On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  John 2:1-2

Jesus’ first miracle at the Cana wedding is full of symbolism that when studied in detail can even explain to us Jesus’ entire purpose and ministry on this earth. To begin with, Jewish weddings are a joyous time and tradition filled event with family and friends of the bridegroom and the bride. Probably why in v1, it makes mention of the mother of Jesus – Mary – implying that it could have been one of her relatives. The traditional Jewish wedding would consist of two stages (as most wedding’s do even today) – betrothal (erusin) and the actual wedding (nissuin). This was seen in the life of Mary, who was in this first-stage of betrothal to Joseph when she divinely conceived Jesus Christ – the Son of God – through the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:27, 35).

The two-stage Jewish wedding ceremony itself is a symbol of Christ’s first and second advent. Maybe this truth might be lost on most of us today. But both of Christ’s advent’s are centered around Christ’s church (body of believers). The first advent signifies His betrothal (Matthew 16:18) and the second advent signifies His marriage ceremony to the church (Revelation 19:6-9). We as the church must not set our goal to just be in Heaven, but rather to be with Christ. His Presence must be the greatest reward sought by every believer in the church. Similar, to how a faithful woman’s devotion must be to her husband and not merely to his material possessions or riches.

The proposal of betrothal is usually initiated by the bridegroom’s family. This symbolizes God the Father sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the world. Fully of His compassionate initiative. Not for any gain, position or power, but only on the motivation of love (John 3:16). Tradition further dictates that the bridegroom must pay a price to purchase the bride for himself. And this is the price that Christ paid to purchase us from our sins, through His own pure blood on the cross – far more precious than all the gold or silver of this world (1 Peter 1:18-19). The bride now belongs to the Bridegroom, though the marriage still stands to be consummated. This is usually signified by the exchange of wedding bands on which is written: “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine (Song of Songs 6:3).

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” – John 14:1-4

This period between the betrothal and marriage consummation is equally important to the marriage. Both the bridegroom and the bride have roles to play during this intermediate time. The role of the Bridegroom is to go away and prepare a place to receive His bride – a bridechamber. And this is what Jesus speaks of to His disciples in John 14:1-4. While the bride’s duty during this time is to prepare herself for the return of her beloved bridegroom, with the help of her bridesmaids. We get a glimpse into such preparations through Esther’s story in Esther 2:9-10. The favor she found in the eyes of the King is the grace we have received through Jesus Christ. And the seven maids she was assigned is a symbol of the Holy Spirit – sent to us when the Bridegroom departed from this earth (John 16:7). And the primary role of the Holy Spirit now is to make us more like Christ Himself (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is the cosmetic beauty treatment we are to undergo by yielding to the Holy Spirit – that deals with the transformation and renewal of the inner man. And the food which must nourish and build ourselves up on is the very Word of God.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. – Isaiah 11:2. 

And then finally comes the wedding ceremony. This ceremony lasts for an entire week. With the number ‘seven’ signifying the perfection or fullness of Christ Himself (Ephesians 4:13), which all of the church shall also attain at the second-coming of Christ (1 John 3:2). The week usually begins with the bridegroom dressed in traditional kittel – a white linen robe, coming often in the night. And he never comes alone, but with a large convoy of his family and friends. Accompanied with trumpets sounding His arrival to his beloved bride. This is the symbol of Christ, the True and Faithful Witness, the Word of God, returning on a white horse with His armies (Revelation 19:11-16). And this exact time of return of the bridegroom happens completely unbeknownst to the bride. And this specific part of the tradition is revealed to us in the parable of ‘the ten virgins’ in Matthew 25:1-12. While this might be perceived to be strange to our contemporary minds, to the Jewish audience of Jesus’ time, this would have perfectly gotten the message about Christ’s unbeknownst time of second-advent across. Another message that this parable gets across clearly despite our level of understanding of Jewish traditions is this – the unprepared and foolish five virgins will not enter the kingdom of God. And note that this parable does not talk about the world which does not know Christ, but about the church which knows Him. Which is why the five foolish virgins – though foolish, still remain as virgins at Christ’s coming. The word foolishness in the original Greek refers to an inward impious (wicked or lacking reverence of God) nature. “Believers” who do not fully believe the whole truth of Christ.

And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. – Matthew 25:10-13

And what follows the coming of the Bridegroom is the consummation of the marriage, followed by days of feasting on food and wine. On one such joyous day of celebration is where Jesus and the disciples would now find themselves in Cana, a small village in Galilee in northern Israel, where the wine would run out…