Tackling Tradition 52: The Wedding At Cana As Parable

December 31, 2025

The Wedding at Cana

1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”

4“Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

6Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons. 7Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.”

So they filled them to the brim.

8“Now draw some out,” He said, “and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, “Everyone serves the fine wine first, and then the cheap wine after the guests are drunk. But you have saved the fine wine until now!”

11Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

1. Don't treat parables like allegory.

Looking at this text like this may be new for some people. Therefore, I myself & the Session (& Members) of PAPC want to be clear that we (both individually & collectively) do not deny the historicity of the account, rather I am examining its structure & contents to improve our understanding of the text.

2. The Rule of Three.

Like all good storytelling, parables usually follow the Rule of Three. Do you remember the stories you heard as a child—such as “The Three Little Pigs” and “The Three Bears”? Both of these stories are filled with more “threes”: three wolves, three beds, three bowls of porridge. Jesus did this often in the telling of the parables. And is it any wonder that many parables deliver three important truths or that most sermons rest ton three important points?

• The story takes place on the 3rd Day.

• There are 3 main characters: Yeshua, His mother (Mary), & the disciples.

• This pericope is the 3rd pericope in a set of 4 consecutive pericopes in which the Disciples appear. This is an important detail, insofar as the servants in the story are analogous to the Disciples.

3. The Rule of Two.

Parable characters often follow the Rule of Two. There were usually two people who experienced tension between righteousness and sin, good and evil. When you look for these two elements you will find an important part of the development of the parable.

The story teaches us some Covenant Theology & Soteriology:

• The wine (of the previous covenant administration(s) has run out.

• The (not babbling/living) water of the previous covenant administration(s) is transformed to (living) wine & replaces the previous, expired wine with new, better wine.

4. Code words and phrases.

Jesus’ parables used certain phrases and code words that communicated in subtly powerful ways to His audiences. For instance, “How much more” is used to build a bridge from temporal things to spiritual realities. “He who has ears to hear” calls people to critically important issues of spiritual life and death. “Verily, verily, I say to you,” means that Jesus is speaking with earnest intensity; don’t miss it. Look for these phrases and understand where they’re leading you.

Keeping in mind that John’s Gospel opens & closes with a strong statement about who Yeshua is & states the author’s purpose is that, by hearing (and knowing) these things, his audience might believe: