| General Fiction posted April 17, 2021 |
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Biblical character story
Stone Jars
by zanya
Biblical Character Contest Winner
The year was somewhere between AD 27-29. It was a day at the beginning of April. Passover was some days away.
My brother John and I, James, were invited to go to the wedding of Isaac and Sarah along with our new friend, Jesus.
Sarah was just fifteen and Isaac was twenty. They were local and grew up just outside the small town of Cana. It was, as was customary, an arranged marriage between two long- established families in the little canton. Sarah was with child for many months and it was important to have matrimonial legalities undertaken before the birth. Sarah's fertility was now no longer in doubt and the two families could conjoin without fear of a barren union. Isaac's pending fatherhood and established virility would allow him to rightfully take his place among the doctors and learned elders in the Temple. Their coming together and their subsequent sexual union had borne fruit. Blessings would follow in its wake according to the local lore.
As I ascended the steps to the wedding feast six stone water jars stood by the kitchen door. Being a fisherman, I was used to water and containers. These jars were half full during the wedding meal as servers came and went for water.
Jesus was an interesting dude. His brown eyes seemed to look into your soul. I abandoned my fishing boat to follow him around the countryside after he had shown up just as we tied up the boat, one evening at the water's edge. John was completely absorbed in what he was saying about love and helping others. I was more sceptical having seen other guys, over the years talking about loving your neighbour, while simultaneously spreading rumors about them or criticising them.
I was beginning to regret not being a fisherman anymore. Fishing was all I knew. My father, Zebedee was a fisherman.
Here I was following this guy, Jesus around. It was beginning to seem like a pointless activity. But I was planning to get back to my fishing boat soon and leave Jesus and the lads to get on with their do-good ways.
However, I agreed to go to one last event, the wedding in Cana with Jesus and his band of followers.
Nobody took any particular notice of Jesus. He was just another guy at a wedding. Mary, his mother was there also. Mary was quiet and soft-spoken.
Suddenly as the wedding feast was nearing its end, I noticed Mary coming quietly over to Jesus and tapping him on the shoulder and asking him something.
Jesus did not look happy and I heard him saying something rather strange to her in reply' My hour has not yet come.'
But that was how he spoke. As far as I was concerned, he spoke in riddles.
His hour hadn't come. Who could make sense of that sort of language?
Mary seemed non-plussed and went to the servers immediately and advised them to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Jesus told the servers to fill the stone jars to the brim and then to bring them to the head waiter. The head waiter spoke to the bridegroom. I could hear the head waiter's words clearly, 'you have kept the good wine until now.' The bridegroom made no audible reply.
It was customary, though, when celebrating matrimonial unions and particularly those where the bride was visibly heavy with child to serve quality food and wine in a spirit of thanksgiving.
People were puzzled by the events that had begun to take place. Some of the wine merchants at the wedding were envious and fearful this new quality wine might destroy their business. The guests, though, couldn't get enough of it.
How odd! My doubts began to fade away. Here was Jesus doing something different, turning water into wine and supplying extra wine at the end of the wedding feast.
I had to taste this wine. My father had a small vineyard and he made the wine we drank at home. In fact most citizens in the tiny hamlet of Cana had a few grapevines and made a little wine for their household. So they could tell a good wine when they found one.
This wine from the stone water jars was like no other wine I had ever tasted. It was smooth and fruity.
Jesus was no ordinary guy. I began to think about sticking around with Jesus for another while to see what might happen.
*****
The year was somewhere between AD 27-29. It was a day at the beginning of April. Passover was some days away.
My brother John and I, James, were invited to go to the wedding of Isaac and Sarah along with our new friend, Jesus.
Sarah was just fifteen and Isaac was twenty. They were local and grew up just outside the small town of Cana. It was, as was customary, an arranged marriage between two long- established families in the little canton. Sarah was with child for many months and it was important to have matrimonial legalities undertaken before the birth. Sarah's fertility was now no longer in doubt and the two families could conjoin without fear of a barren union. Isaac's pending fatherhood and established virility would allow him to rightfully take his place among the doctors and learned elders in the Temple. Their coming together and their subsequent sexual union had borne fruit. Blessings would follow in its wake according to the local lore.
As I ascended the steps to the wedding feast six stone water jars stood by the kitchen door. Being a fisherman, I was used to water and containers. These jars were half full during the wedding meal as servers came and went for water.
Jesus was an interesting dude. His brown eyes seemed to look into your soul. I abandoned my fishing boat to follow him around the countryside after he had shown up just as we tied up the boat, one evening at the water's edge. John was completely absorbed in what he was saying about love and helping others. I was more sceptical having seen other guys, over the years talking about loving your neighbour, while simultaneously spreading rumors about them or criticising them.
I was beginning to regret not being a fisherman anymore. Fishing was all I knew. My father, Zebedee was a fisherman.
Here I was following this guy, Jesus around. It was beginning to seem like a pointless activity. But I was planning to get back to my fishing boat soon and leave Jesus and the lads to get on with their do-good ways.
However, I agreed to go to one last event, the wedding in Cana with Jesus and his band of followers.
Nobody took any particular notice of Jesus. He was just another guy at a wedding. Mary, his mother was there also. Mary was quiet and soft-spoken.
Suddenly as the wedding feast was nearing its end, I noticed Mary coming quietly over to Jesus and tapping him on the shoulder and asking him something.
Jesus did not look happy and I heard him saying something rather strange to her in reply' My hour has not yet come.'
But that was how he spoke. As far as I was concerned, he spoke in riddles.
His hour hadn't come. Who could make sense of that sort of language?
Mary seemed non-plussed and went to the servers immediately and advised them to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Jesus told the servers to fill the stone jars to the brim and then to bring them to the head waiter. The head waiter spoke to the bridegroom. I could hear the head waiter's words clearly, 'you have kept the good wine until now.' The bridegroom made no audible reply.
It was customary, though, when celebrating matrimonial unions and particularly those where the bride was visibly heavy with child to serve quality food and wine in a spirit of thanksgiving.
People were puzzled by the events that had begun to take place. Some of the wine merchants at the wedding were envious and fearful this new quality wine might destroy their business. The guests, though, couldn't get enough of it.
How odd! My doubts began to fade away. Here was Jesus doing something different, turning water into wine and supplying extra wine at the end of the wedding feast.
I had to taste this wine. My father had a small vineyard and he made the wine we drank at home. In fact most citizens in the tiny hamlet of Cana had a few grapevines and made a little wine for their household. So they could tell a good wine when they found one.
This wine from the stone water jars was like no other wine I had ever tasted. It was smooth and fruity.
Jesus was no ordinary guy. I began to think about sticking around with Jesus for another while to see what might happen.
*****
My brother John and I, James, were invited to go to the wedding of Isaac and Sarah along with our new friend, Jesus.
Sarah was just fifteen and Isaac was twenty. They were local and grew up just outside the small town of Cana. It was, as was customary, an arranged marriage between two long- established families in the little canton. Sarah was with child for many months and it was important to have matrimonial legalities undertaken before the birth. Sarah's fertility was now no longer in doubt and the two families could conjoin without fear of a barren union. Isaac's pending fatherhood and established virility would allow him to rightfully take his place among the doctors and learned elders in the Temple. Their coming together and their subsequent sexual union had borne fruit. Blessings would follow in its wake according to the local lore.
As I ascended the steps to the wedding feast six stone water jars stood by the kitchen door. Being a fisherman, I was used to water and containers. These jars were half full during the wedding meal as servers came and went for water.
Jesus was an interesting dude. His brown eyes seemed to look into your soul. I abandoned my fishing boat to follow him around the countryside after he had shown up just as we tied up the boat, one evening at the water's edge. John was completely absorbed in what he was saying about love and helping others. I was more sceptical having seen other guys, over the years talking about loving your neighbour, while simultaneously spreading rumors about them or criticising them.
I was beginning to regret not being a fisherman anymore. Fishing was all I knew. My father, Zebedee was a fisherman.
Here I was following this guy, Jesus around. It was beginning to seem like a pointless activity. But I was planning to get back to my fishing boat soon and leave Jesus and the lads to get on with their do-good ways.
However, I agreed to go to one last event, the wedding in Cana with Jesus and his band of followers.
Nobody took any particular notice of Jesus. He was just another guy at a wedding. Mary, his mother was there also. Mary was quiet and soft-spoken.
Suddenly as the wedding feast was nearing its end, I noticed Mary coming quietly over to Jesus and tapping him on the shoulder and asking him something.
Jesus did not look happy and I heard him saying something rather strange to her in reply' My hour has not yet come.'
But that was how he spoke. As far as I was concerned, he spoke in riddles.
His hour hadn't come. Who could make sense of that sort of language?
Mary seemed non-plussed and went to the servers immediately and advised them to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Jesus told the servers to fill the stone jars to the brim and then to bring them to the head waiter. The head waiter spoke to the bridegroom. I could hear the head waiter's words clearly, 'you have kept the good wine until now.' The bridegroom made no audible reply.
It was customary, though, when celebrating matrimonial unions and particularly those where the bride was visibly heavy with child to serve quality food and wine in a spirit of thanksgiving.
People were puzzled by the events that had begun to take place. Some of the wine merchants at the wedding were envious and fearful this new quality wine might destroy their business. The guests, though, couldn't get enough of it.
How odd! My doubts began to fade away. Here was Jesus doing something different, turning water into wine and supplying extra wine at the end of the wedding feast.
I had to taste this wine. My father had a small vineyard and he made the wine we drank at home. In fact most citizens in the tiny hamlet of Cana had a few grapevines and made a little wine for their household. So they could tell a good wine when they found one.
This wine from the stone water jars was like no other wine I had ever tasted. It was smooth and fruity.
Jesus was no ordinary guy. I began to think about sticking around with Jesus for another while to see what might happen.
*****
Biblical Character Contest Winner |
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