Thursday, November 18, 2010

Letter To Laodicea (part 29)

The subject of wine and feasts lends itself to jumping ahead to a story from the Gospel of John (though we shall return to our meal-examining trek through Luke).  The reference, of course, is to the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee, and the famous incident of Jesus turning water into wine.  At the beginning of that story, we find that “Jesus and His disciples” (John 2:2a) were invited to this wedding and its associated feast.  Quickly, we encounter the fact that there was a problem, which was that “the wine ran out” (2:3a).  For some reason, this was of some concern to Jesus’ mother, so she took it upon herself to inform Him that “They have no wine left” (2:3b).  Apparently, there was something about Jesus’ personality and character that caused His mother to think that Jesus would be interested in addressing this pressing issue.  Jesus’ mother believed that Jesus would fix this problem. 

At least initially, Jesus does not sense that this is an issue in which He wants to involve Himself, saying, “Woman, why are you saying this to Me?  My time has not yet come” (2:4).  Even though Jesus says this, Mary believes, again, based on what she knows about her Son, that He is going to do something, so she “told the servants, ‘Whatever He tells you, do it.’” (2:5)  Most likely, though one knows not how long, some time elapsed between the time at which Mary speaks to the servants and Jesus’ act of intervention in the problem at hand.  Eventually, and though we are not necessarily provided with an overt reason, Jesus is spurred into action.  For some reason, though He had seemed uninterested when first told of the wine shortage, Jesus takes action to correct the situation. 

Why is the fact that there is no wine a problem?  Why is Mary concerned with this?  Why does she think Jesus will be interested in involving Himself?  Why does the author of this Gospel see fit to include this story?  The answers to these questions come through an examination of the setting and the culture.  In the end, this becomes an opportunity for Jesus to provide instruction to those in attendance, and ultimately, the author of John finds it useful to include this story because it serves to provide elucidating information about the nature of Jesus’ kingdom and His mission.  Fortunately for us, examining this particular miraculous occurrence, while reinforcing principles at work in Jesus’ ministry and therefore having an impact on the way in which we make our engagement with the world, also sheds a great deal more light on the issue at hand in Laodicea---that is, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. 

In order to understand the goings-on here in Cana, we must take it upon ourselves to understand the nature of feasts in the world occupied by Jesus.  When it came to feasts, there were rules in place for the table.  Meals were, for all practical purposes, miniaturized pictures of the society, and there were rules (unwritten) governing association and socialization.  The positioning of guests around a table was a demonstration of social hierarchy and political differentiation.  What was quite common in the ancient world, which we can safely presume was present at this particular meal as a matter of course, was a u-shaped table known as a triclinium.  Banquets were organized around this table, using dining couches, with the host sitting at the center of the bottom of the “u”, with the two most prominent positions to the right and to the left of the host.  Accordingly, the least honorable seats would be located at the end of the table.  Thus, the banquet table in the ancient world would be an effective microcosm of the stratifications of the existing social order.  

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