Weddings are such celebrations of love. A man and a woman making a life-long commitment to each other. Today’s text tells the story of a wedding in Cana, a town about 4 miles northeast of Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown. What a fitting setting for Jesus’ first miracle. Read today’s text.
The Bible does not tell us whose wedding this was, but I believe it was someone from Jesus’ family or a close friend or neighbor. It was nearby in Cana. Jesus and His disciples were invited as were His mother and brothers. His mother gave directions to the workers at the wedding, and His mother was very concerned about fixing something that was going wrong.
Weddings were very important events in that culture. Running out of wine would have been more than just an embarrassing event. It would have been a dishonoring crisis for the host that they would not have lived down. Jesus now has the power to perform miracles since the Holy Spirit has come upon Him at His baptism and Mary understands that. She comes to Him with this problem offering Him the opportunity to use His ability to help this family out of a totally humiliating situation.
When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness to use His abilities to do miracles, he was tempting Jesus to use them for His own benefit. That is not the case here. Jesus is being asked to use His abilities here to benefit others. Jesus is being asked to use His abilities to benefit a wedding, the celebration of a marriage, something which God honors very much. What a wonderful place for Jesus to perform His first miracle.
Jesus’ first response to His mother is to ask her why she is involving Him. His hour has not yet come. It will be approximately another four months before Jesus begins doing miracles to relieve people’s sufferings. Yet He steps up here and helps out anyway. Jesus willingly helped others. What is our reaction when we are asked to help others?
Mary instructs the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. There are six jars nearby. What kind of jars are they? What does Jesus tell the servants to do? After the jars are filled, Jesus tells them to draw some out of the jars and take it to the master of the banquet. What had happened to the water when they drew it out? What observation did the master of the banquet make about the quality of the wine?
Verse 11 tells us that this was Jesus’ first miracle and that because of it, His disciples believed in Him. John refers to Jesus’ miracles as signs in His Gospel and they are used to show that God is at work in Jesus. Miraculous signs can be a powerful means of discovering or strengthening our faith; however, we must be careful that we do not allow ourselves to seek miracles for the sake of miracles themselves. They are evidence of the God whom we seek, but they should not become what we seek (John 6:2). We must keep our eyes on God Himself.
After the wedding, Jesus and His disciples went with His mother and brothers to Capernaum for a few days to stay and visit.
Responding to God: Worship God who is all powerful. Praise Him for His ability to do miracles. Thank Jesus for His willingness to help in our lives. Ask for help to do what Jesus tells you to do. Praise God that Jesus always knows what to do. Commit to helping others when you can and ask for opportunities to do so.
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