The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”
The next day, after Jesus’ first disciples had begun to follow Him (John 1:35-51), they attended a wedding in Cana, along with His mother, Mary. It is most likely that they were close friends to the bride or groom not only because they were invited to the ceremony but also because it seems that both Jesus and Mary were involved in some way with the wedding festivities with her knowledge of the wine shortage and her approaching Jesus to help. It is possible that Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, has already passed away by this event. I say this because John does not include him in the list of invitees in 12:2 but also because we see Mary looked to Jesus, her eldest son, for help and not her husband.
Mary told Jesus that the couple had no more wine. During ancient times, people commonly diluted wine with water from 1/3 to 1/10 of its strength. Mixing water with wine was a way to purify the water and prevent becoming sick from harmful, untreated bacteria. Running out of wine for this couple was a big deal. A dry tap could have brought lasting shame to the couple for their entire marriage. This shortage of wine also opened up the groom’s family to a lawsuit because they failed to meet their responsibilities in providing everything for the wedding. Jesus’ miracle would provide a protective covering for the couple and the groom’s family.
4 “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
Jesus addresses Mary as woman. At first glance, it may seem that Jesus uses a derogatory term to answer His mother, but this is far from accurate. The Greek word for woman is equivalent to respectfully using the phrase mam to address an older lady today. Jesus understood Mary’s coming to Him as a request for Him to do something to solve the problem from Jesus’ response. Jesus asks His mother what their running out of wine has to do with them and “My time has not yet come.”
Before bringing my thoughts on this verse full circle, let’s explore what Jesus meant when He said, “My time has not yet come.” Because of the phrase’s use throughout the gospel accounts, this phrase refers to Jesus’ death and glorification (John 17:1). When we consider how Jesus addresses His mother and explains that His time has yet arrived, He is trying to help His mother begin to relate to and look to Him as her Messiah and not simply her son. Perhaps after pondering so many truths surrounding her son’s birth and possibly hearing about John the Baptist’s testimony of Him, she was encouraging Jesus to take this opportunity to reveal Himself publicly. Jesus would act on this couple’s behalf, not because of Mary’s request but because it was the Father’s timing for His public ministry to begin. John, the disciple, records Jesus’ public ministry in chapters 2-12 of his gospel.
We, too, must remember that Jesus is our Messiah; He is our Lord. He will act according to His timing and will for His glory. We may request of Him, but we should never try to rule over Him by demanding that He do our will.
5 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Trusting her son to do whatever He deemed as right, Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus instructed. We get our word, deacons, from this Greek word translated servants in verse five. These servants were not enslaved but most likely family and friends helping with the wedding festivities.
6 Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, 8 he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.
These enormous pots were used for purification rituals. The vessels were made out of stone and not clay because the Jews believed that stone containers wouldn’t become unclean like earthen post (Leviticus 11:33). After filling the jars with water, one of the servants obeyed Jesus by dipping out some of the water and taking it to the master of ceremonies for approval. The master of ceremonies was the head waiter and was the quality control for what went out to the guests.
These servants provide an example for us to follow. They obeyed Jesus’ instructions even though they probably didn’t understand how filling the jars to the brim with water would solve the drought of wine for the festivities. At least one of the servants demonstrated great faith as they took the cup of water they dipped out of one of the pots for the master of ceremonies to drink, knowing that water was in the cup and that the head waiter was expecting wine as the cup’s contents. Throughout Jesus’ parables, He describes His disciples as His servants. In Acts, the early church refers to themselves as God’s servants, and finally, Paul describes himself in such a way too. In faith, Jesus expects us to serve and follow Him; for those who do, Jesus promises that the Father will honor them (John 12:26).
9 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. 10 “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”
The master of the ceremonies was surprised as he tasted the quality of wine in the cup by the servant. Despite the shock experienced by the head waiter, I’m sure his level of surprise and delight dimmed to that of the faithful servant who knew what was in the cup. Surprised by his host’s gracious act of serving the best wine for last, he commended the bridegroom for his generosity. It was the usual practice, no doubt, to cut costs, to serve the best wine first, and then, once everyone was drunk, to serve a lower grade of wine. Jesus not only met the need of the couple but exceeded the need. The 120-180 gallons of new wine was more than enough to finish out the wedding ceremony, and the wine’s superb quality made any leftover an excellent wedding gift for the couple.
Jesus acts according to His character (2 Corinthians 8:9) and abundantly provides for this couple’s need out of His love for them. Jesus looked out for these newlyweds’ interests, and Paul calls us to do the same for others (2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 2:3-4).
11 This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 12 After the wedding he went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples.
2:11 explains why Jesus performed this miracle. We see that Jesus moved with compassion for the couple because He is a compassionate Savior but also to reveal His glory in public. The disciples had heard John the Baptist’s testimony of Jesus, but now they had seen Jesus perform this miracle with their own eyes. Witnessing this miracle helped their belief in Him as the Messiah become firmer, and at least for John, Jesus bringing forth wine from the water was proof of Jesus as Creator (John 1:1-4). It seems that Jesus left the wedding with the same number of disciples who traveled with Him to attend it. The miracle of water to wine seemed to strengthen His disciples’ faith but not awaken others’ faith.
John would later write, concerning this miracle along with the many others that Jesus did in His gospel and not recorded in his account so that we may continue to believe or so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing in Him you will have spiritual life according to the power of His name (John 20:30-31). May we, like John embrace Jesus’ miracles as proof of His divinity and not extract them from the Bible because of their seeming impossibility? Instead, may the Holy Spirit use them to strengthen our faith in Christ like He did John, Andrew, Peter, Phillip, and Nathaniel upon seeing Jesus turn water into wine in Cana. In writing his gospel, John also challenges us to share the Gospel of Jesus by relaying to others the witness of Scripture and His work in our lives.
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