Reflections on John 2

 

John 02 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Three days later Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at a wedding feast in the village of Cana in Galilee.
   
2. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited and were there.
   
3. When the wine was all gone, Mary said to Jesus, "They don't have any more wine."
   
4. Jesus replied, "Mother, my time hasn't yet come! You must not tell me what to do."
   
5. Mary then said to the servants, "Do whatever Jesus tells you to do."
   
6. At the feast there were six stone water jars that were used by the people for washing themselves in the way that their religion said they must. Each jar held about twenty or thirty gallons.
   
7. Jesus told the servants to fill them to the top with water. Then after the jars had been filled,
   
8. he said, "Now take some water and give it to the man in charge of the feast." The servants did as Jesus told them,
   
9. and the man in charge drank some of the water that had now turned into wine. He did not know where the wine had come from, but the servants did. He called the bridegroom over
   
10. and said, "The best wine is always served first. Then after the guests have had plenty, the other wine is served. But you have kept the best until last!"
    
11. This was Jesus' first miracle, and he did it in the village of Cana in Galilee. There Jesus showed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
    
12. After this, he went with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples to the town of Capernaum, where they stayed for a few days.
    
13. Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem.
    
14. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables.
    
15. So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins.
    
16. Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, "Get those doves out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace."
    
17. The disciples then remembered that the Scriptures say, "My love for your house burns in me like a fire."
    
18. The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, "What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?"
    
19. "Destroy this temple," Jesus answered, "and in three days I will build it again!"
    
20. The leaders replied, "It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?"
    
21. But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple.
    
22. And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus.
    
23. In Jerusalem during Passover many people put their faith in Jesus, because they saw him work miracles.
    
24. But Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and he would not let them have power over him.
    
25. No one had to tell him what people were like. He already knew.
    
    

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    John, in chapter 2 of his gospel, records Jesus' first miracle - the turning of water into wine at the marriage feast. John referred to this miracle as a sign, giving it greater significance than merely solving a delimma for those in charge of the feast. Besides referring to the miracle as a sign, John said Jesus "displayed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him." (2:11) No doubt, this, at least in part, was a purpose of the sign provided by the miracle - a validation of who Jesus was.
    
    After spending a few days in Capernaum following the wedding feast, Jesus went to Jerusalem for the approaching Passover celebration. When He say the profiteers set up in the temple complex with their price gouging of the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem for the observance of Passover, Jesus shut them down. The Jews asked Him, "What sign of authority will You show us for doing these things?" (2:18) Here I believe we see a connection between this event and John's reference of the miracle at the wedding feast as a sign. Jesus' miracles, while benefiting those for whom they were performed, primarily served as signs of His divine authority. These Jews were looking for some such validation, but none was provided them at this point in time. However, in the following days, as verse 23 points out, those signs were provided. Many people "trusted in His name" as a result of these miraculous signs. There is a difference, however, between trusting in His name and entrusting oneself to Jesus. Jesus did not entrust Himself to them likely because they had not entrusted themselves to Him.
    
    We are very prone to think that if God would only do this or do that we would believe in Him. Or if He would do special things for others they would believe in Him. But scripture makes plain that those who require signs to believe do not believe even when they have the signs. If we do not have a desire to believe in God and entrust ourselves to Him we can always find other explanations for the signs that would otherwise point us to Him. A prime example is the parable of the rich man who died and found himself in "torment in Hades." (Luke 16:23) Seeing Abraham, who was in heaven, the rich man asked that the poor man Lazarus, who had also died, be sent back from the dead to go to his father's house so his five brothers could be warned about this torment in Hades. But Abraham told him, "If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16:31)