Sign in Cana

“Plainly he records the miracle because he believes that it happened. But for him the Miracles are all ‘signs’: they point beyond themselves. This particular miracle signifies that there is a transforming power associated with Jesus. He changes the water of Judaism into the wine of Christianity, the water of Christlessness into the wine of the richness and the fullness of eternal life in Christ, the water of the law into the wine of the gospel.”

I’ve never thought before that this passage makes a partial parallel to the wine and wineskins of Luke. John’s use of signs, explaining the truth allegorically, like a live action parable is a little new to me. I guess I owe that to my fundamentalist background. Reading the church fathers, most recently Augustine, I begin to appreciate more the ancient exegesis of texts. I am less likely to see the significance of the miracle in that it happened, as a bit of historical information about the life of Christ. Rather I see the significance in the mystical and spiritual realities they present, these are completely independent of their historicity. Not that I believe them to not have happened (i.e. attempts to de-mystify Jesus) but rather I think it really doesn’t matter at all to the reading.

Happened-in-reality or not – not skin off our collective noses. It is real and true regardless. So I choose to believe it happened. Why not? What is far more important is: what is the reality and significance? What does it really tell us about Jesus?

Here we see the first glimpse of his glory in John. His time has not yet come to be glorified, but we see a sign (first of many) of what will culminate on the cross of glory.