Water into Wine
John 2:1-17
Introduction to the series:
- The miracles of Jesus in John’s Gospel;
- They are, in John, always signs of something
specific about Jesus. - We will gain great depth from John when we take
the time and effort to understand not only each miracle, but also what it is
telling us about Jesus; - If all goes according to plan, we will be
studying the miracles of the healing at the Pool of Bethesda, the feeding of
the 5000, the healing of the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus, the
Resurrection of Jesus, and the Restoration of Peter. Today we study John
2:1-17, the miracle at the wedding in Cana.
Let’s jump right in to the text.
v.1 “On the third day”: Remember
that John is writing to people who are alive after Christ’s death and
resurrection. So there is significance for them and for us in the fact that he
specifically tells us that it is the 3rd day. It was on the third
day that Jesus rose from the dead. So this miracle has deeper meaning than just
its face value, and John is sending us that message in his very first phrase.
v.1 “A wedding took place”: A
Jewish wedding feast in those days lasted for seven days, with fresh guests
arriving throughout the week. The feast was a sort of open house with food and
drinks available for the guests. There was no “honeymoon” custom … they
followed their marriage ceremony with this long feast, celebrating with the
village and other invited guests.
v.1 “Jesus’ mother was there”: It
is possible that this was some relative of Jesus being invited, or simply that
his mother knew the family. It’s worth noting that Joseph is not mentioned
which is a clear indication that when Jesus’ ministry began, he had already
passed away.
v.2 “Jesus and His disciples had
also been invited”: Let’s note that this was the 3rd day after Jesus
had called his first disciples. So this was not a long-standing invitation.
It’s almost as though they had half expected Jesus to come, but when they heard
from his mother that he was now a Rabbi with disciples, they had opened up the
invitation to the disciples. So the presence of Jesus and His disciples is
quite possibly what contributed to the lack ok of enough wine at the wedding.
This would help us understand why, when Jesus had not yet performed any
miracles and his mother had no reason to expect Him to do so, Mary came to
Jesus to tell him that they had run out. Perhaps she just wanted Him to
understand why they wouldn’t have enough wine … ot perhaps she expected Him
to apologise.
v.3 “Dear woman, why do you
involve me? My time has not yet come”: The older versions were quite harsh in
their translations and said things like: “Jesus said to her, Woman, what do I
have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.” This is how most of us remember
the verse and the way most of us understand it – almost as a rebuke of Mary; a
sort of a “leave me alone” statement. To understand this statement by Jesus
properly we have to consider the original Greek. The NIV translates it one way,
but the Literal Version translates it: “(LITV) Jesus said to her, ‘What is
that to Me and to you, woman? My hour has not yet come.’” The New American
Standard Bible says: “And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does that have to do
with us? My hour has not yet come.’” The NLT translates it: “Dear woman,
that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet
come.” And these are equally valid and, in fact, more literal translations
of the verse. So, to me it makes more sense that Jesus is not rebuking Mary as
much as He is telling her: “This is not our problem … don’t worry about it.”
We could surmise then that He is suggesting that she trust in God to solve the
problem.
v.4 “My time has not yet come”:
Most commentaries agree that this is not Jesus saying that His time to do any
miracle or sign had not yet come, but that the right moment for this specific
miracle had not quite arrived yet. It was then Jesus’ way of saying, “All in
due time”. He was still speaking to her in the sense of calming her down and
getting her not to fret or to make a big fuss of what was going to happen. All
too often when we need a miracle we try to stir up emotion, we see Christians
shouting and commanding and declaring at the tops of their voices … but Jesus
was just laid back and calm and totally trusted God that the miracle would
happen at the right time.
v.5 “Do whatever he tells you”:
Mary clearly did not receive Jesus’ words as a rebuke that she must leave Him
alone or that He was not going to solve the problem. One has to wonder what she
expected – perhaps that He would send the servants out to buy wine … because
remember He had as yet not performed any miracles. But right here is a key to
us experiencing the miracles of Jesus. To
experience the miracles Jesus does in our lives we have to do whatever he tells
us.
v.6-8: The instructions Jesus
gave to the servants were not such that they would have expected that any kind
of miracles was going to happen. All they had to do was fetch the stone jars
that stood there for the rituals of washing of feet as guests arrived, and of
cleaning the hands before eating and drinking. Once they had filled them to the
brim he told them to draw water out and take it to the master of the banquet.
Just notice the importance of this. The servants did not know that Jesus’
instruction had anything to do with the shortage of wine. All they knew was
that this rabbi told them to fill the jars, so they filled the jars to the best
of their ability. If Jesus is going to
do miracles through us it is not important that we even know that it is going
to happen … all we have to focus on is doing exactly what Jesus commands us
to do to the absolute best of our ability. Sometimes Jesus uses us to do
great things and we never even know that it has happened. They also continued
to obey Jesus even when it made no sense. They drew water, filled the jars, and
then took some to the master of the feast to drink. This was a strange command
because at a feast you don’t drink water, you drink wine … but they did it
anyway. Sometimes when Jesus is about to
use us for a miracle He leads us to do things that don’t make an awful amount
of sense to us, but we have to just do them anyway.
v.9-10: John makes us to tell us
that the master of the banquet did not know that what he was tasting had been
water a few moments before. He makes sure we understand that the servants knew
where the drink came from but there is no record of them telling the master
where it came from. There is also no record of the master telling them that he
had been drinking wine, so they saw nothing strange and extraordinary. Why would
he tell them it was wine anyway? He assumed that was what they had brought him.
They assumed he needed a drink of water. The bridegroom was confused as to what
the master was on about. “What excellent wine? I don’t know? Maybe the servants
just forgot some containers and fetched them in the wrong order. Who cares?
Let’s enjoy it!” And so the first miracle of Jesus, the first great sign He
did, slipped by unnoticed … by everyone except his disciples and his mother
(no doubt, although she is not specifically mentioned).
v.11: The verse makes it clear
that no-one had noticed, because it is only the disciples who put their faith
in Him.
Now before we go any further, let’s learn some lessons from the passage
so far:
- Jesus
Christ was at the wedding … and they wanted Him there because they had
invited Him. He was not and is not
party-pooper. Jesus never held Himself aloof. He always identified with
people and entered into their worlds. He loved to celebrate … so much so that
he was accused of being a “glutton and a wine-bibber”. He was not a glutton and
he was not a drunkard … because those things are sin … but He ate and drank
at feasts and celebrations and he enjoyed life to the full alongside ordinary
people. - Mary
had absolute confidence in Jesus even though she had never seen Him do a
miracle. The silent years of Jesus’ life leave us with a lot of unanswered
questions about the first 30 years of His life, but what His mother quite
naturally expected of Him here is evidence that He was someone who cared about
the needs and shortfall of others and that He was the kind of person with a
track record of doing something about those needs. Mary clearly had experience
of Jesus as being unselfish, thoughtful, dependable and creative in His
problem-solving abilities. Lyman Abbot writes that you can sum up the ministry
of Jesus in a single word: “Helpfulness”. - Jesus
roped in the servants as His co-workers of a miracle. To this day He does not
keep the healing and the helping and the teaching of the world to Himself, but
He calls anyone who will come to work alongside Him in His mission. It is also
worth noting that the servants were serving Him and doing a miracle by simply
doing something that was in their ordinary job-description. We don’t have to
leave our jobs to serve Jesus and be used by Him … we simply have to do
everything we do in submission to His guidance and instruction and do it all
for His glory … and often without us even realising it he can use us for a miracle
in someone’s life. - Mary’s
appeal to Jesus seems to have been too panicked for His liking. Jesus calms her
down and answers Her appeal … but the sense we pick up is that he would have
preferred her to be calmer and even more faith-filled in her request. When we
approach God, Hebrews commands us to come with confidence before His throne of
grace to find mercy. We must not panic,
we must pray with calm, serene faith and confidence.
And then, also before we go any further, we ought to consider the main
lesson of this SIGN … because the section that follows the miracle is an
illustration of the meaning of the sign!
The miracle at the wedding in Cana is a symbolic representation of
the essence of the Gospel. Jesus did it right at the start of His ministry, and
John highlights it, because He wants to give us a pictorial summary of what is
to follow. So here is the Gospel in the miracle in Cana:
- Jesus
enters into our human situation; - Jesus
sees the need; - Jesus
meets the need; - Jesus
transforms and miraculously enriches our lives.
What water is to wine … our
lives before Christ are to our lives with Christ! The emptiness and
meaninglessness of life before Christ are miraculously transformed into a life
of fullness, colour, adventure and purpose! The main lesson is the glory that
Jesus brings with Him into our lives and which He will give to anyone who will
accept it from Him:
- Abundant life
- Peace that passes understanding
-
Fullness of joy (which only He can give and
which produces the kind of astonishment that the master of the banquet
experienced when he tasted the wine).
In the Gospels the people who
have been touched by Jesus are always bursting in on us with their eyes shining
and their hearts on fire, shouting, “We’ve found it … the thing the whole
world has been waiting for … and it works!!”
Our lives are the water which
Jesus wants to turn into wine!
NOW, as I’ve alluded to, the next
scene is an illustration of that transformation that Jesus wants to do in our
lives … and it reminds us that Jesus’ transformation is not always
comfortable. We’ll look at it under 2 headings; viz. BC and AD
BC – v.13-14
The life being transformed here
was the worshipping life, represented by the temple. On coming to the temple’s
outer courts, the court of the Gentiles, Jesus is faced with a worship life
that has been replaced by exploitation and exclusion.
What he finds there are those who
are selling pre-approved sacrificial animals – this was a business that
enriched the priests (it was normally their families who conducted the
business) who sold animals at a far higher price than outside the temple
because they were guaranteed to be free of blemishes. Also in the courts were
the money-changers who exchanged the Roman coins for Jewish shekels – the
temple only accepted shekels. And historians aver that the exchange rate and
commission was also exorbitant.
So the two issues that Jesus
wanted to transform in the worship life of Israel were:
- Exploitation: using the desire of
people to worship for selfish profit. - Exclusion: organising the worship life
in such a way that the gentiles could not worship. It was their space that was
being used for the commerce. The Jewish space was left untouched and they could
worship undisturbed, but the gentiles’ space was invaded by the traders.
AD -v.17
The transformation Jesus wanted
to bring about was to impart His attitude towards worship to the people of
Israel. He wanted a people who would be passionate about worship – both in
their sense of the worship they would bring; and also enabling others, especially
gentiles to worship. You see the Israelites had been selfish about worship.
They had protected their own worship at the expense of those who were
outsiders. Jesus’ priorities were the opposite. He wanted a people who would be
passionate about making sure that God would be worshipped by the marginalised,
the outcasts and the unwanted – here symbolized by the gentiles.
So the transformation was from exploitation to selflessness; and from
exclusion to inclusion.
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