The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Baptism. In the desert. First acceptance of disciples
- Chapter 10 -
New disciples: James, John and Thomas.
The 'And' here already appearing at the beginning of the first verse of the second chapter proves that these two chapters are closely connected. Hence it appears that this wedding in a family who is on very friendly terms with the house of Joseph takes place already on the mentioned third day, namely, counting from the day when I left Bethabara with my so far only four disciples and together with them spent a full day at the house of Joseph - who was no longer alive at that time - with the mother of My body who, helped by My other brothers, made every effort to show us the best possible hospitality.
2
In her heart Mary did realise that now the time had come for Me to begin My mission as the promised Messiah. However, wherein My work would consist she did not know either. At this stage she, too, believed in the complete expulsion of the Romans and the restoration of the mighty throne of David and its stable and invincible divinely glorious dignity which would never end.
3
The good Mary and all My earthly relatives still imagined the Messiah as a conqueror of the Romans and other enemies of the promised land. Indeed, the best of them had a similar idea concerning the promised Messiah, just as at the present time many otherwise honest people have quite a false notion about he millennium. But the time had not yet come to give them a different conception.
4
Thus, since My own house, beginning with Mary, had this notion about the coming Messiah, it can rightly be assumed that other friendly families could not have a better one.
5
This is also the reason why many families paid much attention to Me and, of course, to those whom I called My disciples. As a result also James and John decided to become My disciples, in order to rule the nations of the earth together with Me, for they had already forgotten many a thing I had rather clearly predicted to them in My childhood.
6
In all the better houses in the neighbourhood of Nazareth, practically in all of Galilee, I was considered to be a soon-to-emerge liberator from the Roman yoke, although this had been the case only for the few months since I had begun to make certain preparations thanks to which - like many a thing that had sunk into oblivion during the past 18 years - also certain prophecies concerning My person were beginning to come to life again in the houses of friends. Therefore I was invited with My disciples, My mother Mary and many other relatives and friends even to quite a notable wedding in Cana, a little old town in Galilee not very far from Nazareth, where there was much gaiety, so that the four disciples from Bethabara remarked to Me:
7
'Lord! Things are much more pleasant here than at Bethabara. Poor John, too, might be very glad if for once in his life he could partake of a meal like this here, instead of his desperately poor fare, which consists mainly of slightly scaled locusts and the honey of wild bees.' (There exists in this region, as also in Arabia, a species of pigeon-sized locusts which are prepared and eaten similar to crabs in this country - Austria.)
8
To this I replied, 'At this stage you cannot understand as yet why John has to live in this way; he has to live thus, otherwise the Scripture would not be fulfilled. But soon he will have a better life. Jerusalem will not allow him to continue his in the desert much longer. From now on he will grow less, so that another one may grow greater.
9
But what about the disciple who came to Me first with you, Andrew? Will he follow or will he stay at Bethabara?' Says Andrew, 'Look, he will come, but he had to make some arrangements first.' - Say I, 'That is good! For where there is a Cephas, there must also be a Thomas.' Says Andrew, 'Yes, that is his name. An honest soul, but always full of scruples and doubts. However, once he as grasped something he will never let it go, although he has an extremely generous heart. Because of his generosity he has been given this nickname. - He is coming, Lord, shall I call him in, this Twin?' Say I, 'Yes, do that, - for whoever comes in My name, shall be invited to the wedding.'
10
According to the custom of that time, every guest arriving had to be welcomed with a cup of wine. Mary had already noticed for some time that the supply of wine had given out and she realised that the newly arrived guest could not be received properly according to custom. Therefore she said secretly to Me, 'My dear son, that will be embarrassing. The wine has given out. They have none left. You could create some (at least for the newly arrived).'
11
Whereupon I gave a most ambiguous answer in front of all the guest, but, of course, in a very gently way, saying to her because of the custom of those days, especially around Nazareth, 'Woman(mother), that is none of our concern. - It is not yet my turn as an invited guest to supply wine; My time has not come yet.' - (At that time and in that region every invited male wedding guest had to make a voluntary gift of wine. However, a certain order had to be observed according to which the gifts of the closest relatives had to be consumed first. Once these had been used up also the gifts of the guests who were no bleed relations were used in order of precedence.) But Mary knew that the available wine had given out. So she turned to Me and, as it were, suggested that I skip the customary order, especially since a new guest was arriving for whose welcome not a drop of wine was left. The mother was very particular in observing the good old custom on such occasions. Although I did not appear too cooperative in this matter, My mother knew Me and that I never refused to fulfill any of her wishes.
12
And so, fully relying on Me, she turned to the servants and said, 'Do whatever my Son will tell you.'
13
This is as far as the historical part of this verse in the second chapter is concerned. But contained in this historical event or, as it were beyond it, a spiritual and therefore prophetic meaning is also present which with the help of an inner reasoning power is very easy to discover.
14
Who can fail to observe that there exists one of the most striking correspondences between this wedding, which took place on the third day after My return from the desert Bethabara, and My resurrection which occurred also on the third day after My crucifixion?
15
Thus through this wedding an indication was prophetically given as to what would happen to Me after three years; and - in a somewhat wider concept - that after three years I would certainly and surely, as an eternal bridegroom, be holding a true wedding with all My followers and those who truly love Me in their rebirth into eternal life.
16
In its general practical sense, however, this story of the wedding which - this must be understood, - took place three days after My return from the desert, points to the three stages through which everyone has to pass in order to attain to the rebirth of the spirit or the eternal-life-wedding in the great Cana of the heavenly Galilee.
17
These three stages comprise: First the mastering of the flesh, then the cleansing of the soul through the living faith which has, of course, to prove itself as alive through works of love, as it would otherwise be dead, and finally the awakening of the spirit from the grave of judgement, for which in the raising of Lazarus from the dead surely the clearest analogy is given. Whoever will ponder a little on this little explanation will find what follows easy to understand.
18
After here having unfolded the spiritual meaning of this wedding story, that is, what is in general meant by it, let us now return to the wedding and look at the different correspondences in this story.