John 2:1-11

John 2: 1-11

¹ On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." ⁴ And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." ⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." ⁶ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. ⁹ When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." ¹¹ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

            John 2:1-11 is the story of the first sign in Galilee, the visit of Jesus to a wedding, and the miracle of water turned into wine. This story provides me an opportunity to discuss the nature of signs in the gospel of John. Yet, I also take time to discuss the importance we can gather from John portraying Jesus as choosing a wedding celebration for the first of the signs in this gospel.

This story begins a series of stories ending at 4:54 that share various responses to Jesus. The story is part of the Book of Signs, running from 1:19-12:50. The first impression given by the narrative is that of a simple miracle-story. However, the mysterious words about the hour of Jesus, the lavish quantity of wine, the final remark of the writer and indeed the whole purport of the story make it clear that there is a deeper meaning behind the words of the narrative. This level of thought will push us to consider what John intended theologically and spiritually.

Before we get too far into this story, allow me to pause for a moment. This story encourages us to think of Jesus as accessible. We often think of Jesus as serious most of the time. Yet, in this story, Jesus is providing alcohol, wine, for a party. He is providing the best wine. He does this for the ordinary, if joyful, event of a wedding. Of course, I like the “laughing Jesus” drawing as well.

We will discuss three features of the story that reveal its deeper meaning.         

First there is the wedding banquet itself. The wedding celebration becomes central for most couples. Yet, the wedding is for one day. It will pass. Many couples have learned that you do not so much fall in love and get married as you do get married and learn to love the other over the years.[1] Some people will refer to marriage as a chain. Yet, chains cannot hold a marriage together. Rather, hundreds of tiny threads sew people together through the years.[2] Most weddings, as lovely as they are, are forgettable — except your own. Some weddings are unforgettable because of their unique location such as a bridge or dump, and so on. Unforgettable weddings usually have an unpredictable facet — like a fainting bride, or a cold-footed no-show groom, or a bridesmaid who fell in the mud on the way in the door, or a smiling minister who repeatedly and confidently calls the bride and groom by the wrong names. ¹ On the third day, referring to the previous scene of Nathaniel, giving time for travel. There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Today, Kefer Kenna, three and one half miles north of Nazareth, is where pilgrims go, but khirbet Qona, 9 miles north of Nazareth, is where this story occurs. Thus, the place will not make the wedding unforgettable. The wedding occurs in a typical small village. Further, the mother of Jesus was there. ² The hosts had also invited Jesus and his disciples to the wedding. Throughout the gospels, we are put on alert that something holy is about to happen whenever Jesus is around food. In the synoptics, Jesus uses the metaphor of the banquet to describe how the power of God drastically reverses the religious and social status quo, he enacts this reversal by sharing meals with religious and social outcasts, and he changes forever the meaning of bread and wine the night before his death. In every gospel, Jesus amazes thousands by feeding them all with only a few loaves of bread and fewer fish. The wedding banquet at Cana is no exception to this holiness alert. When all four gospel writers variously depict Jesus either teaching about banquets or attending them, they underscore his connection with the arrival of the Messiah and the accompanying transformation of the world according to God’s holy purposes. The decision to highlight the wedding banquet at Cana is John’s way of signaling us that from the very outset of his earthly ministry, Jesus is the Christ whose every activity one must understand in relation to the revelation of his glory and messianic mission. As far as John is concerned, it is not surprising that the first of Jesus’ miraculous signs takes place at a wedding banquet. Indeed, considering the messianic symbolism throughout the Bible connected to wedding banquets, it would perhaps be surprising if Jesus did not do something miraculous like change water into wine.

Second is the interaction between Mary and Jesus. John has already let us know that Mary is present. Jesus, his mother and his friends attended an unforgettable wedding in Cana. No one planned for this wedding to be unforgettable. ³ When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." The wedding was just your typical, traditional wedding celebration with an average and pleasant reception — until the wine gave out. Customarily, hosts served the better wine first at Galilean wedding receptions. This makes sense, when you think about it. You serve the good wine first, when the palate is fresh and expectant. After a few pints, who cares? Both the guests and their taste buds are dull, and one can bring the cheap stuff out for the final slide into inebriation. However, to run out of wine before it is time was an unforgettable hospitality indiscretion that would have caused minor humiliation for the host if he did not fix the problem quickly. In short — it could have been a social disaster. Most of us have been there. We are part of the planning for a social event, a mistake occurs, and we panic. Of course, such a mistake is not the end of the world. In the great scheme of things, such social mistakes are minor. Picture a stressed-out host trying to find more wine while quietly badgering his servants. Picture the fear of the servants. Yet, for whatever reason, Mary, Jesus’ mother, got involved in the wine problem. We do not know why. Maybe she was a happy person and simply wanted the feast and joy to continue. Maybe Mary thought that marriages were worth celebrating. We can almost hear Mary saying, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll talk to my son — he can fix anything.” Wine at a wedding will lead to joy most of us have seen it happen. As the wedding banquet progresses, people become increasingly animated and happy. Wine at weddings also can give a spirit of optimism about the future. In the Old Testament, writers often tied wine and wedding imagery to the hope of eternity. In fact, the Lord will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear (Isaiah 25:6). Wine at a wedding celebration can also help you recognize the blessings of the present. Seated around family and friends and enjoying the finer things in life stirs up a sense that the happy couple and all those who celebrate with them are lacking in nothing. Yet, the response of Jesus to this event that would make the wedding unforgettable is a little surprising. ⁴Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? The words of Jesus to his mother are rather jarring. They seem rude to most people who read them. He seems to brush her away. The Greek here literally reads, “What to me and to you, woman?” Perhaps it could be more colloquially translated, “Woman, what’s it to me and you?” or “Woman, why are you bothering me with this?” or more loosely still, “Woman, please.” In other words, “Cry me a river.” “Why don’t you tell that to someone who cares?” This demonstrates a central Johannine affirmation of Jesus' freedom and noncontingency.  Also typical of John's Gospel is the way this story presents Jesus as strange, enigmatic, not self-evident in who he is. We will say of some people that they are who they appear to be. What you see is what you get. Such was not true of Jesus. He was not what he appeared to be. When we turn to the matter of the interaction between Mary and Jesus, there is room to interpret an element of humor. A quick exchange of words is peculiarly reminiscent of that awkward dilemma a child faces when put on the spot by a parent. Why is Mary concerned? Does she want Jesus to do something?  The text is not clear that Mary is asking for a miracle from her son. Some interpreters make much out of the apparent rebuke Jesus delivers to Mary; particularly the way he addresses Mary as “woman” instead of “mother.” "Woman" is not negative.  The word “woman” is certainly not a disrespectful form of address, but when used towards one’s mother among Semitic peoples, it is unusual and astonishing. It is unique for a son to address the mother this way.  Does Mary embarrass or anger Jesus? Does her approach embarrass or anger him so much that he does not even acknowledge her as his mother? Does Jesus view Mary’s request being beneath his pursuit of higher purposes? Is John highlighting this exchange to illustrate a distance between Jesus and Mary that underscores how Jesus thinks in terms of the heavenly concerns of his Father, while Mary — like Nicodemus in 3:1-15 and the Samaritan woman in 4:1-15 — focuses on earthly concerns? In any case, even though it was Jesus who performed this first public miracle, Mary saved that wedding day. She led Jesus to his first miracle. My hour has not yet come." In spite of all the questions, we may have concerning the words of Jesus to his mother, at issue for Jesus is the fact that his hour had not yet come. Jesus’ “hour” is his passion, death and resurrection, which John takes up in chapters 13-20. "Hour" = passion, resurrection, ascension in John.  Even here, at the beginning of his gospel, we must consider that John might be alluding mysteriously to the full revelation of divine glory after the Cross and Resurrection. However, references to this hour throughout John’s gospel operate with an emergent understanding that even as Jesus’ hour has not yet come in full, it is already beginning to become evident in the course of his ministry prior to the Last Supper. ⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Mary becomes a symbol. This “already” aspect may be why Mary ignores Jesus’ rebuke and directly tells the servants at the banquet to do whatever Jesus tells them.  Mary believes Jesus will intervene.  The manner is unknown.  Mary has sensed that Jesus will act, even though his answer remains mysterious to her. Mary is more than a pushy mom with excessive pride in her boy. Mary is not bragging, but showing faith in her son who also happens to be the Son of God. In the context of the Gospel of John, we are not sure whether Mary yet knows for sure that Jesus is the Son of God. However, John and the intended audience for this gospel know. John portrays Mary knowing enough to rely on the value of whatever her son has to say — a portrayal in which Mary trusts the words of Jesus who is the Word. Mary demonstrates her firm belief that Jesus can save the situation. For those who already know “the rest of the story” of Jesus’ resurrection, Mary models the true disciple’s humble trust that whatever Jesus tells us will always reliably manifest the will of God ... that whatever Jesus tells us to do is always the right thing to do. One can compare this exchange to Jesus’ encounters with the Samaritan woman [4:1-26] as well as the Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman [Mark 7:24-30/Matthew 15:21-28].

Third is the replenishing of the wine. ⁶ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. A measurer is about 8 gallons. Note that the servants draw out water changed into wine from jars reserved for ceremonial washing. Literally, these jars hold water for purity rituals. The hosts of the wedding intended the water for the crucial religious practice of external cleansing before eating. However, Jesus uses this water to create something crucial to our internal nourishment. ⁷ Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." They filled them up to the brim. This shows the greatness of the miracle, the lavishness of the gift of Jesus. ⁸ He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." Therefore, they took it. ⁹ When the steward tasted the 120 gallons of water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine, giving deeper significance to the miracle, for this wine has come from Jesus, until now." This goes beyond symbolism. Such a setting summons up biblical images of the messianic era and messianic fullness, marked by wine and the abundance of fine foods. When Jesus changes water into wine, the transformation of the world according to God’s holy purpose is becoming a reality through the presence of Jesus — the Word, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ. Here, Jesus’ miracle echoes his teaching in the synoptics concerning the necessity of new wineskins for new wine (Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39). This miracle also echoes the new meaning Jesus gives to wine in the synoptic accounts of the Last Supper. Through Jesus, the new wine is superior to the old. Through Jesus, the new wine transforms us out of mannered external piousness and into mature internal piety. The story has a sacramental use of wine. We have already identified the imagery of the wedding banquet as symbolic of the arrival of the Messiah and the accompanying transformation of the world according to God’s holy purposes. The miracle enacts the messianic significance of the setting. The ebb and flow of the wine is pivotal to the witness of John’s gospel to the revelation of Jesus’ glory and messianic mission.

So what does all this mean? ¹¹ First, Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and, second, revealed his glory; and third, his disciples believed in him. John closely connects these three statements. This suggests that we are to take the miracles of Jesus as signs in the sense that they point to the identity of Jesus, to the hidden presence of the rule of God in his ministry that will unveil itself in the resurrection of Jesus. The glory of resurrection is a disclosure to the universal end of all time and the coming again of Jesus as the promised Messiah.^[3]  The new wine breaks in upon and transforms the religious status quo. Through the creation of new wine, Jesus first reveals his glory — and his disciples believe in him. Have we the mature internal piety to taste and see Jesus for the Messiah he is? Are we already prepared to take Jesus at his word, as the Word? As a sign, the primary focus is on Jesus as the one sent by God to bring salvation.  His glory shines, and the disciples respond with belief. Cana reveals the glory of Jesus through the Messianic replacement and abundance theme. Such “signs” are “acts of power” in the synoptics. What is astonishing about the miracle at Cana is that Jesus himself makes no use of it to develop his revelation, probably due to its introductory character. The sign allows only a preliminary view of the glory of Jesus. Later, symbolic meanings, such as bread of life, light of the world, and resurrection and life, will become major themes of the signs Jesus performs. These observations raise a question and illuminate a possible answer. Of the Seven signs in John, only this one has no parallel to Synoptics at all. Yet, Mark 2:18-22 has an interesting parallel in that Jesus, in response to a question regarding fasting, refers to the fact that people do not fast while the wedding is happening and he follows that with a saying regarding not putting new wine into old wineskins. Further, is it really so different from the multiplication of the loaves? Given that John does not relate the Last Supper, such a mention of the abundance of wine, followed by abundance of bread in Chapter 6, suggest a heightened sense of the importance of the sacrament. The story completes the call of the disciples, wrapping up the activity of Jesus in calling his first disciples in 1:19-51, ending with 2:11, “and his disciples believed in him.” The disciples provide an example of responding to Jesus with belief. At the same time, the story commences the public ministry of Jesus with his miraculous power. The story of this first sign by which Jesus reveals his glory is both the climax of the foregoing, which presses on towards a visible manifestation of the messiah acclaimed but not fully known by his first disciples and the starting-point for the whole self-revelation of Jesus that John sees occurring through signs.  One needs to keep these two points of view in mind. Then, the faith of the disciples brought to perfection by the self-revelation by Jesus in signs, and the beginning of the signs, by which the peculiar nature of the Johannine portrayal of the earthly work of Jesus is signaled, one can appreciate properly the situation and significance of the first miracle of Cana. Jesus' first miracle ushers in his active ministry with chords of celebration and faithfulness. Mary puts her trust in Jesus' abilities, and through her openness to faith, the miracle occurs. As a result, the wedding party becomes more joyful than ever expected.

In context, John shares various responses to Jesus in 2:1-4:54. In fact, the passage presents the first of two miracles performed by Jesus at Cana, the second being his healing of the official’s son found in 4:46-54. These two Cana stories frame a specific unit of material within The Book of Signs that includes the cleansing of the temple, Nicodemus’ visit with Jesus, John the Baptist’s final witness and Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman.

An important point is that this revelation of the glory of Jesus is not a timeless epiphany, but has a fixed place at the beginning of a whole series of signs that Jesus performs in historical succession. The sign reveals the glory of Jesus, but only to those who look at it with believing eyes. As a means of self-revelation by Jesus, it has the same force as his words. As appears from the great miracles to come later, the words of revelation by Jesus do no more than disclose the real meaning of the sign more fully. Such a discourse does not follow the first sign. We are to gather its Messianic and Christological meaning from the presentation itself, especially from the points stressed. We can see this in the close connection in the final remark John makes. The revelation given in the signs is a revelation to those who have the eyes of faith and respond to an act of God with believing in its truth. By noting that the miracle at Cana is the first sign, the writer calls attention to the beginning of the self-revelation by Jesus before the world, which is to be fully public. Nevertheless, the choice of “to see” to express the experience of faith is not without significance. There is no transfiguration, no temporary elevation of Jesus to a heavenly mode of being in John. Even the walking on the waters contains no such trait. This is no accident. John takes the Incarnation so seriously that he never removes the veil of the flesh, and he never displays the divine glory of Jesus except to the eyes of faith. One may ask whether the disciples of Jesus have already attained the full insight of faith at the miracle of Cana, since misunderstandings still beset them in the upper room. However, what the writer means is that their faith had received an essential impulse from the sign at Cana: their faith has grown stronger within them and richer in content. This is clear from the Christological formula “they believed in him.” The faith of the disciples that contains in principle the full Christological faith is also a headline to the readers of the Gospel. Yet, the miracle may have a deeper meaning for the writer. At the marriage, it is not the wine in itself, or the wine in contrast to the water, which constitute the pregnant signs. The significance of the wine is as a gift of Jesus, a sign that comes from him and points to him. As a gift of Jesus, the wine also is significant. Jesus gives it at the end of the wedding, and it is so precious and copious that it is one of the eschatological gifts of the Messiah.

So what does all this mean to us? In the wedding ritual, most clergy remind people that Jesus graced a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Do you find it at all thought provoking that Jesus chose a wedding in which to reveal his glory first?

We dare not make light of this commitment. Robust new literature shows marriage is good for both men and women, markedly better than being single, cohabiting or getting divorced. Married people have more satisfying sexual lives than do single people, both physically and emotionally. They live significantly longer, healthier, happier lives and recover more quickly from illness. They are much less likely to slap, hit and abuse each other than some have suggested. Marriage protects men and women from suicide and mental illness as well.[4]

In one sense, marriages are so common. The wedding is only one day of the marriage. Why would Jesus choose this common, if joyful, event?

It means that if Jesus can change water into wine, he can change us, too. Jesus can the ordinary, even if joyful, events of our lives and turn them into transforming events. This story is a miracle of transformation. As one wife put it after her alcoholic husband encountered the transforming power of the resurrected Christ, “Jesus changed beer into furniture.” That is, money that he had spent on beer he was now spending on the family. Jesus can turn the sour into the sweet. Jesus can turn bitterness into peace. Jesus can turn hatred into love. Jesus can turn anger into joy.

Marriage is an empty box. There is nothing in it. Marriage does not do anything for anybody. People need to do something for marriage. Love, romance, consideration, and generosity are not in marriage, they are in people and people put them into the marriage box.[5]

Yes, the wedding at Cana is a metaphor for new, transformational beginnings.

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[1] I always remind people that you don’t fall in love and get married. You get married and you learn to love over many years. —Dr. Laura Schlessinger, radio talk show host.

[2] Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads that sew people together through the years. —Simone Signoret.

[3] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2 [47.1] 479.

[4]—Glenn T. Stanton, “The social experiment that failed,” Christianity Today, February 5, 2001, 73.

[5]               —J. Allan Peterson.