-THE LIFE OF CHRIST - EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY

 Jesus’ First Miracle

-John 2:1-11

-Jesus and his disciples were invited to a marriage in Cana of Galilee.  Mary was already there. 

            -Cana was about 4 miles northeast of Nazareth and was Nathanael’s hometown (John 21:2).

-At the marriage, the wine ran out and Mary came to Jesus.  This doesn’t mean that she expected a

miracle but simply came to Jesus for some degree of help.  Jesus was not being disrespectful to Mary

with His use of the word “Woman” for in that day it was a term of respect.  (see John 19:26)  It

seems that He was telling Mary, “Let me handle this my way with the proper timing.”  Some have

taken the phrase, “mine hour is not yet come”, to mean that the proper time for Jesus’ miracles in

general had not yet come.  Others take this to mean that, when Mary approached Jesus, it was not

quite the proper time yet for this particular miracle.  I’ll let you make your own determination.

Regardless, Mary left it in the hands of Jesus with her instructions to the servants, “Whatever he

saith unto you, do it”.  I’m sure she didn’t realize the overall wisdom and broad scope of that

statement. 

-Jesus instructed the servants to fill six waterpots with water.  They did so but wine was drawn from

  them.  The first miracle of Jesus had been performed.-“Controversy has raged over whether or not

  this incident proves that Jesus endorsed the use of alcoholic beverages.  One side emphasizes the

  word ‘wine’ and the remark recorded in verse 10.  The other side has noted that Jesus made

  between 120 and 180 gallons of wine; if the wine had significant alcoholic content, He would have

  been encouraging drunkenness – which is condemned throughout the Bible (Proverbs 20:1; Galatians

  5:21).  This is not, however, the passage to settle this question.  The Greek word translated ‘wine’

  (oinos) is the general word for wine and was even used in the Old Testament to refer to the juice still

  in the grape (Isaiah 65:8).  Such disputation misses the point of the passage:  Quietly, almost

  unnoticed, in an obscure little village, Jesus had begun to flex His spiritual muscles.  He had

  performed His first miracle!” (Roper, p43-44).

-The end result was that his disciples believed.