I am going to begin a series “The 7 Signs” found in the Book of John. After spending last year going through the parables of Jesus, which only one is in the Book of John, I wanted to spend some time in this wonderful gospel. The Book of John is different from the other three gospels, about 90% unique.
The main body of the Book of John has two parts, the Book of Signs found from 1:19 through 12:50 and the Book of Glory found in 13:1 through 20:31. The section we will be looking at in the Book of Signs contains 7 miracles, or “signs”, which reveal Jesus’ identity and call people to faith in Him. These are the signs we will discuss:
- Changing water to wine (2:1 – 11)
- Official’s son healed (4:43 – 54)
- Healing of the disabled man at Bethesda pool (5:1 – 15)
- Feed of the five thousand (6:1 – 21)
- Walking on the water (6:16 – 21)
- Healing the man born blind (9:1 – 12)
- Lazarus raised (11:1 – 44)
While this Gospel does record 8 miracles, these 7 “signs” play a key role in Jesus’ self-revelation. The signs are often interpreted by Jesus’ teaching. Each sign reveals Jesus’ identity and mission and calls for a decision from those who hear. Let us read the first sign.
2 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.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
Jewish weddings were community events, a time of special focus not just on the bride and groom but also on their extended families. Jesus’ mother may have been a friend of the family, helping behind the scenes.
The running out of wine represented a social disaster much greater in the first century than it would today. Disgrace, humiliation, insult—all these and more would be brought upon the family with such carelessness as to allow this to happen. Wedding celebrations in that day sometimes lasted nearly a week, so the wine supply was a major consideration.
After the remark of Mary to Jesus (“they have no more wine”), the Lord’s response gives rise to even more confusion among commentators. Did he rebuke Mary for her implied request? Was he relieving her of responsibility by saying in effect, “I’ll take care of it”? Did he receive her statement and respond with another question which might be interpreted as, “What would you like me to do?”
Jesuswas probably not saying, “This is not our problem; let them figure it out.” Perhaps he wanted to emphasize to Mary that they had come into a new relationship with her remark. This may be the first time that she had asked her son for help on a public occasion. For Jesus it was his first opportunity to work under the heavenly Father’s authority and through the Holy Spirit’s power to produce a miraculous sign.
Could the word “woman” be linked maybe to an earlier prophecy? In Genesis 3:14 – 19, God announces curses for Adam, Eve and the serpent. At this point, Eve is only referred to as “woman”; she does not get the name “Eve” until 3:20. At the serpent’s curses, God offers a promise for the future: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heal” (Genesis 3:15). Could John be connecting the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to the fulfillment of the promise that God would one day crush the head of the serpent?
More significantly, in the Old Testament abundant wine often symbolized restoration of God’s people after their suffering in exile:
Amos 9:11 – 15. The outpouring of wine coincides with the arrival of God’s Messiah.
Joel 2:18 – 19. The new wine and the restoration of God’s people.
Isaiah 25:6 – 8. The feast of foods and wine (wedding imagery) is associated with God swallowing up death forever.
But Jesus now also give a warning “My hour has not yet come”. The phrase depicts the Lamb moving to the slaughter. No other human being had any idea that the cross lay three and one-half years beyond the changing from water to wine, but Jesus walked a straight line from the moment of his baptism to the triumph of his resurrection. And he kept trying to explain to the disciples how their understanding of timing could not match the Father’s. Finally, beginning the last week of his life Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23) and just a few verses later, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (12:27).
In verse 5, this timeless spiritual principle lives on through two thousand years of church history: Do whatever he tells you. Mary’s faith stood strong; she knew that Jesus could do whatever was necessary in the situation as long as the servants obeyed. This is probably true in any family or congregation which has, in some way, run out of spiritual wine. If we as servants obey and trust the power of Jesus, God is capable of any results.
Notice next the phrase, six stone water jars . . . each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. These containers held a total of at least 120 gallons. The servants were told to fill them with water, and they did so, to the brim. Such washing pots were used in religious ceremonies, but they were about to enter a new phase of operation. The combined capacity of the water pots was about 150 gallons. Figuring a half-pint to a glass, these vessels would contain about 2,400 servings of wine. In quality and quantity, the new-made wine more than satisfied the needs and taste of those who attended the feast.
From these jars Jesus chose the servants to draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. Not to the waiters nor the maitre’d, but to the master. These servants knew they were handling water when the host asked for wine. We have to conclude that the water became wine somewhere between the kitchen and the head table at the banquet. This demonstrates great faith and obedience on the part of these servants. Despite misgivings, they followed through on Mary’s words.
Just as this wedding ran out of wine, humankind ran out of fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. When sin entered the world, the celebration ceased, but Jesus came to restore our reason to celebrate. Wine is even used sometimes in Scripture as a picture of joy: “Wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart” (Psalms 104:15).
Just as the banquet master said that most people brought out the best wine first and the cheap wine once senses were dulled, in the same way the world throws its best pictures of sin at us to trick us, then the cheap stuff comes along. Eventually the joy and pleasure the world offers through sin runs out. But God’s joy lasts forever and he saves his best blessings for last. As Christians we always have more to look forward to because heaven reminds us that God saves the best wine for the end of the party.
The results of the first miracle? Two things happened: Jesus revealed his glory by this miraculous sign, and his disciples put their faith in him.Certainly, they had some faith before this event, but now it was strengthened, solidified, and stabilized. Now they were ready to follow him anywhere.
We should never ignore the little ways in which Jesus did his miracles, especially when we read the word sign (semeion) as we do here in verse 11. The ceremonial washing of hands for which these jars had always been used was put aside and replaced with something new. The Lamb came to fulfill the Mosaic Law and exchange it for higher law, the law of grace. He would fulfill ceremonial cleansing with complete, spiritual, and eternal cleansing of his own blood on the cross.
The disciples surely did not understand this part of the sign at the moment, but when Jesus held a cup of wine at the Last Supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20), we wonder if any of them remembered the wedding in Cana where old covenant water became new covenant wine.
What a fitting picture of Christ’s submission. The continual need for cleansing water reminded the Israelites that they were constantly unclean, but Jesus would offer his cleansing blood as the wine that would satisfy forever.
And what a wonderful sign for us. We do not need animal sacrifices and ceremonial cleansing water because Jesus has poured out his blood as the final and perfect sacrifice for our sins. We have complete forgiveness and cleansing because we’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is no trivial miracle to satisfy the thirst of partygoers but a clear symbol with a magnificent message. Christ transformed temple-cleansing water into eternal-saving wine. To those of us who have no wine of our own, he offers his blood for eternal life. nt 6;\lsdp