Sites where Jesus performed miracles unveiled

General view of a paved assembly area and water channel at the site of a pool where some Christians believe Jesus gave sight to a blind man. Picture / Reuters

Just in time for the Christmas holiday, Israeli archaeologists have unveiled two sites in Jerusalem and Galilee where Jesus is said to have performed miracles: one where he gave sight to a blind beggar, the other where he turned water into wine at a wedding feast.

At the foot of a steep valley below the southern wall of Herod's Temple, Israeli archaeologists showed part of the pool of Siloam, boasting a water channel, stone steps and paving dating to the New Testament era. They had been buried under rubble and refuse since the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 AD.

This was where King David built his city. It now houses the straggling Arab village of Silwan. Much has still to be excavated, but corner stones indicate that the huge pool covered 2,500 square metres. It was fed by the Gihon spring, Jerusalem's only source of water in biblical times, which still burbles down the hillside.

Professor Ronny Reich, who led the excavation, said the pool was known from the biblical narrative as a place where Jews gathered to refresh and purify themselves during the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Jesus, he said, would almost certainly have been one of the pilgrims.

The story of the miracle is told in St John's Gospel (Chapter 9). Jesus saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked whether the man or his parents had sinned to deserve such a fate.

"Jesus answered: 'Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me.' ... When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing."

The topography, Herodian era coins found on the new site and the way the stones are dressed convinced the archaeologists that this was the place where it all happened.

The earlier find was in the Arab village of Cana, near Nazareth, long known as the site of Jesus' first miracle described in John (Chapter 2).

Mary and Jesus were at a wedding feast, but the hosts had neglected to offer wine. Jesus ordered the servants to fill six stone pots, used by the Jews for ritual purification, with water. After turning it into wine, he sent it to the "governor of the feast", who berated the bridegroom for keeping the booze until the end.

"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory," John wrote, "and his disciples believed on him."

Yardena Alexander, a London-born archaeologist who led the excavation, uncovered remains of a settlement that was occupied continuously for 700 years from about 300 BC. She found remains of buildings, clay ovens and grinding stones, as well as a Jewish ritual bath.

The site was discovered by accident after a villager hit ancient masonry while starting to build a new house. Although there have been other claimants to the water-into-wine location, Ms Alexander is convinced that this is the one.

"The name Cana has been preserved down the centuries," she said. "It lies on the historic route from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee, which Jesus often travelled. This village, much bigger then than Nazareth, existed at the time of Jesus."

She also found evidence that it was a Jewish village. The ritual bath was attached to a house, but its size suggested that it was used by a whole clan rather than just one family.

The dig also turned up fragments of stone vessels of a kind used by Jews. Unlike clay, Ms Alexander explained, they were not defiled if they came into contact with a dead creature. "With all these," she concluded, "you don't need any more evidence."

- THE INDEPENDENT