesus performing the miracle at the Wedding at Cana is the proof that Jesus elevated marriage to the level of sacrament. By performing the miracle, Jesus blessed the institution of marriage!
 
Frankenfurter said:
Sounds like you have been programming computers for too long. You are describing the event as a logical sequence.

One problem I am seeing recently is that people now think like computers. Just logic - nothing else.

Please instead put yourself into the position of the people who were there and witnessed the event. Think of your response on all levels: emotional, logical, spiritual, physical. The facts of the event have been recorded. You can learn from this spiritually by placing yourself in the event. This requires meditation. The Rosary can help you focus. But, it takes practice,so you have to want the experience. So first, pray for the desire to have the experience. The rest will follow.
Click to expand...
Yes it is a logical event type explanation. I was unaware of Jesus playing the role of groom, which I believe now to be associated b/w Jesus and the Church and Mary’s crucial role in the Church. This marriage of course being a push and pull type relationship (cross and resurrection) between the parties.

That said, the groomsman portrayal doesen’t make me beleive that the logical sequence isn’t a sure thing.
 
Wesrock said:
John’s story starts with John the Baptist, and, following that narrative, counting the days from when it starts, the wedding at Cana occurs on the seventh day.

The prelude to the narrative quite clearly alludes back to the creation story of Genesis. It starts with the same phrasing and places the Word at Creation. The Creation narrative can be read and understood as having a wedding on the seventh day between Adam and Eve.

Jesus (the new Adam) and Mary (the new Eve) are the only named characters at a wedding on the seventh day (of John’s narrative). Please don’t take this as implying anything inappropriate about the relationship between Jesus and his mother.

Now let’s also understand that Jesus’ nuptial covenant with his bride, the Church, is consummated on the cross. Jesus’ covenant is seen as a marriage covenant. We see the same marriage imagery in Revelation, also written by John (or at least Johannine tradition). Jesus’ first miracle at a wedding gets us thinking of weddings as we read the Gospel. Jesus is frequently referred to as the bridegroom, and here Jesus performs the role of the bridegroom in providing wine for the wedding.

The idea that Jesus honors his mother’s requests is also a valid understanding, though not the only one, the same way petitioners approached Solomon’s mother instead of the king because they felt Solomon more likely to honor her requests.

Jesus also turns baptismal water into wine, and we understand that he turns wine into blood (John’s readers would already have been familiar with the synoptic traditions). You could see an allusion to Moses turning water into blood in this as well.

The Messianic age was also supposed to be overflowing with abundant wine as well, and having this as Jesus’ first miracle would have brought that instantly to mind for any Jew.

The wedding imagery continues immediately after Cana, too. Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, and the bride’s of Isaac, Jacob, and Moses were met at wells. That wouldn’t have been lost on John’s audience. The woman was married five times, and is now with a man not her husband! This is historically true but also symbolizes idolatry practices brought in by the Samaritans. Who is the true bridegroom in salvation history? Jesus. Who’d just come from a wedding, in which he acted as the bridegroom.

This post feels all disordered. Those are just some thoughts. I’m not proposing any one as THE interpretation, but there is certainly a lot that can be unpacked from the wedding at Cana.
Click to expand...
Excellent post here.
Thank you.
 
Another thing about the wedding…

Jesus was reluctant to start his public ministry. .

***And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” *(John 2:4)

Both Mary and Jesus know the eventual outcome - Jesus’ gruesome death. Mary encourages Jesus to complete his mission even to the point of standing at the foot of his Cross.

The mother of the seven sons in 2 Maccabees 7 does the same thing - a strong Jewish woman encouraging her sons to remain faithful to God.

Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God’s mercy I may get you back again with your brothers." (2 Maccabees 7:29)

This is an image of Mary the Co-redeemer. We see this in Mary’s encouragement of her son at the wedding in spite of the fact that she knows he will die. She does this because like the mother of the seven sons, she has faith that he will rise from the dead.

-Tim-
 
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