Download here 🎧 Jesus’ First Miracle
Listen here 🎧
John 2:11
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
The whole Chapter one of John’s Gospel as we have been seeing through the series has primarily been providing us information about the divinity of Jesus (1:1). We enter Chapter 2 and John gives us something we can call a practical implication of all he has been talking about. He provides us a sign. A sign at a wedding. The word sign is one of three ways by which the New Testament calls a miracle (Dunamis–Mighty Works, Teras–Wonder and Semeion–Sign (Acts 2:22). I will therefore use the word sign interchangeably with the word miracle.Â
And this morning I want us to look at Jesus’ First Miracle. And for this sermon, I will try to bring out the essence of that miracle. What’s the essence of the miracle we may ask? After that, we will consider the implications of the miracle. What does this miracle in a first century wedding mean to us? To our first question, what’s the essence of the miracle?
To Manifest His Glory
The first point about this first miracle was To Manifest Jesus’ Glory. It is important John tells us this was Jesus’ first miracle. Why? After the gospels have been written, another material popped up supposedly written by Thomas in the 2nd century which claimed Jesus performed miracles during his childhood. This is called the Infancy Gospel. It claims Jesus at his childhood moulded a bird out of clay and gave it life. It also speaks of Jesus striking neighbours with blindness and many supposed childhood miracles. But all these are to be rejected because they have no place in Scriptures.Â
Though John was not addressing this matter, the Scriptures are sufficient to answer matters of dispute about Scripture.Â
By this text then, this is Jesus’ first miracle and everything else is false. Again we see another matter of biblical controversy in the text:Wine. We could spend our time talking about alcohol and advancing arguments for the consumption of alcohol or arguments against the consumption of alcohol. We could further argue this was alcoholic or non-alcoholic wine, but all that will totally miss the point of the event. We will miss the forest for the trees.Â
The reason for this miracle John tells was that Jesus manifested his glory. With our understanding of the three uses of miracles expressed earlier, this miracle was a sign to show who Jesus is. Remember John has already hinted us on Jesus’ glory (1:14). This first miracle then was like a statement Jesus made to his disciples: I am God. In other parts of the gospel according to John, example the raising of Lazarus from the tomb four days after he has died, Jesus linked the miracle to the glory of God
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:30-40).
Jesus is God! That’s the essence of this miracle. Hebrews describes Jesus as “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature nature” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus himself speaks of the glory he shared with the Father from the beginning of the earth (John 17:5). Paul speaks of Jesus and says “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9).
A Restoration Of Joy.
In manifesting his glory, Jesus restored joy. He saved a situation. A Jewish wedding feast it is believed can run for a whole week. Unlike ours that can last for up to about 3hours and it is over. This indicates then that there has to be a constant supply of food and wine. Unfortunately, in this ceremony, they run out of wine (v.3). Perhaps there were gatecrashers to the wedding or there was not enough wine supplied for the ceremony and this is considered an embarrassment in Jewish culture for the groom. I mean think about it. You invite people to a wedding reception and you run out of drinks. The young ones amongst us who are yet to marry. Don’t try this. Make sure at your reception, there will be enough food and drink.
It’s also indicated in their part of the world then, the groom could possibly be slapped with a lawsuit (R.C Sproul).[1] Jesus’ mother therefore to save the situation, informed him they had ran out of wine. He politely asked the mother “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. R.C Sproul in a commentary on this helps us understand what is going on.Â
If you look at this passage in various translations of the Bible, you will see various arrangements of words. Even today, Greek scholars are not exactly sure how to translate this statement. Literally, Jesus said, “What is this to you to Me?” It’s a strange and awkward construction, and the translators have to render it as best they can. But it seems clear that Jesus was saying to his mother, “Don’t tell Me what to do in My earthly ministry.” He was taking His directions from His heavenly Father. Ironically, however, after saying this to Mary, He proceeded to deal with the problem.[2]
Now a wedding reception is meant to be a moment of joy. But we are seeing a joyful moment about turning into sadness. It was going to turn into an embarrassment. But Jesus will intervene to restore joy. Wine represents joy. Wine is for merry making. Wine gladdens the heart. And these are things the Scriptures say (Psalm 104:14-15; Proverbs 3:9-10). But beyond wine, there is a greater joy. It is the joy of the Lord. David contrasts the joy of the Lord with wine and said “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” (Psalm 4:7).
The joy of the Lord is the joy that comes by salvation. And it is a joy incomparable to wine. It is the joy of salvation. It is the joy of pardoned sin. It is the joy of reconciliation with the Father. Nothing is greater than this, that you and I will be considered children of God.Â
A Manifestation of Grace
Closely tied to the Manifestion of Jesus’ glory, is the manifestation of his grace. There is something quiet fascinating in the narrative. And I want you to look at vv.6-10. In these verses, we see first the law of Moses: “there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification”. These water jars are representative of the law. In Jewish religion, there were various rituals that involved washing of hands, clothes, feet etc. And these six stones of water jars were to be used to hold water to wash the feet of all the invited guests to the ceremony.Â
But Jesus will use these jars representing the law of Moses to pour out his grace which can be seen in the wine. Let me explain. Remember that Moses in his ministry changed water to blood. Jesus here changes water to wine, which wine can be symbolically represented as his blood shed for sinners. We all agree that that when the Lord instituted the Lord’s supper, he used wine to represent his blood shed for us and the seal of the New Covenant. From jars that hold water for purification, Jesus poured out wine. Think about it,with the presence of Jesus, these jars were no longer serving their purpose. Rather, they were serving a different purpose. They were being used to pour out wine; a sign of the New Covenant (Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:20;1 Corinthian 11:25). Jesus has come that you and I will be recipients of the grace of God. This means pardon from our sins. This means reconciliation and peace with God.
Lead To Faith
In the first of these series, I pointed out why John wrote his gospel. He wrote that people will believe who Jesus is “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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 (John 20:30-31).
John wrote that his readers will believe that Jesus is Christ— the long awaited promised Messiah and the Son of God, that is Jesus is God. The result of this miracle was that the disciples believed in Jesus. The miracle is a statement Jesus made to the disciples: I am God. And they believed. This truly is consistent with the message of John as seen in John 20:30-31.
What Is The Implication?
There are those who claim they will see a miracle before they believe. Jesus has a word for them: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah”. (Matthew 16:4). “The sign of Jonah” is a typological metaphor of the death and resurrection of Jesus. If you want a miracle, look to the cross, look to the empty grave and look to the resurrection: That’s a miracle and that’s the gospel. Believe it!
Indeed, there are numerous miracles in the Bible enough for us to believe. We are not to go seeking after miracles but to take God’s word as true. Following after miracles today is actually a sign of unbelief. If the recorded miracles of the Bible are not sufficient to lead you to faith, but rather, you have to experience a miracle before you believe; that is unbelief. The miracles of the Bible are recorded so you will believe. Chasing after miracles is unbelief disguised as faith and many Christians are guilty (John 20:30).
Notes
- R.C Sproul, John An Expositional Commentary (Sanford: FL, Ligonier MInistries, 2009) kindle Edition
- R.C. Sproul, John An Expositional Commentary, 2009
Facebook Comments