March 22, 2015 – John 2:1-12

Download discussion questions: John 2_1-12 wedding at Cana 

One of the comments near the end of our discussion of this passage was that it was “easier” than some of the earlier sections we looked at.  This passage is a narrative, a story, without the theological metaphors or Jewish challenges to John the Baptist.  Jesus is a guest at a wedding where an embarrassing situation arises when the refreshments run out.

This is the first scene (of only two) in the Gospel of John where Jesus’ mother is mentioned.  (She is never named in John’s Gospel – a point we did not have an opportunity to discuss in the group.  Maybe next time.).  Cana is only a few miles from Nazareth, so Mary may have been helping with the celebration and felt some concern when the wine ran out.  She took the initiative and approached Jesus, her oldest son.

The text is very simple.  She didn’t come to Him with a plan or even with a request.  She stated a fact:  “They have no wine.”  Part of our group discussion was about what might have been behind Mary’s statement:  Expectation?  Trust?  Desperation?  Embarrassment?  All we know from the text is that she had a concern (actually not even for herself but for others) and she stated the situation to Jesus.  The parallel to our prayers is pretty obvious.  How often do we pray for a particular solution and lay out exactly the plan that the Lord should follow?  (We usually make it sound much more spiritual that that.)  Mary just told Jesus of the need.  Later, her response was equally simple, and perhaps even more trusting, telling the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”  As I think about that, her response sounds reminiscent of something she said about thirty years earlier:  “May it be done to me according to your word.”  Mary knew something about trusting God in unfamiliar settings, in situations where all she could do was state the circumstances when she had no idea what was next.

Between the two faith-building statements of Mary is a sometimes-puzzling response from Jesus.  “Woman, what does that have to do with us [literally, to Me and to you].  My hour has not yet come.”  Was Jesus being rude to His own mother?  Was he refusing (or at least hesitant) to help?  Was Mary’s initiative inappropriate?

Those of us in the group with southern roots think of how we learned (and continue) to address women:  “Yes, ma’am.”  Possibly Jesus’s response was the first-century equivalent of “ma’am.”  A few of the group members have experience with today’s Middle Eastern culture and mentioned similar uses of the Arabic word “Woman” in family settings.  Jesus later used the word again when addressing His mother.  The second time was from the cross, entrusting her future care to the disciple near her:  “Woman, behold your son.”  He used that form of address in perhaps one of the most tender exchanges we see with Mary in Scripture.  This passage doesn’t support any suggestion of rude or offensive behavior by Jesus.

One member of the group focused in on the “My hour has not yet come” part of His response.  A wine shortage was only part of the story, the story that Jesus will refer to several more times before that hour does come at the cross.  Trying to picture the scene, another member suggested that the exchange between Mary and Jesus might have been very private, even whispered, so as not to draw attention and embarrass the bridegroom or others celebrating the wedding.  The fact that Jesus did eventually solve the problem indicates He was not refusing to help, only perhaps that He was not looking for premature attention.  He especially seemed to avoid attention for the wrong reasons, spectacular feedings and other incidents in His ministry (which we will see in later chapters of John’s Gospel).  His ministry was just beginning, and this was His first sign.  There was much more to do before His hour, so only the servants knew the real story.  Jesus was more interested in meeting the need and in the relationships affected by the situation (with His mother, perhaps with the family of the bridegroom, maybe even with the servants).  He didn’t seem interested in profile-raising publicity or public exposure of His power.

Someone raised the question of how long it would take to fill the jars.  Even with large carrying containers, a few dozen trips would be necessary.  Not from the kitchen faucet we think of, but from the village well (or maybe a storage cistern adjacent to the house).  The miracle we read in a few lines may have taken quite a while in the preparation Jesus organized.  The servants who participated probably had a variety of reactions to this odd task.  But when the last servant filled the last jar “to the brim” and then dipped a sample to take to the headwaiter, the servants saw what had happened.  We know the disciples’ response – they believed in Him.  It would not be hard to imagine that at least a few of the servants gained a new opinion of this visitor from neighboring town.  Perhaps so did the disciples, like Nathanael, the initial skeptic about Nazareth.

The point of the water into wine was not just that the wedding celebration could continue, or that the organizers were saved from embarrassment.  This “beginning” sign (implying more to come) “manifested His glory.”  The action of Jesus, prompted by Mary and obediently prepared by the servants, displayed, even for a limited audience, the first hints of who Jesus is and what mission He was on.  The low-key nature of the sign helped avoid the problem we can often face of being distracted by things that are not focused on that main purpose, the centrality of His “hour.”  His hour was culminated by the cross, but everything leading to the cross, the cross itself, and the resurrection that followed were about manifesting or displaying or making plain (in the words of another apostle), “the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4;6).  As we continue through the Gospel of John we will see continuing examples of His words and His works “manifesting His glory.”