What Is The Significance Of Christ’s First Miracle? (Part 1 of 3)
John has with great detail and great care presented Christ’s deity and Christ’s Glory as he opened his gospel epistle. He has proclaimed the gospel of salvation as grace upon grace in the life of each believer. We must not forget this focus as we now turn to look at Christ’s first miracle. This first miracle is only recorded by John; however, once more he presents it with such detail that we must not rush in our reading of it. Once more we are presented with these three major points within this story.
Christ’s first miracle is when He turned water into wine at a wedding feast. We could easily miss the truths found in these passages were it not for the details presented by John. [bctt tweet=”Christ’s first miracle presents for us Christ’s Deity, Christ’s Glory & His Grace upon Grace “]to all who believe. In order to explain each of these portraits clearly, I believe that it will be necessary to divide this discussion into the three parts.
DEITY OF CHRIST
OPENING SCENE:
“And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” (John 2: 1-5). Forgive me, friends, for using the King James so much; however, in these passages I could not find any of the translations that held the same power.
WEDDING FEAST EXPLAINED
So, Jesus, his disciples and Mary were at the wedding feast. In ancient Hebrew weddings there was first the betrothal which was a binding contract. Once the groom fulfilled his obligations in the contract, a date was set. On that day he was presented the bride and the marriage was consummated at the bride’s home in the bride’s chambers. Following this the procession was made to the groom’s home for a festival. The groom was to have all the wine bought and ready for the festival. The mother of Jesus, Jesus, and his disciples are all present at the festival when the wine runs out. Mary, the mother of Jesus comes to him with the problem.
CHRIST’S RESPONSE
His answer at first seems surprising!! “Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.” What hour? What is he talking about? He didn’t say mother, He called her Woman. The hour, His hour was referring to the hour in which He must bear the weight of all man’s sin on the cross. We know this from other scripture. (Mark 14:41, Luke 22:14, John 7:20, John 8:20, John 12:30, John 13:1). He would sit with His apostles for a final Passover supper so as to explain that the wine would be symbolic of His blood which would be shed for the sin of the world. That hour had not yet come and His mother was asking him for a wine miracle.
WHY HE CALLED HER WOMAN
But there is one more important point here. He calls her Woman. She would need to be saved by the same means as anyone else. Without the shedding of Christ’s blood, there could be no redemption for Mary either. There was no special favor for her—she too was a sinner in need of salvation. Thirdly, He is separating His deity from her humanity. “I must be about my Father’s business.” She raised Him; but, His only final authority was God—His Father. Perhaps, it was a plea “Please do not ask me to do favors for you. I must obey my Father’s will. Do not stand in the way of the mission I came for. You will want to ask me not to die one day. Your heart will be broken when I am accused and beaten unjustly. You will be emotionally torn into pieces with grief as I die upon the cross. Yet, I will do my Father’s will. If I don’t die—you cannot be saved either. Your righteousness and your eternity in my presence depends on this.”
OBEDIENT SON
Jesus would be an obedient son and provide the wine. Yet, in the manner that He does so He would paint a portrait of Grace upon Grace and His Glory that would be revealed. That I must leave for next time. His words to His mother were not meant to be words of disrespect, nor disobedience. She knew that as she told the servants to do whatever He instructed them to do. We do not see Mary again ask Jesus to do any special favors. She follows His ministry, she watches during His trial, she stays at the foot of the cross, and she goes to His tomb. She understood that when His ministry began, she would have to decrease in importance so that she could be raised to great importance through the salvation His death would buy. She too needed a Savior. [bctt tweet=”Though I am certain Mary may have wished she could take Christ’s place on the cross, she couldn’t”].
As John recorded this event, he did not leave out the detail of this conversation between Christ and Mary, His mother. It was important in that it declared Christ’s deity. His purpose was clear. No human relationship would stand in the way of His completing the task for which He had come to this world. Only He could provide the atonement for all of mankind’s sin.
My favorite hymn of all is Come Thou Fount of Many Blessings
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