The phenomenon of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana is the get-go of Jesus' miracles recounted in the Gospel of John, and every bit such it marks a decisive moment in the story of Jesus' divinity. But there are several mysterious details nigh the story which are worthy of closer analysis, not least the matter of where 'Cana' exactly was.

The miracle is told of in John two:ane-11. Jesus, his mother, and his disciples attend a wedding in the village of Cana. When the vino runs out at the feast, Jesus turns water into vino, thus demonstrating his divinity to his disciples.

Allow's take a closer look at the 'water into wine' miracle by analysing what John tells us.

Jesus turning water into wine: summary

In John affiliate 2 verses ane-11, nosotros are given an account of the marriage at Cana, where the miracle takes place.

John tells us that in that location was a marriage 'in Cana of Galilee' and 'the mother of Jesus', i.e., the Virgin Mary, was present. Jesus and his disciples were also 'chosen' to the marriage. At the wedding, they ran out of wine and Jesus' mother told him that they'd run out, implying that he could maybe … help out.

Jesus replied rather sharply: 'Woman, what take I to do with thee? mine hr is not even so come up.' In other words, 'woman, what am I going to do with you? Yous're hopeless! I'm not set up to announce my divinity to the world' (i.east., by performing a miracle and magicking up some wine in public).

Only Jesus seems to have come round. Mary told the servants at the wedding, whatever her son tells them to practice, they should practice it.

There were 6 water pots made out of stone. Jesus told the servants to fill them upward with water, and they did so. Then he told them to fetch the governor or 'ruler' (i.e., the steward) of the feast. They did so.

The ruler of the feast tasted the water, and realised that information technology was wine. He couldn't say where it had come from, just the servants knew (and probably smiled to themselves, as they realised what Jesus had washed). The steward of the banquet then chosen the bridegroom and congratulated him for keeping 'the good wine' back until this point in the banquet.

Jesus turning water into vino: analysis

The miracle at Cana is frequently imagined (by people who know vaguely of the story but take never read what the Bible actually says about information technology) as a public demonstration of Jesus' divinity. But this act is, we should note, performed only with the utmost reluctance – Jesus even shouts at his female parent for persuading him to plow the water into wine, later on all! – and kept secret from the majority of guests at the wedding. Jesus' disciples know the truth, as do the servants, but it is clearly stated past John that the groom publicly gets the credit for the wine, and the governor or steward in charge of the feast doesn't suspect that Jesus is behind it.

As such, the phenomenon is very different from one performed later in Jesus' ministry: the feeding of the v grand (as it is normally known) which nosotros have previously analysed here. By that point, Jesus is on the run afterwards John the Baptist'southward death and has amassed a vast following: a whole crowd which gathers effectually him to hear what he has to say. There, Jesus performs his miracle – making the loaves and fishes feed every man, woman, and child present – in front of the multitude then there can be no doubt as to his divinity.

Cana is remembered now for one thing and one thing only: the fact that, according to John, Jesus turned h2o into vino there. But where Cana was is a mystery. Nosotros know information technology was somewhere in Galilee, that part of Palestine where Jesus was preaching at the fourth dimension, and several possible sites take been proposed, including Kafr Kanna, Khirbet Qana in Lower Galilee, Reineh in Lower Galilee, and Qana in Upper Galilee. Of these, the authors of the Dictionary of the Bible propose Khirbet Qana equally the true identity of 'Cana of Galilee', which would have been so named to distinguish it from a 'Kanah' in the Former Attestation, in the Book of Joshua. (Joshua's Kanah was probably nearly Tyre, in modern-day Lebanon.)

The name Cana is thought to be from the Hebrew or Aramaic for 'reeds', merely even that nosotros cannot be certain about. Outside of John's gospel, Cana isn't mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. Nathanael, one of Jesus' disciples whom only John mentions, came from Cana, and after in John's gospel we are told that Jesus healed a nobleman'southward son at Capernaum, shortly after Jesus had returned to Cana (John 4:46).

Whatsoever the truth, it's likely that Cana was a few miles north of Nazareth, the place where Jesus grew up and where he kickoff began to preach his teachings. Since the phenomenon of turning the water into wine is widely regarded as Jesus' beginning miracle, information technology seems advisable that it would happen at an event not far from Jesus' home, while he was with his mother. Whilst after miracles often take identify with a gathering of Jesus' followers assembled around him, at this phase the crowd is there to witness the marriage of two other people, and the opportunity for Jesus' phenomenon arises naturally from a catering oversight.