According to John’s account Yeshua’s first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana. Mary insisted that the servants bring down some water barrels for Yeshua and then instructed them to do whatever he told them to do. It was later said that it was the best wine anyone at the feast had ever tasted. Also John would later describe this as the first of seven signs that Yeshua was the messiah they had been promised in scripture.
It was about this time that Simon Peter, and Andrew had fished all night. They had caught nothing when Yeshua had come along. He told them to launch their nets again. When they did they caught so many fish the boat nearly sank. Yeshua said upon their return, “If you come with me and I will make you fishers of men.” One does not just follow someone they do not know like that anymore than it’s likely that Yeshua’s personality just changed overnight. It’s easy to speculate that the trio had known each other for years.
Whatever the case, Yeshua had already developed quite a reputation as a healer and teacher for the six months before his famous trip to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. This was the first of three trips during his ministry. It was also a requirement for all Jewish men every year, at the time.
He saw a horrid site in the temple. Money changers were profiting at the expense of the poor, and in some cases cheating them altogether. he found merchants selling livestock, (Much of it was sickly at best. Whereas it was a requirement that only the best be sacrificed to God. All of this in the court reserved for the gentiles, thus preventing them from worshiping God in the temple.
Using a cord as a whip Yeshua turned the tables over, spilling the money, and chased these people defiling the house of god out. You see Yeshua didn’t care about money, as he had previously indicated: Man does not live on bread alone.
The Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin were pissed at this, because many of them were making a lot of money off the feast till he came along. The Sanhedrin was the ruling religious counsel for the Jews. Though the Romans has subjugated Israel, they had no wish to get involved in the minutia of day to day life out in their frontier. They only cared that the Jews paid tribute (taxes) and submitted to their sovereignty. The Sanhedrin answered only to the Roman’s and their puppet government. They blasted Yeshua asking him: By what right he had to disrupt their business. And it was from this moment on that the leaders would start plotting how to ruin and kill him.
There was dissension in the ranks, though. For example one of those leaders was Nicodemus. Nick had obviously heard of Yeshua’s reputation as a teacher and a healer. It was a point he brought up with Yeshua that night. “No one could do the things you do if they weren’t from God” They had a deep philosophical conversation for the rest of the night. That conversation must have meant a lot to Nick, because he would stand by his conviction supporting Yeshua up to at least the burial three years later.
What are your thoughts on the first miracles of Jesus? What is so important about the story of Jesus in the temple that it was included in scripture? How does the story of Nicodemus change of heart -- from pharisee to follower -- impact the story of Christ?
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Comments (11)
Yes, Jessie MacJoseph's first miracle was to produce more grog for the lads at a knees-up. That's my kind of prophet. No austerity path to be good for him.
In order -----
1) Doesn't matter what I think, John included it. It is a sign. A sign of His power. A foreshadowing of the connection of Word with water and with wine, a/k/a the Sacraments.
2) Religion is not the answer, faith is. Where the heart is. Do not lose sight that the focus is to be on God.
3) Shows that even the learned really did not understand or appreciate Jesus. Until His death and resurrection. Brings baptism into focus.
A critical omission of this post is that the miracle at Cana was the result of the intercession to the Virgin Mary. Jesus complained to his mother that his "time had not yet come."
Yet the Blessed Mother insisted.
The result is that Jesus performed his first public miracle at the request of his mother. This clearly indicates that the Virgin Mary was the embodiment of the will of the Father and spoke it to Jesus.
Jesus said multiple times in the Gospels that he did not do his own will but the will of the Father. That's why he never refused a request from his mother.
And that is one reason why the Catholic Church venerates the Virgin Mary.
Why is it that when miracles of the Egyptian God Horus, who is born of a virgin, baptized, has 12 followers or disciples, performs "miracles", is crucified and then rises from the dead (Horus's story comes over one thousand years before Jesus) it is considered mythology from a pagan religion. But when these same attributes are assigned to Jesus they are considered proof that he is the son of God and taken as fact lending credibility to a religion that was practiced and believed by people from an age when a wooden wheeled donkey cart was considered high technology?
@Captric@xanga - Well I see that you have a lot to learn about Christian and Egyptian HistoryMythology. Horus was the sky, sun, and moon god represented by a man with the head of falcon. There are actually two separate birth accounts in regards to Horus and neither depicts a virgin birth.
Version 1: Hathor, the motherly personification of the Milky Way, had supposedly conceived Horus, but we are told her husband, Ra, was an Egyptian sun god. Make of that what you will. Hathor (a sky goddess) was represented by the cow whose milk brought forth the milky way. By the will of her husband Ra, she gave birth to Horus.
"I, Hathor of Thebes, mistress of the goddesses, to grant to him a coming forth into the presence [of the god]... Hathor of Thebes, who was incarnate in the form of a cow and a woman." And what-not. Google it.
Version 2: When you examine Isis as Horus' mother, you find Isis was not a virgin, but the widow of Osiris. Isis practices magic to raise Osiris from the dead so she can bear a son that would avenge his death. Isis then becomes pregnant from the sperm of her deceased husband. (And again, no virgin birth occurs)
"[Isis] made to rise up the helpless members [penis] of him whose heart was at rest, she drew from him his essence [sperm], and she made there from an heir [Horus]." Again google it.
In Egyptian mythology, every god had a distinct beginning by being conceived from other gods, whereas, in Christian theology, God and Jesus always existed as one and the same. Neither one had a beginning or an end. Jesus' birth did not represent His creation, but only His taking human form.
Now some critics suggest the Christian trinity was adapted from the notion of Osiris, Ra, and Horus being one god in essence. Because Horus was born after the death of Osiris, it came to be believed he was the resurrection, or reincarnation, of Osiris. But throughout the centuries, the Egyptians started to portray Osiris and Horus as one and the same.
Also it should be noted that these characteristics were not created by first-century Christians as you mistakenly suggest. There are numerous prophecies in the Old Testament that referred to the future Messiah as the Son of God up to 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. I Chronicles 17:13-14 as just on of hundreds of examples.
Also Horus was never said to have been crucified. He may have died, but the only connection we can make to Horus being “resurrected” is if we consider the eventual merger of Horus and Osiris to be that. There is a catch 22 with that line of thinking. Apparently the Egyptians noticed the contradictions and later altered their beliefs to fix them. In the Egyptian tale, Osiris is either dismembered in battle or sealed in a chest and drowned in the Nile. Isis then pieces Osiris' body back together and she resurrects Osiris to conceive an heir that will avenge Osiris' death (Technically Osiris was never actually resurrected as he was forbidden to return to the world of the living, not actually killed.)Jesus resurrects himself. This is a feat that is unparalleled in literature or history.
Superficially it may seem to the most stubborn Anti-Christian that Horus' "followers" may have been just like Jesus’ disciples. But a close inspection reveals that they were not disciples at all, they were the twelve signs of the zodiac which only became associated with Horus later, as a sky god. However Jesus' disciples were actual men who lived and died, whose writings exist to this day, and whose lives are recorded by historians. Because Horus' "disciples" were merely signs of the zodiac, they never taught his philosophy or spread his teachings. The fact that there are twelve signs of the zodiac (or twelve months) as compared to Jesus' twelve apostles is an insignificant coincidence, nothing more.
@Andres897@xanga - Right -according to you! You are a person who has a stake in keeping this myth alive - that makes your thinking prejudicial and therefore unreliable. You can "google search" your own "facts" for EVERY myth you choose: 911 conspiracy? Faked Apollo moon landing? Gulf of Tonkin conspiracy? John F Kennedy assassination? There are false facts there for EVERYONE.
Christianity doesn't come from Jesus and a big bang. It comes from the accumulation of legends and theologies by people who believed in Jesus. The origin of those ideas wasn't Jesus. The origin was the myths, legends, philosophies, prejudices, literature, superstitions, and primitive cosmology of
as bringing believers happiness in their eternal life, we understand that as a myth.When ancient writers tell us that in general ancient people believed ineternal life, with the good going to the Elysian Fields and the not so good going to Hades, we understand that as a myth.When Vespatian's spittle healed a blind man, we understand that as a myth. When Apollonius of Tyana raised a girl from death, we understand that as a myth. When the Pythia , the priestess at the Oracle at Delphi, in Greece, prophesied, and over and over again for a thousand years, theprophecies came true, we understand that as a myth. When Dionysus turned water into wine, we understand that as a myth. When Dionysus believers are filled with atay, the Spirit of God, we understand that as a myth. When Romulus is described as the Son of God, born of a virgin, we understand that as a myth. When Alexander the Great is described as the Son of God, born of a mortal woman, we understand that as a myth. When Scipio Africanus (Scipio Africanus, for Christ's sake) is described as the Son of God, born of a mortal woman, we understand that as a myth.ancient western culture. Christianity was a product of its time and place.When Osiris is said to bring his believers eternal life in Egyptian Heaven, contemplating the unutterable, indescribable glory of God, we understand that as a myth.When the sacred rites of Demeter at Eleusis are described
So how come when Jesus is described as the Son of God,born of a mortal woman,according to prophecy, turning water into wine, raising girls from the
dead, and healing blind men with his spittle, and setting it up so His believers got eternal life in
Heaven contemplating the unutterable, indescribable glory of God, and off to
Hades—er, I mean Hell—for the bad folks......how come that's NOT a
myth?
And how come, in a culture with all those Sons of God, where
miracles were science, where Heaven and Hell and God and eternal life and
salvation were in the temples, in the philosophies, in the books, were dancing
and howling in street festivals, how come we imagine
Jesus and the stories about him developed all on their own, all by
themselves, without picking up any of their stuff from the culture they sprang
from, the culture full of the same sort of stuff?
The accurate portrayal of this biblical mythical character is in part as follows -
Homosexual propensities and exhibitionism: -
After this Jesus revealed himself to the disciples by the Lake of Tiberias. (Composer adds: now deemed ' indecent exposure') He appeared to them in this way. (John 21:1) catholic digital Story book 1.3
The disciples were so drunk they couldn't catch a single fish -
and Simon Peter said to them, "I'm going fishing." They replied, "We will come with you" and they went out and got into the boat. But they caught nothing that night. (John 21:3) catholic Digital Story book 1.3
In the morning when sober, Story book jesus abused its powers for more selfish party tricks including this time, gorging on excesses of wine then food -
When day had already broken, Jesus was standing on the shore, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. (Composer adds: Obviously they were still intoxicated after excessive wine drinking!)
5 Jesus called them, "Children, have you anything to eat?" They answered, "Nothing."
6 Then he said to them, "Throw the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they had lowered the net, they were not able to pull it in because of the great number of fish. (John 21:4-6) catholic Digital Story book 1.3
That's for starters!
@Captric@xanga - And you are a person who has a huge stake in destroying it. But the real question is why? If Atheism is right and all Christians are just fairytale believing fools then what difference does it make? If we're all just going to vaporize when we die then why try to tear down the beliefs of others? I think we all know what the answer to that one is.
@Andres897@xanga - Really???!! And what is this "huge stake" I have in destroying your myth? I might actually save some little boys from RAPE???!!!! Save an women's health care clinic from a pipe bomb or at a minimum - harassment from a bunch of kooks carrying Jesus trinkets and signs marching up and down in front of the clinic across the street from my girlfriends apartment in Providence RI?
And if we ALL know the answer to your question - then fill me in? It is just like you fairy tale Jesus - if the existence of God is SO SELF EVIDENT - why are you trying to SELL it SO FERVENTLY!@Captric@xanga - Looks to me like you're the one trying to whore your beliefs so hard. But that is the question I asked in my last comment isn't it. If Atheism is sooo right then what difference DOES it make? Why are you so determined to tear down the beliefs of others. I think it's because you know we're right. I think it's because you're not as fooled by atheism as you present yourself.
@Andres897@xanga - Whore my beliefs? As in SELL mythology to the weak and vulnerable as you do? No actually the opposite - I GIVE my knowledge away as I make my money through HONEST work. You can debate with me all day but you cannot dispute the core fact is that the Bible and your Jesus and your god are ideas manufactured by mortal men designed to gain influence and power over others. The magical attributes assigned to your Jesus characature are clearly plagiarized from ancient pagan religions thousands that existed thousands of years before your mythical jesus. And that sir is a fact that is verifiable.
So you might get a little satisfaction and an ego boost from the VERY small population of people here who might agree with you but the VAST majority of the population of this science based society KNOW that what you are trying to sell are myths and fairy tales.