Out of the vast amount of material available to John, the writer of the Gospel, he has carefully chosen his material as an eyewitness of all Jesus did and said,
In his writing he has a clear, guiding purpose. John 20:30-31 tells us, "Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." So John has deliberately, chosen these particular miracles for the purpose that we might believe and the result of that belief will be life everlasting.
Ray Summers in his book, "Behold the Lamb," states that John selected these miracles because they make the greatest demand on faith. They go beyond the norm. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus restores sight to one who has lost it.
In John's gospel, He gives sight to one who was born blind. In the other gospels, Jesus brings back to life one who has been dead a few moments or hours.
In John's gospel, he brings Lazarus back from the dead after four days. John selected these miracles for the purpose of stimulating belief that the One who did these signs was indeed the Christ, the Son of God, and that by that faith they might have the eternal life which Jesus offered. Jesus' miracles, then, were manifestations of His glory as the Redeemer whom the Father had sent.
The wedding took place not far from Nazareth in the small village where Nathanael lived, Cana of Galilee. Notice the specifics. It must have been something of a family affair. The mother of Jesus, whose name is not given, but who is very specifically identified, seems to be at the center of arranging things. And Jesus and His disciples were invited. This is the first time Jesus is identified in an intimate way with His disciples, and they would surely not have been invited as a group had they been total strangers.
A wedding in those days was a great celebration, no little twenty-minute event.
The ceremony usually took place late in the evening ... on a Wednesday if the girl was a virgin and on a Thursday if she was a widow ... and would be conducted after a feast. Then there was a procession to the home of the groom, a joyous, noisy parade, with an open house and entertainment that went on for at least a week.
Surely the rich, deep meaning of marriage in Jewish religious life was in John's mind as he shared the account of this simple, shining even in Cana. That intimate relation between God and Israel is portrayed over and over again through the image of the marriage covenant. The fullness of the age of the Messiah was prophesied in Isaiah and spoken of so beautifully through the symbol of marriage, and the vision of the consummation of all history will be celebrated in the marriage of the "Lamb and His bride" when glory is given the Lord God Omnipotent (Rev. 19:7). How highly suggestive then that Jesus' first miracle, inaugurating the messianic age, should be the sign given at a wedding.
And if the Word has truly become flesh, so that heaven and earth, salvation and creation, are joined in Him, then all human experiences ... however lowly or lofty ... become occasions when His glory can break forth. The possibilities are unlimited! While Jesus was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, He was also a Man who went to parties and enjoyed healthy conversation, laughter, and good food. His showing up at Cana is an invitation for the rest of us to join Him at His party and to enter into His joy.
Freedom From His Mother 2:3-5
But in the midst of this joyous affair at Cana comes the possibility of great embarrassment. "They have no wine." What a shocking thing for the bridegroom and his family, for it was their sacred duty to provide ample refreshments for all the guests. They might even be liable to a lawsuit if the wine failed. "No wine." Here is the impoverishment of the Old Covenant, the cry of spiritual need, the yearning for the messianic wine, the bankruptcy of all our ingenious human ways and resources.
It is the mother of Jesus calls this failure to His attention. Surely He can help out. Deep within, she carries the mystery of His birth and is aware of His unique identity, although she cannot fully grasp of its meaning. You can almost sense the subtle parental pressure in her announcement of the wine giving out.
But Jesus is no longer under her roof. The time of her authority has passed, so her concern has no final claim on Him. Jesus has moved out in obedience to His Father, and all His times are set by the higher Authority. He must await the hour fixed by His Father.
How often we parents have smothered and pressured our children, even after high school, and tried to live our lives through them. We have failed to let them go!
We have crippled them because we have been afraid to set them free for a larger purpose than our little plans, never understanding there is Another who has a far greater will for them. And we can trust Him!
When Jesus addresses His mother, "Woman," He is not being aloof or distant, but is speaking with tenderness and respect. It is the same way in which He lovingly commits her to John's care from the cross. "Woman, behold your son!" followed by His words to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" It is as if he said, "Look he is your son now ... Look, she is your mother now!" Neither is he harshly rebuking her when he says, "What do I have to do with you?" It is an ancient Jewish expression in both the Old and New Testaments meaning, "What do we have in common in this matter?" Precisely the words were, "What to me and to you?"
It is this which may reflect that Jesus faced a challenge to work a miracle, though Mary's appeal for help anticipated some much simpler solution to the problem. She still felt that he would do something, so she left it with Him and instructed the servants to do whatever He told them.
He states, "My hour has not yet come." This is a phrase He will utter over and over again until He finally comes to the cross. Then, and only then, has His time come. His time is always in His Father's hands.
And His mother now seems to submit to the mystery of that timing. There seems to be a quiet release, a letting go, in her statement to the servants. "Whatever He says to you, do it."
The Best at the End: Grace after Law 2:6-10
Now Jesus in His own time turns to six great stone pots that were used for purification. Whenever guests arrived, the water from these pots was poured over their hands in a ritual of cleansing. To eat with unwashed hands was an act of defilement. This purification rite was an external act that did not make anything new or bring any fresh power. These waterpots represent the whole ritual of Jewish law, the Old Covenant, which really has become meaningless in the presence of Jesus who will pour out an abundance of the wine of the new age of the Messiah. The time of Judaism is over. Its major institutions are replaced by Jesus Himself. The old wineskins cannot contain the new wine.
At the command of Jesus the servants obey. The waterpots are filled with water "up to the brim."
John was very exact in recording the next details. He must have regarded all of them as very important. He recorded the number of the pots, six; the kind of pots, stone; the size of the pots, "containing twenty or thirty gallons each."
This is a round number approximation. The Greek word used indicates a measure (metretes) which held approximately nine gallons, and the text indicates that each pot held up to two or three metretes (they varied in size from a content of eighteen to twenty-seven gallons each.) Six such pots could hold a total of approximately 100 to 160 gallons. That much water to be used by the servants, guests, and family members in the multitude of ceremonial cleansings associated with eating and worship would not be regarded as excessive. That much wine, however, would be another matter, particularly since whatever amount of wine originally provided by the host had already been used!
There is a completeness in this simple act with room for nothing else, no cheating or magic. Then out of that provision Jesus asks them to "Draw some out now, and take it to the headwaiter." It is like taking water from a well, as in the Samaritan woman's discussion later about living water. When did the water become wine? While it was still in the pots, indicating that all the ceremonial water became wine?
Unless the servants noted that the water had been changed to wine, they must have wondered at Jesus' instructions. Taking water to a wine steward with the suggestion that he offer it to the guests as wine could be dangerous business for servants! Was only the water which they drew out to take to the steward turned to wine? There is no precise statement in the text. I believe that all of the water in the pots was turned into wine. The servants would continue to serve it until the end of the festival, and any left over would be the property of the bridegroom. How quietly it happened. There is no way we can know when or how the water became wine. Jesus simply moves in His own mysterious way with no fanfare His wonders to perform. He slips in the back door and does His thing ... this God of surprises ... and it isn't until we have tasted the wine that we know something unusual has taken place. Then, like the master at the wedding feast we ask the bridegroom, what has been the source of this new wine?
The ones in authority, the master and the bridegroom, are ignorant. They don't know where it came from. All through the Gospel there are those who are in darkness, they do not know ... Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the Jews, Pilate.
It is the lowly ones, the servants who drew the water, who are like the disciples; they know. Other may be too caught up in their own importance,
or their own busyness, or even their own guilt to understand.
So the wine is poured out, and all those present rejoice at the abundance.
They have never tasted wine like this before! And the bridegroom wonders why the good wine has been kept back until now. Usually the best wine comes first with the inferior at the end when the guests have drunk freely and they cannot tell the difference.
With us humans the best usually comes first. We dress up, put on our best manners, and hope others will not find out how empty and needy we really are.
We clean up the front room of the house and hope we can keep the guests from getting into the back of the house where we have hurriedly shoved all our messes when we learned the guests were coming.
This is not so with our Lord. With Him the best comes at the end!
The grace we tasted cautiously at the beginning we now drink freely knowing the rich wonder of forgiveness and life in the Spirit, the Jesus we came to know as Savior at the start we now worship as the triumphant, risen Lord of all creation; the Spirit has moved us from the halting phrases of a prayer of requests to the joy of constant communion; an intimate relationship that never ceases where we can say "Abba, Father"; death at the end will open the door for us to our greatest adventure, unimpeded life with the God of glory and all His saints and angels. Surely this will be wine at its best.
However, there is a deeper meaning here. The old wine of the law, without taste or strength, has given out. "But you have kept the good wine until now." In God's time, the new creation has come. The age of grace has broken in. There is One among us who now pours out the rich wine of the "end times" and there is enough for everyone!
The Glory Manifested: Believing Disciples v. 11
This is the first sign. Here we see the authority of Jesus over the physical universe. But the happening points beyond itself. A door to spiritual reality has been opened. Our understanding of who this is that commands the servants to draw some water out is deepened and enlarged. He authenticates Himself by what He does. He is the "Word made flesh," the "Christ who is the Son of God," not simply the teacher of a few disciples who show up at a wedding.
Through this act, Jesus has opened the door to life in His age of Grace. Eternal life, a new quality of existence, is now possible through the One who has come to the wedding. Those present may only see dimly, but the reality is unmistakable! The reign of God has begun!
The Scriptures say "His disciples believed in Him."
This is not to deny that the disciples had already stepped out on faith ... that their belief in Him had already begun. But after we have stepped out in faith, God will confirm that we have taken the right step. Sometimes that comes in the way of blessing, which comes from God. Sometimes that comes in the way of adversity, which comes from Satan. But always, in the pouring out of this new wine, the glory of Jesus is made known. A sensitive Roman Catholic writer, in writing about the miracles of Jesus, has written, "They are the epiphanies of the risen Lord, signs anticipating the ultimate truth about Jesus which will only be fully revealed when His hour has been achieved." And the faith of those who have begun to follow is deepened. They are buying in more deeply all the time. The underlying reason for all of Jesus' mighty works is clearly stated in verse 11, “In order that they might see, and seeing believe.”
