Having finished the account of the wedding-feast, the evangelist continues: “After this He went down to Capernaum (about five hours’ walk); He, and His mother and His brethren and His disciples.” Jesus had already taken up His abode in Capernaum. Probably Mary had never been there. It is quite probable, also, that Christ had not seen her for some time. It may be that the hope of meeting her son was the main thing that induced her to attend the wedding. Her hope was realized. What a joyful meeting that must have been! Somehow I love my Savior more, because He loved His Mother so well. How beautiful this is: after the wedding is over Jesus goes back to Capernaum, taking His Mother with Him. She wanted to see how her “preacher-boy” was situated in His new home by the sea. No doubt when they reached Capernaum, at the north end of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus took His Mother up on the flat-roofed house and pointed out different places of interest.
At present, Cana is of little importance and is not at all inviting. Large beds of tall, thorny cactus plants are everywhere to be seen. The houses of the village are few in number, and rude of structure. Here, as elsewhere in this country, the people are filthy, ignorant and half naked. The two best houses in the place are convents; one belonging to the Roman and the other to the Greek Catholics. We now visit these convents in the order named. Clad in a black gown, with a rosary fastened around his waist and hanging from his side, the Latin Priest approaches us, invites us in, and kindly shows us through his convent. He rehearses the history of Cana, and speaks of the wedding that Jesus attended as though it had taken place only yesterday. We come now to the sacred chamber; the Priest pauses; he is deeply moved (?). With tears in his eyes and pathos in his words he says: “In this room the marriage occurred. Just there, ‘pointing to the side of the room opposite him,’ just there the wedding couple stood. Christ, Mary, and John stood here on my right, while the other guests occupied the portion of the room to my left. Just here, where I am, stood the Catholic priest who pronounced the wedding ceremony. Here, gentlemen,” the good priest continued, “here are some of the identical water pots that our Lord used in making wine. Yes, sirs, these are the veritable water-pots that Jesus used. Come up here and handle them and see for yourselves.” We express no doubt and I suppose we really appear somewhat credulous. The superstitious priest now becomes enthusiastic. “There were,” he says, “originally six of these jars or pots; but one was broken, one we sent to Jerusalem, one to Rome, and here are the other three. Come, come, and handle them yourselves that you may tell your friends when you get home.”
PRIEST OF THE GREEK CHURCH.
As soon as we get out of the door, Johnson, with his characteristic sense of humor, touched me in the side and said: “Chestnuts! Chestnuts!!” At this moment a short, heavy-built, broad-shouldered, bushy-headed Greek monk, wearing a hat whose broad, board-like brim was at the top of the crown instead of the bottom, comes up to us. He introduces himself, and after a few words says: “Now, gentlemen, please come with me. I have something of very great interest to show you.” He leads us into, and conducts us through, the Greek convent, reciting and explaining the history of the village as we go along. He shows us into a large room whose walls are lined with pictures. The Greek pauses, uncovers his head, strikes an attitude; sorrow seizes his soul, a heavenly look settles on his troubled face. With noiseless step and slow, he approaches us and whispers: “The wedding that we read about in the Bible occurred in this very room. Yes, gentlemen, this is a sacred place—this is where the marriage was solemnized. Christ, with His Mother and disciples, stood on the left, the other guests on the right. The wedding couple stood there in the centre, and the Greek priest who married them stood here.” Johnson is dumb as an oyster. But I have to speak—I can hold in no longer. I say: “Did Jesus attend two weddings in this place?” “No, sir; only one, sir, only one!” “Well,” I continue, “I was a few minutes ago in the Latin convent and the Romish priest told me that the wedding took place there, and now you tell me that it occurred here. How about that, sir; how can you explain this?” “The explanation, the explanation, sir, is very easy. It is simply this: the other priest lied! Yes, sir, he lied—only one wedding here, and that one took place in this room. And here are the identical water-pots that He used—these are the very jars that held the water which was turned into wine.”
I speak of this at length to bring out an important fact. On almost every sacred spot in Palestine, wherever Jesus lived or spent the night, wherever He preached a sermon, or wrought a miracle, there we find two convents—one Roman and one Greek. Each claims to stand upon the exact spot where such and such a thing occurred. Occasionally the two convents are some distance apart; again they stand hard by each other. As one might naturally suppose, this engenders strife, and provokes jealousy among the priests, and greatly perplexes most travelers. But all this confusion among the priests does not trouble me for a moment. What do I care whether the marriage occurred here or there? I know full well that I am in Cana. I know it is a sacred place. I know that Christ, with His presence, sanctioned in Cana what God, in His wisdom, instituted in Eden—the marriage relation, which has come along down the ages, elevating man, purifying society, strengthening the State and honoring God. The wisdom of this law strongly argues its divine origin. I have traveled in many countries, among many nations, kindreds, tribes and peoples; and I have never yet traveled in a country where the Bible was a sealed book, where God’s law of marriage was unknown or disregarded, but that the women of that country were in a low, vile, degraded and servile condition! In such places woman is regarded as man’s inferior; she is neglected, imposed upon and down-trodden; hers is a life of shame and drudgery; she is man’s burden-bearer and nothing more! In Palestine, and some other countries where I have traveled, it is considered a disgrace for a mother to give birth to a female child! and for this cause men frequently ill-treat and forsake their wives!
And on the other hand, I have never been in any land where the Bible was known and read, where God was worshipped, and His law obeyed, but that woman was loved and honored and elevated to her true position in the family and in society. The Bible teaches that woman was taken, not from man’s heel that he might trample upon her, not from his head that she might rule him with a rod of iron, but from his side that she might walk beside him—that she might be his companion; perchance from his right side, that his strong right arm might lift her burdens and fight her battles; or, forsooth, from his left side, near his heart, that he might love and sympathize with her. Blessed Bible! thou hast shattered woman’s shackles; thou hast brought the aureole of glory, and placed it upon woman’s matronly brow!
One hour from Cana brings us to a scene of greater interest. The day is far spent when my eyes fall for the first time upon Nazareth, nestling on the sunny slope of a high hill which gracefully swings itself around and forms something of a horseshoe. The city, situated near the centre of this curvature, is built partly in the valley and partly on the hillside. The lower part of the city is half hidden amid a rich profusion of pomegranates, orange trees, olive groves and vineyards. “Jack Frost” has brought no tidings of autumn; consequently the leaves are still green and the luscious fruits are still hanging upon the boughs of the trees.