The First Miracle

Introduction

Turn back to the Gospel of John. We are going to look at John 2:1-11.

As we begin looking at this text today, remember why John wrote this gospel: John 20:30-31

John 20:30–31 CSB

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John wrote his gospel so that we could see Jesus, and by seeing Jesus for who He really was, the Christ, the Son of God, we could be saved, we could have eternal life because of Him.

As we will see, this was the outcome of this miracle: John 2:11 “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”

We’ll see this in 4 points:

1. Where (vv. 1-2).

This is the “third” day of Jesus’s public ministry: John 1:35 would be the first, John 1:43 would be the second.

On this third day, we see Jesus and His disciples in Cana.

This another small village, like Nazareth and Bethsaida that we see earlier.

It is thought that Nathanael is from here, but there isn’t a lot of evidence to say one way or another.

They are at a wedding.

We see that Mary, Jesus’s mother was there in verse one, but also verse two shows us that Jesus himself, along with his disciples were invited to this wedding.

Mary seems to be one of the servants at this wedding, so there may have been some sort of family connection here.

2. What: what was the problem faced at the wedding in Cana (vv. 3-5).

Jesus being at a wedding shows that God Himself sees the importance of weddings and marriage.

The wedding process of 1st Century Judaism took upwards of a year.

There would be a betrothal period where the bridegroom would build a house in order to prove that he could provide for his bride.

John 14:1-3.

The bridegroom would provide everything needed for the wedding feast, including the wine.

In our culture, it is usually the bride and her family.

These wedding feasts would last a week long!

Let’s talk about Wine.

The wine during this time is almost incomparable to the wine of our day.

While still being alcohol in it, it was not as concentrated as ours is because the process of distilling wasn’t popularized until the 15th century.

Therefore, it was likely very difficult to get drunk by this wine.

In fact, this wine was usually drank in place of water, because the water was usually contaminated, and the alcohol was pure.

So this was a huge deal to run out of wine for a week long marriage celebration.

It would look like the groom couldn’t provide.

And there would be nothing to drink.

Mary comes to Jesus.

This whole interaction has gained some negative connotations.

Like Jesus addresses his mom as “Woman”.

This actually was a respectful way to greet a woman at that time.

In fact, the entire interpretation of this moment carries the entire passage.

By calling her woman rather than “mother” Jesus was distancing himself from His earthly mother.

Not because she was “cramping his style” but because she could have been a hindrance to the purpose that Jesus came.

While Jesus still honored his mother, John 19:26, He was no longer taking commands from her, nor obedient to her.

Jesus didn’t want to be concerned with “earthly” matters like wine at a wedding, rather He was now focused on doing what His Heavenly Father desired.

We see that in His answer to her, “My hour has not yet come”.

While it may seem like He was trying to get out of doing anything, he was more concerned about no preempting his crucifixion.

When He knew His hour had not come: John 7:6, 8, 30; 8:20.

When He knew His hour had come: John 12:23; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1.

Jesus knew exactly when the Father had sovereignly planned this moment.

Mary’s response then becomes what our response should be to Jesus.

“Do whatever he tells you.”

How: How did Jesus accomplish this miracle (vv. 6-10)?

Jesus uses the purification pots to make the wine.

These pots were used by the Jews to ceremonially cleanse themselves before every gathering.

They were about 20-30 gallons a piece.

Close to 180 gallons of water.

They filled them to the brim.

They couldn’t say that Jesus added anything to them to make it taste like wine.

Where did the miracle take place?

Who got the credit?

The groom.

Why: Why did Jesus do this miracle?

This is a miracle beyond the shadow of a doubt. Jesus created wine out of literally nothing. In no way does water ever become wine.

“signs”

When you read a sign along the road, are you supposed to stop and go to that sign? Is that the purpose the sign?

Signs tell you about something that it up ahead. Like a hospital, or mcdonalds.

Jesus’s “signs” or “miracles” point to Him! It unveils Christ’s glory.

Which we see this in John 2:11 “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”