A
Study of the Book of John
“That
You May Believe”
Sermon
# 6
“Jesus – Performs His First
Miracle!”
John
2:1-12
This story begins with the words “On the third day,” that is to say just three days
after His baptism in the river Jordan, and His identification as the Lamb of God by John
(John 1:33-34), Jesus performs His first recorded miracle. Jesus performed His first
miracle, not at a funeral but at a wedding; not in the temple but in a private home.
The occasion of the miracle
was a village wedding feast to which Mary, the mother of Jesus had been invited. I find it
fascinating that the earthly ministry of Jesus began at a wedding and all of human history
will culminate with a wedding (Rev 19:9).
Weddings are always special,
but Eastern wedding are far different from what we in the West are use to! In Western
weddings the bride is the star of the show, the groom just shows up and tries not
get in the way. When she enters, dressed in bridal white the whole congregation stands as
the organ plays, “Here comes the Bride.” But in Eastern weddings, it is
the groom who is the featured one. And here is something to send a shutter down the spine
of all the parents of boys in the congregation. Not only is the groom the featured person
but he also pays for the entire affair.
Another key difference is
that instead of the couple leaving immediately after the wedding for a honeymoon, they had
open house for a week.
The setting for Jesus’
first miracle is given in verses one and two, “On the
third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. (2)
Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.”
This morning I want you
to notice three things with me about this miracle.
First, The Reason
For the Miracle. (2:3-5)
The Request of Mary
(v. 3)
“And when they ran out of wine,
the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
Apparently, the amount of wine needed for the
wedding feast has been underestimated. As the pastor I understand the dilemma of trying to
estimate how many people will be at any particular function. There is the ever present
fear that supplies will run out before everyone has been served.
The problem is that the wine has run out and
there appears to be no solution. Either there is no more wine available or there is no
money to purchase more wine. So Mary takes the problem to Jesus. This in no mere report
and although we really have no way of knowing what Mary’s expectations were when she
made this statement to Jesus, she informs Him with the hope that He might do something
about the situation. Some suggest that she is hinting that He and the disciples need to
leave, but I hardly think this is likely. J. Vernon McGee suggest that Mary is asking for
is that He at last vindicate her reputation that He is indeed the Son of God. But since He
had not yet performed any miracles, this was probably not asking for something
super-natural, she just wanted His help. [Warren Wiersbe. Classic Sermons on the
Miracles of Jesus. Ch 1. “Empty Waterpots.”
(Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1995) p.8]
Mary is very careful not to tell Jesus what
to do, but it seems clear that she hopes he will do something.
The Response Of Jesus (vv. 4-5).
“Jesus said to her, "Woman,
what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
Although in English Jesus’ use of the term
“Woman” in addressing His mother seems harsh and
abrupt, it was in fact a common term. It is the same form of address He used with the
woman at the well (John 4:21) and with the woman taken
in adultery (John 8:10) and with Mary Magdalene at the Tomb (John 20:15). It
is also the same form of address He uses from the Cross to commend her into the Apostle
John’s care (John 19:26). There is no harshness in his voice on any of those
occasions.
Jesus goes on to say, “What
does your concern have to do with Me?” (v. 4). A literal translation of the
Greek phrase would be, “What to me and to
you!” Jesus
is asking his mother just what has caused her to think the problem was His problem as well
as hers. It is as though Mary has said, “Jesus,
they are out of wine and WE need to do something!” There is probably not a man in this congregation
that can not identify with his wife saying, “WE
need to do this or that” but what she really means is “you need to do something!” Jesus
responds in like matter with “Ma’am what
do you mean we!” Jesus is asserting that not only is he a grown man no longer
under the authority of his mother but he is
the Messiah! Jesus’ response seems to be setting new parameters in his relationship
with his mother. For many years (Jesus is now 30 yrs old) she has raised Jesus as her son.
It is perhaps a gentle reminder that she could no longer view him as other mother’s
viewed their sons.
Catholics and non-Catholics strongly disagree
on the meaning of this verse. Catholic scholars in an effort to support Mary as an
intercessor with Jesus are convinced that Mary uses her influence on Jesus to get him to
do what he would not otherwise do! The text seems to tell us just the opposite however.
The Lord neither abruptly nor arbitrary turns down the request, he does not say, No but
neither does he say, Yes. He simply reminds His mother that there has been a change in
their relationships.
The only time that Mary is ever recorded as
asking something of Jesus, she ends up simply turning to the servants and In verse five
says, “….Whatever He says to you, do it.” That
is still good advice!
Jesus adds, “My
hour has not yet come.” This must surely mean it is not yet time for me to
act. Not until the till the wine was completely exhausted would his hour have arrived. All
other help must fail before the hour for a miracle has arrived.
Notice
Not Only the Reason for the Miracle but…
Second, The Reassurance
of This Miracle
(2:6-8)
“Now there were set there six
waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty
or thirty gallons apiece. (7) Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with
water." And they filled them up to the brim. (8) And He said to them, "Draw some
out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it.”
There were six stone
water-pots that were used by the people who attended the wedding for ceremonial washing
(according to Jewish customs people’s hands had to be washed before a meal), each of
these pots would have held 20-30 gallons. Multiply 20-30 gallons by six and you have some
120-180 gallons.
Jesus does not wave his arms
over the water-pots nor does He speak some magical incantation, there is no hocus-pocus no
mumbo-jumbo in which he commands the water to become wine. It appears that He never even
touched the water in the pots. The water simply becomes wine. We do not even know for sure
at what point it became wine. Somewhere between the water pots and the master of the feast
the water became wine.
It should perhaps also be noted that perhaps
many miracles today occur in ways that seem so natural that they are not even recognized
as miracles.
Four
Things We Can We Learn From this Miracle.
· This
Miracle Assures Us That Jesus is
It is encouraging to note that the Lord’s
first miracle is one that many would consider non-essential. A shortage of wine at a
wedding may not seem like a big deal but Warren Weirsbe points out that it was necessary
for the groom in those days to have adequate provision at the wedding. It would be
extremely embarrassing for him and his family to run out of food or wine. If the supplies
had run out at a wedding feast, the family and the young couple would never have lived
down the shame. Leon Morris points out, “If one gave a feast
of such and such a quality (and quantity!) when his son was married, he was entitled to an
equivalent when his neighbors son married. If the neighbor did not provide it, he could be
taken to court and sued; a wedding feast was not simply a social occasion, but it involved
a legal obligation.” [Leon Morris. “Reflections on the
Gospel of John” ( Peabody, Mass:
Henrickson Pub, 1988) p. 70]
It is unlikely that Jesus
would have performed a miracle just to save someone from a minor social embarrassment.
What Jesus did was He rescued this young couple from a financial liability which had the
potential to cripple them financially for years.
· This
Miracle Assures Us That When
John specifically points out
the water pots were “for the Jewish purification rites” (v. 6). To eat with
unwashed hands was an act of defilement. Therefore whenever guest arrived, water from
these pots was poured over their hands in a ritual cleansing. Jesus took the water from
these water-pots and turned it into fine wine, the finest that the master of ceremonies
had ever tasted. Nothing is ordinary after Jesus has touched it.
By the same token, the Lord
takes some very fallible vessels, men like James, and John, Peter and Andrews, Philip and
Nathanael and makes them in men who ultimately turned the world upside down.
· This
Miracle Assures Us That With God The Best Comes Last!
We are assured that the best comes last. The
devil however, gives his best first. He lures us into sin with promises he cannot and does
not intend to keep and doles out his trinkets up front. Whatever passing pleasures he does
hand out in this life will be best that will ever be experienced. The devil never shows
you where he is taking you; he only shows you the next enticing step.
“But for those who know Christ as Savior
is as bad as it ever will get. Sometimes our heavenly Father gives us a bitter cup
to begin with, perhaps the cup of conviction of sin, but its purpose is that we
might take the cup of salvation. Sometimes He gives us the cup of loneliness that
we might drink from the cup of His presence. Or we are asked to drink from the cup of
failure that we might remember that we serve Him alone. But the day is coming in which
our fortune will be reversed: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) The best is yet
to come.” [Erwin W. Lutzer. “Seven Convincing
Miracles.” (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999) p. 48.]
· This
Miracle Assures Us That God’s
Jesus created over 120 gallons of fine wine,
this is certainly more than was needed for the wedding. Yet I think the amount is literal
and that Jesus intentionally produced the wine in abundance. The young couple would be
able to sell the excess and start their married life with an asset instead of a crippling
liability.
Not
Only Notice the Reassurance of this Miracle but…
Third, The Results
of the Miracle. (2:9-11)
“When the master of the feast
had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the
servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
(10) And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when
the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until
now!" (11) This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His
glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”
In verse eleven, John says “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and
manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” The Greek word (semeion) translated here as “sign” occurs 77 times in the New Testament, and is
used to identify an act which calls for the exercise of supernatural power (John
20:30-31). The miracle stories confront us with the question of whether the power of God
was or was not revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. They compel us to say Yes
or No!
The
effect on the disciples. The disciples had
already believed in Jesus as least to the extent that they understood him. The disciples
had only recently begun to follow Jesus and it was only two days before the wedding in
Cana that Philip and Nathanael had been called to follow Him. What the miracle in Cana did
for them was to deepen their existing faith rather than to bring them to faith. They
already believed in Jesus, but their faith grew and was strengthened.
When John tells the story of the wedding in Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle he wants us to believe in Jesus and the Father who sent him. And if we already believe he wants our faith to be strengthened.