Now further on the water carriers. In general, even in the most remote village, you go in and see a row of buckets of water on the bench – their presence in the house does not require following “Jewish customs”. Simply put, there were several buckets for water in the wedding hall: in case someone should wash or drink, or for household needs – they did not have a plumbing in those days. So Jesus says to the servants:
“7 Jesus says to them: Fill the vessels with water. And they filled them to the top. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw now, and take it to the chief of the feast. And they carried it. 9 When the steward had tasted the water that had become wine – and he did not know where the wine came from, only the servants who drew the water knew – then the steward calls the bridegroom10 and says to him: every man serves good wine first, and when guests get drunk, then the worse; and you have kept good wine until now.”
And here’s what is interesting: the servants, who scooped up wine from the waterpots, did not notice the miraculous transformation – why? I realized this at the market in Cana of Galilee, buying homemade wine from the locals – it was white! White wine when poured in the stone vessel looks no different than water!
“11 So Jesus started miracles in Cana of Galilee and showed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him”– and this is the end,, the point is set – it would seem. But no, the narration continues, and this sequel reminds me of the overture from the puppet show “Unusual Concert”, if anyone has seen it. There, this overture ends with a pretentious ending – and then starts to continue again – and so it does ten times over, it just won’t end. So it happens here as well – and this immediately suggests that the second chapter, already completed by the witnessing of a miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee by John, the future author of the Gospel, and thus completed; but someone really wanted to continue.
We read on.
“12 After this He came to Capernaum, Himself and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples; and stayed there for a few days”– so, wait a minute,, why – in Capernaum? From Cana to Capernaum, passing by their house in Nazareth, there is still a good forty or fifty miles – and why would you suddenly want to cover such a formiddable distance, for what need? They celebrated at the wedding and would return home to Nazareth, to rest – how else? Especially with brothers? But the brothers did not go to the wedding – why drag the minors along, when only Maria was invited and the eldest son to accompany the woman? There was no talk of any brothers, the brothers were at home. And Mary had nothing to do in Capernaum, especially since no relatives from Capernaum are mentioned anywhere, and a woman staying there for a few days seems unlikely – where, with whom? Let us also notice how suddenly the harmonious timeline set by the evangelist, who specifically points out at the beginning of the chapter: “On the third day…”, is suddenly broken for no reason at all, that is, it was important to show how quickly events began to develop. And suddenly – they hang out in Capernaum for several days, there is a pause. That is, from this point begins a very rough and ridiculous insertion – for what purpose? This becomes clear literally from the next verse.
“13 The Passover of the Jews was approaching, and Jesus came to Jerusalem” – and so he suddenly found himself in Jerusalem, hurried to the Jewish Passover, apparently abandoning his mother with the brothers in Capernaum, and, possibly, his disciples – not a word is mentioned about them further. That is, immediately after the miracle in Cana, where “he manifested his glory and disciples believed in Him,” he head to immediately stress His belonging to Jewry, Judaism, Jewish God, temple, holidays and customs: as soon as he performed the first miracle, he immediately rushed to Jerusalem to prove to the Jews that He is the expected Jewish Messiah – and who else? That is, he abandoned his native Galilee, did not begin to convert his people to his faith, did not preach the gospel to his fellow countrymen, but rushed to preach the Heavenly Father to strangers and aliens, the Jews, that were hostile to any faith other than their own and considered even a mere mention of other gods except for Jehovah a blasphemy deserving stoning. Was he suicidal?
“14 and found that oxen, sheep and pigeons were being sold in the temple, and money changers were sitting” – found, that is, as if he had never been to the temple and did not know the temple order, he appeared there for the first time in his life – otherwise he would not be so indignant, as further described.
“15 And making a whip of cords, he drove out of the temple all, also the sheep and the oxen; and he scattered the money of the money changers, and overturned their tables.16 And he said to those who sold doves: Take this from here and do not make my Father’s house a house of commerce”– and here is a direct forgery and substitution of the Heavenly Father of Jesus by the Jewish ancestral god Jehovah: if the Jerusalem temple is house of the Father of Jesus, it is clear that God Himself, the Heavenly Father is Jehovah, and who else? After all, the temple is his, dedicated to him and built by the Jews in time immemorial. This is how propaganda of Judaism works in the New Testament: the more monstrous the lie, the easier it is to believe in it.
Now let’s imagine the described scene. Someone, a beggar, an unknown stranger, an obvious provincial, and a Galilean by the dialect, a despicable pagan, whose speech gives him away (and so far he is just that, an unknown poor man, a vagabonf from a remote province in a foreign city, in the capital of a foreign country) appeared to Jerusalem, where he has never been before, does not know anyone, and no one knows him – he shows up from the street to the Temple and begins to misbehave there, engage in hooliganism and establish his own order? The temple guards simply would not let the Gentiles even enter the gates, biasedly figuring out who, where, and why – it was the main state national shrine, after all. No one would have let Jesus even on the doorstep. And if he dared to make a row, he would simply be killed for blasphemy, or thrown into a dungeon to find out, under torture, what he had in mind.
It is another matter when, at the end of his sermon and earthly life, He appeared in Jerusalem in glory, and the people greeted him as King and God – then he could decide on such a thing with the support of the popular crowds. But now, when no one has even heard of Him, this is pure suicide, the delirium of a madman.
“17 And His disciples remembered that it is written,” Zeal for your house is eating me up.”
And, of course, the disciples, who, it turns out, also ended up here by magic, the illiterate Galilean fishermen and gardeners, the Manda religion followers, not Jewish faith, all of a sudden – wow! – they remembered a saying from Psalms 68.10, which they apparently learned by heart. For how many years I have hollowed out this psalter both at divine services, and read over the dead, and just prayed for it at home – and then, after reading it, I did not remember where it came from, and I had to go into Google to remind myself.
“18 To this the Jews said: by what sign will you prove to us that you have the authority to do this? 19 Jesus answered and said to them: Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days. 20 The Jews said to this: This temple was built for forty-six years and in three days will you raise it up? 21 And he spoke of the temple of his body.”
Well, surely a suicide – he blasphemes openly, in the Temple, right in the middle of a crowd of believing fanatics, mocks the Jewish faith and the Temple, and even provokes the idea of being killed – to prove and show you all. And the Jews – not a word in response, as if it was business as usual.
“22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus said” – the scripture they believed, the great scholars of Scripture from Galilee. And what does