Signs in St John’s Gospel

In St John’s Gospel the miracles of Jesus are referred to as ’signs’, that is, they point to a truth far more important than the acts themselves. (7) Only seven signs are recorded in St John’s Gospel and the marriage feast at Cana was the setting for the first of these signs.  It is described only in St John’s Gospel.

We know that John was selective in what he included in his Gospel and we know how he made his selection: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (NRSV, John 20:30).

The fact that John refers to ‘signs’ with their deeper meanings, does not, however, imply that the events he describes were unreal and did not actually happen.  On the contrary, he is careful to state at the end of his Gospel: “This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true” (NRSV, John 21:24).  This “witness” language is paralleled by the “witness” language used of St John Baptist at the beginning of this Gospel: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light” (NRSV, John 1:6-8). (8) 

When we read the account of this sign, we cannot fail to notice the concrete details we are given.  There is the mention of the geographical location in Cana of Galilee, the temporal reference to the third day, the social occasion of the marriage feast along with details of invitations to Mary, Jesus and his disciples.  All of these point to a real event that happened in the presence of eyewitnesses.