John 2:1-11
MANIFESTED HIS GLORY In the past sometimes the whole community attended the weddings held in their town. In some of the small villages the celebration would last more than a day. Mary, the mother of Jesus, must have been known in Cana of Asher. Jesus and His disciples were from different towns, but by God's sovereign direction they were invited to this wedding. God has His own plans and ways of doing things. The life of faith is often just simply taking the next obvious step in front of us. "Full surrender's tide" is sometimes a fearful time for us, but when the Lord Jesus is there we can go forward in confidence, "He knows the way I take."
The Lord honored that wedding feast by His attendance, but even more, by being there He honored the institution of marriage. "Marriage is honorable..." To show fellowship at joyful occasions is important, but those times are often hard to manage without sinning. We always need to be reminded of the honor we have of honoring the Lord's presence with us. We need to commit ourselves and the event to the Lord that He will be glorified by what we do then and that dignity and honor accompanies such an important time as a marriage. There are often opportunities on such occasions to do good either in conversations or in actions. Whenever a marriage is held, keep the occasion such, that as an invited guest the Lord Jesus can be happy to be there. It is important that He is acknowledged as the One who made the union, and He can bless the union as well as the occasion.
Invited guests share in the joy of such an event. The disciples who followed Jesus, although not yet designated as part of "the twelve," were linked with Jesus even though they may have still wondered at this Teacher they were following. Mary was there, not as one to be prayed to or worshipped. In some places she might still be the object of scorn or demeaning gossip because of the events surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the presence of Jesus, the Son of God, that sanctifies an occasion, and in an occasion like this one, made it much more than just a wedding feast. When a need arose, Mary was not the one venerated and she could not meet the need that was there. She knew without question who her son was, and she knew the infinite power of God in bringing Him into the world miraculously. Now that He had gone public in His identification, she probably felt He might be willing to meet the need by His power. Other books are written telling of childhood miracles Jesus did, but they are not to be considered as true. This miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee is plainly stated as the "beginning of miracles."
The word "woman" is not used in a patronizing way in this passage. It is used in the sense of "honorable lady." The Lord knew what Mary had in mind and in this first reference to "My hour," it is in relation to His mother. "Mine hour is not yet come." The last reference to His "hour" was in relation to His Father. "The hour is come." Jesus lovingly responded to His mother in a way that bore no offense whatsoever. She knew who He was and He knew what she meant when she spoke to the servants.
To do this miracle Jesus used what was available. He didn't miraculously keep everyone's cup full of wine. That would have led to drunkenness. Huge water pots filled to the brim held 20 to 30 gallons apiece. The total amount of water in the six water-pots would had been close to 180 gallons. The water was filled right to the brim leaving no room for speculation that wine could have been poured in. It was good wine created instantaneously by the Lord Jesus Christ and everyone at that wedding could testify to that miracle. Not only was there far more than enough for the wedding; there was enough to sell and make a good profit on for the newly married couple.
The meaning of the miracle and the reason behind it is that those disciples would be convinced that Jesus is the God of creation. He created the wine without the need of history. There were no vines that needed to be planted and pruned. There were no seasons for the fruit to gradually grow into maturity. In order to produce that amount of wine, a very large vineyard would be required. In a moment of time He was revealed as the Creator; as God in the flesh; as the God of glory - and there was also the foreshadowing of the joy of Christ as the Bridegroom and His bride, the Church.
The disciples got it!! The message was loud and clear. They now knew without doubt who Jesus was. Their faith in Him was strengthened. Their submission to Him was with full confidence. The evidence was visible, tangible and testified to by one who had not even seen what happened. "Thou hast kept the good wine until now." The One who is our Savior and Lord has left unmistakable proofs as to who He is, not only in this miracle but in all the miracles He did when He was on earth - and in the ones He is doing today in our lives. "In Him we live and move and have our being." To not believe on Him would be to deliberately close our eyes to His power in creation; in maintaining all things in their order; in making us to suit our place in this creation. But more than that, we believe on Him because of what He has done and does daily by the riches of His grace. He has brought us to Himself and to His banqueting house to be with Him and part of Him forever.