From the Book, "That You May Believe". What Can We Learn from the Miracle.

     Perhaps the most profound lesson for us, from this first miracle, is that Jesus meets us where we are spiritually. Jesus met His disciples where they were in their faith journey and did not overwhelm them with His first miracle. Did it work? Yes! As seen earlier, the disciples believed as a result of this first sign. In the same way, Jesus meets us where we are, understanding what we need in order to grow in our faith in Him. For some, He may show Himself in a profound way and for others, in a more subtle fashion. In my own faith journey, my first encounter with the Savior was in a dorm room at college with a friend sharing the good news of Christ with me. I remember distinctly thinking to myself, “I want this. I need this.” It was God meeting me where I was at in a subtle, but profound way. For others, they meet Christ in a spectacular way. Because of their unique life journey, Jesus “…manifests His glory” in such a way that He is clearly seen. This is the lesson for all of us; Jesus knows each of us intimately and responds to our needs as individuals.

     There is also a lesson to be learned from the interaction that Mary had with Jesus that led to this first sign. Mary spoke with confidence that this was the time Jesus should reveal Himself. She knew that Jesus was not going to pull out a talent of gold and tell the servants to go and buy as much wine as they could. She recognized that Jesus would resolve this problem in a supernatural way. Even though Mary had a face-to-face conversation with Jesus, there is a lesson here for us about prayer. Prayer is communication with God. It is bringing our worship, praise, thanksgivings, confessions and supplications to Him. We saw Mary making her supplication to Jesus about the issue of wine without knowing how He would take care of it. But… she talked to Jesus with confidence that He would address this problem. She acted upon her confidence (faith) in Him by preparing the servants to respond to His instruction. In other words, she knew Jesus was going to take care of her request.

     We, too, can have a similar confidence in our prayer life as we grow in our relationship with Christ. As mentioned earlier, Mary had a unique relationship with Jesus. She delivered Him into the world and experienced all of the signs and wonders associated with her pregnancy and delivery. She also spent thirty years experiencing life with Him, as she raised the perfect, sinless Son of God. We have a similar privilege of having a unique relationship with the risen Son of God which becomes closer over time as we grow in our relationship with Him. Like Mary, we can become more confident in our prayer life through this growth process.

     Finally, the context Jesus chose to perform His first miracle was at a wedding. There were lots of other situations Jesus could have chosen, but there was intentionality in choosing a wedding. He not only wanted to show His disciples that He was the Messiah through turning of the water into wine, but also to affirm marriage through His contribution to the event. Marriage was something that God had created with the first man and woman and now Jesus is subtly saying that marriage is still important and viewed with God’s favor and blessing. We see an overt expression of Jesus’s view of marriage later in the New Testament (Eph. 5) when Paul uses the imagery of marriage to explain the relationship of Christ (the groom) and the church (the bride). Marriage was sacred when God instituted it in Gen. 2. It was sacred when Jesus affirmed it at the wedding in Cana and it is still sacred today. Let us not allow the culture to dilute this foundational institution which God has created. As an aside, I imagine this was a memorable wedding for the bride and groom at Cana as they were able to piece together what happened behind the scenes.

     Jesus’s first sign at Cana, as recorded by John, accomplished its intended purpose. The disciples of Jesus believed, as He revealed a glimpse of His glory through turning the water into wine. Jesus had told Nathanael in the previous chapter (1:50), “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” There were many “greater things” the disciples would see in the ministry of Jesus, but at the wedding in Cana, they were introduced to the first sign. Jesus, the Messiah, was in control of the physical universe and could change it however He wished.

     As we ponder this sign, we should recognize that Jesus is still in control of the universe and can do whatever He wishes today. He does not have to do miracles today to show Himself as the Son of God, as He did during His time on earth. We have the Word of God which is a record of these miracles. We can be one of those people who Jesus described as, “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” (Jn. 20:29).