GEJ 1.10

The ‘And’ that appears at the very beginning of the first verse of the second chapter attests that the two chapters are completely connected. This is already evident from the fact that this wedding, in a family on close terms with Joseph’s household, took place on the third day mentioned. The days are counted from the day on which I left Bethabara with My disciples—only four up to this event. After that, I spent a full day with these four disciples in the house of Joseph, who was no longer alive, with the mother of My body. Together with My other brothers, she naturally took the greatest care and trouble to provide for us as well as possible.

Mary knew very well in her heart that My time had come to appear as the promised Messiah and begin My work. Yet she too did not know how I would act or what My work would consist of. For the time being, she still believed in the complete expulsion of the Romans and the restoration of David’s mighty throne, with the unshakable, invincible and divinely glorious authority resting upon it, which would never end from that time onward.

Good Mary and all My earthly relatives still imagined the Messiah as a conqueror of the Romans and the other enemies of the Promised Land. Indeed, even the best of them had almost the same idea of the promised Messiah as many otherwise honorable people today have in their wholly mistaken conception of the thousand-year kingdom. But it was not yet time to give them a different idea.

Since My own household, beginning with Mary, was animated by such an idea of the coming Messiah, one may rightly assume that other friendly families could have had no better idea.

For this very reason, many families showed Me the greatest attention, and naturally also all those whom I designated as My disciples. This is also why James and John decided to become My disciples: so that they might then rule the peoples of the earth with Me! For they had already forgotten many things I had often foretold to them quite clearly in My childhood.

Thus, in nearly all the better households throughout the area around Nazareth, indeed in almost all Galilee, I had the reputation of a deliverer soon to appear and free them from the Roman yoke, and so I was invited to a very distinguished wedding in Cana. This reputation had existed for only a few months. During that time I had again begun to make certain preparations pointing in that direction. As a result, in the friendly households the promises attached to My person began to come alive again, like many other things that had lain dormant and forgotten for eighteen years. Cana was a small old town in Galilee, not very far from Nazareth. My disciples, My mother Mary and many other relatives and acquaintances were invited with Me. The wedding was so cheerful and joyful that the four disciples from Bethabara remarked to Me:

‘Lord, life here is considerably better than in Bethabara! Perhaps poor John too would be very glad if, just once in his life, he could have a meal like this instead of his desperately poor fare, which consists mostly of a few scalded locusts and wild bees’ honey!’ (In this region, as also in Arabia, there is a species of locust the size of a pigeon, prepared much as crayfish are here in this country.)

I answered them: ‘You cannot yet understand why John must live this way. He must do so, otherwise Scripture would not be fulfilled. But he will soon enter a better life. Jerusalem will not let him continue his work in the wilderness much longer. From now on he will decrease, so that Another may grow in his place!

But what of the disciple who was first with Me together with you, Andrew? Will he follow, or will he remain in Bethabara?’ Andrew says: ‘Look, he is already coming; he still had a number of things to put in order.’ I say: ‘That is good! For where there is a Cephas, there must also be a Thomas.’ Andrew says: ‘Yes, that is his name! He is an honest soul, but always full of scruples and doubts. Yet once he grasps something, he never lets it go, although his heart is exceedingly generous. It is because of this generosity that he received his byname. He is coming, Lord. Shall I call him in, this twin?’ I say: ‘Yes, do so! For whoever comes in My name shall be invited as a guest to the wedding.’

According to the custom of that time, a newly arriving guest was to be welcomed with a cup of wine. But Mary had noticed for some time that the supply of wine had been exhausted. She therefore also realized that the newly arrived guest could not be welcomed according to the proper custom. So she says to Me privately: ‘But my dear son, this will be a fine state of affairs! They have no wine left. Could You perhaps provide some, at least for this newcomer?’

I then give Mary an answer with a double meaning before all the guests, though in very gentle language. Because of the custom then usual, especially around Nazareth, I say to her: ‘Woman (Mother), what concern is that of Mine and yours? As an invited guest, it is not yet My turn to provide the wine. My time has not yet come!’ In that time and region, every invited male wedding guest had to bring a voluntary contribution of wine. A certain order had to be observed: first the gifts of the closest relatives were consumed; when these were finished, the gifts of guests who were not blood relatives were taken in order of rank. But Mary knew that the entire supply of wine had already been exhausted. She turned to Me particularly because a new guest was arriving and not a drop of wine remained to welcome him, in effect asking Me to pass over the customary order this time. For on such occasions the mother attached great importance to the old established custom. Although I did not show Myself particularly inclined to do so, she knew Me and knew that I had never left unfulfilled anything she had once wished for.

In firm trust in Me, she therefore turned to the table servants and said to them: ‘Whatever my son tells you, do it.’

So far extends the actual historical content of these verses of the second chapter. But within this historical event—or, as people say, beyond this history—a spiritual and therefore prophetic meaning is already borne out, one that can be found very easily through the capacity for inner thought.

Who could fail to notice one of the most striking correspondences between this wedding, which took place on the third day after My return from the wilderness of Bethabara, and My resurrection, which likewise occurred on the third day after My crucifixion?

This wedding thus indicated in the prophetic spirit that, after three years, I would certainly and surely celebrate a true wedding as the eternal Bridegroom with all who acknowledge Me and truly love Me, in their rebirth into eternal life.

In its general practical meaning, this wedding account—which, mark well, took place three days after My return from the wilderness—also testifies to the three stages every human being must pass through to attain the rebirth of the spirit, or the eternal wedding of life in the great Cana of heavenly Galilee.

The three stages are: first, the taming of the flesh; then, the purification of the soul through living faith, which must naturally prove itself alive through works of love, since otherwise it is dead; and finally, the awakening of the spirit from the grave of judgment. In the raising of Lazarus, we are surely given the image that corresponds to this in its full meaning. Anyone who reflects a little on this explanation will easily find their way in all that follows.

Now that we have unfolded the spiritual meaning of what this wedding account signifies in general, let us return to the further course of the wedding, and at the end of the account examine its particular correspondences.