Helping at a Wedding and Cleansing the Temple - John 2
The Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12).
The incident at the wedding in Cana of Galilee is said by the writer to be the first of Jesus' ‘signs'. This brings out how important what happened here was seen to be. It was to be seen as a specific sign of Who He was. It is to be seen, therefore, as more than just a nature miracle. And that should cause us to look at it carefully.
John is in fact the only one who describes Jesus' miraculous acts as ‘signs'. But we must be careful how we interpret the word ‘sign'. For the word is not used in the sense in which some would use it today as signifying ‘proofs' (this is clearly emphasised in John 2:23-25). Rather they were ‘signs' because they revealed something of His person, His glory and His purpose. In other words they are ‘signs' because they demonstrate something of Who and What He is. We should note in this regard that John stresses that these signs actually occurred and were witnessed by the disciples and by others. ‘Many other signs did Jesus in the presence of His disciples --- but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing might find life through His Name' (John 20:30-31).
There are seven such signs described in John's Gospel:
· The turning of water into wine (John 2:1-12).
· The healing at a distance of the son of the high official at Herod's court (John 4:46-54).
· The healing of the lame man on the Sabbath (John 5:1-16).
· The feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1-15).
· The walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee (John 6:16-26).
· The healing of the man blind from birth (John 9:1-41).
· The raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-46).
It will be noted that each of the ‘signs' points either to His Messiahship or His divinity. The first has in mind the promise of full flowing wine in Isaiah 25:6 which is to take place when God takes away the veil that is over men's eyes and when death is swallowed up, and consolation and joy is given to all who are His (Isaiah 25:7-8). It also indicates that the old ritual is passing away to be replaced by the new wine of the Spirit. The second reveals Jesus' control over nature from a distance by a word, and the healing of a dying man, and provides an example of what faith can accomplish. The third has in mind that in the coming age the lame would be healed (Isaiah 35:6; compare Matthew 11:5), and demonstrates that Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath. But note how there is no alteration to the story so as to have the lame man leaping so as to ‘fulfil Scripture' (the writer could easily have added this touch had he been thus minded, but he stuck with the facts. The lame man in Acts 3 does leap when he is healed). So John is true to the facts. The fourth is the fulfilment of the common expectancy of ‘the Messianic feast' as He gives them ‘bread from heaven to eat'. It also gives evidence of Jesus' ability to feed men's hearts (John 6:35). The fifth demonstrates His power to control nature and His ability to walk on the seas as described of God in the Psalms (see Psalms 77:19). The sixth is a further fulfilment of the promises in Isaiah 35:4-5 indicating that the ‘last days' have come, and that the time has come for the opening of men's eyes. The seventh reveals His power over death and the certainty of the future resurrection at His command (Isaiah 25:8).
In this first extraordinary sign we are faced up with the creative power of God through Jesus. (‘All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made' - John 1:3). By ‘creating' wine Jesus reveals Himself therefore as the One Who has come to bring joy to the world through His creative power. It revealed that He could do it by a word, or even a thought. For He made no movement towards the jars of water. He simply determined that they should hold wine, and they did. He would later do the same in the second sign when He healed the king's officer's son at a distance (John 4:46-54). Here was the power of the ‘Word', or even of the thought.
A further stress indicated by the account is on the fact of a change from the old ritual truths to new truths which will bring life, joy and satisfaction. The water of the old rituals (in vessels set aside for purificatory rites) is turned into the wine of the new message that Jesus has brought. And behind the new wine lies the thought of the new age, for such an ‘abundance of wine' was a symbol of the coming age in Isaiah 25:6; Amos 9:14; Hosea 14:6-7; and Jeremiah 31:5; Jeremiah 31:12, and it was an abundance that was to be ‘without money and without price' (Isaiah 55:1). This was therefore an important symbolic act depicting the introduction of a new era. And it will then significantly be followed by the change that He will demand in the Temple whereby it was to cease to be a marketplace and was to become truly His Father's house, a house for all nations. The old was to be turned into something better. It also symbolises the change that He will require in Nicodemus as a teacher of Israel, indicating his need to be born from above (John 3:1-7), and the change that He will speak of to the Samaritan woman in the way that God is to be worshipped (John 4:3-24), and the change from looking to the old bread from Heaven ‘given' by Moses, to looking to the new bread from Heaven, which is Himself (John 6:15-51). From now on all is to be change. The old ‘water' is to turn into wine.