WATER TO WINE
John 2:1-34 : The third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the wedding. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”
For a long time, including ancient, medieval and modern ages, a little wine, even on a daily bases, had been considered beneficial for your health, especially red wine, on a dinner table. As Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, that “Be no longer a drinker of water only, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.”
Paul possible meant, that dear Timothy, please use a little wine as medicine, to cure or contain illness.
A 2017 medical study from Texas said that the grape skin and grape seeds have a chemical component called resveratrol, which is considered as a powerful antioxidant, which even might be able to fight cancer. Although the study itself says, that the researchers did not established any connection between resveratrol containing wine and any cancer fighting effect, still the study suggest, that because red grapes usually contains more resveratrol anti-oxidant, so people should choose red wine over white wine.
The study also maintains that although some benefits from an occasional glass of wine are assumed, still the long term alcohol consumption is proven to lead to several illnesses all over the human body, thus, the safest choice is to abstain from any amount of alcohol aka not-drinking is safer in general.
Interestingly, the same Apostle Paul, who advised Timothy to drink a little, he also stated in his letter to the Romans, chapter 14, that, people, 20 “Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating. 21 It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.”
Although he made this statement as a spiritual advise, still it is parallel with the newest studies, and the very recent advisory statement from the US surgeon general, calling for a warning to be added to the labels of alcoholic beverages, that alcohol may cause cancer, similar to the warnings on the tobacco products. The warning of the US surgeon general also pronounces that the risk of cancer increasing the more a person drinks.
So practically the world slowly but gradually turned into a less tolerating place toward alcohol or even wine. The enforced temperance became a disaster in the United States, when for the sake of the so called prohibition law, they had to amend even the Constitution, between 1920 and 1933 in order to address nationwide alcoholism ravaging for centuries.
The introduction of the full prohibition in those special circumstances might have been understandable, meanwhile it failed. The modern temperance movements try to promote increased taxation, to reduce alcohol advertising, and to monitor the beverage industry, and the new warning label is can be a part of these regulating efforts, which are definitely nedeed, as even the human history after the Great Deluge just started with drunkenness, according to the Bible.
Contrary to Adam's ale, which is a pure glass of water, Noah's wine is an alcoholic beverage. The old tale says that Adam was the first tiller of the soil, and Noah was the first vine planter.
After the Flood Noah began growing crops, and he planted a vineyard as well, saying that its fruit, fresh or dried, is sweet like honey, and also one will be able to make wine, for the drink gladdens the heart.
An ancient parable tried to warn humanity of the dangers of heavy drinking. When a man drinks a glass of wine, he became a lamb, humble and meek.
When he drinks the second glass, he feels like a lion, bragging and boasting with strength and imagined power. When he drinks the third glass, he starts to act like a monkey, disgusting and obscene, losing decency. Finally, drinking even more, men become pigs, leaving behind all dignity, wallowing in physical and moral mire.
The sages said that unfortunately all of these befell Noah.
Why did Noah choose to make vine, and why did he want to make merry his heart?
Why did he get blank drunk, why he became an abomination in the eyes of his sons, even if for one day only? We shall not forget what they went through.
The generation of the Flood did not repent, and they were wiped out.
Noah was righteous and he lived, and with him his all family and the continuation of humanity survived. God still grieved for the people, so did Noah, and he drank wine to ease his grieve.
The New Testament story of the wedding in Cana, can be found only in the Gospel of John, and nowhere else. Nonetheless, Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Great Council, told Jesus during that memorable night of his visiting Jesus, that “Rabbi, we know, that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”
It is emphasized in the Gospel, that this miraculous sign of creating quality wine out of mere water, he performed at the wedding in Cana, Galilee, was the first of his miracles, which followed by many more, as it is written in the Gospel of John, that
“This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
It was the first of the seven signs in the Gospel of John by which Jesus' divine status is sought to be proven, and around which the gospel’s written structure was organized.
The historical accuracy, though it must be scientifically and finally established, it was not and still it is not that relevant or even that important for the message, because the language of this message in the Gospel must have used the contemporary communication channels, which were the myths and the legends genre story-telling.
Although we should feel, that this language has no real relevance today, as it is already two-thousand years old and more, but at that time, it was the spiritually accepted tunnel of communicating of faith messages, and it was the only language everybody easily understood, as they accepted the stories and the message behind the stories in their mythological and spiritual context.
Turning the water of disbelief into believing in Jesus was the real miracle, and it was put into the visual metaphor of turning water into wine. Thus, although the historical accuracy of the Gospel is a bit blurry indeed, the major message is still true, that Jesus gave them a miraculous sign of his leadership in Cana, and the disciples believed in him. As Jesus said it later that “Blessed is he (or she) who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.” May we all be blessed in the same way, and may we bless the Lord always, AMEN .
