Looking For A Miracle? John 2:1-12

About this Episode

Looking For A Miracle? John 2:1-12 is the topic that will be discussed today on RIOT Podcast, a Christian Discipleship Podcast.

Today we will begin our study in John chapter 2 and cover versus 1-12. But before we do that let's recap what we learned in chapter 1.

In Episode 63 titled “Light over Darkness,” we learned that Jesus was the Word of God in the flesh and the light to the darkness of the world.

In Episodes 64 and 65, We learned that Jesus is both the Lamb of God and Jacob's Ladder. It’s only by His sacrifice can Jesus save us from eternal damnation while giving us access to heaven. John Chapter 1 covered the first 4 days of Jesus’ ministry and today we will cover the 7th and final day of this new creation week.

To set up today's reading we know that Jesus has now called 6 of His disciples. To witness a miracle was something new for them and today they will see Jesus' very first one when he turned water into wine.

Let’s give our reading today a little more context.
* Jewish Tradition required that virgins be married on a Wed, while widows were married on a Thursday.
* Being the 7th day of John's special week, Jesus would expect to rest, just as God rested on the seventh day.
* But sin had interrupted God's sabbath rest and it was necessary for both the Father and Son to work.
* We will see more as we unpack the book of John that Jesus deliberately performed miracles on the sabbath day multiple times. Today is the first.

Read John 2:1-12

We see Jesus represented in 3 different roles, in vs 1-2 He is “as the Guest”, in vs 3-5 He is “as the Son of Mary” and in vs 6-12 He is “as the Host”. Let us unpack each of them.

Jesus as the Guest:
We see here Jesus as the opposite of John the Baptist. Jesus is social and open to invitations while John the Baptist was weird and stayed in the desert away from everybody. The key thing to observe is Jesus had normal experiences in life and sanctified them by His presence. We would be wise to invite Jesus to our weddings and events!

Jesus as the Son of Mary:
Since the Jewish wedding feast lasted a week, it was necessary for the groom to have adequate provisions. For one thing, it would be embarrassing to run out of either food or wine. We would guess that the bride and groom were not rich and were on a limited budget so a miracle was needed to help. But why did Mary approach Jesus about the problem? Did she actually expect Him to do something special to meet the need?

Another thing to observe from this reading is Mary did not tell Jesus what to do, she simply reported the problem. Jesus asked here “Why are you getting me involved in this matter?” It seems as if Jesus is making it clear to His mother that He was no longer under her supervision and that from now on He would only be doing what His Father wanted him to do.

When John introduces us to the “hour”, where Jesus said my hour has not yet come. We must understand that Jesus lived by a heavenly timetable. Marked out for him by the Father. We see this in John 7:30 “So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.” Also in John 8:20, 12:23, 17:1, and so on. As we continue to study John we will observe how this concept of “the hour” is developed.

The last thing we want to observe is vs 5 is that Mary’s words to the servants revealed that she was willing to let her Son do whatever He pleased and that she trusted Him to do what was right. It would be wise for us to obey and do whatever Jesus tells us to do. It is worth noting that it was Jesus, not Mary, who took command and solved the problem and that Mary simply pointed to Jesus and not herself.

Jesus as the Host:
Jesus' miracle was not a spectacular event that everybody witnessed. Only Mary, his disciples, and the servants knew what happened. This miracle did something for His disciples, it revealed His glory. This event made their foundation and belief in Him stronger. This was the beginning of many more miracles to happen over the course of Jesus' ministry. If we invite Jesus to our events and social activities we will see His hand at work and we will begin to build up our faith in Him.

Jesus did not preach a sermon after this miracle but oftentimes He does. Like the feeding of the 5,000 then the bread of life sermon. What if the Lord did preach a sermon after He turned water into wine, what might have He said? He likely would have told the people that the world's joy always runs out and cannot be regained but the joy He gives is always new and ever satisfying. In scripture, wine is a symbol of joy.

Another sermon that He might have given maybe sound something like this. The world offers the best at first and then, once you are hooked, things start to get worse. But Jesus continues to offer that which is best until we one day enjoy the finest blessings in the eternal kingdom.

Jesus’ miracle presents a practical lesson in service for God. The water turned into wine because the servants cooperated with Jesus and obeyed his commands. Several of the signs in John's gospel happened when the cooperation of the people was involved. Whether we pass out bread, wash away mud, or roll away the stone, we are assisting Him in performing miracles.

It is significant that the servants knew the source of this special wine. When Jesus healed the nobleman’s son in John 4 it was the servants who were in on the secret. We are not just His servants, we are also His friends, and we know what He is doing.