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John

About this book
Chapter 2

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. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there a few days. 13 Now the Jewish Feast of Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 He found in the temple courts those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting at tables. 15 So he made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple courts, with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.⁠ 16 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will devour me.” 18 So then the Jewish leaders responded, “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” 19 Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.”⁠ 20 Then the Jewish leaders said to him, “This temple has been under construction for 46 years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?” 21 But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body.⁠ 22 So after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the saying that Jesus had spoken. 23 Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them because he knew all people. 25 He did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew what was in man.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1QSa 2:17 and John 2:2

Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts · New Testament

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Summary

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.

Passages

1QSa 2:17

Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts · Rule of the Congregation
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.
160–100 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1QSa

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.
90–110 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in John

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.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1QSa 2:17 and John 2:2

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