2.4.7 1.18.2026 John 2.1-12 Signals

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John 2:1–12 ESV

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Entice: As God in flesh, living in His creation Jesus had the ability to perform what we mortals call miracles.

They were done for a particular purpose, even when the purpose was not immediately evident. Sometimes the motivation was compassion, kindness, empathy, and love. But not always. Sometimes the reason was elusive. 

Sometimes the person seems undeserving, or ungrateful.  In today’s story they were ignorant of everything except the outcome.

But there was always some reason—more specifically—a reason. John does not describe the same number of miracles as the other gospels. In fact, he does not call them miracles, he calls them signs. These signs are very significant for John. 

Engage: Think of the many ways we use that one word:

Signs.

From a redneck joke (Here’s yer sign), to an essential form of traffic communication.

There are also technical ways the word is used.

For example, there is an actual academic discipline dedicated to the study of signs=semeiotics.

In a sense John’s gospel anticipates many of these uses. Because from the tongue in cheek,  to the deadly serious, to the fancy-pants study of semeiotics the commonality to all these uses of the term is that

signs point to things

And in John’s Gospel Jesus’ signs are “self-referential”

—they point to Jesus.

Expand: In the OT,  miraculous acts were done by God through select individuals in times of some kind of crisis. They were actually, kind of rare. It was clear from nearly the beginning, that they did not always have the intended impact. In Jesus, God is physically present—the sign and the signifier are the same. Jesus surrounded Himself with witnesses. Who not only describe the sign, but which also tell us how the sign points to Jesus. 

Excite: The miracle of miracles is Jesus Himself. For Him miracles, signs to use John’s term, were an expression of His divine nature demonstrating the graciousness of God, and a ministry tool allowing Him to draw attention to Himself amid the distractions, depravity, and wealth of Empire. In the end…

Explore:

The signs of Jesus point to Jesus. 

The preach of this passage is vs. 11

Expand: It may not seem like much, but this first sign provides a simple way of evaluating and understanding all the signs John will describe.

Body of Sermon: Jesus’ Signs 

1 Exhibit His Glory

John 2:11 ESV

11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory….

1.1 Intentionally Gracious.

1.2 Intentionally Generous.

…not just wine, the best wine!

1.3 Intentionally Glorious.

In or out of the “bathtubs” that is a lot of wine. This is not barely a miracle…It’s really a whopper.

Next John reminds us that signs should

2 Evoke  Belief.

John 2:11 ESV

11 This, the first of his signs, …And his disciples believed in him.

This sign in  particular is kind of a placeholder or preview of the others. The sign itself is clearly not the point because it is not critical to the message, method, or mission of Jesus. Turning water into wine is a waste, unless the aim of Jesus was to communicate something very specific to His disciples and other observers about the nature of these signs themselves. He is teaching us that He is, Himself—both the signifier and the signified. The Message and the messenger.

Practically, for us that means. 

2.1 Jesus is the origin of belief. 

We believe because...

There are many different kinds of “because” and signs are one of them. 

2.2 Jesus is the object of belief.

We believe in Him.

It is personal and internal more than external and obvious.

We must be very careful lest we misunderstand Jesus. The miraculous in and of itself proves nothing.

2.3 Jesus is the outcome of belief. 

We don’t “believe in” miracles. We believe in Jesus.

Shut Down

God the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ is

gracious,

generous,

and

glorious.

Jesus performed signs not so that we’d believe in miracles but that we might believe in Him. For Jesus they are the natural acts of the creator God. In our perception they are miraculous. My guess is He’d have preferred not needing to do them at all.

For more than 20 centuries The Church has had to focus diligently on Jesus rather than His mighty signs lest we lose the plot of the story entirely. Humans can’t help themselves. we are always waiting for the next big story, the next Ripley’s believe it or not, the next breath-taking spectacle.  We are all spiritual voyeurs looking for something extraordinary.

What, or Who could be more extraordinary than Jesus? 

The signs point to Jesus. He is the point. He is the issue. The question for us, for our faith is not on what, or in what, or even for what? 

The proper question is in whom?

Jesus. Jesus alone. Jesus.