Discover the beautiful hidden meaning behind the wedding of Cana of Galilee.

In the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

Welcome to Coptic Orthodox Answers Deep Dive where we're diving deeper into the Gospel of John. We're about to start chapter 2. So, we saw so far how the Gospel of John parallels Genesis. So, there are seven days in the Gospel of John that are witnessing that the Son of God is the Messiah and He's equal to the Father, similarly to in Genesis, chapter 1 where there are seven days where God proclaims that He is Creator, and therefore, He's witnessing to Himself.

So, just to summarize the first four days that we saw in the first chapter:

The 1 st day was in verse 19 where the Jews went to see John the Baptist and he said to them that he is not the Messiah, but the Messiah is about to come.

The 2 nd day was in verse 29 when St. John saw Jesus coming and he said this is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. So, he witnesses that He is the Messiah.

The 3 rd day is in verse 35, all this in chapter 1, where Andrew goes and gets his brother St. Peter and he says to him: We have found the Messiah.

The 4 th day is in verse 43 where Nathanael says to God: Rabbi, you are the Son of God.

So now, going to chapter 2, he says:

'' 1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ''They have no wine.'' (John 2:1-3)

So, when we look at the first four days in chapter 1, they all start... the 1 st day starts with this is the testimony of John, in verse 19, and the 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th day, they start with on the next day or on the following day... So, these are the first four days. But then, in chapter 2, St. John, the Evangelist, jumps from the 4 th day to the 7 th day straight. He says on the 3 rd day. And there's deep symbolism for this, which we'll see in a second.

Prior to understanding the symbolism or the deeper meaning within this passage, we have to look at the literal meaning first. St. John Chrysostom says how Christ here, His own presence

in the wedding blessed marriage, very simply put. That procreation is a good thing. The bed in marriage is undefiled. All of this is within God. St. Clement of Alexandria says how marriage is beautiful and how a parent sacrifices himself by showing love to his children.

So, marriage is definitely something that is absolutely pure, something that is very much within God. It is a calling and it's not easy. It's difficult. And we sacrifice ourselves within marriage and within parenting. This is the literal understanding of this passage.

Now the symbolic meaning is very beautiful. Usually, when we hear or read on the 3 rd day, especially in the Old Testament, but even specifically in this case, it is a symbol of the resurrection, right? So, Christ, King, was incarnate, died and raised for us, that we may partake in Him, share in Him and having fellowship with Him. We have fellowship with the Trinity like St. John says in his first Epistle. And therefore, our joy is full, right?

So here, it is not a surprise that on the 3 rd day, there's a wedding. Christ is the bridegroom. We are the bride and we are to have to... an intimate relationship with Him. And within this intimate relationship, again, there is joy. But we find ourselves heal... in that wedding, there is no wine. And wine, throughout the Old Testament, is a symbol of joy.

So, rather than having joy on this day of resurrection, rather than living a resurrected life here on earth and becoming saints within the Church, people, here in this wedding, found themselves without wine, without joy. Let's see why. So, St. John Chrysostom says the following:

''Assuredly they who invited Him had not formed a proper judgment of Him, nor did they invite Him as some great one, but merely as an ordinary acquaintance; and this the Evangelist has hinted at, when he says, 'The mother of Jesus was there, and His brethren.' '' (St. John Chrysostom)

So, the Gospel says that Jesus was there, His mother as well and His disciples. So, what St. John is saying it this. Imagine a weddin' reception today. Usually we have, like, a table in the front where we have the bride and the bridegroom, then you have close tables of important people. Maybe you have the parents and you have the bride's maids and the groom's men, and then you have everybody else in the back, right? And then you have people all the way in the back, you have people there a bit closer, but regardless, everybody else is, let's say, secondary to the wedding. Here, Christ is sitting amongst the ordinary people. Like St. John says, He was an ordinary acquaintance to them. He was not a great one, like he says in his quotation. And this is mainly the problem.

So, this is a message for us. Often, as Christians, we live a life that is not saintly. And when it's not saintly, there's no joy. We run out of wine. Why? Because Christ has no place in our life. Because we deal with Christ like an ordinary acquaintance. We don't deal with Him as the Great One with a capital G, capital O, as the Being, the capital B being, right?

He's THE Being. He is the centre of my life. He's the centre of my marriage. He is the foundation of my friendships. He's the foundation of my work. He's the purpose of my life. So, when Christ is only an ordinary acquaintance, we are living this life, which is supposed to be in heaven, living this marriage, but we run out of wine. We run out of joy. And this is a disaster.

And that's what here St. John is implying to. He's talking to the 1 st century Christians and telling them, explaining to them why is it that we can run out of joy. And again, in his first Epistle he says: but if you have fellowship with Christ, and therefore, the Trinity, your joy will be full.

So, as a response to St. Mary's saying to Him they have no wine, Jesus says:

'' 4 Jesus said to her, ''Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.'' 5 His mother said to the servants, ''Whatever He says to you, do it.'' (John 2:4-5)

And we know that Christ goes ahead and does the miracle. What we have to understand is this. It's that when Christ says my hour has not yet come, He's saying this because He understands that if He starts doing a miracle and if He does a miracle that is public, then one thing leads to another and the road to the cross is accelerated, right?. And that's why He says my hour as not yet come. The time of the cross is not at hand, in other words.

But here, what's important is that Christ did not change His mind. He did not do the miracle publicly. He did it privately on the side of the servants, as we know the story, right? So, Christ, again, does not change His mind.

The second point that is important when He calls St. Mary woman. Here, the word woman is not a disrespectful term. So, today, someone that says to a woman woman, like, it might sound kind of rude or kind of impolite, but at that time, it was not the case. It was proper to say the word woman to someone. It was kind of equivalent to the word madam, right? So, that's what it meant at the time.

But here, again, there's something very important. Christ does not call St. Mary mother, but He calls her madam, meaning although He's obedient to her as a Son is obedient to his mother, He says to her in this specific case woman or madam, meaning don't forget, I am the Son of God. I am your God. So, I am your Son, but also paradoxically, I am your God and I am the one at the end that calls the shots, right? So here, St. John wants to demonstrate, being the theologian, right?, who the Son of Man or the Son of God really is once more.

But once again, there's a deeper meaning here. So, St. Mary tells Christ they have no wine. Christ responds woman, my hour has not yet come. St. Mary goes to the servants and says whatever He says to you, do it, right? Obviously, the symbolic meaning here is intercession.

And we already spoke in Apostolic Answers on what is intercession and how import it is. And we also have another video called Why Is St. Mary Such an Important Figure in Christianity?

Because they had truly a deep and meaningful and intimate relationship being... God being her God and God being also her Son. So, rather than explaining all of this here today again, if you are interested in this subject, we will put the links in the comments section and you can go ahead and watch these videos.

So, back to the text, it says, in verse 6:

'' 6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.'' (John 2:6)

So, these waterpots were waterpots that the Jews used to wash their hands with, with the water inside it, obviously, prior to every meal, right? So, this is what's part of the ritual that they did prior to every meal. And then it says:

'' 7 Jesus said to them, ''Fill the waterpots with water.'' And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, ''Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.'' And they took it.'' (John 2:7-8)

So here, obviously, the literal understanding is very obvious. Symbolically, there's again a beautiful meaning, right? So here, we are the waterpots and God wants to fill us with water all the way up to the brim. When we talk about or when we remember the story of the Samaritan woman, Christ tells her: I have water that if I give you, you will not thirst anymore. And we know that in John 4, like we will see, God willing, the story, this water's a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

So here, I, being the vessel, being the waterpot, and Christ wants to fill me with His water, His holy water, His living water, which is the Holy Spirit. And He wants to fill me with His Spirit to the brim. He wants me to be full of Him. And notice how, once I am full of Him, like in this specific story, He takes that water and He transforms it into wine. So, the water of the Holy Spirit becomes the source of joy, because wine, again, is a symbol of joy.

So again, once having Christ as the pillar of our lives, our foundation, the centre of our lives, we become filled of the spirit of this living water that is transformed into this beautiful wine that gives joy, right? And this is the symbolic meaning of this portion.

So, at this point, the water's being changed into wine privately, right?, where the servants are and they're about to bring the water, or the wine, I should say, to the master of the feast. And you can imagine the master of the feast being very anxious. Why? Because this was a disaster. Culturally, this was a huge problem. When you have a wedding that lasts days like

this and you run out of wine, people know about it. People hear about it. People talk about it. And most probably, your reputation is ruined for life as a bride and a bridegroom. This was a really, really big deal.

But here, we have to learn something from St. Mary. Is that she didn't way well, it's their problem. She made it her problem. She got up. She went to see her Son and she asked for a miracle. Obviously, sometimes we don't have Christ and He's not at our disposition to make miracles like this, but often, there are things in our hands that we could do. We can go help others, right? We need to learn that aspect of leadership from St. Mary in the story.

Because of her love for others, she went and did. We ought to do the same. Often, we find people complaining in church in the... or because there's issues or complaining because there's issues in society or in government or at work, whatever it may be, and people just talk. But talk is cheap. Get up. Do something. And that's how it's supposed to be, supposed to be that locally, we enlighten the world.

So, I know, we have a few people in the city. They're enlightening that city. You have these other people in this other city enlighting that other city and so on and so forth. But that happens only when we, as Christians, we stand up and we do something about it. So, let us learn from St. Mary in this passage.

So, going back to the text, in verse 9, it says:

'' 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, ''Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!'' (John 2:9-10)

So here, we obviously see a comparison between two different types of wine: a first one and a second one. And maybe you have guessed it: the first one doesn't last. So, it is a symbol of the earthly joy. And we can see this in people that commit sin, you know, once they commit sin, they find a certain earthly joy, a certain pleasure in sin. But once they have become slaves to that sin, there's no more pleasure, no more joy. The sin, the joy found in sin does not last.

But the second type of joy is the heavenly joy. And not only does it last, but it tastes much better. And that's the whole point. When God fills us with the living water of the Holy Spirit in us, being the vessel, the waterpot, He takes that source of living water and transforms it into a source of heavenly joy. And therefore, we live a happy life with Christ and we are in the wedding, but we are enjoying that wedding.

And then, in verse 11, it says:

'' 11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.'' (John 2:11)

The word believe here does not merely mean, you know, I trust you as if it is some sort of mental activity. It goes much deeper than that, but we will see this in another episode, God willing. And for now...

Glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.

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