Texts in Conversation
The wedding scene in John 2 echoes the Dead Sea Scroll 1QSa, which describes a future messianic feast with new wine, led by a priest and the Messiah. John uses similar language for the wedding that also focuses on new wine.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1QSa 2:17
Rule of the Congregation
Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts
16 the heads of the [fathers of the] congregation, with the wise men [of the holy congregation], shall sit before them, each according to 17 his honor. And [if] they gather [at the] table of the community [or to drink the] new wine, and the table of the community is set 18 [and the] new wine [is mixed] for drinking, no one [shall stretch out] his hand to the first portion of 19 the bread and [the new wine] before the priest, for [he] blesses the first portion of the bread 20 and the new wine, [and stretches out] his hand to the bread first. And afterward the Messiah of Israel stretches out his hands 21 to the bread. [And afterward] all the congregation of the community [shall bless], each [according to] his honor. And by this statute they shall act 22 at every meal [when] at least ten men are gathered.
Date: 160–100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
John 2:2
New Testament
1 Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine left.” 4 Jesus replied, “Woman, why are you saying this to me? My time has not yet come.” 5 His mother told the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washing, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the water jars with water.” So they filled them up to the very top. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the head steward,” and they did. 9 When the head steward tasted the water that had been turned to wine, not knowing where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper wine when the guests are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!” 11 Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, in Cana of Galilee. In this way he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
Date: 90–110 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Johannine wedding banquet contains several intriguing points of conceptual comparison with the communal meal illustrated in 1QSa 2:11-22. First, in John 2:2, Jesus and his disciples are invited (or ‘called’) to a wedding banquet, while in 1QSa 2:11, 13, ‘the men of the name’ and ‘the priests’ are invited (or ‘called’) to the eschatological banquet. Secondly, ‘new wine’ plays a central role in both texts as a symbol of the coming messianic age (John 2:3, 9-10; compare 1QSa 2:17-20). Thirdly, 1QSa 2 says four times that members of the community sit before the Priest ‘each one according to his own glory’ while in John 2:11 it is Jesus who reveals his own glory ..."
Wally V. Cirafesi, “The Priestly Portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of John in the Light of 1QS, 1QSa and 1QSb,” JGRChJ 8 (2011–2012): 83–105.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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