Chapter Six
Wedding Feast at Cana
JN 2: 1-12
Although I am not what you would call a “party animal,” I do enjoy going to a party. I usually arrive just after the party is over, because there is a lot of food lying around, and good food too, not just grains and seeds. So when Jesus got invited to a wedding party at the village of Cana – his disciple Nathaniel was from Cana – I was happy to go along. It was just a few miles away. We had gotten the invitation a little late, so we did not have time to bring much in the way of wedding gifts. Guests often brought some wine because a wedding celebration usually lasted a number of days.
When we got there, the friends of the groom had already brought the bride to the groom’s house. Everyone was dancing in the courtyard and having a great time. The groom greeted us at the gate. He had a little bit of a strained smile on his face. I guess he had expected Nathaniel, but not twelve more guys and a mouse. Jesus and his friends entered the courtyard and rinsed their hands with water from the jars at the gate. I did not rinse my paws because we mice do not keep the Jewish religious purification laws. Jesus’ mother Mary was already there. Besides the disciples, she was the only other person I knew.
The rest of the day was wonderful. I slipped over to a corner where I could see and not be seen. I figured I would wait until people went to sleep before I started foraging around for food. I could already smell the cheese. People talked and ate and drank and danced until the sun set. Then some torches were lit and people continued for a few more hours. Before midnight, people went back to their homes if they lived in town, or bedded down in the courtyard if they were from farther away.
People rose with the sun. Those living in town returned to the groom’s house and joined the bride and groom and other guests for a morning prayer from the psalms. The groom’s brother brought out flat bread and goat’s milk yoghurt for everyone’s breakfast. After breakfast the dancing continued until the hot mid-day sun hastened people into the shade for quieter conversation or naps. As the time for the evening meal was drawing near, Mary called Jesus over and told him that the party was running out of wine.
Jesus very respectfully told her that he had to be about his Father’s business, and it wasn’t time for him to do anything in public yet. Mary muttered something like, “Well and good for your Father’s business, but don’t you know the reason why the wine is running out? You and your dozen friends arrived unexpectedly and didn’t bring the customary wedding gift of wine.” Jesus told his mother that he would have to think about it, and went over to the corner where I was hiding.
While Mary was telling some servants to do whatever Jesus might ask of them, Jesus was praying. He was very unobtrusive about it, but I could see his lips were moving and he was whispering. Then he got up and walked over to the servants his mother had been talking to. Maybe God had decided that this was the right time for Jesus to reveal that he was God’s chosen messiah savior.
Very quietly Jesus told the servants to draw some water from the jars near the gate and bring it to the steward who was managing the party. When the steward tasted the water, he found that it had become wine. He went to the groom and said that most people bring out their best wine first. Then, when people have drunk their fill, the less good wine is brought out. But the groom had saved the best wine for last. The steward asked the groom where it had come from. The groom did not know how the water jars had come to be filled with wine.
But Jesus’ followers knew. They had seen what Jesus had done. This miracle showed them that they were right to believe in this man whom they had only known for only a few weeks. They remembered that their Scriptures described that when the messiah came to establish God’s New Kingdom, there would be justice and peace, and celebrations with an abundance of wine. This showed them that they were right to leave everything and to follow him.
I began to wonder what sort of human being I had become friends with. I had left everything to travel with him. I hoped that I would have a part in the celebrations yet to come.
bridgingthegaplessgap 