Canter Bridge

One of the shocking details of John’s report of Jesus’ first sign, at a wedding in a Galilean village, is the notice that his disciples ‘believed in him’ as a result of his action. One wonders what they were doing prior to the moment:

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

One does not accrue the plausible accusation of being a glutton and a drunkard unless one hangs in places known for serious eating and heavy drinking. Jesus’ accusers must have had plausible grounds for such an accusation, reported in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Continue Reading »