The first miracle of Jesus was performed in Cana of Galilee when he was at a festive occasion of a wedding. This miracle is only reported in the Gospel of John. Unfortunately, we are unsure of the exact location since there are two sites vying for the first century Cana. They are both located west of the Sea of Galilee, and are six miles from each other. Biblical sites are often discoverable due to the current name being similar to the name in the biblical texts, but Cana in John 2 has two alternatives, namely, Kefar Kenna and Khirbet Qana.¹

John records Jesus’ turning water into wine, as taking place at “Cana of Galilee.” He is the only Gospel author to mention Cana, and does not give any more specific location, other than it is in the region of Cana. One possibility is Kefar Kenna, which is about four miles from Nazareth and about two and one-half miles from the first-century Gentile city of Sepphoris. It is mentioned a number of times in ancient works as the Cana of the Bible,² and supporting the claim of being the biblical site, several coins were discovered that date back to Herod the Great (37-4 BC), as well as the ruins of two synagogues, indicate that it was a Jewish community.³ Unfortunately, as was often done, the church was turned into a mosque by the Muslim invaders of Israel, and was avoided by Christians who traveled to Israel during the period of Crusader rule. After this time, pilgrims began to travel to the alternate site of Khirbet Qana, about six miles from Sepphoris and nine miles from Nazareth. Several excavations in 1982 reveal streets, cisterns, and foundations of houses that date to the Roman period.⁴

The other possible site, Khirbet Qana, is an unoccupied ruin, located six miles north of Sepphoris and nine miles north of Nazareth. In 1982 excavators identified streets, plazas, house foundations and several cisterns, all mostly from the Roman period.⁵ The scope of the ruins leads some to argue that this site is the Cana.