Water into Wine and the Beheading of John the Baptist: Early Jewish Christian Interpretation of Esther 1 in John 2:1-11 and Mark 6:17-29

Two extensive accounts in the gospels of the “New” Testament reflect a major knowledge and appropriation of the Esther story, especially its first Jesus’ transformation of water into wine in John 2, and the beheading of John the Baptist in Mark 6. They clearly show the same type of retelling and reforming/adapting a biblical story found elsewhere in haggadic accounts, and they attest the very creative abilities of first-century Jewish Christians. As noted in the text, however, the historical categories of “true” and “false” are simply inappropriate in regard to this type of material. Conservative Christians (and Orthodox Jews) the author invites to consider the “religious truths” behind these and similar narratives. [From the Preface]