John 2:1-12: The Wedding At Cana

(1) Bible Study Questions

Discuss: Has anyone ever opened a door to you to a different world? For example, has someone ever taken you to an exotic restaurant, or introduced you an excellent wine, and you went back for more? Did a friend ever take you to a concert or musical, and you got hooked? Or did you catch the travel bug from a relative or friend? What has a friend or relative done to open your eyes to the best that this world has to offer?

Note: In John 1:19-2:11, John narrates Jesus’ first week of Palestinian ministry. In 2:1, ‘on the third day’ most probably refers to the third day following on from the ‘day’ mentioned on 1:43. The wedding in Cana occurs on the seventh day of Jesus’ first week of ministry.

1. Who was at the wedding? (vv. 1-2, 9, 12) What is the significance of this?

2. What probably was motivating Mary’s intervention? (v. 3)

3. What do you think about Jesus’ answer to his mother? What did he mean? (v. 4)

Note 1: “What is that to me and to you, woman?” The same phrase is used by the Garasene Demoniac to distance himself from Jesus: “What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of God Most High. I implore you [before] God, lest you torment me” (Mark 5:7 || Luke 8:28). See also:

• Jephthah to the King of Ammon: “What have you to do with me, that you are coming to me to wage war in my land” (Jdgs 11:12);
• The grieving widow to Elijah: “What have you to do with me, Man of God? You come to me to make [me] remember my iniquity and to kill my son” (1 Kgs 17:18);
• Elisha to King Jehoram: “What have you to do with me? Go to the prophets of your Father and to the prophets of your mother” (2 Kgs 3:13);
• Neco King of Egypt to Josiah: “What have I to do with you, King of Judah. Not against you today, but against the house with which I am at war” (2 Chr 35:21).

Note 2: “My hour has not yet come.” Jesus frequently makes statements throughout the course of his earthly ministry about his “hour” or “time” not having yet come (John 2:4, 7:6, 8, 30, 8:20). But these statements are in view of the completion of his work on the cross. When Jesus perceives that his death by crucifixion has drawn near, Jesus declares that his “hour has come” (John 12:23; cf. 12:27; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1). Jesus’ statement that “it is finished”, uttered from the cross (John 19:30), confirms that this event is what his “hour” or “time” looked forward to (Morris 1988: 49-50).

4. What can we learn from Mary’s words to the servants? (v. 5)

5. Is there any significance in what and who Jesus uses to produce the wine? (vv. 6-8, cf. John 1:17)

Note: The six stone water jars lying on the ground at the wedding at Cana were required by the law of Moses for ceremonial washing (cf. Lev 15), washings that communicated the message “you are unclean before the holy God”.

6. Can you comment on the quantity (vv. 6-7) and quality (v. 10) of what Jesus produced? (cf. John 10:10)

Note: The servants fill to the brim with water six jars holding two or three measures, each measure being about 40 litres. That is, the total amount of water to wine was between 480 litres and 720 litres.

7. John describes this miracles as a ‘sign’, and indeed, the ‘beginning’ of his signs (v. 11). What is the importance of the description of the miracle as a ‘sign’?

8. What does this sign signify?

9. What did Jesus’ reveal? Who did he reveal it to? (v. 11, cf. vv. 1-2, 9, 12, cf. Rev 19:7-9)

10. What difference should John 2:1-11, 10:10, and Revelation 19:7-9 make to your thinking about:

(a) The good things that this life has to offer?

(b) The things in this life that you feel you lack?

(c) The proper way to satisfy your legitimate desires for good things?

(2) Sermon Script

Introduction: Australian Jesus

We conservative Christians are wowsers and killjoys, as well as hypocrites. That’s the view of many of our fellow citizens. ‘Wowser’ is an Australian word used to describe us. We Christians are straightjacketed, and we try to slap our straightjacket on everyone else. Frigid homophobes, we don’t party, drink, or do drugs. We suck all the fun out of life, for ourselves and others.

Reg Mombassa used to play guitar for the successful 80s band Mental as Anything. His art is also pictured on ‘Mambo’ surf wear. One of Mombassa’s characters is ‘Australian Jesus’. In one picture, Australian Jesus goes to the football and feeds 40,000 at the SCG with 5 pies and two warm beers[1]. At the touch of Australian Jesus, the multiplied beer becomes cold. And of course, Reg is trying to be irreverent and to shock.

But amidst his irreverence and desire to shock, he has captured something true about the true Jesus in that one picture of Jesus at the SCG. Because the Australian Jesus equivalent of the wedding of Cana would at least be something like this: Jesus crashes the reception with his mates. But the reception’s at ‘the pub with no beer’. Nevertheless, Jesus has quietly arranged for 20 slabs of the best beer to be quietly delivered. And he whispers to the girl behind the counter, “Open bar! The tabs on me!”

If you thought Jesus came to suck the joy out of life, think again. Jesus came that we might have life, and life to the full (John 10:10). And his turning water to wine at a wedding proves it.

Wedding in Cana (vv. 1-3)

Cana was a pretty insignificant town. But God’s normal pattern is to honour the insignificant. He humbles the proud and exalts the humble. And the beginning of the miraculous signs in John’s Gospel occurs at an anonymous wedding in the little town of Cana. Jesus’ mother was there, and felt anxious about an embarrassing situation: the hosts have run out of wine.

A wedding without wine! That’s like a pub with no beer! It's a disgrace. The hosts were expected to provide enough wine for seven days. And Jesus’ mum tells Jesus, no doubt wanting him to fix it. It’s possible that Jesus and his disciples’ presence at the wedding feast, though they were invited, contributed to the crisis and the shortage of wine.

Not now, Mum! (vv. 4-5)

But Jesus’ response is basically, ‘Not now, Mum’. The NIV of verse 4 says, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” But the NIV unhelpfully softens Jesus’ words. A better translation is, “what do I have to do with you, woman?” “Lady, we have nothing to do with each other about this matter.” The same phrase is used by warring kings: “Don’t pick a fight with me; I’ve got no issue with you.” In the mouth of a grieving woman, it is “go away, Elijah, have nothing to do with me, because you give me a son, and then take him away.” The demon-possessed man says it to Jesus to get him to back off: “What do we have in common with each other.” It’s a firm and abrupt reprimand. Jesus distances himself from his mum and her concerns.

I emphasize this because in popular devotion, some Roman Catholics say, “Pray to Mary, because Jesus does what Mary asks. Mary’s intercession is effective, and the wedding at Cana proves it.” But modern Roman Catholic bible scholars agree with me. This passage proves nothing of that sort. Rather, Jesus distances himself from his mother. He obeys not his earthly mother, but his heavenly Father. “What do I have to do with you, woman? For my time has not yet come.”

What does Jesus mean by the phrase, “My time has not yet come”? It’s hard to see how Mary could have understood Jesus’ at that time. At the wedding, Jesus points his mother, and us, forward. But we have the benefit of hindsight.

In the context of John’s Gospel, we are pointed to the end of the Gospel. In John’s Gospel, ‘his time’, ‘Jesus’ time’, is the cross. The cross is the time when Jesus is lifted up and glorified. It’s a paradox. Jesus is exalted when he is humiliated. Jesus is lifted up and glorified in his humiliation on the cross (John 3:14-16, 7:6-8, 30, 8:20, 28, 12:23, 27, 32-33, 13:1; 17:1).

So at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus points to the end. John the Baptist pointed to the lamb of God. And the lamb of God points to his cross. That is his time. The path to exaltation, glory, and being lifted up only comes through being lifted up on the cross.

But in the context of the whole Bible, Jesus’ words not only point to his exaltation by death, but they also point to Jesus’ own wedding. Jesus won’t always crash weddings with his mates, and then be asked by his mum to help with the catering. He won’t always be the single man, the bachelor, so busy with his Father’s work that he has no time for marriage. Not, “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride”, for Jesus. One day, his time will come. In “my time has not yet come”, Jesus also points to his own wedding, the wedding supper of the lamb (Rev 19:6-9).

But for now, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the king of Israel, is content to wait. For weddings are expensive. And Jesus has a big price to pay. Jesus will instead be spending his earthly life working to pay the bride price. So he contents himself now to working ‘behind the scenes’ at other people's weddings, helping with the catering. He will do something about the wedding with no wine.

But Jesus won’t stand up and say, “Open bar. The Messiah is here. Let the wine flow freely.” For his time has not yet come. He will deal with the problem his way. He will not be forced into revealing himself, even by his mum. His brothers will also try to force him into ministry in chapter 7. But even though Jesus distances himself from Mary, even though Jesus speaks abruptly to his mother, even though Jesus says things she probably doesn’t understand, Mary still trusts Jesus.

The mother-son relationship has now changed. Mary doesn’t understand Jesus’ time frame or his Father’s plan. Mary must bear the pain of Jesus distancing himself from her and separating himself from her. But she still trusts him.

So Mary is not deterred by Jesus’ rebuke. She leaves the matter of the wine in Jesus’ hands, she entrusts the servants to Jesus and simply says, verse 5, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Water to Wine (vv. 6-10)

To cut a long story short, Jesus issues the servants two simple commands. No magic words, no hocus pocus, no palava, just “fill up the jars with water”, and the servants made available between 480 and 720 litres of water for Jesus’ disposal, and then, “draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet”. Jesus without a word has turned the water to wine. And Jesus appoints the unknowing MC as official wine taster. At one level, it’s a miracle. Who heard of turning water to wine?

But at another level, it’s only what God always does, just quicker and without the middlemen. All wine is originally from water. Every bottle of wine is a miracle and a gift from God. Psalm 104 verses 14-15 says:

He [the LORD] makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart. (NIV)

Usually God turns water to wine by enabling the humans he has created to grow vineyards, sending rain, and providing humans to gather the grapes, crush them, and then store, ferment and transport the wine. Here, the Son of God just bypasses the human production process. God the Son doesn’t have to use humans, if he doesn’t want. He can do it just by his word, as he did at creation. And he can do it without a word, as he does here.

Friends, it is wrong to get drunk. But there is nothing wrong per se with wine or any drink. The New Testament tells us in 1 Timothy 4:4-5:

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. (NIV)

Paul tells Timothy to have a little wine for his stomach’s sake and because of his frequent illnesses (1 Tim 5:23). We are told not to get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery (Eph 5:18). But wine itself, there is nothing wrong with that, and it is a good gift from God.

The Quantity (vv. 6-7)

There’s the fact of the miracle: water to wine. But what about the extravagance? Weigh the quantity.

The ancients did have skins and jugs for wine, the equivalent to our carafs and casks. But Jesus disdainfully bypasses glass, bottle, skin, jug, cask, keg, or even slab. Such paltry measures are inadequate for his munificence and bounty. When the Son of God steps in, wine must be measured by the bathtub. He goes for the six stone water jars filled to the brim, the equivalent of between 480 and 720 litres of the best bubbly. That’s about three or four modern bathtubs full of wine.

It goes beyond generous to wasteful extravagance. There’s no way they could drink it all. Jesus just didn’t produce the perfunctory bottle of plonk. “Thanks for the invite, here’s a bottle of spumante.” In terms of quantity, Jesus went over the top. The really good stuff costs about $100 a bottle. On those prices, Jesus produces $70,000 to $80,000 worth of the best bubbly. So much for Jesus the killjoy and wowser!

The Quality (v. 10)

And feel the quality! As to quality, let’s allow the MC to give the official verdict. The groom was responsible for providing the wine. His under-catering had brought about the near social disaster. But I wonder what he thought when his MC says, verse 10:

2:10 [...] Everybody first puts out the good wine, and when they are drunk, the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now.

“Really, have I? Well, that’s fantastic. Weren’t we about to run out. Wasn’t I about to be shamed before family and friends? Oh well, God has provided. Back to my bride.” Probably the groom has no idea how much he owes Jesus of Nazareth.

We Have Seen His Glory (v. 11)

This miracle has the fingerprints of God all over it [Ray Galea’s phrase!], the quantity, the quality, the extravagance, the abundance. But it was still a quiet miracle. It was done discretely, because Jesus time had not yet come.

But what had transpired wasn’t lost on all. The servants knew. And Mary would have known. But the real revelation at the wedding at Cana was for Jesus’ disciples. Jesus did it with his disciples particularly on view. Verse 11:

2:11Jesus did this, the beginning of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

The changing of water to wine was not just a miracle. It was a sign. It pointed to something. Jesus didn’t just save a stingy groom from social stigma. Jesus revealed his true identity, who he really was. By the sign, Jesus’ revealed his glory to his disciples. Jesus’ glory is his ‘godness’, his divine quality, the nature of the Father shining through the Son. In the prologue, John said:

1:14And the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us, and we have beheld his glory, glory as the only-begotten [Son] from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus’ disciples saw Jesus revealing his glory. This is Clark Kent pulling apart his shirt just enough to show his red ‘S’ on yellow and blue: discretely, because his time has not yet come, but with that flash of yellow and red on blue, so they know that they sit with someone special. Something big and bright and new and shiny and powerful and glorious has arrived from God. And this new arrival heralds the end of the old. Remember John chapter 1 verse 17: John telegraphs the coming of the new.

1:17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The law of Moses was lying there, at the wedding of Cana. It lies there, represented by those six stone water jars lies on the ground. The only reason they were there was for Jewish ceremonial washing (cf. Lev 15), washings that communicated the message to the people, that “you are unclean before the holy God”. But Jesus came to bring something new, which fulfils and therefore supersedes the law of Moses. Overflowing from the reminder of their Old Covenant uncleanness is the best wine to make their hearts glad. The old has gone, the new has come. And we see at Cana the superiority of the New Covenant. We see the glory of God in the face of Christ.

The Wedding We’re Waiting For & You’re Invited

But at Cana, the glory of Jesus was just four bathtubs full. For all its abundance, Cana was just a taste. The wine would run out again. Because Cana wasn’t Jesus’ wedding. It was a wedding that pointed to Jesus’ wedding, as every Christian wedding now does. But it wasn’t Jesus’ wedding.

Christ’s wedding will be properly catered. The wine will never run out. The Old Testament image of God’s coming kingdom is that the mountains will drip wine and the hills will flow with it (Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13, cf. Isa 25:6; 55:1).

Jesus is no wowser. All God’s good commands, which seem to limit us, are really loving us. He gives them to us to ensure we have life, and life to the full. And the desires of our hearts, which Reg Mombassa stumbles after and blindly grasps at with ‘Australian Jesus’ handing out free pies and beer at the SCG, in heaven they will be fulfilled.

Friends, sometimes we might fear we are missing out on life. We hear the messages, “leave him, leave her, you can do better”. Perhaps we see people upsizing and upgrading house, car, job, wife, husband. Maybe we think this thing—this toy—will make me happy. “Only then I will be fulfilled if only I had … fill the blanks: botox, implants, buff body, the babe, the hotty on my arm, the cosmetic work, the teeth, the hair, makeup, manicure. Everyone else is out there, partying hard, eating, drinking, flinging, engrossing themselves in the distractions that take away the meaninglessness of life for a moment. And I’m missing out.”

We’re not missing out. With Jesus we have life to the full. Jesus gives us the best way to live now, for the short days of our earthly pilgrimage. And in the new heaven and the new earth, there will be the best wedding feast we could ever want, with the biggest never-ending wedding party around the Jesus who loves us.

The lamb of God, Jesus Christ, at Cana points forward to a better, lasting wedding feast. Don’t settle for cheap imitations.

Jesus’ wedding feast only comes about through him being the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. By his cross, Christ cleanses his bride, the church (Eph 5:22ff). Jesus on the cross bought his bride. That’s how Christ paid the bride price: his death. And in the new heaven and earth, Christ marries his bride, the church, for whom he paid the dowry by sacrificing his life for her.

John later gets another glimpse of the glory of Christ at another wedding. This time it’s the wedding of the lamb at the end of time. Revelation 19:7:

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. (Rev 19:7 NIV, cf. 21:9)

And there will be no gatecrashers. Revelation 21:27:

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Rev 21:27 NIV)

At that wedding, there will be no secret miracle and no veiled glory. At that wedding, there will be an endless supply of wine. For then Jesus’ time will have come.

Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb! (Rev 19:9 NIV)

And you know, that can be you. The invitation is extended to the thirsty.

To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. (Rev 21:6)

Take and drink, without any cost, by believing in Christ.

Let’s pray.

[1] http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=319484. Al Stewart has used this illustration of the feeding of the 5000. About Australian Jesus, Mombassa comments, “I knew [Australian Jesus] would be highly offensive to conservative Christians but I don’t care about that,” he says, not mincing words. “I don’t care about them. They’re idiots. The bible is extremely interesting but people who take it literally are very misguided”: http://www.dhub.org/playing-god/. He elsewhere has Australian Jesus riding naked on a horse smoking a cigarette: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/australian+jesus+in+the+south+pacific+smoking,+drinking+and+riding+in+fiji]. This is not really in touch with the real Jesus.

(3) English Translation

(4) Exegetical Notes

In verse 1, the phrase on the third day (τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ) raises the issue as to how John 1:19-2:11 has been structured temporally. The following notes are dependent on Carson (1991: 167-8).

• Day 1: A delegation interrogates John the Baptist (John 1:19-28)
• Day 2: John the Baptist announces that Jesus is the lamb of God (John 1:29)
• Day 3: Two disciples join Jesus at his residence (John 1:35-42)
• Day 4: Andrew introduces Simon Peter to Jesus (John 1:40-42)
• Day 5: Nathaniel is brought to Jesus by his friend Philip (John 1:43-51)
• Day 7: Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), as determined by inclusive reckoning, as the third day is two days later.

“The week of days climaxing in the miracle at Cana may provide an echo of the creation-week (Gen 1). That means the miracle itself takes place on the seventh day, the Sabbath.” Carson rightly sees this as likely though not provable (Carson 1991: 167-8).

In verse 4, the phrase “What is that to me and to you, woman?” || τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, γύναι, ) has several parallel uses. See Judges 11:12, Jephtha to the King of Ammon: “What have you to do with me, that you are coming to me to wage war in my land”; 1 Kings 17:18, the grieving widow to Elijah: “What have you to do with me, Man of God? You come to me to make [me] remember my iniquity and to kill my son”; 2 Kings 3:13, Elisha to King Jehoram: “What have you to do with me? Go to the prophets of your Father and to the prophets of your mother”; 2 Chronicles 35:21 and cf. 1 Esdras 1:24, Neco King of Egypt to Josiah: “What have I to do with you, King of Judah. Not against you today, but against the house with which I am at war.” The same phrase is used by the Garasene Demoniac to distance himself from Jesus, Mark 5:7 || Luke 8:28: “What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of God Most High. I implore you [before] God, lest you torment me.”

Many traditional Roman Catholics regard Mary’s intercession as effective, and they take the wedding at Cana as proving it. See, for example:

• http://www.marytruth.ca/JesusMary.htm
• http://www.frtommylane.com/homilies/year_c/02.htm
• http://www.trinidadcatholic.org/index_files/Page315.htm
• http://www.turnbacktogod.com/should-we-pray-to-virgin-mary/

But modern Roman Catholic bible scholars agree that by the phrase, Jesus is distancing himself from his mother, because he is obeying not his earthly mother, but his heavenly Father. Consider the joint Lutheran-Roman Catholic investigation which found:

On one extreme is an exegesis once popular among Roman Catholics (but scarcely held by any scholar today) that the story is an example of Mary’s power of intercession: the first miracle by Jesus was at the behest of his mother, and this is meant to teach us to pray to Jesus through Mary: R E Brown, K P Donfried et al, Mary in the New Testament (Philadelphia/New York: Fortress/Paulist, 1978), 193.

The United States Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue observes:

Rather, she [Mary] falls into a general category of those who, despite good intentions, misunderstand Jesus […] still other times a request for a sign shows both naïve trust and a lack of comprehension, leading ultimately to solid faith […] she is not yet a model for believers and indeed is kept distinct from the disciples who at Cana saw his glory and believed in him: R E Brown, K P Donfried et al Mary in the New Testament (Philadelphia/New York: Fortress/Paulist, 1978), 193-4.

Although, even in antiquity, some have seen a rebuke to Mary along the lines of meaning (1) [a party is bothering another], most have read the passage along the lines of meaning (2) [asked to get involved in something that is not his business] and have spoken of a disassociation of Jesus from Mary. Thus, at least what Mary is asking for, or the aspect under which she is speaking to Jesus, does not belong to Jesus’ understanding of the work his Father has given him to do: R E Brown, K P Donfried et al, Mary in the New Testament (Philadelphia/New York: Fortress/Paulist, 1978), 191.

In verse 8, the ἀρχιτρίκλινος was the president of the banquet, the head steward, literally the ‘head of the three couches’.

In verse 10, the passive verb in the phrase ὅταν μεθυσθῶσιν, meaning, ‘and when they might become drunk or intoxicated’, suggests that what Jesus made was not non-alcoholic grape juice but fermented wine.

‘’“”—