The First of His Signs

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.  John 2:11 

John 2:1–11 – That You May Believe
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Life in the Spirit  – September 29, 2024 (am)    

I’m sure each of you knows the experience of trying to remember a dream when you awake in the morning. All sorts of strange and incongruous ideas, at times even impossible scenarios, can arise in our dreams—things that just can’t happen in the real world, or don’t.

Imagine awaking to remember that you were in some sort of place that you know was significant, or important, or perhaps even great, mythic, but you just can’t quite remember how. You were walking along a trail or lane, firm under foot but you weren’t certain of the surface. It may’ve been stone or some form of pavement, perhaps hardened earth, but slightly uneven, and covered with wet leaves, or pine needles, or some other organic carpet.

And it was dark, maybe just before dawn, and misty. Or it may just have been that your eyes couldn’t focus clearly. But you were dreaming, so the tension between these two possibilities didn’t even occur to you until you were awake and trying to recall the scene, to piece it together.

You saw lights in the distance, through the mist, or the blur; it may even have been through some kind of foliage because only then did you realize just how hard it was to figure out what you were seeing. But the lights were arranged geometrically, so you knew you were seeing some kind of structure, like the lighted windows of a huge, multi-story building, maybe even a castle! And you thought you might hear music, and see some kind of activity inside, like many people moving around, or maybe even dancing!

Then something startled you awake. And you immediately began to wonder just where you’d been. And you wanted to get back there just to find out what was happening inside. Three times in one night you had this dream, each time getting a bit closer to that castle, each time seeing it a bit more clearly, and noticing a bit more detail—lush ornamentation on the walls, richly decorated horses and carriages in the courtyard, grand orchestral music filling the air, and the happy sounds of a huge assembly in celebration! But you never got close enough to discover just what was happening, or to enter into it fully.

I have to tell you, this describes how I feel each time I approach today’s passage in study. Something almost indescribably grand is happening here. You can see it! You can smell it in the text! I feel like I get a bit closer each time, but never inside the castle, never fully entering into all that seems to be here. Every phrase in this passage, clear as it may seem, remains shrouded in layer upon layer of mystery, all at once beyond our reach and yet still discernibly profound in its meaning. We have no trouble understanding the scene as it’s described. But what this scene represents, what it points to, the fullness of what it seems to be telling us, and wanting us to grasp, won’t be fully known until all that it announces and implies and foreshadows becomes our realized experience.

With that introduction, let’s walk through this passage in two stages, which really do flow freely together as one.

The Setting and Set-up for Jesus’ First Sign – 1-5

The mystery begins immediately. 1 On the third day…. Many want to make this a veiled reference to Jesus’ resurrection, since He seems to be using wine, and the mysterious delivery of it, as an illustration of His coming Kingdom. That image does appear repeatedly in the OT (e.g. Jer.31:12; Hos.14:14; Amo.9:13-14). And Jesus also used the wedding as a symbol for the [end of this present] age (e.g., Mat.22:1-14; 25:1-13) (Carson 1991 172). Since we’re just getting a taste for John’s subtleties, this could be another example of that. But this seems overly subtle in a Gospel that does not stress ‘the third day’ in the resurrections narratives themselves (Carson 1991 167).

Rather, it seems we’re finally coming to understand why John has been marking the days in this opening week of Jesus’ ministry. This is now the third day from His encounter with Nathaniel (1:43-51), which means, given the inclusive way days were counted, day seven in this sequence since John [the Baptist’s] encounter with the delegation (1:19-27). This is the only time John walks through a sequence of days like this. So, it seems like his intent was to establish that changing the water into wine happened on the seventh day of Jesus’ public ministry, a symbol of Sabbath, and of His coming Kingdom. This understanding seems more consistent with John’s style and content. Later in this Gospel (5:16ff.; 7:21-24; 9:16), Jesus’ performance of redemptive work on the Sabbath is given the most suggestive theological treatment in the NT apart from Heb.4 (Carson 1991 168 edited).

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee (interestingly, the home of Nathaniel [21:2]). This opens a geographic inclusion that doesn’t close until 4:46, marking this off as a section of John’s gospel in which we can discern a singular theme. These three chapters are organized to [express] what Paul says in 2Co.5:17: ‘the old has gone, the new has come!’ “[These] three chapters present the replacement of the old purifications by the wine of the kingdom of God, the old temple by the new in the risen Lord, an exposition of new birth for new creation, a contrast between the water of Jacob’s well and the living water from Christ, and the worship of Jerusalem and Gerizim with worship ‘in Spirit and in truth’” (Dodd, IFG, p. 297) (Carson 1991 166).

So, that’s what we’ll be looking at over these next few weeks. But for now, this wedding scene is in view, and the mother of Jesus was there. She’s never named in this Gospel. She appears only twice (here and 19:25-27). And she’s mentioned just two other times (2:12; 6:42) (Carson 1991 168). This suggests that her prominent appearance here is rather important. But we don’t know why! There’s much speculation—maybe this was a relative’s wedding?—but we just don’t know.

2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. Again, why? 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Surely this was quite embarrassing for the host—it would be still today—but why did Jesus’ mother inform Him? To what end? What was His role here? Or hers? So, we have the same question for her that He did. 4 … Woman, what does this have to do with me? Essentially: What is this to me and to you? (Carson 1991 170) The way He put it distanced them a bit. It was respectful, but at the same time a mild rebuke. What did He mean to communicate? Much could be and has been said. But, bottom line, He seemed to be suggesting that she really didn’t have a say in His activities at this point.

[Jesus had] embarked on the purpose of his coming; his only [guide was] his heavenly Father’s will (5:30; 8:29) (Carson 1991 171). And His next words seem to confirm this read: “My hour has not yet come.” We who know Jesus’ story, know that his hour refers to His approaching death and resurrection to provide salvation for all who believe, and therefore His exaltation according to His Father’s plan (cf. 17:1). But whatever He mentions his hour here, it captures the reader’s interest and [presses some] questions: What does ‘hour’ mean? When does this ‘hour’ come? By whetting the reader’s curiosity it encourages more thoughtful reading; … the book becomes deeper and more complex when it is read the second, third and subsequent times (Carson 1991 171)—hopefully clearer and richer as well!

Here, we can probably discern three things. First, as He usually did, Jesus answered on a far deeper level than his questioner asked. Mary wants the wedding to end without embarrassment; Jesus remembers that the prophets characterized the messianic age as a time when wine would flow liberally. [So, he wanted no mistaking of the fact] that the hour of great wine… has not yet come (Carson 1991 172).

Second, [even] though [this] entire Gospel moves toward… Jesus’ glorification… and elements in [his ministry before the cross] anticipated [that], [no] aspect of [his] ministry could… be [pursued] in response to human schedules; it could reflect only the timing of his Father’s will (Carson 1991 172).

Third, it is… possible that [John] sees a connection with 3:27-30, where Jesus… alone is… identified as the messianic bridegroom. As such, he will supply all the ‘wine’ that is needed for the messianic banquet, but [that] hour has not yet come. As this story unfolds, [Jesus] graciously makes good the deficiencies of [this] unknown bridegroom, [but he does so] in anticipation of the perfect way he himself will fill [that] role [at his own wedding celebration] (cf. Rev.19:7-9) (Carson 1991 172-3).

Do you see why it’s so hard to feel like you’ve ever fully grasped the amazingly deep and wide-ranging meaning of this seemingly rather simple and clear event?

5 His mother said to the servants, but again, why, “Do whatever he tells you,” suggesting she had great confidence in Him, trust (Carson 1991 169-70, 173)—I don’t know what He’ll say, but it’ll be right. But also, surely this is another instance of someone saying something far truer, far grander, than they understood at the moment they said it (cf. Bruce 70).

So, here we are! We know precisely what’s happening here, but so very little of what it all means! Let’s press on.

The Symbol-laden Enactment of Jesus’ First Sign – 6-11

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons, huge, each larger than the gas tank on most cars. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. Likely an image of the age of such ceremonial cleansing now being full, complete, yet incomplete—six jars, not seven. In all, a new day was dawning in the relationship between God and His creatures. And the sheer quantity of water turned to wine [here] becomes symbolic of the lavish provision of [this] new age (Carson 1991 174).

8 And [Jesus] said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” The word draw here is generally used… of drawing water from a well (Mounce 388), making us wonder whether the whole well had been turned to wine! So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Far from simply avoiding embarrassment, this unnamed bridegroom’s wedding now stands in God’s Word as a profound illustration of the dawning Kingdom, almost untraceable in the breadth and depth of its intended implications! And what must the wine have tasted like—the wine of heaven, of new creation!

But it surely achieved its intended meaning here in John’s Gospel. 11 This, the first of his signs—he may even have meant the [primary] of his signs, because it points to the new [era] of grace and fulfillment that Jesus [was] inaugurating (Carson 1991 175)—Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, closing off an immediate inclusion (cf. 4:46), and manifested his glory. And his disciples saw it—his glory, not just his sign (cf. 23-25)—and believed in him. Surely they had much further to go in their journey toward belief, but this was a big step!

Conclusion

What, then, is our takeaway today? Two Implications/Applications

First, surely we want to hear John’s call to saving belief, his over-all aim (20:31) and his stated outcome of this wedding scene (11). And the persuading element must be the glory of God, not just the impressive nature of the sign. Next week we’ll see even more clearly how these differ. There’s a form of belief that doesn’t give us thee right to become children of God (1:12). 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 …, for he himself knew what was in man. We don’t want to be among those who are just wowed by His great works, but among those who come and see (1:46; 39) the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1:29; 36), trust Him and believe (11), those who do what he tells [us] (5) to do!

And second, God often purposes to work through common experiences like family weddings or other such things to magnify His glory and advance His Kingdom. We need to be on the lookout for that kind of expression. Our tendency is to receive His timely provisions and protection on a very personal level, as though it’s simply His faithfulness to us. And surely it is that—this bridegroom was deeply grateful, I’m sure, for Jesus’ timely provision at his wedding. But how tragic it would be if we left the full meaning of this event on that level, simply Jesus’ provision of some extra wine for this particular celebration on this particular day!

And how tragic also if we see His provision for us today in that way! We can all trace God’s hand of faithfulness in our lives. We can see answered prayer and, again, timely provision. But do we do the work in our own scenarios that this passage presses us to do with this wedding? Are we reminded of what God’s provision means regarding His promises on a grander scale—the advance of His Kingdom, the fulfillment of His plan to bring those who believe into a new heaven and new earth where the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it? (Amo.913)

This is where God’s children need to live, not being satisfied with the miracle alone—His provision and protection, His answered prayer—but recognizing that He Who provides our salvation is fulfilling a much grander purpose and plan, that His provision and protection for us are part of that plan. We should be reminded not only that our God is indeed accomplishing His grand plan, but that He’s so great He actually brings glory to Himself by including His provision and protection for us, personally, within it—each one of us whom He’s adopted into His family through faith in His unique Son, each one to whom He’s given the right to become children of God! (1:12) This nameless bridegroom is a reminder to us not only of how much we matter to God, of how attentive He is to our need, but of how interwoven our stories actually are, each of them, into His grand story. It’s actually within our stories that He manifests his glory and draws us into saving belief, just as He did here—the mystery and marvel of the glorious God Who provides for all our needs, including our eternal salvation!

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Resources

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NEXT SUNDAY: Zeal for Your House Will Consume Me, John 2:12–25