WHERE'S CANA?

Where was Jesus' First Miracle Done?

Cana is the answer, but where was Cana? Or to bring this up to date, which of the five contenders is the original Cana of the Gospel story?

Mary: "They've run out of wine?"

We have one biblical measurement for locating Cana: it's in Galilee, at the end of about a two-day hike from the Jordan River.

On the next day Jesus purposed to go into Galilee, and he found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." [Philip went to find Nathanael, and brought him to Jesus before they started on their hike, bringing along Peter and Andrew and John.] On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. (John 1:43, [John 1:44-51,] John 2:1.

By my reconstruction, Jesus found Philip on Wednesday morning, they hiked that day and all of Thursday, and arrived in Cana on Friday with plenty of time for the wedding celebration before Sabbath began Friday eve. (I place the start of their hike on the Jordan River not far from the southern outlet of the Sea of Galilee. See my blog post of November 15, 2015 for the details.)

6 Stone Pots, 20 to 30 Gallons Each

Here are the five contenders for the location of Cana:

1: Qana, Lebanon. A whole bunch of fervent Lebanese Christians promote this south Lebanon town as the real Cana, despite the fact that the town isn't even in Galilee. But unless Jesus and company use holy teleportation, they are not going to reach Lebanon on a two-day hike. And if they did use supernatural transportation, the Gospel of John would surely have mentioned it. We can toss this one out.

2. Kafr Kanna, Israel. If you ask the "Jesus Trail" tour guides for Cana, they will bring you here, where the ornate and imposing Franciscan Wedding Chapel is built next to where some ancient water jars were found. But there is no mention of any other archaeological support for this location. It is just the "traditional" site, four miles northeast of Nazareth..

3. Karm-er-Rasm, Israel. This recently excavated site is favored by the excavating archaeologist, having found evidence of a Roman town with a significant Jewish population in the right time period. It is just north of Kafr Kanna, which may have picked up its Cana reputation when Karm-er-Rasm disappeared below the sands. Other scholars, though, remain unconvinced.

Fanciful Re-enactment of the Wedding Procession at Cana

4. Khirbet Kana, Israel (translation: Ruins of Cana.". These extensive ruins sit on a limestone outcropping 300 feet above the floor of a valley which is 5.6 miles north of Kafr Kanna. A guidebook to the Holy Land written between AD 517 and 527 by one Theodosius confidently names this as the Cana location. Later explorers and cartographers of the Middle Ages also placed Cana here, saying that the spots where the six water jugs had stood could be plainly seen. 

5. Ain Qam, Israel, "the Spring of Cana." The name of the place fits well, but this location has not been excavated. Plus, at one mile north of Nazareth it seems too close to be its own unique spot. If there were a major town here, it would have overshadowed Nazareth.

My vote for the true location of Cana is Khirbet Kana, #4 above.

The Wedding at Cana is the Largest Painting in the Louvre

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