John 2: 1-12 - Jesus delivers Joy

Here in John 2, John is pretty forward about days. John is counting up from when Jesus came on the scene 1v29; “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

“The next day, John was there again with two of his disciples.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭1:35‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” - John‬ ‭1:43‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,” - ‭‭John‬ ‭2:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

For some reason, it seems important this was on day three, I am not sure why, but we are in day 3. And here, on the third day, we see Jesus first miracle, turning water into wine. 

Depending on where you are coming from, and what your church background is, the thinking of wine already comes with some bias. Interesting to me, so many churches turn from wine, even talk about wine not being fermented to justify some theology around wine being bad or wrong. Here we see Jesus first miracle using wine. But, lets not just stay at the surface of this story, let's dig a little and see what we discover. 

“On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”” - ‭‭John‬ ‭2:1-3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Do you find it interesting that Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding, the party, the celebration? I do. Here we see a scene, a wedding, a party and celebration that includes wine and Jesus was invited. I can often wrongly put Jesus in this box that would not be a God-man that would be hanging out at a party like this. Here we see, three days in, and Jesus is hanging out at a wedding that is serving wine. This might first need to tell us something about Jesus, and how and what box we want to put him in. Jesus was invited to this wedding, and Jesus didn’t shame anyone or bring his “Bible” to thump others on the head. 

We then see Jesus’ mother Mary say to him, “They have no more wine.”

Ok, this is really important. This is a place where we need to go under the surface a little. First, let's talk about wine. Wine was really important in these days, so much so that wine was a rabbinical symbol of joy. Get this (Boice says) Therefore, “to run out of wine would almost have been the equivalent of admitting that neither the guests nor the bride and groom were happy.” (Boice) Whoa, this is significant. Since wine itself was a symbol of joy, running out at a wedding would be a massive issue.

Another view on this was from Pope Francis. This was from a recent interview with him. 

While water is necessary to live, “wine expresses the abundance of the banquet and the joy of the feast,” Francis said, noting that “a wedding feast lacking wine embarrasses the newlyweds: Imagine finishing the wedding feast drinking tea! It would be an embarrassment!”

The next thing here that is interesting to me was Mary noticed. I am not sure how she noticed or what events occurred that she became aware, but she did. But get this, she didn’t just notice, and she moved to action. She had compassion and wanted to do something and overcome this significant issue that would cause great pain for this newlywed couple. Mary took the problem to Jesus, her son. 

Lots of things here that stand out to me. Mary noticing and caring is one. Another is she took the problem to Jesus. This, just on the surface, is a learning lesson...take our issues to Jesus. We could leave it at that, and that is a great learning lesson in of itself. But it seems as if there is something else going on here. Look that the interaction between Mary (mom) and Jesus (son).

““Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.””- ‭‭John‬ ‭2:4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

First, this is a little strange interaction. Jesus does not refer to her as mom, we see him call her “woman.” That’s a little strange, right? Jesus is the son of God...but woman? And then Jesus' response has nothing to do with wine. Jesus says, My hour has not come. What? My hour has not come? 

Here we are seeing Jesus knowing what is coming, his journey as the Messiah, the suffering the realities before him it seems. This miracle, the first miracle, will start the trajectory before him. His hour has not come just yet for the Cross, but now was the coming out of sorts with this “saving power” with wine. 

I will let you read the rest of the story, but I want to close with this...a key takeaway for me right now. Jesus is way more than some get out of hell free card. Here we are reading about Jesus being the savior of a wedding day, bringing pure “joy” to the party and that being wine. Jesus loves, Jesus is love, and He cares deeply. Inviting Jesus into our everyday lives, and having this deeper relationship with him moves him into a position to be our savior in so many areas. 

“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.” - ‭‭John‬ ‭2:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Let’s allow Jesus to reveal His pure glory to us daily!