The "Cana Wedding" event, described in the New Testament in the

"Gospel According to John", was a wedding with a long list of guests, attended by our Lord, in the

settlement of Cana in the Galilee, which is, apparently, modern-day Kefar Cana. At this wedding, our

Lord performed his first miracle in which he turned water into wine. The place of the miracle is

commemorated by two adjacent churches – the Franciscan Wedding Church and a Greek Orthodox

Church.

The Village of Cana resides in an area brimming with intense shades of green all year round. Ascending

the mountain is very exciting. Here, at this very place, on one of the ancient paths, that serve today as

roads, our Savior, with his boundless humility, strode toward the wedding, where he fulfilled his

important mission, and filled the hearts of a bride and groom with joy on the most important day of

their lives. Today, just as it was at the time, we are commanded to bring cheer to the impoverished in

our society, wherever they may be and in any way possible.

The description of the "Cana Wedding" occurs after the baptism of Jesus at the hands of John the

Baptist, recruitment of a number of Jesus's disciples and his meeting with Nathaniel (known as Saint

Bartholomew), who promises him that he is destined to witness great miracles. According to the

narrative of the second chapter of the Gospel of John, Mary, Jesus and his disciples, participate in a

sizeable wedding in the Village of Cana. When the wine in the jugs runs out, Jesus asks to bring him six

jugs of water, which he turns into jugs filled with fine wine. The <rabbi?> At the party is impressed by

the high quality of the wine, and praises the host of the festivities <the groom?> for serving, at the end

of the party, wine that was superior to the wine served at the beginning.

John 2:1-11 states that while Jesus was at a wedding in Cana with his disciples, the party ran out of wine.

Jesus' mother (unnamed in John's Gospel) told Jesus, "They have no wine," and Jesus replied, "O

Woman, what has this to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother then said to the servants,

"Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:3-5). Jesus ordered the servants to fill containers with water and to

draw out some and take it to the chief steward waiter. After tasting it, without knowing where it came

from, the steward remarked to the bridegroom that he had departed from the custom of serving the

best wine first by serving it last (John 2:6-10). John adds that: "Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in

Cana of Galilee, and it revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him" (John 2:11).

A visit to the Wedding Church is a remarkable experience by any standards. Despite its small size, the

church's design <decor?> is awe-inspiring. Be it the colors, the open expanses or the faith that seeps out

of the many murals on each of the walls. You can fit a visit to the church into a tour of the holy Galilee

region that is dotted with structures and sites in which Jesus and his apostles performed their holy

deeds.