An icon of the Wedding at Cana. A hymn at Mattins on Good Friday has Mary say to Jesus as he walks by her to Calvary: ‘Where dost thou go, my Child? For whom dost thou run so swiftly? Is there another wedding in Cana, and art thou hastening there, to turn their water into wine? Shall I go with thee, my Child, or shall I rather wait for thee? Speak some word to me, O Word; do not pass me by in silence’. As Elfric shows, Christ was indeed going again to Cana: the shadowy sacrifices of the Temple were being changed into his real sacrifice on the cross, just as he changed cloudy water into ruby wine.
Introduction
St John tells us that at Cana in Galilee, the host of a wedding ran out of wine in the middle of the happy feast. Jesus and his mother were among the guests, and Mary prevailed on Jesus to change water into wine; and as tenth-century English abbot Elfric explained, Jesus hid a message in his miracle.
See John 2:1-11.
WATER symbolises an understanding of holy writ, which washes its hearers from soiling sins. The stone water-jars are the hearts of holy elders, hardened like stone against the devil’s temptations.
At the marriage, wine was wanting, for at Christ’s presence the Old Testament dried up from fleshly observances, and was transformed into spiritual counsels.* For as much as wine is better than water, so is Christ’s lore, which he taught to his Apostles by his presence, better than the Old Testament, which he taught through Moses; for whereas Moses’s Testament was bodily, Christ’s is spiritual. The Old indeed was a shadow and sign; Christ’s gospel is truth, fulfilling spiritually everything that the Old Testament signified by its various precepts.*
Certainly, the Lord might have filled empty jars with wine, for he made all things from nothing. But he would rather turn cloudy water to ruby wine,* and make plain that he had come not to destroy the Law or the prophets, but to fulfil them after a spiritual understanding.*
Based on a translation by Benjamin Thorpe
From A Sermon on the Second Sunday after Epiphany, by Elfric of Eynsham (955-1010), adapted from a translation by Benjamin Thorpe.
That is, observing the Law of Moses with its external duties had achieved all it could as a law of regulations externally imposed by authority, and needed to be turned into a self-imposed way of life freely adopted.
Hebrews 10:1: ‘For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect’.
St Cuthbert performed his own water-to-wine miracle: see Taste and See.
Matthew 5:17: ‘Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil’.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Apostle. Fill. Lore.
2 Dry. Sin. Than.
3 Indeed. They. Thing.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Verb and Noun Find in Think and Speak
Many words can serve as noun or verb depending on context: see if you can prove this with the examples below. Nouns go well with words such as the/a, or his/her; verbs go well after I/you/he etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Turn. 2 Wash. 3 Sign. 4 Water. 5 Fill. 6 Soil. 7 Make.
Variations: 1.if possible, use your noun in the plural, e.g. cat → cats. 2.use your verb in a past form, e.g. go → went. 3.use your noun in a sentence with one of these words: any, enough, fewer, less, no, some.
Homophones Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that sound the same, but differ in spelling and also in meaning. Compose your own sentences to bring out the differences between them.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1.
Council.
Counsel.
2.
Hart.
Heart.
3.
Holy.
Wholly.
4.
Sew.
So.
5.
Sees.
Seas.
Seize.
6.
But.
Butt.
7.
Wood.
Would.
8.
Profit.
Prophet.
9.
Its.
It’s.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
nt (13+4)
ant. aunt. into. neat. net. not. note. nut. onto. unit. unite. untie. unto.
ante. anti. auntie. nit.
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