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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Marriage at Cana.
The invitation:
v. 1. And the third day there was a marriage in Calla of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there;
v. 2. And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the marriage.
On the third day after the incidents which were narrated last; for so long it took for the journey from Judea, if this was made in a leisurely manner. There was a marriage with a wedding-feast, the only one of which the gospels tell us that Jesus attended. Marriage is a divine institution, and it is well-pleasing to the Lord; it is fully in agreement with His design and will that people enter into this holy estate in a proper way, and with a full understanding of its rights and privileges, as wells its duties. "Since, then, the estate of marriage has that basis and comfort, that it was instituted by God, and that God loves it and Christ Himself honors and consoles it, it should rightly be held dear and valued highly by everyone, and the heart should be of good cheer in the certainty of this estate which God cherishes, and gladly suffer all that is hard to bear therein, though it were ten times as hard to bear. For that is the reason for so much trouble and displeasure in the wedded state according to the outward man, since all that is God's Word and work must experience this, that it is sour, bitter, and difficult for the outward man, if it is to be blessed. Therefore it is also an estate which exercises faith in God and love toward our neighbor by manifold trouble and work, disinclination, cross, and various adversity, as must follow upon that which is God's Word and work. " This marriage was celebrated at Cana, a little town a few miles north or northeast of Nazareth, on the road to the Sea of Galilee. It is distinguished from another Cana, situated in Judea. Only the mother of Jesus is mentioned as having been there, Joseph having probably died meanwhile. For the sake of the mother, out of deference to her, both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the marriage. There were at least five men in the company of Jesus at this time, and there may have been more, Jesus had been in Judea for some time after leaving His home to be baptized of John, and the exact date of His return was not known. When He came, therefore, in the company of these other men, the number of guests was considerably increased. "The presence of Christ, with His mother and disciples, at a wedding-feast, and His performing His first miracle there, is a silent condemnation of monkish asceticism, and a recognition of the marriage relation as honorable and holy. Christianity is no flight from the world, no annihilation of the order of nature, but the sanctification of it; no moroseness of spirit, but joy and gladness."