Jesus Begins His Ministry in Judea. John 2:3-12
WE ARE STUDYING THE FOUR GOSPELS MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN TO KNOW THE LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM.
Matthew 4
The Judean ministry of Jesus, which lasted almost one year, is not discussed by Matthew. This one year period is covered in John 1-4 and fits between Mat_4:11 and Mat_4:12. Matthew takes us from the temptation directly to the Galilean ministry.
Luke 4
Between verses 13 and 14 there is a gap of about one year. During this time the Lord ministered in Judea. The only record of this ministry is in John 2-5.
We started the Judean Ministry with John 2:1-11 but as John tells us Jesus and His disciples were called to a marriage in Cana of Galilee we needed to look at the calling of the first four disciples first which we did at see : https://quovadisworld.com/jesus-begins-his-ministry-in-judea/
We will now carry on with The Wedding at Cana from John2:3;
John 2:1-11
The First Sign: Water Changed to Wine (2:1-11)
2:3 The supply of wine had failed. When the mother of Jesus realized what had happened, she presented the problem to her Son. She knew that He could perform a miracle in order to provide wine, and perhaps she wanted her Son to reveal Himself to the assembled guests as the Son of God. Wine in the Scriptures often speaks of joy. When Mary said, “They have no wine,” she gave a very accurate description of men and women who have never been saved. There is no real, lasting joy for the unbeliever.
2:4 The reply of the Lord to His mother seems cold and distant. But it is not as strong a rebuke as would seem to us. The word woman used here is a title of respect, similar to our word “lady.” When the Lord asked, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?” He indicated that in the performance of His divine mission, He was not subject to instructions from His mother, but acted entirely in obedience to the will of His Father in heaven. Mary had wanted to see Jesus glorified, but He must remind her that the time for this had not yet come. Before He would appear to the world as the all-conquering Christ, He must first ascend the altar of sacrifice, and this He did at the cross of Calvary.
Williams points out the following:
The expression “what does your concern have to do with me” occurs several times in the Bible. It means, “What have we in common?” The answer is, “Nothing.” David uses it twice with respect to his cousins, the sons of Zeruiah. How impossible it was for them to have anything in common with him in the spiritual life! Elisha uses it in 2 Kings 3 to express how deep was the gulf between him and Jehoram the son of Ahab. Three times the demons, by using the same expression, reveal how Satan has nothing in common with Christ, or Christ with Satan. And lastly the Lord used it to the Virgin Mary to show how impassable is the gulf between His sinless Deity and her sinful humanity, and that only One Voice had authority for His ear.
2:5 Mary understood the meaning of His words, and so she instructed the servants to do whatever He commanded them. Her words are important ones for every one of us. Notice that she did not direct men to obey her, or any other human being. She pointed them to the Lord Jesus and told them that He was the One who should be obeyed. The teachings of the Lord Jesus are given to us in the pages of the NT. As we read this precious book, we should remember the last recorded words of Mary, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
2:6 In the place where the wedding was being held, there were six large stone vessels, containing twenty or thirty gallons of water apiece. This water was used by the Jewish people for cleansing themselves from defilement. For instance, if a Jew touched a dead body, he was considered unclean until he went through a certain ceremony of cleansing.
2:7 Jesus gave instructions to fill the waterpots with water. This the servants did immediately. The Lord used the facilities that were available when He was about to perform a miracle. He allowed men to provide the waterpots, and to fill them with water, but then He did what no man could ever do—changed the water into wine! It was the servants and not the disciples who filled the vessels with water. In this way, the Lord avoided the possibility of any charge of trickery. Also, the waterpots were filled to the brim, so that no one could say that wine had been added to the water.
2:8 The miracle had now taken place. The Lord instructed the servants to draw some out from the vessels and take the contents to the master of the feast. From this it is clear that the miracle had been instantaneous. The water did not become wine over a period of time, but in a second or so. As someone put it poetically, “The unconscious waters saw their God and blushed.”
2:9 The master of the feast was the one who had charge of arranging the tables and the food. When he had tasted it, he realized that something unusual had happened. He did not know where the wine came from, but he knew that it was of very high quality so he immediately called the bridegroom.
What should be the attitude of Christians toward wine today? Wine is sometimes prescribed for medicinal purposes, and this is entirely in accordance with the teaching of the NT (1Ti_5:23). However, because of the terrible abuses which have come about in connection with the intemperate use of wine, most Christians will want to avoid it altogether. Anyone can become addicted to strong drink. The way to avert this danger is to leave alcoholic beverages alone. Again, one must always consider the effect of his actions on others. In our culture it would be a bad testimony on the part of a Christian if an unsaved person should see him drinking wine, and for this reason he should abstain.
2:10 The ruler of the feast draws attention to the very marked difference between the way the Lord Jesus acts and the way men commonly act. The usual practice at a wedding was to serve the best wine first when men could best detect and enjoy its flavor. Later on, having eaten and drunk, they would not be as aware of the quality of their beverage. At this particular wedding, the best wine came last. There is a spiritual meaning in this for us. The world commonly offers people the best it has to offer at the outset. It holds out its most attractive offers to young people. Then when they have wasted their lives in empty pleasure, the world has nothing but dregs for a person’s old age. The Christian life is the very opposite. It gets better all the time. Christ keeps the best wine until the last. The feast follows the fast.
This portion of Scripture has a very direct application to the Jewish nation. There was no true joy in Judaism at this time. The people were going through a dreary round of rituals and ceremonies, but life for them was tasteless. They were strangers to divine joy. The Lord Jesus was seeking to teach them to put their faith in Him. He would turn their drab existence into fullness of joy. The water of Jewish ritual and ceremony could be turned into the wine of joyful reality in Christ.
2:11 The statement that this was the beginning of signs rules out the silly miracles attributed to our Lord in His childhood. These are found in such pseudo-gospels as “The Gospel of Peter.” They attribute to our Lord miracles performed allegedly when He was a child and are a little short of blasphemous in character. Foreseeing this, the Holy Spirit safeguarded this period of our Lord’s life and His character by this little additional note.
Changing water into wine was a sign, that is, a miracle with a meaning. It was a superhuman act with a spiritual meaning. These miracles also were designed to show that Jesus was indeed the Christ of God. By performing this sign, He manifested His glory. He revealed to men that He was indeed God—manifest in the flesh. His disciples believed in Him. Of course, in one sense they had believed in Him previously, but now their faith was strengthened, and they trusted Him more fully. Cynddylan Jones points out:
Moses’ first miracle was to turn water into blood; there was a severe destructive element in it. But Christ’s first miracle was to turn water into wine; there was a soothing, solacing element in it.
Frederick Brotherton Meyer, a contemporary and friend of D. L. Moody and A. C. Dixon, was a Baptist pastor and evangelist in England involved in ministry and inner city mission work on both sides of the Atlantic presents it to us this way;
John 2:1-11
JESUS BLESSES SOCIAL JOYS
The keyword here is signs, Joh_2:11, R.V. translated in the Authorized Version as miracles. They are windows into the eternal purpose. The Lord loved to join in simple human joys. “He came eating and drinking.” He honored marriage by His first miracle. The wine had to fail, as the earthly and human always must, in order to make room for the eternal and divine. Like Mary, we are impetuous, and would hasten the divine actions: but God is ever deliberate and waits for the exact hour before He interposes. It is hardly likely that our Lord made one hundred and thirty gallons of wine; but that as the servants drew and bore to the table, the wondrous change was wrought. Our Lord did in a moment what He is ever doing, transforming dews and rain into the nutritive and gladdening juices of nature.
Here was indeed a sign that the Master desired to sweeten and enhance human happiness, and that His influence could transform what was ordinary and common into the joyous and sacramental. It was His glory to show that religion is consistent with ordinary life, and to teach that God increases our joys from less to more, and still more. “The best is yet to be.”
Amen!
Please pray the Holy Spirit-The Paraclete will use these sermons and studies to bring many to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Tell someone today how much you Love Jesus Christ!
https://www.facebook.com/Quo-Vadis-Christian-Community-108732264228457
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2990184431096138
https://www.facebook.com/Phil.schutte18
Please ad yourself to our Messenger group to receive notification and chat to other members of the group. You may however wish to disable notification and look at post when you have the time.
