Why would Jesus' first miracle be turning water into wine?

by truthseeker 26 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • truthseeker
    truthseeker

    I recently wondered why Jesus would use his first miracle to make more brew - any ideas?

    I mean, I thought the first miracle would have been a healing or a resurrection or something.

    I'm sure the wedding party didn't complain.

    Is it possible that this account was really the FIRST miracle performed by Jesus? Did Jesus not perform miracles before his baptism?

  • Crumpet
    Crumpet

    I don't know about Jesus but if I got the power it would probably be my first miracle to perform too, the second would be to turn leaves into money!

  • skyman
    skyman

    Damn if I had the ablity to this I think I would do it the same way Jesus did. Party animals no doubt became his best friend after this. I would bet that this was not his first time but only the first time mentioned.

  • truthseeker
    truthseeker

    Ha ha, nice one Crumpet!

    I see you're from Surrey, did you go to Hayesbridge Assembly hall for your ass-emblies?

  • tetrapod.sapien
    tetrapod.sapien

    "don't drink and donkey." that was the motto back then. i imagine jesus' thought process going something like this once he realized he had super human powers:

    "holy crap! (er...sorry father)... holy hanna! i can make booze out of water! hmmm, i wonder what else i can do? ..... nice! x-ray vision!! okay, let's see.... alright! that's not flour anymore baby! hmmm, i wonder if i can bring some buddies back from the dead?"

    i think it fit somewhere in there.....

    anyways, i don't get why people always call this his first miracle. i mean, didn't he stay up and alive in a cave for 40 days and 40 nights without eating or drinking anything? isn't that a miracle?

    kooky, i know...

    TS

  • RubaDub
    RubaDub

    I have wondered about this many times myself.

    I would have preferred a fine single malt scotch, but well ... with all the women to please, I'm sure a good red wine was in order ... maybe even a nice fruity sangria.

    Rub a Dub

  • Crumpet
    Crumpet

    I

    see you're from Surrey, did you go to Hayesbridge Assembly hall for your ass-emblies?

    Nope - I was a Dudley girl and then a Hellaby girl. Only moved down here after my parents had kicked me out/sorry asked me to leave if I was not prepared to abide by the house rules/ and made me sleep outside if I wasn't home by 9!

  • wombat
    wombat

    Well, actually, I used to turn wine into water.

    But that was from topping up the level on the bottle so the missus wouldn't notice.

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos

    Ask Dionysos...

    And Philo, On Dreams, II, 249:

    And who can pour over the happy soul which proffers its own reason as the most sacred cup, the holy goblets of true joy, except the cup-bearer of God, the master of the feast, the word? not differing from the draught itself, but being itself in an unmixed state, the pure delight and sweetness, and pouring forth, and joy, and ambrosial medicine of pleasure and happiness; if we too may, for a moment, employ the language of the poets.

    It is the first sign (sèmeion) in the Gospel of John only, that should tell enough about the symbolical intent.

    It is interesting that "wedding" and "new wine" are linked together in the synoptic sayings too, from Mark 2:18ff on:

    Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
    "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."

    To which Luke (5:39) adds something which is reminiscent of the Cana story:

    And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, 'The old is good.'

    It might be another case of one wisdom symbol expressed in two forms, (1) parable and (2) miracle story.

  • serendipity
    serendipity

    He provided the better wine at the wedding. He provided a better belief system than the Pharisees.

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