(John 2:1-11)
In John’s Gospel, the first sign Jesus does is a rather irrelevant one. Instead of something useful (a healing, a feeding, a raising from the dead), He makes wine for a party where everyone has already had more than enough to drink. Strange…
Having gathered at least some of His original disciples (of whom we know Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael by name), Jesus goes to the Galilee where He and His disciples… attend a wedding. His mother is there, also.
Let’s take it from verse 3, in my “as literal as is comprehensible” translation from the Greek.
The wine having failed, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “they have no wine”. And Jesus said to her, “what is that to you and me, woman? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “whatever He should tell you to do, you do it.”
There were six stone water jars there, laid up for the [ceremonial] washings [required] of the Jews, each holding 20 to 25 gallons [somewhere between 18 and 27 Imperial Gallons if you want accuracy]. Jesus said to them, “Charge the water pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.
And He said to them, “Now draw it and carry it to the president of the banquet,” and they carried it. When the president of the banquet tasted the water having become wine, and did not know where it came from, although the servants who had drawn the water knew, he called out to the bridegroom and said to him, “All men set out the fine wine first, and then when they have drunk [or are drunk], the lesser. You have guarded the fine wine until now!”
This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
This is an extremely well known passage, so just two observations, one small and one rather more significant.
First, why did Jesus say “My hour has not yet come”? This is stranger than it may seem at first glance. Jesus had starting gathering disciples, so what for, if not “His hour”? Second, since He did the “required miracle”, was He acting outside His assignment and if so why? And why does His mother respond by telling the servants to do whatever He tells them?
The simplest explanation I can see is that His mother – who after all, knew perfectly well that her eldest son had an assignment to save His people from their sins – had been getting anxious about the approach of the time when He would pursue that assignment. Maybe even saying to Him, “It is not your hour yet.” In which case Jesus is simply playing one of the oldest of games played between sons and mothers, that of quoting back previously expressed opinions when asked to undertake a task. “Please could you drive me to the shops.” “O, but I am not to be trusted behind the wheel of a car, I thought?” In other words, Jesus is gently reflecting to His mother that His time has in fact come, and she knows it. Respectful and humorous at the same time.
The second observation is more fundamental. How much wine did the wedding party need? Yes, they had run out, and that was problematic because the globally accepted norm, as we see it in contemporary documents from all Empires from Rome to China, was that as long as the guests had a thirst, the wine would still be served. In terms of what they had already consumed, everyone may already have had enough. The ἀρχιτρίκλινος (president of the banquet) makes it clear that everyone has, or is, already drunk. Clearly people were still going, but it would be hard to argue that they needed more. In fact the biggest need may well have been to turn up more wine in order to preserve the honour of the bridegroom. In a small village, having your marriage eternally referenced as “the one where they ran out of wine” could be crippling.
Put yourself in Jesus’ place. We don’t know how many people were at the wedding, but it probably wasn’t huge – no one has been able to identify the location of Cana with any certainty, which is at least in part a function of it not having been “on the map” in size or importance. You see six stone water jars; how much wine should you produce?
Based on need, your answer might range from none! to “half a bucket in the bottom of one of the jars”.
And here is the point. That is how we think, how the disciples often thought and how the Pharisees always thought. But if you want to see the Kingdom, you have to lose that mindset, and fast. That is never, ever how God operates.
You see this, time and again, in Jesus’ ministry. He always starts with what is available, which is usually well short of what is needed; and then He meets the faith He finds and multiplies the one by the other such that there is a superabundance. If you talk to Him about what is needed, you are just digging a hole for yourself.
Think again about the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus told the disciples they would feed the people and they did; but in terms of faith, it was probably mostly in the crowd who, when Jesus told them to lie down ready to eat, fully expected to be fed. Otherwise they wouldn’t have lain down at all, but wandered off to look for food. And, after feeding the 5000 men and uncounted women and children, the disciples were able to gather 12 baskets of food left over from the five loaves and two fish they had handed out. Like I said, superabundance.
Here at Cana, it is the servants we should be looking at. They knew there was a crisis: there was no wine left. Mary told them “whatever He tells you, you do it.” Jesus told them to charge the water pots with water. What did they do? Filled all six to the brim. It is absolutely true to say that if they had walked off in disgust, there would be no miracle. If they tipped half a pint into each pot, there would be a three pint (2 of our bottles) miracle. 162 gallons of water, with each pot full to the brim – a 980 (750ml each) bottle miracle. Just short of 82 cases of the best wine, ever.
Did Jesus say how the wine was to be used? By sending it to the president of the banquet, He certainly rescued the groom’s reputation, if in a slightly eccentric manner (“all men set out the fine wine first and then when everyone is drunk, the lesser stuff – but you have carefully guarded the fine wine until now (when most of us can’t tell the difference!)” Beyond that, He gave no instruction.
Did the party continue until it was all gone? Possibly, but then the miracle might be known as “how terrible judgement was wrought on Cana”. More likely everybody had some – it was pretty good stuff! – and that far more was left over. And the newly-married couple found they had a more than double portion blessing of 100+ gallons of best wine to sell, share or lay down for the future. (Bad news for all the sheep or goats who needed to become wineskins…) Were the bride and groom supposed to feel guilty because they had too much? No, and neither are you.
Let me repeat: “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” He manifested His glory, true, but also His yardstick for blessing. There is no mark on His ruler that says “what they need”, any more than there is one saying “what they deserve”.
Just “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, poured into your lap” (meaning you are sitting down and not “doing” anything, let alone doing something to deserve it). God only deals in abundance and overflow. Without that, most of us will put our assignment from God on hold, waiting for “when I have x…” And those of us who do get on with the assignment will constantly be crippled by lack of resource. Don’t say “but that is the way of the Cross”; it is no such thing.
And that’s what we need to start understanding if we are to ever see His Kingdom. To return to the opening statement of this piece, this miracle was far from irrelevant: Jesus was making a major statement of intent. The reason we don’t see it is because we have a religious mindset and think Jesus got taken off-course by His mother.
With a Kingdom mindset, it all looks rather different.
Seeing the Kingdom 