The Cana Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

leftovers from these miracles, whether collected in baskets or in jars. When asked by his disciples what to do, he chides: “Having ears, hear ye not? Do ye not remember? How is it that ye do not understand?” (Mark 8:18–21)
     
    Ava deleted that article. She had no tolerance for mysticism or numerology. She refined her search terms. To her great amusement, under “legend + Cana + wedding + jars,” she found a 2012 article cowritten by none other than Dr. Ron Bagelton. Ava couldn’t resist giving it a look.
     
The first miracle occurred at a marriage feast, often considered the wedding of Mary and John the Apostle, but a suppressed, older version of the legend reveals that the wedding was between Mary Magdalene and Jesus himself.
     
    She rolled her eyes. Naturally, the unscrupulous Bagelton would exploit the supposed proof that Jesus had been married. Ava recalled the buzz around Harvard when Professor Karen King unveiled a business card–size papyrus fragment purporting to quote Jesus mentioning a wife. The gullible U.S. media went wild. Fortunately, sober-minded journals exercised more caution. The Harvard Theological Review postponed publication of Dr. King’s article, citing the need for further research.In Italy, the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano declared the fragment a “very modern forgery.” Faced with the growing consensus among scholars that she’d been victimized by a hoax, Dr. King conceded the existence of doubts about the fragment’s authenticity, accepted the need for additional testing, and agreed to revise her paper. Bagelton’s article, unencumbered by any mention of the dispute, continued.
     
The Secret Gospel of Mark relates the story of Jesus in Capernaum, where Jesus says: “Happy are those invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb. Write down the true words of God. The one alone shall be chaste [fruitless]. Only two together behold [contain] the truth.” Later, Jesus explains why Romans cannot yet comprehend his message: “They listen, but do not understand, because their minds are dull. They have stopped-up ears. If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the people!”
     
    Ava skipped a few paragraphs, then read on.
     
In Revelation 5:2, St. John writes: “Who is worthy to break the seals and unlock the message?” This passage has never been deciphered. The interpretation might be similar to cryptic writings of Greek mysticism. There have been attempts throughout history to decode a biblical instruction set for creating a mystic diagram, taking the gematria of the passage into account.
     
    Gematria? Ava laughed out loud. “Give me a break,” she thought. “How does a man like Bagelton still have an academic career?” She moved on to the next article. On the whole, it provided more history and less baloney, but it concluded:
     
Some scholars interpret these stories as factual events, prodding fanatics and treasure hunters to seek the relics mentioned in the biblical text. The legendary lost jars of Cana, said by John to have been used when Christ converted water to wine, are rumored to contain an unreadable prophecy predicting the ultimate apocalypse and providing the subtext for the warnings in Revelation against the coming Antichrist.
     
    “Great,” thought Ava, closing her laptop. “The end of the world.”
     
     
    Simon sat in his tent and fumed. Savage winds jostled the tent posts, rocking a kerosene lantern to and fro. Each pendular swing cast fearsome shadows across the sandy floor, sometimes lighting and sometimes obscuring Simon’s face. He cursed. Events had overtaken them. The recovery mission had devolved into disaster, and now the situation was spiraling out of control. He tried Paul’s phone again. No answer. DeMaj fought to maintain his composure. Pouring another cup of coffee, he wondered: Where would the young American go? What would he think? And what of the girl, the ancient-languages expert? She must arrive in Sana’a soon. Did she