Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-03-04
&eadiug fur the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
(OrigInal.l
JOHN 2: I. 9. 3. 4.

in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus
was there: And both Jesus was called, and
his disciples, to the marriage. And when
they wanted wine, the mother Of Jesus saith
unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith
unto her, Woman, what have to do with
thee ? mine hour is not yet come.
This translation is our own and literal.
"The third day" means three days after the
conversation with Nathaniel, recorded in the
1st chapter. Or rather on the third day after
that interview. Cana is not mentioned in the
Old Testament. Perhaps it was small town
or city that had recently, from some local
cause, grown up into some Importance. We
say some Importance, for in the Syriac ver-
sion of the New Testament, it is called "a
city of Galilee" Modern travellers say it is
only short distance from Nazareth. The
language in the latter clause of the first verse
would warrant US in concluding that it was
not far from the residence of Joseph and
Mary. 1t is said that the mother Of Jesus
was there. She was not there as an invited
guest, in the sense that Jesus and his disci-
Piles were invited or called, asit is said. She
was there, no doubt, assisting the family in
making preparations for the feast We are
not informed, but possibly the family of JOS
eph and Mary and that in which the mar
riage took place, were related. In common
phrase, possibly they we're kin-folks.
IN MI r,o
continued for several days, and was attended
with great expense. 1t was then as it is now.
The poor tried to initiate the rich often then,
as now, to their great detriment. The mis-
hap which befell this family was, that some
time during the feast, the wine failed. In
plain English, it was all consumed by the
guests. This fact soon become known to the
mother of Jesus. The probability is that the
fact was not known generally to the invited
guests but the mother of Jesus being one of
those who were engaged in the affairs of the
family, knew it. She came to Jesus and said
to him, "They have no wine" or, as we
would say, "The wine is out, or DONE" Jesus
replied, literally, "What to me and you"
Now it may be asked, what did the mother
of Jesus mean, or what was her design in tell
ing Jesus that the wine was out. 1t seems
that we are warranted in using little CON-
mon sense in interpreting the passage. This
being the case, we may suppose that she acted
as almost any mother would have acted. She
knew the fact, that according to the custom
of the time and place, wine was necessary to
render the feast reputable She, from her
situation, knew that the wine was out. This
fact she communicated to her Son. She, evil
IDENTIFY, from the reply of Jesus had some
plan in her mind by means Of which she
thought the family might not be exposed.
1t is evident that the family, in which the
marriage took place, was poor. Had they
been rich, the mother of Jesus would not have
been there in the capacity of an assistant nor
would the wine have failed. What the plan
was which she proposed adopting, we can
only conjecture. Perhaps she thought some
arrangement should be made by which more
wine could be procured, or perhaps she
thought the guests had better all 60 to their
homes. But all this is purely conjecture.
The reply of Jesus to his mother is evidently
elptical. Something must be supplied in
order to complete the sense. The elipsis may
be supplied by inserting the word common" Z"
The reply will then read thus: "What, wo-
man, is there common to me and you" The
idea then would be, you propose in your mind
one way of getting out of this difficulty. |
will get out of it in another way. Some think
that Jesus rebuked his mother; but this con-
clusion seems forced and unnatural. The
remaining part of the Saviour's reply is, that
his hour had not yet come What time are
we to understand by "my hourT Was it
the hour for working miracle? 1t does not
seem that this can be the case, for in very
short time, perhaps the next moment, the
water-pots we're set, and Jesus ordered them
to be filled with water, and by his Almighty
power, he turned the water into wine. 1t
see 80 pedantic to say that by "not yet come"
our Saviour means that the exact, precise
moment of working miracle had not yet
arrived, but it will in short interval arrive.
This would be extreme niciety in the use of
words. Possibly our Saviour knew that his
mother thought he and his disciples had bet
ter leave, and our Saviour means that his
time for leaving had not yet come.
To say that our Saviour on this occasion
rebuked his mother, or that she had done any
thing worthy of a rebuke, seems to be gra-
tuitous assumption. The conversation be-
tween Jesus and his mother, shows that she
was like all of Adams race, a short sighted
creature 1t may be said that she interceded
in behalf of the family whose hospitalities
they were enjoying; but her intercession was
of no use, for Jesus did not do what his mother
thought ought to be DONE In plain lam
guage, their opinions differed, and she SUBJ
mtted. If Jesus rebuked his mother on this
occasion, he rebuked her when, on the cross
he commended her to John. This no one
can believe All that We understand the
Saviour to say and mean is, simply that the
time for doing what his mother thought ought
to be done had not arrived but the time for
him to work a miracle had arrived.
SALVATION OF CHILDREN.-I hate to hear
people say, "They have received a pack of
children into the church" "a pack of chill
dren" Yes, and if Jesus carries them in his