January 16 – John
JOHN 2: 1-11
Okay, after hearing today’s Scripture lesson, I know all of you would be disappointed if I didn’t tell a joke. I know we all love those walk into the bar jokes. So, here goes! “Jesus walks into a bar and crawls up on a stool. The bartender comes over and says, “Let me guess…wine, right? Jesus says, “No water. I’ll do the rest. I haven’t decided yet if I want red or white wine today.”
In all seriousness, the story of the wedding at Canaan is an extremely important one because it is the first miracle that Jesus performs as He begins His ministry in earnest. The miracles performed by Jesus were expressions of the supernatural and of His divine power. In short, they attested to Jesus unique relationship with God. It is John telling the story, and John’s purpose in his gospel was to produce faith in Jesus. John sought to accomplish this by recording many of Jesus’ miracles.
We can be sure it had an impact on the five disciples that He had just called to follow Him. They believed that here was God’s Man, ruling over all the works of God’s hands, put in dominion and authority over the natural world and doing with it whatever he pleased, within the limits of nature itself. That is the sign, the meaning of this miracle. When the disciples saw it they believed more deeply in him than before. They saw that here was one who could handle life. Here was one who could take a commonplace thing, nothing out of the ordinary, simple water, and make of it wine, make it a source of joy, of glory and of warmth.
Perhaps you are wondering why Jesus would perform miracles as miracles created sensationalism among the people. However, Jesus’ miracles provided the proof that He was sent by God. Jesus pointed to miracles as signs of something deeper and more significant. They showed His authority over nature, demons, disease and death. Miracles occurred ultimately to reveal Jesus as the long awaited Messiah, the Savior.
The wedding in Cana would have been much different than how weddings here in the Western part of the world take place. In weddings in the Eastern world, it is the groom who is prominent and featured one in the wedding, and it is the groom who pays for the wedding. Weddings were big affairs in Jesus time just as they are now, and often went on for 2 or 3 days at a time. So, you can understand how the wine might run out.
We are told that Mary, Jesus’ mother was present, and it appears that she had some sort of role of responsibility and authority at the wedding. It has been speculated that the wedding might have been that of a close relative, even one of her other sons. However, there is no way to know this for sure. Running out of wine, if Mary were in charge, would have been a great embarrassment to her.
We can also see that Mary sized up the situation and seized the occasion to say, very significantly to Jesus, “They have no more wine.” Notice that she does not ask him to do anything about it; she merely tells him that the wine has run out.
The fact that Jesus clearly understood her can be seen from his answer: “Woman, what have you to do with me?” That answer was not rude or disrespectful, though it may sound that way to us. If a young man today called his mother “woman,” he would most likely be in big trouble for being disrespectable. Here Jesus was using a common title of respect.
When he says, “What have you to do with me,” that is simply a Hebrew way of saying, “You don’t understand.” So what he is saying is not that he will not do something — he does not mean that he will not act — because he did act. He means, “What I do will not accomplish what you are hoping. It will not persuade the nation that I am the Messiah.” Miracles were indeed part of the plan of God. They would be performed, but in the end, they would not convince the nations.
Jesus then asks the servants to fill the six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, to the brim. He then changed the water into wine of the very best kind.
So, what can we conclude from the story of the Wedding at Cana? First of all, we can see that Jesus honored the bond of marriage by attending the wedding. The bond of marriage and family are very important.
Secondly, just because Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding does not mean that He condones drinking alcohol on a regular basis and unresponsively. Today alcoholic drinks are much stronger than those in Jesus time. In Jesus time grapes were fermented but not to the alcoholic state that they are today. The Bible is also filled with the dangers of drinking. Proverbs 20:1 tells us, “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.”
When the wedding goers finally departed, we are told in John 2:12 that Jesus, “Went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.” Jesus’ disciples must have been excited. They had heard the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Jesus, and now they had seen this “sign” that Jesus was truly what they believed Him to be when they left their families and means of livelihood behind to follow Him.
As we know, Jesus would perform many more signs before His death on the cross and the resurrection. John 2:11 tells us, “What Jesus did in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” The question is, do you believe in Him too with all your heart? Amen