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March 5, 2017 |
| Honor Your Mother | ||
1 And on the third day there was a wedding feast in Qatna [Cana], a city of Galilee, and the mother of Yeshua was there. 2 And also Yeshua himself and his disciples were invited to the wedding banquet.
3 And it was lacking wine, and his mother said to Yeshua, "There is no wine for them." 4 Yeshua said to her, "What do we have in common, woman? My hour has not quite yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever he says to you, do."
6 But there were there six water casks of stone, set for the purifying of the Judeans, which held two or three nine-gallon measures each. 7 Yeshua said to them: "Fill the water casks with water." And they filled them up to the brim.
8 He said to them: "Draw out now and take to The Master of Ceremonies." 9 And when the Master of Ceremonies tasted that water that had become wine, and did not know from where it was, (but the servants knew) the Master of Ceremonies called the bridegroom, 10 and he said to him: "Every man first calls for the good wine, and when they are drunk, then that which is inferior, but you have kept the good wine until now."
11 This first sign Yeshua did in Qatna of Galilee and he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
The way to study the Bible is to ask it questions and to be ready to believe what it says. That is how we will study this passage. Sometimes finding the questions to ask, is the hardest part
Why are we told the day is a Tuesday (third day of the week) - the answer is, I don't know. The Bible doesn't include useless information, so there is some point to it. Many scholars have different views. Perhaps people who lived in that culture would have understood the meaning.
Who is Mary at this wedding - She is probably closely related to the groom. It appears that she had already been there for a while preparing for the wedding. In verse 5 we see her give instructions to the servants and they know her and obey her, so she has some authority.
Where is Joseph - No one knows the answer. Joseph is mentioned for the last time when Jesus is 12 at Jerusalem. We don't know where his story goes after that. He may have just stayed in Nazareth and been un-involved in Jesus ministry. That seems unlikely though because weddings were big family affairs and he would have been there. So most people think that Joseph was dead.
Why are they running out of wine - The Bible doesn't provide the details but a little thought provides a likely answer. Nazareth is not far away and it appears a lot of the family of Joseph lived there. There may be many wedding guests from there, just as Mary, Jesus, and his disciples are. If so, there may not be enough wine in all the little town of Cana. That town did not last and now no one is even sure where it was.
Why does Mary tell Jesus they are running out of wine - she is making a request for him to do something out of the ordinary to resolve the problem. This is a mother to son request. So maybe the question should be "Why does she think he can do something about it"? The answer has to be that she has seen him do things like this before.
Jesus does not answer like we might - what do you expect me to do about it. He knows what she is asking, though she hasn't said it in words. We also know that she has seen how these miracles work before because she instructs the servants to do whatever he tells you to do. She knows that Jesus will ask them to do things that require faith and she is preparing them for that.
Though it's clear she has seen miracles before, it is just as clear they have not been public before now. She doesn't put so much detail into her request that people nearby would understand what she means. It isn't even a question but a request expressed in a statement.
What does Jesus mean by "What do we have in common, woman" - Jesus is teasing her. He is using an idiom. The meaning of idioms is always lost in translation because the meaning is understood by the listener by common usage, not by what the words say. For example our idiom "kick the bucket." From the words alone, you wouldn't understand it means "to die."
Directly translated, the idiom is "what to you and to me." It's meaning is "What is our relationship that you should think you can ask such a thing of me." That can be simplified to "you are asking too much."
But Jesus is saying it to tease her. Notice how he adds the word "woman." She isn't just a woman; she is his mother. That's the relationship she has with him that makes the request acceptable. He is almost certainly smiling at her as he says this.
He continues to tease by saying "My hour has not quite yet come." He is speaking about the beginning of his public ministry. It is still a few minutes before the time comes.
In Mary's place we might have been tempted to respond by clarifying that she is not just any woman, but his mother. Or maybe we might have said "you're so funny." But she raised him, she understands him and knows that he has agreed to do what she has asked.
What are the stone casks for? - From later stories we understand that there were a number of ritual washings that were required for the Jews. It was traditional for the feet of travelers to be washed as they entered the house and it was required that they wash their hands before eating. These servants would have been in charge of the washings.
It's quite likely that Mary has been watching for Jesus to arrive so he can solve this problem. That is likely why she finds him near the casks. He and his disciples have just arrived and their feet are being washed.
Why aren't the casks full of water - Jesus and his disciples have arrived late and many guests have already washed and begun the party. The Master of Ceremonies makes this clear when he comments that the practice is to wait until everyone is drunk and then bring out the cheap stuff but instead they bring out the good stuff. So we understand the party has been going on for a while. This is also why they are running out of wine.
So Jesus' request is to add water to them until they are full again.
When does the water become wine - the Bible doesn't say, but I think it doesn't happen until they take a sample to the Master of Ceremonies. In Jesus' other miracles he tries to get them to have faith in him. No faith would be required to fill the casks with water. Faith would be required to take a sample of the water to the Master of Ceremonies to taste and approve.
This is very similar to the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus. The healing only came once they believed enough to do what he commanded.
And when he saw them, he said to them, "Go show yourselves to the priests", and as they were going, they were purified. (Luke 17:14)
How much wine does Jesus make - 135 gallons plus or minus 27 gallons. The better question might be where are other late-coming guests going to wash.
Why would Jesus make a bunch of wine for people who were already drunk - Verse 11 lists the purpose, for Jesus to manifest himself, to put himself on display, so his disciples would believe in him. In the previous chapter Jesus had been calling his disciples. Now he gives them a reason to stay with him.
Why for people who are already drunk? Each person is responsible for his own decisions and actions. The presence of a lot of wine does not mean it all needs to be drunk.
There may be some symbolism in it as well. Later on, Jesus will talk about people marrying and being married as an example of the people who would miss his coming because they were too involved in the world. That was true here as well. Only the disciples and servants saw the sign.
Why does it say "but the servants knew" - the word about this sign is going to spread because the servants are going to spread the word. Jesus has begun his public ministry. He is now on display for the world to see. Earlier he said to Mary that his time had not quite come. Now it has.
Was this Jesus' first miracle ever - No, though there are many commentators who say yes. The reason they say yes comes from misunderstanding verse 11. They interpret it to mean this was his first sign ever.
11 This first sign Yeshua did in Qatna of Galilee and he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
The correct meaning is that this is the first sign where he manifested (made public) his glory and it happened in Qatna [Cana] … on a Tuesday.
In fact Jesus had given them a sign just days before when he was calling his disciples, though they may have dismissed it.
Nathaniel said to him: "From where do you know me?" Yeshua said to him: "Before Phillipus called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathaniel answered and said to him: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." 50 Yeshua said to him: "Do you believe because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree'? You shall see greater things than these." (John 1:48-50)
If this was his first sign ever, his earlier conversation with his mother becomes confusing. Why would she even ask him to do such a thing? Why would Jesus say his time hadn't come yet? How would she even understand what he meant by that? Why would she tell the servants to do whatever he said? It's obvious he understands her statement as a request, one that makes no sense without her foreknowledge.
Jesus words in the conversation become:
Because this conversation makes no sense if Mary has never seen a sign, this is where other commentators disagree among themselves. Out of their confusion come ideas like "Hence Mary's direction to the servants, whose service she supposed Jesus would require (perhaps to go and fetch wine)." Mary and Jesus are foreigners to Cana. If anyone knows where to get more wine it's the servants; they live there. They certainly don't need Jesus help. And why has Mary waited for Jesus instead of dispatching the servants.
Another example of the confusion is "She feels that He is about to do something; therefore she delegates the whole management to Him." So this commentator, who contradicts the earlier commentator, says that Mary had never seen Jesus perform a miracle but somehow had a feeling he could and would so she put him in charge.
It may seem that Jesus is just honoring his mother's request but there is much more going on. He had just been recruiting disciples and they needed a sign. God had arranged it so there would not be enough wine. God arranged it that Mary would make this request.
Of course we understand that there is a higher law than honoring your mother. That's honoring God. Later in the Bible there is a story where Jesus' family is trying to interrupt him while he is doing God's work and he puts them off.
The works we do are seen by others and spread by them
People living in the world will not see the truth.