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Jesus’ mother Mary (though unnamed in John) and his brothers are already there (2:12), so it seems to be some kind of “family affair.” Indeed, Mary seems to be at some level officially involved in the celebration as a kind of co-hostess since she takes charge of things when the wine planned for the occasion, unexpectedly runs out, indicating either that the crowd was larger than expected or that things became quite festive, or both.
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Jesus and his disciples, who have been down in the Jordan valley with John the Baptist, return to the area to join the wedding celebration. The elements of the Cana story are fascinating. It moves along from scene to scene with vivid details and in gripping narrative flow. This narrative source is written in a completely different style from the later material now in John’s gospel. The work, at least according to this “Signs Source,” was originally written to promote the simple affirmation that Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed King of the line of David, and to explain how his death was part of the plan of God. Such elements are apparently a much later theological overlay, as they are absent from this primitive narrative source. Most readers of John’s gospel concentrate on the long “red letter” speeches and dialogues of Jesus with the lofty language about him as the “Son” sent from heaven, in cosmic struggle with “the Jews” who are cast in a pejorative light. Many scholars consider the Signs Source to be our most primitive gospel narrative, earlier than, and independent from, the Gospel of Mark. The story is part of an earlier written narrative that scholars call the “ Signs Source,” now embedded in the Gospel of John much like the Q source is embedded in Matthew and Luke. Within the Gospel of John the story functions in a theological and even allegorical manner-it is the “first” of seven signs, the “water into wine” story, but that is not to say it lacks any historical foundation. There is a very intriguing story, unique to the Gospel of John, about a wedding attended by Jesus and his disciples at the Galilean village of Cana (John 2:1–11). James Tabor’s popular Taborblog, a site that discusses and reports on “‘All things biblical’ from the Hebrew Bible to Early Christianity in the Roman World and Beyond.” Bible History Daily republished this article with permission from the author.
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A version of this article originally appeared on Dr.