The miracle at Cana takes place on the seventh day of John’s gospel. It’s a wedding, and it’s “Sabbath.”
If we assume that the fall of Adam took place on the first Sabbath, then the Johannine Sabbath provides some neat parallels and reversals. In particular, this parallel may illuminate Mary’s role: She urges Jesus to provide wine, but Jesus puts her off with “My hour is not yet come.” Jesus is true Adam who waits until the right time to take the fruit of the vine.
Mary is also a true, better Eve. Having told by her Son to wait, she waits, and instructs the servants to do whatever He requires. She is not an impatient Eve, but like the Seed of the Woman waits to receive the cup.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Notes on Anosmia
One morning several years ago, as my wife, Wendy, and I were having breakfast together, I had…
Empire of Unreality
Shiva Naipaul (1945–1985) was the author of three novels and two books of mordant dispatches from places…
The Dreadful Christ of Pär Lagerkvist
It’s dangerous to meet a god,” says the disgraced Pythia in Pär Lagerkvist’s The Sibyl. Her observation…
