John 2:1

“ And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ”

A distance of somewhat more than twenty leagues, in a straight line, separates the place where John was baptizing, from Nazareth, to which Jesus was probably directing His course. This journey requires three days' walking. Weiss, Keil, and others, think that the first of these three days was the day after that on which Jesus had taken the resolution to depart (John 1:44). But the resolution indicated by ἠθέλησεν has certainly been mentioned in John 1:44 only because it was executed at that very moment. The first day, according to the natural interpretation of the text, is, therefore, that which is indicated in John 1:44 as the day of departure. The second is understood; it was, perhaps, the one on which the meeting with Nathanael took place. On the third, the travelers could arrive at a quite early hour in the region of Cana and Nazareth. It was the sixth day since the one on which John had given his first testimony before the Sanhedrim (John 1:19).

It is affirmed that there are at the present time in Galilee, two places of the name of Cana. One is said to be called Kana-el-Djelil (Cana of Galilee), and to be situated about two hours and a half to the north of Nazareth; the other is called Kefr- Kenna (village Cana); it is situated a league and a half eastward of Nazareth. It is there, that, ever since the eighth century, tradition places the event which is the subject of our narrative. Since Robinson brought the first into vogue, the choice has been ordinarily in its favor (Ritter, Meyer); this is the view of Renan (Vie de Jesus, p. 75). Hengstenberg almost alone, has decided for the second, for the reason that the first, as he says, is nothing but a ruin, and has no stable population, capable of preserving a sure tradition respecting the name of the place.

What if the name were itself only a fable. In any case, the situation of Kefr-Kenna answers better to our narrative. The date: “ the third day,” covers in fact, the whole of the following passage, as far as John 2:11; consequently, the miracle must have taken place on the very day of the arrival. Now even if he did not arrive at Nazareth until towards evening of the third day, Jesus might still have repaired before night to the very near village of Kefr-Kenna this would have been impossible in the case of the Cana of Robinson or even, what is more probable, He reached Kefr-Kenna directly from the south, without having passed through Nazareth. If Nathanael was coming from Cana (John 21:2) at the time when Philip met him, he might inform Jesus of the celebration of the wedding, and of the presence of His family in that place a circumstance which induced Jesus to betake Himself thither directly. Let us add that the defining object of Galilee, which recurs in John 4:46 and John 21:2, must have been a standing designation, intended to distinguish this Cana from another place of the same name, situated outside of Galilee (comp. Joshua 19:28, the place of this name situated on the borders of Phoenicia). This designation would have meaning only as there was but one place of this name in Galilee.

The name of the mother of Jesus is not indicated, yet not precisely because John supposes the name to be known to the readers by tradition. It might have been added, even in that case, but because it is in her character of mother of Jesus that Mary is to play the principal part in the following narrative. There is no well-founded reason to suppose, with Ewald, Weiss, and Renan, that Mary had already for a long time been settled with her sons at Cana. How, in that case, should not Nathanael, who was of Cana, and Jesus, have been acquainted with each other before their recent meeting? How should the sisters of Jesus have been still dwelling in Nazareth (Mark 6:3)? The fact that it is not said that Mary and her sons had repaired from Nazareth to Cana because of the wedding evidently cannot prove anything. The expressions of John 2:1, much more naturally imply that Mary was at Cana only because of the wedding; (comp. besides, Philip's word to Nathanael, John 1:46: “ of Nazareth ”).