John 2:1-2

¹On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, ²and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

In keeping with the tabernacle imagery theme, recall that the children of Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea after the Passover and before they were sustained with manna in the wilderness. Similarly, on a visit to the tabernacle, you would first come to the altar – where the Passover lamb was sacrificed (the Lamb of God as we saw last time), then before entering the tent of meeting where the Bread of Presence was kept, you would pass by the laver – the washing basin for the priests to be cleansed. That is the imagery we get from John in this and upcoming passages – all the way to chapter 5 or 6. We are absolved from the guilt of sin through the blood sacrifice, and we are cleansed of impurity through the washing with water. Water is both cleansing and life-sustaining. We need both aspects of it, and God provides both to us in Christ. So think “water” as cleansing and sustaining as a behind-the-scenes theme for John in the next 3 chapters. A summary of this chapter, and maybe even the next 3, might be the phrase, “Out with the old and in with the new.”

John explains first in this passage that this wedding took place “on the third day.” This could also be rendered, “Three days later.” While a simple read through the Gospels may fail to pick up on these timeline indicators, a study of the Gospels cannot fail to notice some apparent inconsistencies. If we go with the timeline John provides, this wedding and the first miracle that Jesus publicly performs occur on the third day after the beginning or on the third day of Jesus’ ministry. And so the question arises, “When did Jesus’ ministry begin?” Many say that His baptism signified the beginning of His ministry. The other Gospels record Jesus’ temptation in the desert for 40 days as occurring immediately after His baptism (Mark 1; Matthew 4; Luke 4-5), and upon hearing of the arrest of John the Baptist, only then did He come to Galilee and call His first disciples, thus commencing His ministry. So perhaps this timeline of John omits the 40 days of temptation to suggest that the timeline begins in John 1:19 after the temptation in the wilderness, when Jesus comes to Galilee. But what then do we make of John the Baptist’s arrest? Supposedly, Jesus only came to Galilee after hearing of John’s arrest, and only then did He call His first disciples. But here in John’s Gospel, Andrew and John begin following Jesus while in Bethany across the Jordan (John 1:28) – before Jesus left for Galilee (John 1:43). He even called Philip and Nathanael before coming to Galilee. The other Gospels record the calling of Andrew, Peter, James, and John in Galilee, while they are fishing, after John’s the Baptist’s arrest. So there are some difficulties. Some suggest John the Baptist was arrested on more than one occasion. Others say that it’s not important. Maybe John records events from early on and events from late in the game and leaves out the middle – as he knew it was covered in the other accounts. Jesus traveled to Galilee numerous times, and He could have called the disciples numerous times as well, as in different training sessions and finally a permanent residing mentorship. This issue may remain unresolved for now, the point for us to take from this passage is this: when Jesus begins His ministry, there’s no dilly-dallying. He’s called into action immediately.

It is thought that there were at least three Canas in the general region at this time. This Cana is presumed to be the smallest and least significant Cana for a couple reasons: it was a one-day journey from Capernaum (John 4), it was no more than a three-day journey from Bethsaida, where Jesus had been in chapter 1, and it had to be near Nazareth as both Jesus and His mother were invited. Notice that Jesus’ disciples were also invited. This would lead us to believe that a close relative of Jesus was taking a wife. The groom would have gladly wanted his close relative, Jesus to have a good time, and if that meant bringing 4 extra friends along, he would accommodate them. Notice the bridegroom is the one offering the banquet, not the bride’s family. Finally, we can also infer that the man getting married was poor. After all, it’s a small-town wedding, and he runs out of wine prematurely. Nevertheless, he is still hospitable to Jesus’ disciples. The poor are generally the most welcoming.