The First Sign
For the Lord’s Day:  the 30^th of May 2004 

John 2: 1-11

Introduction:  In today’s section we come upon a joyous occasion in the life of an unknown couple, all we know for certain about them is that Mary and Jesus have been invited to share the joy of the wedding and celebration.  This joyous theme is an apt introduction to the beginning of Christ’s ministry on earth, because as the ministry and purpose of Jesus is being revealed in this glorious gospel of John – we do indeed look forward to the great wedding feast at the end of the age, when Christ shall return.  And so it is in anticipation of this greater feast that the one before us, that we sense the joy of John’s testimony to greater things to come!

Now, as we attempt to understand the joy implicit in this passage, let us reflect upon joyous occasions in our own lives.  What is this joy like?  I remember a plane trip home from Europe and New Jersey, the plane circled over Logan County and I could recognize the villages in the flight path to the Dayton airport.  Only a few minutes later, I was met by the people most important to me, Sherry and my parents.  I finally realized and knew for certain that I was out of the Army and home once more.  Within a year or so, my joy was increased when Sherry and I were married and then five years later – we were parents.

How often joy is associated with marriage – for several years at school, we performed mock weddings for our English students.  We would perform several different ceremonies and one of my students requested a Jewish ceremony, and since I knew a little Hebrew I agreed to follow the text provided by her Rabbi.  The most striking thing about that ceremony was the repeated references to celebrating joy with the fruit of the vine.  There is even a Jewish proverb that says: “Without wine there is no joy.”

And having said that we are enabled, especially on the day in question in our text – to understand the twist and turn of events and exactly appreciate the solemn and special joy of the day set out before us.  Further, it is hoped that we may also better understand something important about our joy in Jesus Christ which is the ulterior purpose of the Gospel writer.

Development:  The first thing we should not in our text is the setting, look at the first two verses.  This Cana of Galilee was relatively near to Nazareth.  There has been much speculation about this wedding.  One author even suggests that Mary must have had some responsibility because she was worried about the wine and she had some authority over the servants.  There also survive some ancient traditions that Mary was a sister of the Bride-groom’s mother.  Another tradition even has it that the bridegroom was none other than John himself.  Whatever the truth behind these legends, the presence of Jesus and His disciples at the celebration does show that He will be a different sort of prophet than John the Baptist.

In verses three to five we read that the wine had run out.  This would have been a great embarrassment to the host of such a festival.  Failure of provisions would have been a problem at any time, because hospitality in the Near East is a sacred duty.  The problem would have been compounded in the midst of a three day wedding festival.  Mary reports the problem to Jesus.  Now many commentators make much of the wording here.  Quite obviously, Jesus takes the news of the lack of wine as more than just a report.  There is an unspoken request for some action.  Without reproving His mother, Jesus indicates that His concern is very different from hers.  His reply about His time or hour points us towards the cross.  The certainty of that day and hour relates directly to all that Jesus said, or did in preparation for it.  Especially in this Gospel of John, the signs and miracles are carefully reported as actions that claim His divine nature and the fulfillment of God’s promise and presence.

Jesus’ concern here is for the long view, like His Father’s concern for working out History according to His will.  Yet, this long view does not blind Him to the requests or intercessions of those close to Him.  From hindsight, we may see that this and other requests and intercessions all fall within the sovereign will and purpose of God.

One final note on these three verses, Mary, like all mothers understands her son and knew that He would take appropriate action.

In the next few verses, six through eight:  John reports on the working out of Jesus’ instructions.  We note that there were six stone water jars.  There size would have been approximately that of our average trash can, holding twenty to thirty gallons.  This cleansing water was stored to use for two purposes.  The first was for the cleaning of feet before entry into the house.  The second was for the required ritual hand washings proscribed at meal time.

Jesus has the servants fill the jars with water.  This detail Calvin observes “is to emphasize the miracle, thus there can be no suspicion when the same servants draw out the wine.”  The servants set about their assigned work and in the process Jesus completes His miracle.  In the same way we are commanded to do things for Him and in His name.  Sometimes, like these servants we are charged to do things for which we cannot see the purpose.  Like these servants we are to obey God and do His will, all the while He Himself attains the work that He has purposed.

In verse nine and ten, the new wine is taken to the Master of the banquet.  In our day, we might call him the caterer.  He is ignorant of the source of the wine, but he compliments the Bridegroom for saving the very best wine till last.  Even then as now, not all are aware that God is working in their midst.  It would appear that there was limited knowledge of this at the time of this miracle.  Yet, like all miracles, this one had a specific purpose.

Application:  Let’s turn to John 2: 11 where we read:  “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.  And his disciples believed in him.”

Let our first concern in this regard be to establish specifically what a miracle is.  Our word for miracle is derived from a verb meaning: to wonder.  Thus, a miracle is that which excites wonder.  In this etymological sense it may be used to designate any extraordinary event adapted to excite surprise and rouse attention.

There are three types of miracles:

1.        The ordinary process of nature guided by God: these include the growth of plants and animals, the orderly
         movements of heavenly bodies and even the unusual natural occurrences.
2.        The influences of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of men.
3.        The truly miraculous events brought about by the immediate invocation of the Word of God.

There miracle in our text today is of the third kind.  There is nothing extraordinary in what happens.  God is always changing water into grapes in the sense of the first type of miracle.  Man has long used these fruits of the vine to quench his thirst.  Once and in the year of Cana’s wedding God, now incarnate only short circuits the normal process.  Jesus makes wine in a moment and uses earthen ware jars instead of vegetable fibers to hold the water.  The miracle consists in the short cut, but the event to which it leads is the usual one.

Our second concern is to consider the general purpose of God’s miracles.  In the scriptures, the true office of miracles is more important than what appears on the surface.  In the Bible, miracles are sings incapable of being counterfeited, which point to God’s commission and authentication of a religious teacher or of his teachings.  The point which miracles are designed to prove is not so much the truth of the doctrines taught as the divine mission of the teacher.

Whenever a man presents himself in the Bible as a messenger of God, whether he is to be received as such or not depends first on the doctrines which he teaches and secondly upon the works which he performs.  It he not only teaches doctrines conformed to the nature of God and consistent with the laws of our own religious constitution, but also performs works which evidence divine power, and then we know not only that the doctrines are true, but also that the teacher is sent from God.  Even more importantly miracles indicate that God Himself is active and present. 

Our third concern this morning is the particular purpose of this miracle. Marriage is greatly glorified not only with Christ’s presence at this wedding in Cana, but also with this – His first miracle.  Note that it not in the temple or the synagogue, but at a local marriage feast where Jesus first reveals His glory.  He comes among us to share in our joys, he is interested in our daily lives and He comes to sanctify our daily living.  He came indeed to make all things new, but the new creation was the fulfillment of the original idea.  It was not to be achieved by thwarting nature, but by guiding the whole to its original destination: which is harmony with God. 

This would be enough to learn from out text today, but there is still more.  Before Cana, the Baptist whose mind was nourished in the Old Testament called Jesus the Bridegroom and His people the Bride.  Years after Can, the Apostle John in his vision saw the marriage supper of the Lamb, of Him who was slain.  It was the Lamb’s wife, the Church that John saw adorned as a bride for her greater Husband.

Jesus, by this miracle gives us a glimpse of His glory and John states that this is the particular purpose of the miracle.  For the disciples and also for us the purpose is that we might know Jesus Christ as the Lord of life, Savior and God with us.  The evidence of miracles is important and decisive, but the miracles are subordinate and inferior to that of the Truth itself.  “I am the way, the truth and the life,” Jesus tells us in the gospels.

And in Cana of Galilee the first disciples begin to grow in their faith and dependence upon the person of Christ Himself.  Before this event, they had followed Christ with an uncertain and perhaps cloudy faith.  Now they could begin to appreciate something greater than a prophet.  Yet, as we well know – they were slow in their growth and only came in time to comprehend and understand the person of Christ.  Like them, we have to remember that our faith was once in infancy, and that like them we are called to mature in the faith once given to us and to them.  John would have us know that it is in this growing faith – there is incredible joy for not only the present but also for ever after as well. 

In our day and time – there are very many who have been trained not to see nor to expect any miracles, let us be certain to pray for any of our friends and relatives in that category, but let us also be certain that in every miracle that we discern the fact and person of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Rushsylvania United Presbyterian Church (UPUSA)  06 Jan 74 – Logan County Mission (PCA)  06 Jan 85
Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA)  08 Jan 88
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PREACHING RESOURCES

 Dods, Marcus.  The Expositor’s Bible:  St John.
Hodge, A.A.  Outlines of Theology.
Hodge, Charles.  Systematic Theology.
Lewis, C.S.  Miracles: A Preliminary Study.
Parker, T.H.L.  Calvin’s Commentaries: The Gospel According to St John.
Tasker, R.V.G.  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel According to St John.
Williamson, G.I.  The Westminster Confession of Faith.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.
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