1On the
third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was
there; 2and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said* to Him,
“They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said* to her,
“Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has
not yet come.” 5His mother said* to the servants,
“Whatever He says to you, do it.” 6Now there were six stone waterpots
set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty
gallons each. 7Jesus said* to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them
up to the brim. 8And He said* to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the
headwaiter.” So they took it to him. 9When the
headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it
came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter
called* the bridegroom, 10and said* to him,
“Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk
freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept
the good wine until now.” 11This beginning of His signs Jesus
did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in
Him.
John, to my dear friends in Christ; in John 2:1-12 we see Jesus' first recorded miracle in the Gospel of John. Let's take a closer look at the text, in verses 1-2 we see the set up to the miracle is a wedding and the primary characters are Mary, Jesus and His disciples. The trigger to the miracle is the running out of wine. In Jewish culture there was a seven-day feast to celebrate a wedding. Food, wine, and entertainment were provided. Running out of wine before the end of the seven days would be very embarrassing for the host. In verse 3 Mary tells Jesus that there is no more wine. Why Mary said this, we are not sure, but from Jesus' answer, could it be she was ready for the Messiah (her Son) to come into power and defeat their enemy Rome. Jesus' answer tells us two things in verse 4, first - He says in a polite way, "Why are you asking Me, I'm not responsible for supplying the wine?" Second - Jesus tells her, as he says throughout John, "My hour has not come." Whenever Jesus says this, He is talking about His primary mission on earth which is not to defeat Rome but something better. His mission is to defeat sin through His death and resurrection, John 12:27 & 28, "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." In verse 5-10, Jesus complies with His mother's desire through a miracle, as if to say, "Yes, now is the time to start my long walk to that final hour on Calvary." Verse 11 gives us the conclusion of this event and states that this was the beginning of His signs that manifest His glory, the glory that was to be seen in His death and resurrection (see John 12:27 & 28 above). His disciples also believed this was a sign that He was truly the Messiah, though they did not understand His full mission on earth. Again, prior to the New Testament we see miracles only through the prophets and God. Jesus can be no other than a prophet of God or God Himself, we know from previous studies Jesus is God. Awesome isn't it!
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray and thank you for the
Gospel of John and the continuing encouragement we receive from it, help us to remember this
always, in Jesus name I Pray, Amen.
God's Many Blessings to
You,
john
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Scripture references (unless
noted otherwise): New American Standard
copyright The Lockman Foundation
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995
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