Today I want to take you to a wedding with me, and they had a problem there too. It’s the setting for our Lord’s first miracle, and it’s found in John 2.
Scripture: John 2:1-11
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Background
My first trip to Israel in 1975. One day our bus drove through a certain village and the guide told us it was Cana of Galilee.
One particular Cana wine company says, “Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine has been memorialized for centuries, and the Cana Wedding Wine allows you to honor and enjoy this momentous occasion. This 11-percent alcohol product is made in Israel, and is as close to the original story as possible.”
I assume they mean close in proximity rather than in quality.
However, there are four other places more likely to have been the biblical site of Cana. Dr. C. Thomas McCollough, an archaeologist, makes a strong case for a set of ruins five miles north of modern Cana (Kafr Kanna). The site is called Khirbet Cana (“the ruins of Cana”). In biblical times, this town sat at the junction of two major Roman roads, and the remaining first-century ruins indicate it was a vibrant Jewish town. Excavators have found an olive press, over sixty cisterns, and one wool dying installation there. There’s a cave nearby that apparently became a chapel for ancient pilgrims who wanted to visit the location of our Lord’s first miracle.
Cana was extremely important to the Gospel story because Jesus ended His first official week of ministry by attending a wedding there and choosing that town as the location for His very first miracle.
Exposition
Verse 1: On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.
The first and last chapters of the Gospel of John focus on the first and last weeks of our Lord’s ministry. The final week of Jesus’ natural life occupies John 12 through 20. But the Lord’s initial week is told in John 1 and 2. The apostle John gives us a day by day account:
- Day 1: John the Baptist is questioned by Jewish leaders from Jerusalem who had come down to the Jordan River to investigate his wilderness revival. He tells them he is not the Christ. The actual Christ is among the crowds, ready to make His appearance — John 1:19-28.
- Day 2: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’” – John 1:29-34.
- Day 3: “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’” John, Andrew, and Peter choose to follow Christ as His disciples – John 1:35-43
- Day 4: “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.” He challenged Philip and Nathanael (who was from Cana) to follow Him – John 1:43-51.
- Day 5: Jesus and His new followers were traveling.
- Day 6: Jesus and His new followers were traveling.
- Day 7: “On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had been invited to the wedding”—John 2:1-11.
In biblical times, wedding celebrations would sometimes occupy a week or more.
John’s emphasis isn’t on the couple but on one of the guests, the Man who would perform a miracle of transformation—turning everyday water into the finest wine the world had ever tasted!
Think of it! According to John’s Gospel, the Lord’s first week of ministry ended on “the third day” with a miracle. And so did His last week, when He rose from the dead—on the third day. There is a plan and pattern to the Gospel of John. He opens and closes His Gospel with one-week accounts which end with a miracle on the Third Day.
Verse 1: Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
The two towns were less than ten miles apart, and so the happy couple must have been either good friends or extended family of Joseph and Mary and Jesus.
After looking further, it’s not really surprising that Jesus began His supernatural ministry by blessing a marriage.
First, marriage is the first institution ever established by God. He brought together Adam and Eve and performed the ceremony in the Garden of Eden, saying, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Mark 10:7-8). The first institution God established was that of marriage, and the first miracle Jesus performed was at a wedding.
God doesn’t take your marriage for granted. Neither should you. To Him, it is a holy and wonderful relationship that points to our relationship with Him. Don’t be afraid to keep working on your marriage to make it as healthy as you can.
When Jesus is invited into a wedding, marriage, and home, He can bring about transformative change. And notice that Jesus was invited. John wrote, “On the third day a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding” (John 2:1-2).
Verse 3: When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
Some commentators believe she had a role in hosting the event. Her Son was dependable, resourceful, and a talented problem-solver.
Verse 4: “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
The Lord’s response has puzzled commentators for centuries. “Woman,” He said, “why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” That sounds pretty blunt. It’s true that in those days the word “woman” wasn’t as abrupt as it is now. The New Living Translation says, “Dear woman,” and that’s a bit closer. But what was Jesus telling her?
F. F. Bruce said, “He [Jesus] had been anointed with the Holy Spirit and had received power to undertake the special work which His Father had given Him to do. Now that, after the long ‘silent years’ at Nazareth, He had entered into His public ministry, everything (including family ties) must be subordinated to this.”
When we embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, our highest priority is doing what He tells us, even if that sometimes upsets our family members. We do our very best to please them, but Jesus comes first.
Mary had only one thing on her mind—if we don’t get more wine this young groom and his family will be humiliated. Looking over at the servants, she gave the world’s best advice: “Do whatever he tells you.” Her words are timeless, and they might as well have been spoken to me—and to you.
Whatever Jesus says to you, do it!
Verse 5: His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
So Mary told the servants to do whatever He said.
Verse 6: Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons (verse 6).
The Gospel of Mark helps us understand this, because on another occasion Mark explained the process of ritual purification among the Jews. He said, “The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding on to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles” (Mark 7:3-4).
Everyone who came to the wedding feast lined up to wash their hands, and all the dishes, cups, and pitchers had to be ceremonially cleansed too. They explained why the six water jars were now empty. They were stone jars, not pottery, for in the Jewish tradition a stone vessel was unlikely to absorb impurities.
There is significance to all this. Most commentators believe the Jewish water pots and purification ceremonies represented the Old Covenant and its traditions. Jesus was about to transform all that, and He would do it through the wine of His own blood.
Dr. F. F. Bruce wrote, “The water, provided for purification as laid down by Jewish law and custom, stands for the whole ancient order of Jewish ceremonial, which Christ was to replace by something better.”
Morris also points out that the New Testament often compares the Kingdom of God with a wedding feast, and the disciples in the presence of Christ are pictured as friends of the bridegroom (Mark 2:19). Putting it all together, this is the perfect opening miracle for the message of Jesus. He had come to replace the Jewish law with the wine of His own life and blood, and, in the process, to gain for Himself a bride—the church—which on this earth is eagerly awaiting the coming Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the time when we will be united with Him in person for all eternity (Revelation 19:6-9).
Wherever Jesus goes, He brings about change. If you let Him take over your life, He’ll change your life. If you let Him take over your home, He will change your home. Here in this first miracle, Jesus was telling us about the change He was bringing to the Jewish faith.
John 2:7: Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
John 2:8-9- Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
One old commentary said, “[This miracle] sanctifies marriage, and gives Christ’s approval to innocent mirth and gladness.” In other words, Jesus wanted the wedding party to enjoy themselves with fellowship, food, wine, and the merriment of the holy occasion of marriage. The Lord wants us to enjoy life!
John 2:11 says, “What Jesus did here in Cana was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
In this case, it was the first flash of glory that astonished His disciples and caused them to believe in His mission on earth. Jesus was beginning to exhibit the glory that belonged to Him as almighty God. This is one of the themes of John’s Gospel. In the prologue, John wrote, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Here at Cana, Jesus began to reveal His glory to His disciples, who must have stood in slack-jawed amazement as they watched the miracle unfold.
In John 8:54, Jesus told His critics that He wasn’t seeking to glorify Himself. It was God the Father who was endowing Him with glory.
In John 11, Jesus said His purpose in raising Lazarus from the dead was “for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (verse 4). In John 12:41, John tells us that even the prophet Isaiah, who had preached 700 years earlier, had foreseen the glory of the Messiah and written about it.
Then in His deeply personal prayer in John 17, Jesus told His Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began…. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (verses 4-5, 24).
The Lesson For Us
As you can see, there are many points of interest to this story, but the one overriding axiom that impresses me most is this. Whenever we do whatever Jesus tells us, our ordinary tasks yield extraordinary results. It was the servants completing a set of very ordinary tasks. But somehow in the middle of their ordinary tasks, the Lord accomplished extraordinary results.
It reminds me of a rather obscure verse of Scripture in the Old Testament. Isaiah 26:12 says, “Lord,… all that we have accomplished you have done for us.”
We should wake up every morning saying, “What will Jesus do today?” He scatters “everyday miracles” We should ask Him to turn the water of our everyday efforts into the wine of His elegant ministry. He can touch our daily actions with transforming dynamism, though we may not know it at the time. Only in Heaven will we realize how many gallons of wine He produced as we filled the jars and ladled the liquid.
Whenever We Do Whatever Jesus Tells Us, Our Ordinary Tasks Yield Extraordinary Results. Never be discouraged when you are doing the least thing for Christ. Just fill the jar to the brim and watch what the Lord will do!
As the old song says, we find that little is much when God is in it.