Of course, it is not my intention to interfere with God’s work, even though I wonder why did Jesus change water into wine. In this way, He somehow nullified the importance of water for life. Anyway, I expect that Jesus knew what He was doing. After all, he was the son of God. But He left me in doubt. Why?
There Are Tons of Explanations Concerning the Question of Why Did Jesus Change Water into Wine
Suddenly the wine and intoxication are more important. Why Jesus allowed people to drink even more if they were already drunk? Honestly speaking, I would better understand the message of a miracle in the opposite direction. After all, we all know that water is very suitable for avoiding a hangover. Water is healthy in every way, but wine is only acceptable in small quantities. Anyway, church leaders have thousands of explanations for why Jesus changed water into wine. The explanation of this event ruins from the fact that it was not wine but juice to various mystical justifications for drinking in Cana of Galilee. So follow them, if that’s your will. But I dare to advise you on the following. Drink a little more water and less alcohol. Believe me, it’s better for you. Water is a miracle. Water is the basis of life. Not wine. And, after all, who created the water? Supposedly this fluid was done by God. On the other hand, I understand wine as the invention of man for intoxication purposes. There is nothing wrong with drinking wine in moderation. However, exaggeration is detrimental to both body and soul.
Christian Religion and Entertainment
On the other hand, the Christian religion has had a distinct and contradictory attitude towards the culture of entertainment and intoxicants in all its theological and organizational forms ever since the time of the historical Jesus and then throughout the millennia. For the most part, this attitude could be described as dismissive or even condemning.
Christian theology, to a greater extent, of course, Catholic theology, is not based solely on the tradition of Scripture. However, it would be interesting to see what position on entertainment would require a close reading of relevant Bible passages, especially the New Testament. In this essay, we will review some of the theological and critical aspects of the first miracle of Jesus, the conversion of water into wine in Cana of Galilee, and consider its potential relevance to Christian theology’s position in the entertainment culture. This miracle is only told in the Gospel of John and is probably the most famous and vivid example of the entry of the entertainment culture into biblical tradition.
These Are Signs, Not Miracles
As is known, the fourth evangelist John the Miraculous Works of Jesus – healing, exorcisms, etc. – does not call “miracles” or “works of power” (Greek dynámeis), but “signs” (Greek semêia). Miracles, in the first place, represent neither acts of naked mercy or philanthropy nor of the self-sufficient, necessary assertions of the divine nature of Jesus; for John, then, the miracles of Jesus are, above all, a kind of more or less unambiguous message about his divine nature, intended for witnesses to his public action. In this way, John is in marked contrast to the synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – in which Jesus consistently and explicitly either conceals the performance of miraculous works, as in the awakening of the girl in Mr 5:41 or refuses to interpret miracles as signs and leaves such a hermeneutical conclusion. the credibility of the observers – for example in Mr 8:12: “What, does this generation require a sign? Truly, I tell you, no sign will be given to this genus. ”
The First Sign – Conversion of Water into Wine
The first sign of this kind in the Fourth Gospel is the conversion of water into wine in Cana of Galilee. In the second chapter of the Gospel, the evangelist reports that Jesus was invited to a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee at the beginning of his public service; wine went there, and Jesus miraculously changed the water from ceremonial mugs into fine wine at the request of the wedding guests – Jn 2: 1-11. The evangelist then explicitly describes this miraculous event as a sign intended to promote faith: “Thus Jesus in Galilee’s Cana made the first of the signs and revealed his majesty and his disciples believed in him” (Jn 2:11).
Only John Reports This Sign
We can call the credibility of this narrative into question: like most of John’s Gospel narratives, the Passover and Passion narratives are not represented in historically earlier and theologically less tendentious synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Because of this, the story of the miracle in Cana of Galilee cannot be considered with a great likelihood of a credible tradition related to the historical Jesus. At least if we commit to the historical-probabilistic function of editorial criticism, but historical accuracy is not, of course, a necessary prerequisite for the hermeneutics of the Bible as a text of religion. Or, in general, for the hermeneutics of any text that is part of a culture or religion.
From the Cana of Galilee wedding report, we can deduce some unusual items about Jesus’ attitude to fun, alcohol, and joy in the fourth gospel. Assuming the spiritual oneness of the Gospels, we can project this relationship on Jesus’ attitude toward joy in the New Testament in general. These claims follow in the crescendo of increasingly open acceptance and approval (culture) of entertainment.
Is Love for Fun the Main Reason Why Jesus Changed Water into Wine?
First, Jesus does not refuse access to a relaxed social environment with his disciples; Use the invitation to a wedding in Cana as an opportunity for public action in this unique milieu.
Second, the narrative implies that the wedding in Cana has developed into joy; the wines ran out well before the end of the event, and the guests did not want to go home but demanded the celebration to continue, with an implicit desire for intoxication. Nevertheless, Jesus does not renounce guests and leave them or even accuse them of sinful modesty. On the contrary, his first miracle or the signs even satisfy their desire for joy and alcohol stunning.
And thirdly, Jesus not only miraculously enables the guests to continue to rejoice and consume the intoxicating drink, but he even dedicates this miraculous event as his first sign, by which he “revealed his majesty and his disciples believed in him” (Jn 2:11). Thus, not only the miracle of the event is dedicated. All the guests involved in the miracle in the role of witnesses are dedicated too. Also, their desire for an intoxicating drink was supported. And, finally, their intoxication as a companion circumstance of the sign of Jesus.
Moral and Ethical Aspects Regarding This Event
This event and its interpretation have direct applicability in the theological as well as moral and ethical aspects of the culture of entertainment and substance abuse. If Jesus in the Fourth Gospel 1) is present at the celebration, 2) miraculously enables the transition of the celebration into drunken rejoicing, and 3) sanctifies the said miracle, and consequently the guests and their drunkenness, then it follows that the fun and the related cultural-biological phenomena, especially intoxicating intoxicants, cannot be condemned from the standpoint of New Testament ethics.
Interestingly, the evangelist emphasizes explicitly that the wine into which Jesus miraculously transformed the water was of superior quality. This can be understood as a hint of, in a pragmatic sense, the “quality of pleasure”: a culture of cheerfulness and fun is approved and accepted. Participants in this cheer are encouraged to take care of the quality, not just the amount of pleasure it provides when handing over the stunning drink.
But the fun and cheerfulness of the Fourth Gospel are not only passively endorsed, nor is it merely encouraged and directed toward a more enjoyable hedonistic sense. Namely, the exhilarated joy is explicitly sanctified in the passage in question. Jesus accepts it as the context of his first sign, through which his divine nature is revealed and symbolically transmitted to humanity.
At the end of the day, I have no clue what this sign symbolizes. Is love for fun the main reason why did Jesus change water into wine? Do you have any better answers?