The National tribune., 1894-08-16
SUNDAY MEDITATION.
A Study of the International Sunday
School Lesson Appointed for Ang.
26, 1894. ~
Subject: Christ's First Miracle-The Change
of Water into Wine. st. John, 2:1-I1.
Zone reading these notes should first carefully
study the paragraph from the Holy Scriptures as
indicated aboye.I

of Water into Wine. st. John, 2:1-11.
Zone reading these notes should first carefully
study the paragraph from the Holy Scriptures as
indicated aboye.l
/. INTRODUCTION.
The act Of Christ above which we now
study is called miracle, which is defined,
Every sensible deviation from, and every
contradiction TO the laws of nature, so far as
they are known to u.s." A miracle is never
a violation of the laws of the universe. A
miracle is beyond human power, and Christ,
performing such, manifested forth his
glory" convincing witnesses he was no ordi-
nary mortal Compare Acts 2:22.) The
word miracle is from the Latin verb mirror,
which means to wonder at. The object,
however, of Jesus in working miracle was
not to excite establishment save as through
the wonderful he would divert from the
more ordinary or earthly to the extraor-
binary or spiritual. The graduation should
be " wonder. love, and praise"
2. Data.
The only account is that by st. John.
(2:1-11.) He gives exclusive reports of
nine of the miracles. He joins with st. Mat
thew in reporting enc more, and with SITS.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke in reporting an
other.
g. Time.
We date early part of March A. D. 26
Jesus was about 80 years and six months
old. The account says, "the third day"
". L. Scholars are not agreed in explana-
ton. Some say the third day alter the
promise in / 81. Others say the third
after his arrival in Galilee Others say the
third day of the weekly Jewish reckoning
Monday; by Christian, Tuesday. If we
understand the third after leaving Nathan
iel, a. 43, 45, 81 there would be time for
him and his party to reach Cana from Betba-
bara We remember Jewish marriage feasts
often covered seven days. The third day of
the wedding is therefore an understandable
expression. lJud., ID: l, Is, II. 1S; Tobit,
II 49,
4. Place.
The wedding occurred at Cana in Galilee
". ~ The Apostle Nathaniel was born
there. 81 - Chrst's second miracle is
connected with the same place. IA: 46) 1t
must once have been place of considerable
importance. Now it is quite obscure. Says
Dr. Robinson, War, bloody, relentless war
has swept over the little Cana-of-Galilee :;
fire and sword have laid waste and destroyed
the peaceful village in which Christ met the
rejoicing wedding party"
About 800 inhabitants now reside there.
1t is governed by the Turks. An officer of
that Government is Oh the ground.
5. Defaitipns.
/. Marriage. 1. Our English word is from
the Latin mas (maris), general name for
the male. So maritus is the Latin name for
husband. This indicates that the act of
marriage was considered by the Romans
from the man-side.
q Called. 2. Invited.
8. Wine 3. The Greek is oinos Christ
made wine or he did not make wine. The
wine of V. 3 was that which had been
bought for the occasion. Wine in V. 8 was
that made by Christ. We notice the adj
jective good applied to the wines of verse
10. The ruler of the feast was the person
to draw this distinction. We can hardly
think he referred other than to the relative
qualities of real wine. The word good, as
used by him, evidently has no reference 10
whether the wine WERE as we often hear,
fermented or unfermented. The ruler had
in mind only the differences of taste. As to
the wine of V. 3, the Rev. DIR. Hugh Nc
MILAN says: The wine could not have been
of the unfermented kind, since it was six CT
seven months from the time of the vintage
Ordinarily, the miracle is dated in March.
As to the wine made by our Saviour, it
WAS wine or not wine Everything depends
on our definition of wine. We cannot enter
into the discussion which has grown up on
this subject. There are two sides, and both
argue TOO scholarly, too reverently, to be
treated without concern. Is the fresh fruit
of the vine wine, or is it only juice? If it
be only juice, we must not call it wine. 1t
will not do to say that Christ made only
little of it, nor that in his day the conse-
quences of his example could not be 80
serious as they would be now and here.
Let the liduid made by Christ be called
JUICE or wine, we can be sure of one fact, it
was not drugged by various poisonous addi-
tions. We cannot vote the incident out
from the Bible. We cannot question
Christ's wisdom in the miracle The facts
must be accepted and possibly there will
always be differences of opinion on the part
OF expositors. Many hold the wine was
good and was used harmlessly then and
could be now. Others, as DIR. Crosby, think
that We must allow the wine was real wine,
and that Christian duty consists in temper
ate use of II.
DR.. S. NJ. Isaacs, rabbi of great culture
and influence, says: The Jews do not in
their sacred or marriage feasts ever use any
kind of fermented drinks. They employ
the fruit of the vine, viz, fresh grapes, I'M
fermented grape juice, and Taisins as the
symbol of benediction."
Another scholar wrote: Wine in the
East was of two kinds, intoxicating and
Misunderstanding. Whether this was or was
not intoxicating does not appear from the
narrative. Considering, however, ~ that
Christ made wine by miracle; (2) that he
used it freely, Matt, 9:11; 81 that he as
sociated it by his command with the most
sacred ordinance of the Church, Luke %: 20;
az that he nowhere condemns the use of
wine, though he does condemn drunkenness,
Matt, "a 49; Luke, II "a, it seems to me
impossible to maintain that Christ has
either by Precept or example required of his
followers total abstinence, from wine as
Christian duty. The ground of total absti-
nence must be not any specific command or
example, but the general principle that
whatever leads men into temptation must
be willingly laid aside for loves sake
Matt, 5: 30, 80; Romans, IA 81"
DR.. Fish, in Bible Lands illustrated"
page 537, says: No inquiries we could
make brought to lightethe existence of posi-
lively good wine in any place, save that
offered to us at Hebron and Mar Saba lin
the Kedron Valleyl. That which was set
before us there was wholly Misunderstanding.
My host in Hebron assured me that they
L emf III fhere III wac then Mavl all fha vaar