John - Chapter 2, Part 1

FIRST MIRACLE 

We should note that chapter two begins with the word “And” which connects it's beginning to the verses that closed chapter one. 

One of the strongly implied lessons of chapter one is the failure of Judaism and we see it magnified in chapter two. We saw the ignorance of the Jewish temple leaders who send their messengers to discover who John the Baptist truly is. These leaders were so blind as to not be able to recognize the forerunner of Christ that the OT had provided specific witness.

The Jewish temple leadership was coming to an end and we have two strong lessons in scripture to prove it:

Galatians 4:4: “But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son”. The time chosen by the Father was full and the time for the Son to begin his ministry was now. 

Luke 16:16: “The law and the prophets were UNTIL John”.

Now the scene is set for the first miracle as Jesus, His mother, and others are invited to a marriage in Cana. It may be no coincidence that Jesus chose this time for the beginning of signs. Marriage was ordained by God in Eden and began the family of man. Jesus now sanctifies the same holy ordinance by His presence whose signs will confirm the eternal spiritual family.

Mary tells Jesus that the feast has run out of wine. Here we see quickly a symbol in the story. Wine in scripture is the emblem of joy as Psalms 104:15 teaches: “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man”. Of course we will also see later that wine will further be the symbol of the blood of salvation. Joy and saving had both run out in Israel. Judaism still existed as a religious system but it gave no joy nor comfort to the heart. It had become a dry and corrupt system of greed and rules.

Now we are told that there were six waterpots at the feast, all empty. The number is worth noting. Six is the imperfect number of man and represents further the emptiness of the working of the Jews. Six waterpots, not seven, which is the perfect number of God. God was no longer present in the corruption of the Jews and the temple. We even see in verse 13 that the “feast of the Jews” is the name given to what was taught in Leviticus 23:2 to be the “feast of the Lord”.

The mother of Jesus plays an important role in this story. Notice that she is not called by her name (as in Acts 1:14) but is called “the mother of Jesus”. She originally tries to tell Jesus what to do about the problem and he promptly rebukes her. We are sure that Mary knew that Jesus was Lord and she knew from conception that he was divine.

Mary seemed to want Jesus to display His power and authority. The answer Jesus gave to Mary was direct and might be viewed as harsh. He says in verse 4: “... Woman, what have I to do with thee, mine hour is not yet come”. It was not that Jesus resented Mary for her direction but that the time of His subjection to earthly parents was closed. Now He was to begin and would be subject from this point forward only to His Father above.

This statement of  “mine hour is not yet come” became perhaps the strongest continual statement made by Jesus for a large part of His ministry. His idea of the “hour” was looking forward to that final hour at Calvary.  There are seven (note the number) instances in John of this statement:

• 2:4 Current statement.

• 7:30 No man could lay hands on him for his hour was not yet come.

• 8:20 And no man laid hands on him, for his hour was not yet come.

• 12:23 Jesus said the hour is come, and the Son of man should be glorified.

• 12:27 What shall I say, Father save me from this hour: But for this cause I came unto this hour.

• 16:32 Behold the hour cometh, yea, is now come.

• 17:1 Father the hour is come, glorify thy son.

Mary meekly accepts the rebuke of Jesus and tells the servants to do whatever He told them, now recognizing that the matter is entirely in His hands. We would do well to recognize this long ago lesson today in our own lives. We should commit ourselves to the Lord and accept that he will supply all needs in His time and His manner.

Jesus knew that performing this miracle would forever change His life. Before this time, He lived in quiet times in Nazareth. Now He would become famous and all would know that a great change had arrived among them. This beginning would provoke the religious leaders and he would be spied on and conspired against from this day forward.

HE DID NOT CHOOSE TO IGNORE THIS MOMENT.

As He chose to supply the need of the moment, he told the servants to fill the waterpots with water and they filled them to the brim. He commanded them to draw out the new wine and present it to the governor of the feast. Notice that Jesus displayed no visible divine power. The change was by His power. But the servants filled the pots with water, and the servants drew the new wine out and the servants presented the wine. 

His first miracle showed that He was content to use human instruments to arrange the miracles of His ministry. We remember that He told the men at the tomb of Lazarus to roll away the stone. Jesus could have easily commanded the stone to move but he allowed man a part of the miracle.

Also it makes sense to realize that the element that Jesus chose to transform was water. We know that water is one of the symbols of the written Word, as taught in Ephesians 5:26:

“That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”

We also remember the description Jesus gave to the Samaritan woman at the well of the living water that He can give. The water in the waterpots was made alive and transformed by divine power into wine, the first miracle in the Book of Signs.

Finally, we are told that the new wine was considered the “good wine”, better than the original wine and in verse 10 he says that normally poor wine is supplied after men have drunk some good wine. This moment symbolizes the contrast between the ways of men and the ways of God.

The world (and Satan surely) gives the best first and keeps the worst for last. First comes the pleasures of sin for a season and then comes the wages of sin. But with God the opposite is true. He brings His people into the wilderness before He brings them into the promised land. In God's plan first came the cross and then came the glory of the rising. So the lesson for us here is that the best “wine” (life & joy) is yet to be. Proverbs 4:18: “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more until the perfect day”.

We look only toward our faith in Christ for this lesson. Only He can bring the “better wine”, quench the thirst of the soul and bring joy to the heart.