A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

XXI. Christ’s First Miracle Of Manifesting His Glorious Grace

(John 2:1-11)

I. Introduction

A. There are seven miracles by Christ recorded in John’s Gospel that act as signs to manifest the truth about His Person and work. (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, “Intrduction to the Gospel according to John: Contents,” p. 1492.

B. Christ’s first miracle was His turning of the water into wine at Cana in Galilee, and we view John 2:1-11 that records that event and what it presented about Jesus and His ministry for our insight and application:

II. Christ’s First Miracle Of Manifesting His Glorious Grace, John 2:1-11.

A. According to John 2:11b, Christ’s miracle of turning the water into wine manifested Christ’s glory, and in John 1:14, 16-17, John declared that Christ’s glory manifested in His earthly life was “full of grace and truth.”

B. Thus, Christ’s turning the water into wine manifests Christ’s great unmerited favor and truth (as follows):

1. Christ’s turning the water into wine manifested His grace versus dead religious legalism, John 2:6-10:

a. The waterpots that Jesus used in this miracle were for washing before meals as an “expansion of the law” though the “written law did not” require such washing “(Lev. 22:1-16). Only priests needed to make an oblution before eating to cleanse themselves from anything unclean,” John 2:6-8; Ibid., ftn. to Matthew 15:2. “This tradition (Rabbinic, not Mosaic) was an elaborate washing ritual involving not only one’s hands but also cups, pitchers, and kettles (Mark 7:3-4),” Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 54-55.

b. Jesus thus took water that would have been considered ceremonially polluted by its ritual use and turned it into high quality wine, showing the glory of His unmerited favor over dead religious legalism! (Jn. 2:9-10)

2. Christ’s turning the water into wine manifested His unmerited favor in taking water that contained physically infectious pollution from dirty hands and turning it into high quality, healthy wine! (Jn. 2:6-10)

3. Christ’s turning the water into wine manifested His grace in delivering people from public humiliation before it was actually time for Him publicly to manifest Himself by means of His miracles, John 2:4b:

a. When His Mother Mary announced that they had run out of wine, Jesus replied that the time for publicly manifesting Himself as the Messiah by miracles had not yet arrived, John 2:4b.

b. In addition, Jesus noted that He was not under the jurisdiction of His mother Mary, for His reply to her was essentially, “that concerns you, leave me alone,” Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to John 2:4.

c. However, running out of wine at a wedding feast was very embarrassing for the bridal couple (J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, 1991, p. 114). Jesus thus in unmerited favor turned the water into wine before His time of public ministry to deliver the bridal couple from public humiliation.

4. Christ’s turning of the water into wine was done as privately as possible in accord with the Father’s will that He righteously wait until a future time to perform miracles publicly, John 2:9-10. Only the servants who filled the water pots to the brim and then drew out the wine along with Jesus’ disciples knew of it.

5. Christ’s turning of the water into wine graciously solved a huge social tension at the wedding, John 2:1-3:

a. The verb rendered “called” (John 2:2 KJV) is in the third person singular (eklethe, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 326; The Analyt. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 126), implying that Jesus was invited but not His disciples, so the presence of the five extra men helped created the crisis of the lack of wine, Ibid., Pentecost, p. 114.

b. Thus, the remark by Jesus’ mother Mary that they had no more wine (John 2:3) may have been a gentle rebuke in that she was pointing out the fact that His bringing His five disciples had led to the wine crisis.

c. Jesus graciously replied that He was not under His mother’s authority regarding His ministry actions, and then He graciously performed the miracle of providing the wine to ease the social tension of the crisis.

6. Christ’s turning the water into wine involved the use of 6 waterpots that held 20 to 30 gallons each, what would demonstrate the abundance of His gracious provisions to deliver people. (Ibid., p. 115)

7. Christ’s turning the water into high quality wine noted by the headwaiter’s words to the bridegroom manifested the quality of Christ’s unmerited favor in His salvation, Jn. 2:9-10; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Jn. 2:8.

Lesson: Jesus’ miracle of turning the water into wine signified the glory of His unmerited favor in its deliverance from legalism, in its deliverance from sin’s pollution, in its deliverance from public humiliation, in its righteousness in keeping His miracle private until the Father willed, in its deliverance from huge social tensions, in its abundance of deliverance from sinful failure, and in its quality of deliverance from sinful imperfection.

Application: May we greatly value the glory of Christ’s grace to us and trust in Him as did His disciples, Jn. 2:11.