3  Wedding at Cana

This is the wedding feast at Cana where Jesus turned the water into wine, saving the bride and her family from everlasting disgrace.  (John 2:1-11)  It is the first miracle recorded.  Jesus is pointing up in this picture, perhaps indicating that the miraculous power is not his own, but comes from God.  Mary, who had called Jesus, is standing in the background; the wedding party sits at the table behind.

The hands united in marriage below are blest by the Holy Spirit, the descending Dove.  They also represent a new covenant.  The wine and grapes above refer to the wine at the wedding feast, but they also anticipate a greater New Covenant.

Feeding of the Five Thousand

Jesus took five loaves and two fish and blessed and broke them.  (Mark 6:41) This miracle must have made quite an impression, because it is the only story that appears in all four Gospels, and two of the Gospels tell it twice, the second time as the feeding of four thousand.

As was noted earlier, fish and fishing were a way of life with the early disciples.  Below, there is a picture of a fishing boat with the nets hung over the side.  As an aside, I have been impressed that the most common symbols of Christianity are things that were ubiquitous in Jesus' world, everyday things like fish and sheep, water, wine, fire.

Above, there is the symbol of the fish again, this time a single fish but with a banner or scroll.  The banner says ΙΧΘΥΣ which is the Greek word for "fish," pronounced "Ichthus" as in ichthyology, the study of fish.  It is an acronym for:

Ιησους    which means    Jesus
Χριστος,                         Christ,
Θεου                              God's
Υιος                                Son,
Σωτηρ                            Savior

or simply: "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior."  Sometimes you see the fish symbol with letters in the fish. Often they say "Jesus."  More traditionally they say "ΙΧΘΥΣ."  

At the top of the window are the letters "ihs" which actually are the Greek letters iota eta sigma. Just as we often abbreviate  William as Wm. or James as Jas.,  frequently Jesus, a common name then, was abbreviated as  ιης  (lower case letters) or ΙΗΣ  (upper case letters). It is this ιης that is shown here.

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