Wedding at Cana: Jesus, His Five, and Marry Attend

On the third day after Jesus had called these five men to be His disciples, there was a wedding in Cana, a small village in Galilee, to which Jesus’ mother had been invited. Jesus and His disciples were also invited.

--> Remember that John and James were Jesus' cousins. Along with their father, Zebedee, they owned a fishing business in Bethsaida. This was the same small town where Peter and Andrew had their fishing business. Philip and Nathanael were close friends, also from the same village. More than likely, all these people were friends, and possibly family, of either the bride, the groom, or possibly both.

Ancient Jewish weddings were not like our western weddings today. Virgins were married on Wednesdays, widows on Thursdays, and all the days left in that given week were given over to feasting.

The groom would prepare the place where he and his bride would live and made all the wedding preparations – the groom and his family paid for the whole thing.

When everything was ready, the groom would send family members and friends, most often at night, over to the bride’s house to escort her back to what would be their new home. It was always a surprise when, exactly, this processional would show up.

Family and friends of both the bride and groom, all carrying torches, would bring the bride to the party. The couple were crowned king and queen, and open house lasted for days.

Weddings were the most sacred of all family events, so much so that even funeral processions had to stop for wedding processions. Every wedding symbolized God’s marriage to Israel, and the wine represented the prosperity and joy of God’s blessing. It would have been disaster if the wine ran out before the wedding feast was over.

It was at the high point of these festivities that Mary came to Jesus to tell Him that the wine was gone. Mary was close to the family, she was familiar with the servants, and the behind-the-scenes activities. She was able to see this potentially devastating situation before it played out and wanted to rescue what was happening.

Mary was not in a position to buy wine, or get more wine, but she went to her Son, Who had always proven so capable and faithful in taking care of her and His family.

Mary didn’t tell Jesus to do anything, she just came to Him with this impossible problem. Of everyone there, she knew best Who Jesus really was, and had been pondering in her heart what that meant. Now, with His newly gathered disciples, at a symbolically rich event, she possibly saw this as the very opportunity for Jesus to come into His own.

Does human pressure or God’s will determine my actions? We know that Jesus only said and did what the Father gave Him to say and do, so this was not Mary's doing; she wasn't in charge of Jesus.

Still, Jesus responded to her with warmth, compassion and power. This was God sovereignly acting. Jesus’ response to Mary reflected a turning point in their relationship that she may not have been expecting. He was preparing her to see Him as her Lord, and not as her son.

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