Full Text - Analele Universitatii din Craiova. Istorie

Analele Universităţii din Craiova, Seria Istorie, Anul XV, Nr. 2(18)/2010
we must analyze the miracle performed by Jesus Christ at the wedding of Cana,
in the province of Galilee. In Jesus’s time, weddings were the most important
events in the lives of the two people who chose to unite themselves with God.
Especially in the jewish communities, weddings were regarded as events in
which joy was celebrated. The fact that the Son of God choses to be part of the
wedding in Cana, illustrates the infinite respect and appreciation of Christ
toward this simple yet complex human relationship, the wedding. That Jesus’s
first miracle of transforming water into wine takes place at a wedding, as the
apostle John testifies, at John 2, puts the symbolism of the wine into a new
light. The wine becomes a symbol of joy, love and life. This miracle also
reflects that Jesus Christ was out of the conception of monastic asceticism like
the ones found at Qumran, and that the Lord was aware that humans, both men
and women should enjoy the delights of communion through loving each other.
Thus Jesus approves the institution of marriage as a blessed act, meant to
sanctify the husband and the wife, and to be a testimony of the life in the
kingdom to come, a life of blissfulness and love 1 .
The fact that John emphasizes the excellent quality of the wine
transformed by Jesus, is a further evidence that the miracle Jesus perfected was
an absolute one, as absolute as the weddingitself, and was meant to be a
testimony for all the future families who would receive Christ in their
households 2 . The symbolism of this event should not be lost by the reader, as
wine not also reminded us of the joy subsequent in weddings, but also of the
future sacrifice on the Cross.
Wine became the symbol through which Christ has chosen to give us
The Holy Communion with His blood. Moreover, the fact that this miracle
happens at a wedding is a reminder that the two husbands, man and woman
should be united by being permanently in Christ, through the Holy
Communion 3 . It is not hard to imagine the atmosphere at the wedding of Cana,
where all the guests were given the opportunity to witness the incredible respect
which Jesus had for the spiritual and bodily bond between men and women.
Marriage itself was a celebration of a new beginning, and thus Christ
emphasizes that by turning water into wine, the kingdom of heaven and that of
the earth become united just like the two lovers in the holy sacrament of
matrimony 4 . John’s refference about the wedding of Cana is probably the most
clear and unique among the biblical resources on marriage and weddings. In the
1
Ibidem, p. 168.
2
A.J. Köstenberger, John. Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament, Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Baker Academic, 2004, p. 98.
3
D.S. Dockery, T.C. Butler, C.L. Church, L.L. Scott, M.A. Ellis Smith, J.E. White & Holman
Bible Publishers, Holman Bible Handbook, 1992, p. 611.
4
P. McFadyen, Open Door on John: A gospel for our Time, London: Triangle, 1998, p. 11.
14