Jewish - the feast, the guests, the invitation of the stranger Rabbi, and its acceptance by

Jesus. Any Jewish Rabbi would have gone, but how differently from Him would he have

spoken and acted! Let us first think of the scenic details of the narrative. Strangely, we

are not able to fix with certainty the site of the little town of Cana.30 But if we adopt the

most probable identification of it with the modern pleasant village of Kefr Kenna,31 a few

miles north-east of Nazareth, on the road to the Lake of Galilee, we picture it to ourselves

as on the slope of a hill, its houses rising terrace upon terrace, looking north and west

over a large plain (that of Battauf), and south upon a va lley, beyond which the hills rise

that separate it from Mount Tabor and the plain of Jezreel. As we approach the little town

through that smiling valley, we come upon a fountain of excellent water, around which

the village gardens and orchards clustered, t hat produced in great abundance the best

pomegranates in Palestine. Here was the home of Nathanael- Bartholomew, and it seems

not unlikely, that with him Jesus had passed the time intervening between His arrival and

'the marriage,' to which His Mother had come - the omission of all mention of Joseph

leading to the supposition, that he had died before that time. The inquiry, what had

brought Jesus to Cana, seems almost worse than idle, remembering what had passed

between Him and Nathanael, and what was to happen in the first 'sign,' which was to

manifest His glory. It is needless to speculate, whether He had known beforehand of 'the

marriage.' But we can understand the longing of the 'Israelite indeed' to have Him under

his roof, though we can only imagine wha t the Heavenly Guest, would now teach him,

and those others who accompanied Him. Nor is there any difficulty in understanding, that

on His arrival He would hear of this 'marriage,' of the presence of His Mother in what

seems to have been the house of a friend if not a relative; that Jesus and His disciples

would be bidden to the feast; and that He resolved not only to comply with the request,

but to use it as a leave-taking from home and friends - similar, though also far other, than

that of Elisha, when he entered on his mission. Yet it seems deeply significant, that the

'true Israelite' should have been honoured to be the first host of 'Israel's King.'

Conder, Tent-Work in Palestine, vol. i. pp. 150-155. Zeller makes it five miles from

And truly a leave-taking it was for Christ from former friends and home - a leave-taking

also from His past life. If one part of the narrative - that of His dealing with His Mother -

has any special meaning, it is that of leave-taking, or rather of leaving home and family,

just as with this first 'sign' He took leave of all the past. When he had returned from His

first Temple-visit, it had been in the self-examination of voluntary humility: to 'be subject

to His Parents.' That period was now ended, and a new one had begun - that of active

consecration of the whole life to His 'Father's business.' And what passed at the marriage -

feast marks the beginning of this period. We stand on the threshold, over which we pass

from the old to the new - to use a New Testament figure: to the marriage-supper of the