From the first chapter of John's Gospel we receive a profound insight into who Jesus really is.
The apostle John shows us that Christ’s
origin is in eternity past. He was with God and He is God. He is the Creator of
all things. He is the true life and light of men.
And then something amazing
happens. This same eternal Jesus became
flesh to dwell among the people whom He had created.
The bad news is that the very people whom He created did not recognize
Him. The fall (Genesis 3) has had a
terrible effect upon mankind. The fall has made us forget where we have come
from. We are like men and women that
suffer from advanced stages of dementia
who no longer can recognize their own
families.
The good news is that God came in Christ, in the form of a real man
to dwell among us, to deal with our
greatest problem – the sin that has not only made us forget our origin in
God, to deal with that sin that separates us all now from God. John the
Baptist describes Him as the Lamb that takes away the sin of all those in the
world, who will look to Him (1:29,36).
Jesus is the redeeming lamb of God, but He we must also never forget that, according to the Revelation of
John He is also
the Warrior Lamb[1] of God. In due time He will exercise His
terrible wrath upon all who refuse to receive Him in this life.
The great purpose of John’s gospel is then to
show us who Jesus is.
The great purpose
statement is found in John 20:30-31: “Now
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are
not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have
life in his name”. The first chapter
then is a mind-blowing
introduction to who Jesus is.
Chapter 2: The wedding in Cana
in Galilee
Chapter 2 begins with a wedding,
at which Jesus performs a remarkable sign in a town in Galilee, named Cana. He is here with the first of His disciples,
whose calling is recorded in chapter 1. They are Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip,
Nathanael, and John himself. We learn in 21:2
that Nathanael was from Cana, so he probably knew the wedding couple. Here He makes water into wine.
I want to assure you
that there is nothing random about this story. It fits in with the flow of
thought and the intention of this
writing. John, by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit[2] wants
us to ask and answer the question, “Who is
this Jesus?”. And so this story is
not about a brilliant winemaker, or simply just a miracle man. No, at
the center of this story is a sign
(v.11- in fact, the first of his
many signs, the second one found in 4:54), and as I already have shown you,
we need to link this to John 20:30-31. So, this sign is another building block in John’s argument,
showing us who Jesus really is.
Our text begins with these words:
“On the
third day there was a wedding in Cana…”. Now, if you will look back
over the first chapter you will notice that there is a sequence of days
mentioned there. There is something deliberate about that, but it requires
careful thinking and connecting.
The first reference to a day is
in 1:29, and that's the next day. So
the first day is before 1:29,
i.e. vv.19-28, which relates to John the Baptist. Then in 1:29
you find the second day. Then, in 1:35,
you find the “next day”, the third day (which covers 1:35-38). Then follows 1:39,
a reference to the fact that the third day has actually ended and the fourth
day has begun because it was about the tenth hour. Then, in 1:43,
there is another ‘next day’ – this is day 5.
Before we get to our text and the reference to the third day in 2:1, I want to point out that, between Chapter 1 and chapter 2 there is a 6th day, which was used for
traveling from Bethany across the Jordan
(not the Bethany near Jerusalem) to Cana
in Galilee.
So, the third day of which we
read in 2:1 is actually day 7 in terms
of the entire text we have covered so far. The third day in 2:1 relates to 1:43 when Jesus and his 5 disciples travelled
2 days[3] from
Bethany across the Jordan to get to this wedding on the third day at which Mary, the mother of Jesus was also
in attendance. The 3rd day is the 7th day,
chronologically speaking. And that is important.
You see, the opening chapter of
John’s gospel, “In the beginning…God”,
resonates with the words of the opening chapter of Genesis, and the 7 days of creation.
What we are suggesting is that the 7 days of
creation in Genesis correspond to the work of the Lord Jesus here in the
opening words of John’s gospel. The
Christ who at the beginning created the
world is now here to recreate this
broken world. He is the Light and the Life
of the World now lost in darkness
(1:3). And now we see Him in Chapter
2, and this miracle of the new wine on the 7th day [4]
is truly another spectacular affirmation of who Jesus is. He is the new wine, which makes the
heart of men truly glad! And if you look
ahead you will see this renewing
work of Jesus. He is going to
speak about the miracle of the new temple which He will raise up
in three days (2:13-22). In John 3, He
introduces the concept of the new
birth to Nicodemus. In John
4, He will speak to a woman at the
well of Sychar, concerning a new way of worshiping. So, that is what
lies ahead. Jesus has come to make all things new!
Here are some further texts that confirm this:
·
Rev. 21:5
“And he who was seated on the throne
said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
·
Isaiah
43:19 “19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and
rivers in the desert.
·
2
Corinthians 5:17, “If any man is in
Christ, then that person enters a new creation. Old things have passed
away. Behold, all things have become new.”
So here is a little taste (forgive
the pun) of it. In creating this new wine on the seventh day, Jesus, the
Creator of the world and now the Re-creator of this fallen world enters into
this arena at a wedding. I point out in
passing that marriage / weddings in
itself is a creation ordinance of God for the good of man (Gen.
2), and the doctrine of marriage in
our time is in need of renewal. But here He is now, Jesus, the eternal word of God, who has come to that wedding in Cana of
Galilee.
Now that we have looked at the
big picture, let us follow the story as it unfolds. Wine runs out at the
wedding, and Mary makes it her business to let Jesus know about this. Is she
expecting Jesus to do something out of
the ordinary? Jesus says, “Woman, what does
that have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (2:4) Now, don't be
offended by the language. It’s not as cold in the Greek as it sounds in English. ‘Woman’ …this is the same term
Jesus will use when He speaks to her from the cross (19:26) when he hands her over to John. But more significantly, in thinking
about Genesis and John still, there
is a woman whose seed will
crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). This Mary, the human mother
of Jesus IS the woman, whose offspring will shortly crush Satan’s head. This is breath-taking stuff!
Jesus is not just Mary’s son. He is the Son of divine Promise, born of a woman,
and the fulfilment of Genesis 3:15. And from His present
perspective, His hour has not yet come-
He is not yet on display.[5]
Mary does not appear to be offended, but
says, ”Do whatever He tells you…”.
She knows that her Son, who was formerly announced to her as the Son of Promise (Lk 1:26ff) will know what to do.
The next detail follows. There
are 6 stone water jars, kept in the home for the Jewish rites of
purification. Each jar could contain more than 100 litres, so there are at
least 600 litres of water here. Purification rites for what? Answer: For sin- and because of sin. The profound
teaching of the OT is that man is a fallen, unholy being. He cannot face a holy
God. But how could a sinner face God? Answer: Not without purification or
atonement, and this ceremonial water was simply part of this perpetual reminder. Now here are six (not 7 - the number of
perfection) water jars. This perpetual ritual
awaited a completion, and now He was here: Jesus, the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The only water required now is
the baptism of our confession of faith speaking of the completed work of
Christ, and no more! Here is Jesus. He
is going to make something entirely new.
The next detail concerns the
miracle of the turning of the water in these
6 jars into wine. The jars were all filled to the brim at Jesus
command. The servants were then told to draw out some to the master of ceremonies, and his comment is quite humorous.
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk
freely, they bring out the poor wine, but you have kept the good wine until now.”
(v.10) 600 liters of wine … far too much for good
Baptists, but there you are!
But do you see the point? The
sheer extravagance of what Jesus does for us. That's what it means to belong to
the Kingdom of God. That's what it means to be in union with Jesus Christ. Our
vats overflow.
Some Important Observations in Conclusion
1.
Jesus is often not as eager to perform miracles
as others are to have Him do so. He
knows the limitation of such displays of power, as we shall see at the end of
this chapter (2:23-25). He is
concerned that He should fulfill His
Father’s plan at the divinely appointed time, rather than in His mother’s
time-frame. He knows it is not yet time for Him to make a public display of His
power, by which He publicly presents Himself as the promised Messiah. Those in
our generation who are overly eager to see miracles performed should consider
this fact carefully. Jesus is not as eager to perform miracles as others are to
see Him do so. Miracles in themselves provide
evidence, but they do not save anyone.
Only Jesus saves. You must look to Him.
2.
This sign manifested Christ's glory. This is what John tells us: “This
beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His
disciples believed in Him”. This miracle is called a “sign.” Biblical signs (or works e.g. 5:36; 7:21;
10:25) point beyond themselves to the deeper realities than we can see
with mere human eyes. Jesus disciples, with the eyes of faith were
beginning to see so much more. They were beginning to see glimpses of the Lord of glory.
3.
The
sign of water into wine is closely related to chapter 1. In the opening
verses of John’s Gospel, we learned that
Jesus is the Word (Logos), who
was not only with God in the beginning, but was God in the beginning. He is the
Creator, who brought all that is into existence. Are we then surprised to find Jesus “creating” wine from
water? After all He
once created the cosmos from chaos? Are
we surprised that the disciples beheld His glory through this miracle when, in
chapter one, the Apostle John writes, “And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14)?
4.
The Old Testament Law, based on its profound
understanding of sin and dealing with sin required various kinds of purifications or washings.
The Jews were to do them in obedience to God’s law, and legalistic Judaism
added even more washings. It was burdensome!
Now Jesus did something
deeply important. He turned this washing water for sin into the best wine of
gladness. Jesus took that which was a pain and made it into a pleasure. He
shows us that He is the end of the law. He
perfectly fulfilled the law, meeting all of its requirements. He was uniquely
qualified to die for sinners on the cross, replacing the demands of the law
with Himself. Therefore look to Jesus and not to the law!
5.
Jesus produces something something bountiful. The wine Jesus created was
the best ever, but He did not create a small quantity. He produced much more
than was needed. Can you imagine the joy of this married couple, who may have
been poor, being left with over 600
litres of the finest wine ever? Think also about the time when Jesus fed the 5,000 (Matthew
14:13-21) and again the 4,000 (Matthew 15:32-39), there were plenty of
leftovers (14:20; 15:37). God’s blessings are lavish.
This miracle, as do the other signs
of the Gospel of John, teaches us about the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The purpose is simple: that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God, and that in believing you might have eternal life (John 20:31).
Do you believe?
There is no more important decision in
life than what you believe about the person and work of Jesus Christ.
He is God manifested in human flesh. He alone is the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world. He alone can forgive your sin. He is the new Wine of God. He has come to make your heart truly glad.
[1] See the imagery
in Revelation. John sees Jesus both as the Lamb that was slain (Rev. 5:6, 12;
13:8: and the warrior lamb (seated on the throne 7:17) exercising his wrath (6:16 ; 14:10;17:14). He is both, Lamb and Lion
[2] 2 Tim 3:16
[3]
William Hendriksen: NT Commentary – John , p 114 (footnote) “Josephus affirms
that by rapid travel Jerusalem may be
reached in 3 days from Galilee”
[4]
Indebted to Leon Morris for this insight: (NICNT) p. 129f
[5] On several occasions in the Book of John, Jesus refers
to “His time.” (7:1-5). Jesus declined to go up to Judea with them because He
was not yet ready. He encouraged them to go on without Him. Later, He went up
to the feast secretly to avoid, rather than to gain, attention (7:6-13). Later
in the chapter, we are told that even though some of the Jews tried to seize
Jesus, they were not able, because it was not “His time” (verse 30). A similar
thing happens in chapter 8, verse 20. On other occasions, Jesus spoke of “His
time” as having come (12:23, 27; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1).
