Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The Wedding at Cana
Oct 7th, 2007
Weekly Bible StudyHugh Davidson
Categories: Commentary;Book Study;Inspirational

John 2:1-11 “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: and both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto Him, they have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And He saith unto them, draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”

John’s goal when he wrote this book was to present Jesus as the Son of God and to show his readers that Jesus is the One whose sacrificial death has provided the means of salvation for any and all who surrender to Him. And one technique John uses is to show us how lives are transformed when people came in contact with Jesus. And in this passage we are exposed to the first of seven signs or miracles that are found in the book of John.

There are actually three words that are used in the New Testament to describe what we refer to as miracles or the evidence of the supernatural. Peter used all three on the day of Pentecost when he spoke about Jesus’ ministry. In Acts 2:22 he says, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.” A miracle is a demonstration of power or a mighty work, the word ‘wonder’ refers to the effect which is produced on those who witness the mighty works of God and then the third word ‘sign’ emphasizes the significance of the supernatural act. And no matter what you call them, all these miracles were done for the specific purpose of pointing everyone’s attention to the one who performed it. And ultimately, every true miracle finds its source in God and that tells us that only God should be praised and thanked for the supernatural.

So, John’s book is built around seven miraculous signs and each one of them is given not just to meet a need but to demonstrate a deeper truth. As we combine the four gospels we find a total of thirty-seven miracles that were performed by Jesus and yet John writes in chapter 21:25, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” This tells us that the miracles that are described in the Bible are merely the tip of the iceberg. And all of these were written about to show us who Jesus is. And when we read the four gospels it almost seems like disease was completely healed in Jesus’ day as far as the nation of Israel was concerned. I mean, there was no one who ever came to be healed who walked away and said, “Well, maybe next time.” There was nothing too bad and no one was ever turned away.

There are also some fantastic parallels in the account of this miracle that took place at the wedding at Cana. During the seven days of creation we are told in the book of Genesis that God attended the first wedding that ever took place in the garden of Eden and here in this one Jesus is attending during the first week of His public ministry. So, from these two accounts we can see the importance God places on the marriage relationship because He blesses it with His presence both in the Old and also the New Testaments.

In John 1:17 we are told, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” And here we see an interesting contrast between the ministries of Moses and that of Jesus. The first sign Moses ever gave was when he turned his walking stick into a serpent which we assume was a poisonous snake and this became a source of fear. Jesus first sign was when He turned the water into wine at a wedding and according to scripture both the wine and the wedding were a source of joy. And we also notice that the first miracle Jesus performed was at a wedding which is supposed to be one of life’s happiest hours while the last one was at a funeral which is supposedly one of life’s saddest hours. (But, we also know that He ruined the funeral by raising the body from the dead.)

A marriage in Israel was a family affair and the female relatives of the bride were usually in charge of the kitchen. Back then, they had more sense than we do and they didn’t hire caterers and then spend the next ten years paying for the wedding. They tell us the average American wedding costs around twenty-eight thousand dollars and this doesn’t include the honeymoon, engagement ring, a bridal consultant or a wedding planner.

It’s also been suggested that since Jesus’ mother Mary was concerned about the lack of provisions and then orders the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do that she may have been in charge of the kitchen. And the interesting part that’s missing from the story is we aren’t told who the bride and groom were or why Jesus’ father Joseph isn’t mentioned. The fact is, none of that is relative to the story. The Bible after all, isn’t a script for Oprah or Dr. Phil but it’s a book that’s been given to meet our spiritual needs and not just to satisfy our curiosity.

Next week, we’ll get to the actual miracle but until then I wanted to say that during the years I’ve been saved I’ve met a lot of people who are interested in what the Bible says but not necessarily because they wanted to know what God wants from them or how they should live their lives. They just wanted to either make themselves feel good by the things they knew or impress others with their supposed spiritual knowledge. Listen, knowing is only half the equation, we also have to practice what we know. So, let me ask you, how are you doing?