Wedding at Cana

The event

John alone records this scene, calling it the "first of his signs." Jesus, his mother Mary, and his newly gathered disciples attend a wedding in Cana, a small Galilean village not far from Nazareth. When the wine runs out — a genuine social crisis in a culture where hospitality carried deep honor — Mary brings the problem to Jesus, confident enough in him to tell the servants simply, "Do whatever he tells you."

Jesus has six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing, filled to the brim with water, then has some drawn out and taken to the master of the feast — who tastes wine, and remarkably better wine than what had been served first. It's an understated miracle, performed without fanfare or announcement, yet John says it "manifested his glory," and as a direct result, his disciples believed in him. The abundance and quality of the wine also gently foreshadow a recurring biblical picture of Messiah's coming kingdom as a wedding feast of the finest wine.

Dating

Early in the Galilean ministry, shortly after the calling of the first disciples, c. AD 27.

Scripture references

• John 2:1-11