Jesus Transforms Events in our Lives

What would a wedding be without Jesus Christ being present? The Lord was invited to a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee along with His disciples who probably numbered five or six at this point (2.1-2). Mary, Jesus’ mother, perhaps had her son invited to this festive occasion. The wedding occurred on one day and typically was followed by a week long celebration (Vincent 408). The Lord’s presence impacted the festivity of the wedding, the request of His mother, and the faith of His disciples.

I. The Presence of Christ Transforms Secular into Spiritual
v. 1-2
Through the presence of Jesus Christ at a wedding reception transformation takes place. Typically, men segregate life into the spiritual and the secular. Yet the Lord wants to be involved in every activity and thereby make each event spiritual.
Jesus was approachable. The Creator God became a man and therefore people desired to be with Him. Either relatives or friends invited Jesus to a party, a celebration of two people coming together in marriage. The invitees felt comfortable asking Him to attend and wanted Him there.
Jesus was Available. Jesus Christ, by virtue of His accepting the invitation, declares that He wanted to be there. The very first human institution created by God was marriage. The very first public miracle and ministry Christ takes part in is a wedding. The Lord desires to be involved in every activity of man, but especially one’s marriage.
Our Lord remains available and approachable for every detail of the believer’s life today. He waits for the invitation to participate in each aspect of our life.

II. The Preeminence of Christ Transforms Supplication into Submission v. 3-5
Often the statement is made, “Prayer changes things.” From this text and more accurately we could say, “Prayer changes people” (Chambers 249). Mary, the mother of Jesus, finds how true this is as she brings her need to Christ.
Mary’s Request- Mary somehow knows of the wine shortage and speaks to Jesus about it. The Lord’s response was, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come” (v. 4 NASB). The term “Woman” is not one of disrespect, but expresses affection and respect (Vincent 408). The phrase, “…what does that have to do with us?” is similar to what demons said to Jesus in Mark 5:7, “What business do we have with each other…?” According to William Barclay, Jesus’ question to his mother could be rendered, “Do not worry. You do not understand what is going on; leave it to me and I will handle it my own way” (Barclay 98). The Lord follows this with, “My hour has not yet come.” This was Jesus’ way of saying that He would do something but in His own time (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown 358).
The expression brought about Mary’s command to the servants in verse 5, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” the implication is that she brought to Jesus a request for the wine problem and looked to Him for the answer.
Mary’s Release- Mary made known to Jesus the wine shortage. Mary does not demand that her son provide or tell Him how He should handle this. Instead she releases the need to Him and tells the servants in verse five, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” She leaves the need with Christ. Mary moves from the need of the moment to a relinquishment to the Lord. She changed in bringing this situation to Jesus. No longer did Mary see Jesus as her son, but she sees Him as the one who has authority to handle whatever concerns her.

III. The Power of Christ Transforms Shortage into Sufficiency v. 6-1
Jesus chooses six stone water pots used for purification and told the servants to fill them with water. These pots held between twenty to thirty gallons (v. 6 NASB). Jesus commanded that these servants take some water to the head steward of the wedding. As they approached the steward the water became wine. Jesus could have created wine from a stone or out of nothing, but instead He used this method. The Lord chooses the methods to manifest His power.
The miracle involved water becoming wine. Wine comes from grapes not plain water. The miracle further includes time, because in a matter of moments water became wine. Months or years pass for quality wine to ferment and become a tasteful product. In relation to quality, this miracle provided a wine superior to what had been served during the wedding. The steward, after tasting the wine, makes the comment in verse ten that the good wine had been saved for the end of the feast. One could conclude that according to the culture, the good wine had been served, and that this wine was superior to the good wine. The miracle involved the source of the wine, the time of its fermentation and the quality of its taste.
As a result of this miracle Jesus manifests His glory and the disciples believed in Him (v. 11). The disciples had believed, but this event matured their faith (Robertson 38).

Summary Statement
Jesus’ involvement in the daily lives of individuals brings transformation of events, maturation of faith and revelation of the glory of God.