John 2:1-12

John 2:1-12

And by the third day a wedding became in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there.  And Jesus and His disciples were also being invited into the wedding.  And after lacking wine the mother of Jesus says to Him, “They do not have wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “What is it to me and you, woman?  My hour is not yet come.”  His mother says to the servants, “Do anything He says to you.”  And there were six stone water jars resting there according to the purification rites of the Jews – each while holding about twenty or thirty gallons.  Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars of water.”  And they filled them up as far as the brim.  And he says to them, “Now draw some out and carry it to the head steward.”  And they carried it.  And when the head steward tasted the water after becoming wine and he had not known from where it came – and the servants who drew the water had known – the head steward called the bridegroom and says to him, “All mankind sets out the good wine first and whenever they should be drinking freely the inferior is set out.  You have retained the good wine until now.”  Jesus did this first of the signs in Cana of Galilee and He revealed His glory and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples went down into Capernaum and they stayed there not many days.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Here we have the great wedding feast.  This is often called Jesus’ first miracle, although technically this is in error because John never once uses the word “miracle.”  Instead John uses the word “sign.”  Anyway, the wedding runs out of wine – perhaps because Jesus brought along some unexpected disciples – and all of a sudden Mary gets Him involved.  Jesus makes a great claim here.  He says, “What is it to me and you?”  In other words, Jesus is saying that the problem is not inherently His or His mother’s to fix.  Then, Jesus says, “My hour is not yet come.”  This is Jesus beginning to demonstrate to His mother that He is no longer under her authority but under the authority of the Father.  In two quick comments, Jesus has told His mother that His identity now comes from the Father and not from Mary.  I love Mary’s response.  She simply turns to the servants and says, “Do what He tells you.”  She trusts Jesus.  She knows that He will do the right thing, whatever it is.  Here in this story we get a glimpse of the human mother of Jesus changing in order to become the submitted follower of God.  What a beautiful portrait of the God-Man and a submitted follower.

How would you have responded to Jesus in this instance?  Do you think this matter really necessitated the involvement of Jesus?  What does it show us about Jesus that He is willing to solve non-critical issues such as running out of wine?

Second Thought:

My second point is going to be a quick one because my other points are long.  Jesus asks the servants to fill up the water jars and the servants fill them up completely to the top.  What a demonstration of the fullness of God’s power.  When God comes into one’s life, He comes in fully and completely.

Where is God fully present in your life?  How do you know?

Third Thought:

 There is a pretty neat point that we can get out of the Greek with regard to what the steward says about the good and inferior wine.  Many translations talk about the inferior wine coming out after the people have become drunk.  The teaching there is one of deception, which is to say that after people are drunk then you can bring out the cheap wine when nobody knows the difference.  The Greek supports that reading, but it is not the only reading that the Greek supports. 

The verb can also mean “to drink freely.”  It is out of this translation that I think we can get a rich teaching.  I believe the head steward is making a point of theological economy.  I believe the steward is speaking about using the good wine during the beginning when the important toasts and celebratory actions would take place.  Then, when people should be drinking freely – as in people can drink because they are thirsty rather than because there is a purpose to the drink – most people serve inferior wine.  What’s the point?  The head steward is saying that most people save special wine for special occasions and use mundane wine for mundane occasions.  Without knowing the source of the wine, the head steward then unknowingly confesses that when Jesus is around, even the mundane is filled with specialness.  Jesus – God – makes special the mundane times of life.  That’s an amazing point that typically isn’t brought out in the study of this passage because of the way people focus on translating the verb in a manner implying “drunkenness” rather than “drinking freely.”

Do you believe every occasion is a special occasion in Jesus?  How does this live out in your life?  How does this not live out in your life?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 2:13-22