Onde Jesus transformou água em vinho? Visitando Cana da Galileia!

Shalom and welcome back to ‘Israel with Aline!’ Today we are going together to Cana in Galilee, the city where Jesus performed his first miracle, where he turned water into wine. But was it really wine or grape juice? Let’s get to know this place and also find out a little more about the question of whether it was juice or wine. So, if you are ready, let’s get started! We arrived in Cana of Galilee, or as it is known today Kfar Cana, Kfar means the village, so today it is known as the village of Cana, very different from how it was in Biblical times. The Bible says that Cana was the main town and Nazareth was a small town, a small village near here. Nazareth is still close to here; twenty minutes by car. But Cana will become a small village and Nazareth will become the biggest and most important city in all of Galilee, that is, the roles are reversed. And in Cana today there are a little more than 20,000 people living there. And here in Cana of Galilee was also born and lived one of the Apostles as it is written in John Chapter 21:2. “Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus “), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.” So here this church was built in honor of the Apostle Nathaniel, also known as Bartholomew. Since that time it was common for people to have more than one name; a Jewish name and also a more international name of the time. Another example is Paul, that international name we know until today is Paul but he was also called Shaul, Saul in Hebrew. And so we see Peter also with the Hebrew name Shimon and many others of the apostles also had two variations of their name. And as we’re on our way to the wedding church, the place where Jesus did his first miracle, it’s important to remember that he did two miracles here in Cana, the other miracle is a miracle of healing as it’s written in John 4: Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live”. The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. John 4:46-51 And we’re not the only ones who have come to visit the church today, already in the background you can hear a group coming they are a group of Christians from Eritrea. [Songs] And I think it’s great that in the song we can recognize one word: the word Cana, and this shows us that faith has no borders, no language. [Songs] And here in front of us, we already see the Church of the Marriage, the church was built on the site of the wedding where Jesus turned the water into wine or juice, we will talk about that at the end. But this place is very special because of this miracle, and that is why thousands of people come here every year to get married, so it is on a normal day if you come to this church you will see brides walking from one side to the other, I mean, there is love in the air, spirituality in the air, and without a doubt, it is a unique church! So let’s go inside, get to know a little bit of the modern church, and then we’ll talk about the miracle itself. This church was built in 1881, and I think it is the first time I have ever entered here and there is no wedding or renewal of marriage vows! It’s really different to see this place so empty. And this church was built on older remains that we are going together to see now. But what was found? A house from the time of Jesus was found that was used between the 1st and the 4th century, which makes a lot of sense since weddings in those times were mostly performed in houses. Above this house, a Byzantine synagogue was found, which did not function for a long time, and above this synagogue Byzantine remains were found, some tombs were found, and also the “apex”, the “apex” is the main part of the Church, where the altar is, indicating that yes Christians came here to pray since Byzantine times and later on in the Crusader Period a church will be built here and on top of that the modern church we just saw, but I am sure that you want to go with me to see the remains from the times of Jesus, so let’s go! We are now at the level of Jesus’ times; remembering that the city is being rebuilt and going up, so we are walking on the level of about two thousand years ago! And here was the house where Jesus is invited to the wedding, and it happens that at the wedding as you know the wine runs out and Mary goes and says, “Jesus, the wine is out.” And he will reply, “My hour is not yet come.” Until that moment we remember that Jesus had not begun his public life, and so until that moment his hour had not yet come. But Mary will say, “Do everything as he commands.” And then he commands to fill six jars of water, not jugs, jars. This here is a jar; These kinds of jars are reservoirs of water. And it’s not just any jar folks, here in the archaeological excavations it was found, so there are theories that say that maybe this is one of the original six jars! And this fits very well with the Biblical text, which says that the jars were for the purification of the Jews; that is, it was a reservoir of water used to purify objects or the hands of the Jews who were in the ceremony. And these reservoirs at that time were made of stone, so it makes a lot of sense that this is the original water jar or that it is one like it. And so folks, get out of your mind that image of the six “little jars” and yes six jars. It is estimated that each jar could hold up to 26 Gallons! So imagine the servants now, without understanding what is happening, coming and filling up maybe even158 Gallons of water! And as it is written in John 2: Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. John 2:8-11 This passage shows us that not only Jesus made wine, but that he made a great quantity and of the best quality, but the most important thing, in my opinion at least, is that who witnessed the first miracle were the servants, the simplest people in the house who saw the water being poured and the wine coming out of the jars! And now we are going to talk about the controversial question; if the wine was really wine or if it was grape juice. But the first thing I want to say, folks, is that my answer does not mean whether or not you have to drink wine, if you have to drink alcohol or not. This is a matter for each church, community, and person. Having said this, what we are going to use today are the historical and archaeological findings and the biblical texts to better understand what was drunk at that time. Let’s start with a question most accepted by the majority; that alcoholic wine did exist since Biblical times. We can even start with the book of Genesis, Noah will drink wine and get drunk, we also know the daughters of Lot who will get their own father drunk, we see several passages that I will put up here for you to see exactly what passage I am referring to; that alcoholic wine and alcoholic beverages existed and that they could get drunk, and that is why there was even a type of people that were the Nazarites, that they had a vow of abstinence, that they had a vow not to drink wine and alcoholic beverages. Although the Bible tells us about the existence of wine, it is completely against drunkenness, and this is a very important point as we see in Ephesians: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18 And now speaking specifically of Roman times, of the time when Jesus lived, we know that there were many types of wine in the Roman Empire, and more specifically Pliny the Elder who was a Roman writer and historian cites more than 150 types of alcoholic wines, one of them was called Passum, which was a wine made from raisins, yes it is a very different wine from what we know today. But the grapes were dried, and after them, the wine was produced, which had a very sweet taste, but it was alcoholic, and we found in archaeological excavations here in Israel in Lachish jars of this same type of wine, black grape wine as they call it, I mean, raisin wine. And so we know that alcoholic wine existed since Biblical times, and that the Romans were big wine fans, they had many kinds of wine and they used to drink a lot of it. Now, why did they drink so much wine? Because water in ancient times was not always drinkable, it was often contaminated and so was the alcoholic wine, which helped to make it “healthier”, you could say less contaminating, that is, it made people have fewer intestinal problems killed bacteria and helped public health, but they didn’t drink wine as we imagine these days, and yes the Romans used to dilute their wine; could be a part of the wine to two parts water, or as Pliny the Elder says; one part wine to eight parts water. I mean they drank, they drank a lot, but they drank their wine extremely diluted. Even Paul speaks of diluted wine to avoid sickness when he tells Timothy not to drink only water, but to dilute a little wine for sickness and for the stomach. (1Timothy 5:23) But let’s talk more specifically about the Jewish traditions concerning the wine; we know that the Jewish tradition in Biblical times and until today is to serve alcoholic wine at weddings, we know this also from the passage of the miracle of the wedding in John 2:10 when it is written that the master of the feast says that always at the beginning the best wine was given, and when people had drunk well, then the cheapest wine was given. What does it mean to drink well? In Greek, in the original it is written “Methysthosin”, which is another word for a drunk; it means that people drank and when they were a little drunk, they started to give the cheap wine, and I imagine that there are people who do that even nowadays. But when the owner of the party receives the wine that Jesus made without knowing where it came from, he says that this wine is better than the best wine that was at the party! And the tradition of good wine and grape juice continues to this day here in the region of Cana and in Galilee, and we are now going together to a place which has the wine of Cana! We now arrive at Anwar’s store, which they are a family of Christian-Arabs here in Cana, who have been here for generations and generations. Anwar in Arabic means “light”, so it would be like the name Lucio in Portuguese, and they will now show us how they produce the wine here in Cana wine with and without alcohol they have. And of course I couldn’t come here and not do a little wine tasting, so, Shalom Anwar! [Anwar] Shalom! I asked him to pour us some wine from Cana, but without alcohol first, also because of the baby, but here we can see that there is a non-alcoholic wine which is used by some churches, there is a wine with alcohol, there is a wine for all tastes and also of all prices, we are seeing here for example wine that is 15 years old. And a very different thing you have here are these wines that are made from pomegranates and not grapes, And I want to teach you now a Hebrew word that is “Lechaim”, which means “to life” and that is how we toast, so Lechaim! [Anwar] Lechaim! So a little bit of wine from Cana to sweeten our day, Lechaim, to life and to the health of the whole world! As we have seen, the wine in Biblical times could be alcoholic and could also be diluted with water, but the Bible speaks clearly against drunkenness and that is why we have to make this point very clear: drinking and getting drunk are not the same thing, and the Bible says and the Bible tells us not to get drunk. But the most important thing in this town is that here in Cana of Galilee happened the first of Jesus’ miracles, which opens the doors to his ministry and for his public life and for the entire region here in Galilee that will see so many miracles! If you want to know more about the Holy Land, Israel, and the Miracles here in Galilee and throughout the country do not forget to subscribe to our channel and stay tuned because every Wednesday and Sunday we have videos, a kiss, and see you next time!