1On the third
day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.
3When the wine
ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
4And Jesus said
to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet
come.”
5His mother said
to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6Now there were
six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding
twenty or thirty gallons.
7Jesus said to
the servants, “Fill the jars with water.”
And they filled
them up to the brim.
8And he said to
them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.”
So, they took
it.
9When the master
of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came
from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the
feast called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good
wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have
kept the good wine until now.”
11This, the
first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.
And his
disciples believed in him.
JOHN 2:1-11
COMMENTARY
On a certain
day, Jesus’ family was invited to a wedding in a nearby town from Nazareth,
called Cana.
Many have
speculated over the reason Mary, the mother of our Lord, was there and Jesus
was invited, making it sound as if it was Mary’s duty to be there, and Jesus was
invited as a side event. But Scripture does not say the reason why St Mary was
invited with all her family to this wedding. The most probable reason is that
the marrying family, were close friends of Joseph and Mary, and that is why she
was there helping the ceremony, and not just as a common invite. That would
explain her concern about the wine and her authority over the kitchen
personnel.
It also seems to
be that Joseph may have passed away already.
Lord Jesus was
an adult now, about to start his own ministry, of about 30 years of age (Luke
3:23). St Joseph’s ministry had been completed, about protecting, providing and
educating the Son of God into a full Jewish man of honor. That would also
explain why Mary approached Jesus instead of her husband, but due to the
supernatural powers of Lord Jesus, this cannot be conclusive. It may have been
the natural response given the emergency.
Mary knew Jesus’
power always. That is clear in Scripture; and that is why she told Jesus that
there was no more wine to continue with the celebration.
Considering that
the wedding had already started and was well advanced, it may have been late in
the evening, and hard if not impossible to buy more wine at the time. That
would be the reason why nobody went to buy more wine, but Mary instead, out of
her own initiative, asked her son for a miracle.
That Mary expected
a miracle from Jesus, is seen in the exclamation of our Lord “My hour has not
yet come” (v.4). In other words, Jesus objected to the request, by declaring
that a public miracle, like that, would initiate his public ministry, instead
of a later day considered by our Lord first.
St Mary, knowing
her son better than any other, and listening to his objection, but trusting
anyway that Jesus would do the right thing and would help in the occasion, told
the staff: “Do whatever He ask you” (v.5) and left the problem to his
discretion.
She thought in
requesting the miracle, quickly as a woman, but she did not intend to contravene
God’s plans.
Out of mercy,
Lord Jesus converted nearly 180 gallons of water into the finest wine ever, so
good, that the Kitchen Master commented that it was an error to have kept this
best wine to the final part of the celebration.
There are two
main important lessons here about the character of God.
1 – The wedding
was advanced, and the invites were somehow drank, so much, that they had spent
all the wine programed for the day.
The mention of
the Butler that the best wine should be served first, before the dinners start
drinking, is an allusion to the ability to taste the difference, indicating
indirectly that most people were intoxicated with alcohol, and unable to value
the better quality of the later wine.
However, Jesus gave
them more wine to drink.
He knew this,
and the hypothesis that this wine, was grape juice and not fermented wine, is left
aside by the allusion that they were unable to tell the difference. No Juice
alters the senses.
Nevertheless,
Jesus the Son of God provided more alcoholic drink and of high quality for the
people. Because the decision to drink or not to drink was personal.
Jesus provided
the wine, because wine is not evil, neither is to drink it. What is evil, is to
drink it in excess, so that a person should intoxicate with it.
But Lord JESUS respected
the human freedom in choosing to get drunk or not. Humans are totally
responsible of their own decisions and the consequences of them. And Jesus
acted accordingly this day.
2 – It was not
his time yet to start making miracles. But to the need of the time, He did it
anyway.
Mary acted with
the authority of a mother, indicating that she was a good mother in the full
sense of the word. However, by not insisting once Jesus said that his time had
not come yet to start performing public miracles, she submitted not to her
human son, but to God in Him.
Nevertheless,
Jesus saved the problem, and acted outside the time appointed to the made
Himself public. He did this, to show us that GOD is always merciful, and He
will even stop the Sun if this is needed for our protection (Joshua 10:13).
And so, this day
marked the first day of the public life of Jesus.
Omar Flores
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