JOHN 2:1-5 1
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother
of Jesus was there. 2 Now both Jesus
and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him,
“They have no wine.”
4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does
your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you,
do it.”
To what does the "third day" (John 2:1) refer?
It refers to 3 days from the end of the previous "chapter". When originally
written in Greek, the Gospel of John and the other New
Testament books were not marked with chapter or verse numbers. That was done much
later to make it easier to identify passages.
Where is "Cana" (John 2:1)?
It’s in the Galilee region, about 12 miles west of the Sea of Galilee and
about 15 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea.
Why do you think Jesus and his disciples were invited to
the wedding?
Mary is probably one of the people organizing the wedding.
What clues are there?
She tells the servants what to do. She knows the wine
has run out even before the master of the feast, and the wine being gone is
of "concern" to her.
Why would she be concerned about the wine running out?
In those days, wine was the only drink other than water. Running out of wine
at a wedding feast would be comparable to a wedding reception today running
out of all drinks except for tap water, and the Jewish wedding receptions
back then lasted for 7 days!
Why would she be helping to run a wedding feast in the
first place?
It’s probably the wedding of a relative, hence the invitation to Jesus as
well, and it was customary for the disciples of a rabbi to go everywhere he went.
What do you think of Jesus’ reply to Mary?
While the original Greek for
"Woman"
(John 2:4) isn’t derogatory, the
fact that Jesus addresses His mother with this term and that the Bible
records it are significant.
Jesus must have called her, 'mother' growing up. Why does
He now call her "Woman"?
Since His ministry had commenced, Jesus was differentiating Himself - God
the Son - from her, a human vessel through whom God chose to come into the
world.
If His ministry had commenced, why did He say, "My
hour has not yet come" (John 2:4)?
The term,
"my hour" refers not to His ministry but to his
final confrontation with the Jewish leaders that would lead to the cross.
The timing of that had to be precise and Jesus knew that His miracles would
draw the attention of the Jewish leaders. We will read other references to
His time not yet coming until the final chapters of John.
What did Mary say?
"Whatever He says to you, do it." (John
2:5)
What else does the Bible quote Mary as having said after
this?
Nothing else. These are the final words that God, the author of the
Bible, chose to quote from Mary. So anyone who believes in or
prays to Mary for guidance should heed her and do whatever Jesus, whom the Bible
refers to as the Word of God, says to do.
JOHN 2:6-11 6 Now there were set there six
waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews,
containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7
Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled
them up to the brim. 8 And He said to
them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And
they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had
tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from
(but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast
called the bridegroom. 10 And he said
to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the
guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine
until now!” 11 This beginning of signs
Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His
disciples believed in Him.
What do you think about the description of the waterpots?
They are not described simply as "some" waterpots. They are made of
"stone". There are
"six" of
them. And they are big enough to hold
"twenty or thirty gallons a piece."
(John 2:6) This type of visual precision on numbers, size and composition
provides evidence of the Gospels being eyewitness accounts.
What is meant by, "the manner of purification of
the Jews" (John 2:6)?
To be ceremonially clean, the Jews had to wash not just their hands before a
meal, but their hands and the dishes after every course of the meal. They
also had to wash their feet for the reasons mentioned in John chapter 1,
hence the need for large waterpots.
What do you think the servants might have been thinking
as they approached the master
of the feast?
'We’re going to be in trouble for bringing washing water instead of wine...'
What’s lesson does the obedience of the servants and
Nike's corporate slogan have for us?
When God says to do something, just do it, even if you don’t understand why you need to do it. If you’re sure that God
wants you to do it, that's enough.
Did Jesus come through for that wedding feast?
Absolutely. He gave them 120 to 180 gallons of arguably the finest wine ever
made. Can you imagine what that wine must have tasted like?
By the way, what does John call this changing of water into wine?
"Beginning of signs." (John 2:11)
"Signs" of what?
That Jesus is God, as he declares outright in John 20:30-31, which we will
cover later.
JOHN 2:12 12 After this He
went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples;
and they did not stay there many days.
Where is Capernaum?
It's another town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Then why does the passage say that He went "down" to
Capernaum when it lies north of Cana?
Cana is located higher above the sea level.
Who’s missing from those listed?
Joseph, who probably has already died since there is no mention of him after Jesus began His ministry.
Who went with Jesus, His disciples and Mary?
Jesus'
"brothers". (John 2:12)
Jesus had brothers?
Yes, and sisters too.
How do we know that?
Matthew 13:55-56 states, ...
"Is not His mother called Mary? And His
brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all
with us?"... So according to the Bible, Mary had given birth to at
least 5 sons and 2 daughters.
What does that mean about Mary’s alleged virginity
throughout her life?
It’s a myth, and those who wish to propagate this myth try to twist the
above passage in Matthew. They say that those brothers and sister must have
been from Joseph's previous marriage. But there is not a shred of evidence
to suggest that Joseph had been married before he married Mary. Or they try
to assert that they must have been either biological cousins or "spiritual"
brothers and sisters, again without any evidence. But there is another
passage in Matthew that they cannot get around:
"Then Joseph, being
aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to
him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her
firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus" (Matthew 1:24-25).
The expression, to
"know" is consistently used throughout
the Bible to indicate sexual relations, and the context of the passage above
makes this evident. Saying that Joseph did not have sex with her
"until" she had brought forth her firstborn son means that he did
have sex with her thereafter. And
"firstborn" son means
that she had other sons.
JOHN 2:13
13 Now the
Passover of the Jews
was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
What is Passover?
It's a feast that commemorates God's deliverance of His people from bondage
in Egypt by pouring out His wrath on the land while sparing those who were
marked by the blood of a lamb that had been sacrificed: (Exodus 12:1-14):
"1
Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “This month shall be your beginning of
months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel,
saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb,
according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.
4 And if the household is too small for the
lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the
number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your
count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be
without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or
from the goats. 6 Now you shall keep it
until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two
doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that
night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they
shall eat it. 9 Do not eat it raw, nor
boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire - its head with its legs and its
entrails. 10 You shall let none of it
remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn
with fire. 11 And thus you shall eat it:
with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your
hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
12 ‘For I will pass through the land of
Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,
both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgment: I am the Lord. 13 Now the blood
shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the
blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy
you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 So
this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the
Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an
everlasting ordinance."
What was the requirement for the lamb's condition?
It had to be
”without blemish.” (Exodus 12:5)
What does the lamb symbolize?
Jesus, whom according to Romans 3:23 and Hebrews 4:15 is
the only one
"without sin."
What does the lamb's blood symbolize?
The blood Jesus shed on the cross to protect us from the wrath of God
directed at sins.
JOHN 2:14-22 14 And He found in the
temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers
doing business. 15 When He had made a
whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and
the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.
16 And He said to those who sold doves,
"Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of
merchandise!" 17 Then His disciples
remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."
18 So the Jews answered and said to
Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"
19 Jesus answered and said to them,
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
20 Then the Jews said, "It has taken
forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three
days?" 21 But He was speaking of the
temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when
He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said
this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus
had said.
What are the money-changers doing
in the temple, and why did the “Jews” object in John 2:18?
At first, people brought their own animals and the
priests inspected them to make sure that they weren't sick before sacrificing them.
Fast forward a few hundred years and the priests were
telling the people to leave their animals
at home and instead just come and buy animals at the temple to sacrifice. But
there was a catch. Since priests couldn't touch coins that bore the Caesar’s image, the
people first had to change their money, for a fee of course, into a special temple money.
So the priests were making money twice - the currency conversion and the sale of animals -
on each person and didn’t appreciate Jesus crimping their business.
Does anything like this ever happen today?
It happens in every religious organization in which the
leaders live in luxury from the monies collected for God's work around the
world. The tactics may have changed but profiteering in the name of God
hasn't.
Where does the Bible say the judgment will begin?
According to 1 Peter 4:17,
"house of God".
What’s peculiar about what the Jews said in verse 18?
They actually are not saying that what Jesus did is bad. They’re simply
asking him to prove his authority to do it.
What does Jesus say in response?
His resurrection will prove who He is. The resurrection of Jesus confirms His deity. If
no
resurrection, Christianity is one big waste of time.
JOHN 2:23-25 23 Now when He was
in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His
name when they saw the signs which He did. 24
But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,
25 and had no need that anyone should
testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
From this passage, did Jesus do miracles after all?
Yes, as per John 2:23, but at his time and place.
Why didn’t Jesus commit to them if they believed in His
name?
They believed in His name as that of a healer, but they didn’t see the
healings as the sign of his deity. Jesus knew that those who desired and
believe in just the miracles will not truly believe Him for who He is. He
doesn’t want someone who just wants a genie who grants them their wish. He
wants people who want to have an intimate, personal relationship with Him
for who He is - the creator of the universe, including us - and for what He
already did for us 2000 years ago.
What drives your curiosity about Jesus?
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