Sunday: The Wedding at Cana
Daily Lesson for Sunday 29th of September 2024
Read John 2:1-11. What sign did Jesus do at Cana, and how did this help His disciples in coming to believe in Him?
Seeing Jesus perform the miracle of changing the water into wine provided evidence in favor of the disciples’ decision to follow Jesus. How could it not have been a powerful sign pointing to Him as being someone from God? (They probably were not yet ready to understand that He was God.)
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Moses was the leader of the Israelites, and he brought Israel out of Egypt by many “signs and wonders” (Deuteronomy 6:22, Deuteronomy 26:8, NKJV). He was the one whom God used to free Israel from the Egyptians. (He was, in a sense, their “savior.”)
God prophesied through Moses that a prophet would come who was like Moses. God asked Israel to hear Him (Deuteronomy 18:15, Matthew 17:5, Acts 7:37). That “prophet” was Jesus and, in John 2:1-25, Jesus performed His first sign, which itself pointed back to the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt.
The river Nile was a key resource and a deity for the Egyptians. One of the plagues was directed at the river—the changing of its waters to blood. At Cana, Jesus performed a similar miracle but, instead of turning water into blood, He turned it into wine.
The water came from six water pots used for purification purposes in Jewish rituals, linking the miracle even more closely to biblical themes of salvation. By recounting the incident of changing the water to wine, and thus referring back to the Exodus, John was pointing to Jesus as our Deliverer.
What did the master of the feast think of the unfermented wine that Jesus provided? He was indeed surprised by the quality of the drink and, not knowing the miracle that Jesus had performed there, thought that they had saved the best for last.
The Greek term oinos is used both for fresh and fermented grape juice (see The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary, p. 1177). Ellen G. White states that the juice produced by the miracle was not alcoholic (see “At the Marriage Feast,” The Desire of Ages, p. 149). No doubt, those who knew what happened were astonished at what had taken place.
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What are your reasons for following Jesus? (We have been given many, haven’t we?) |
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I really thank God for this lesson because I thought always that wine is a alcohol but I understand it now that wine is Juice.
wine is "Grape Juice" and it is also the alcoholic fermented product. What happened historically is that when "Grape Juice" (wine) became fermented, people did not want to discard it and started to drink it and liked the results of getting high with it but did not think to change the name of the fermented product in the process.
What Jesus made was fresh wine which was not fermented. When left to ferment the drink becomes alcoholic.
Jesus the Prophet. And then, so much more than a prophet.
Moses led his people through the physical Red Sea to safety. Out of slavery into freedom. Out of hopelessness and death in Egypt into hope and a bright future in the Promised Land. Moses was up front, the people following behind.
Jesus leads His people through the spiritual “red sea”…. through His blood bursting out of capillaries as divine wrath is poured out on sin in the Garden and at the Cross, through His broken body which has torn from top to bottom the barrier curtain between God and me. We are baptized in this sea of His blood , meaning we choose to die to self wherever the Holy Spirit convicts us, and who steps out onto the other riverbank is Jesus, not me.
Taking a moment to go deeper into what this means to me…
Jesus is first, up front, before us…. but He also IS the way, not a pointer to the way, as the other prophets are. We find our intimacy with God our Father literally THROUGH Jesus, not through any other “spiritual” journey. Jesus lost disciples when He told them they must eat His Body…. He is saying something beyond intellectual understanding and beyond what any other prophet can offer….the metamorphosis new birth experience happens through faith by accepting and digesting Jesus’ greatest sacrifice. Jesus does more than bring a message from God. By becoming sin for us in our place, He does for us what we cannot do on our own, even with the help of teachers and prophets and determination … Jesus brings God to His people, and in His Body He carries His people right into the pure presence of God.
This is deep! Thank you, Preacher!
Jesus’ first recorded miracle of turning water into wine brings me all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where He conducted the first marriage on earth. And now at Cana, He blessed the wedding couple with new wine, symbolically His blood to cover their sins, practically saving them from embarrassment.
Jesus performed a miracle in favour of the disciple's decision to follow Him. When I became an adventist, Jesus took away my chronic depression and addiction. And everyday He continues to lead me, and strengthen me, He gives me confidence to be who I am. And this is the nerver-ending miraculous favour of choosing to follow Him
He touched your life, turned it round so that others who live your former life can be drawn to Him because of His saving character.
We Seventh-day Adventists like to talk about the wedding feast of Cana because it gives us a chance to talk about unfermented wine. And we like to point out the importance of the miracle as a sign of Jesus' divinity. From the perspective of 2000 years later, I like to think that this event is important because it shows Jesus as a social person. He was there taking part in the celebration and when the host was embarrassed because he had not made enough wine available Jesus was willing to help out.
When my daughter went to university to do optometry she entered the university social scene. The optometry students were a tight-knit bunch and often met together socially. I was scared spitless as to how my daughter would take to this scene. I need not have been. She made it very clear that she was not going to drink alcohol and would be available to drive people home. When students got so drunk they were vomiting she was there to comfort them. They are still her friends today and she meets them from time to time professionally.
Christianity is most effective when it is lived in a social context. It is more powerful than a sermon. I thank Jesus for setting an example right at the beginning of his ministry.
Amen!
Absolutely Spot on Maurice:
In my imagination I can see both, a sorrowful disciple John, and Jesus' weeping Mary talking together about how they first met at this marriage feast that dark Friday night after Jesus was laid in the tomb. (John 19:26,27) Mary and John talking together about happier times, when the future seemed bright with promise. There is a line in hymn #154, "sorrow and love flowed mingled down"
This is the price for being social beings.
What a precious memory was theirs.
It's a blessing to be able to share our insights on the lesson topics. Thanks to all who take the time to do so.🙏
The 1st Miracle of Christ was undoubtedly a startling wake up to the Jews that the Messiah they had been waiting for had arrived. The trouble from the git go was there was a deterence known as the cataract syndrome and it was not all of their faults. They were led astray, or acquired cataracts were placed on their eyes if you prefer. Don't forget though God is a forgiving God and longsuffering God, wishing that none should parish. So they were given a second chance at Pentecost. Ronald I can preach too.
I fail to see the conection between Jesus miracle at the wedding in Cana and how it relates to Moses' delivering God's people from Egypt in the Exodus?
Here's a step-by-step connection that I see, Pete.
(1) God promised to raise up a type of Moses, "like him" but different (Deut. 18:15).
(2) Moses was a "savior"-type figure. Here are 3 examples of how this is true. 1-Through God's leading, he led the Hebrew slaves of Egypt out through the Red Sea and wilderness into their own land. 2-He brokered a covenant between God and the people that became known as the "Old Covenant". 3-He offered to be blotted out of the Book of Life himself if that could mean substitutionary salvation for his people (Ex. 32:32).
(3) Jesus, of course, was the Who all of those events of Moses's life pointed to. Jesus' own blood is symbolized by walking through the sea of red in baptism...and the walk with Him through the trials of the wilderness time we are in now. Jesus offered Himself to the Father as a substitution for our rebellion and that offer WAS accepted by God. And Jesus brokered and became (both things) the New Covenant between God's people and Himself.
(4) As we go deeper into this last point, we recall that the Old Covenant was inferior to the New Covenant (Heb. 8:6) not because of any inferior promise that God made, but because when the people heard the moral law read aloud they responded "All that the Lord has said we will do" (Ex. 19:8). They believed they could obey God through their own will and strength. Their part of the Old Covenant was inferior.
And here is where we pick up the story at the wedding at Cana. The purification jars there symbolized, again, the Israelite people thinking that through some ritual they performed they could make themselves clean. That they could arrive at perfection, at full intimacy with God, at heaven's wedding feast, through their own behaviors.
(5) But no amount of external meticulousness makes us clean in God's eyes. Jesus offers His own blood in place of works. Let Jesus touch anywhere in your life, and He begins to transform every part of you (John 13:8-10). A miracle happens. We drink the Living Water and receive the Living Blood. At the Cana wedding, the people don't just splash this new liquid over themselves, but drink Jesus in, the sweetest wine they have ever had. The best has been saved for last (John 2:10). After the exhaustion of trying to become perfect on our own, we are revived through this gift of Jesus...His own life...for the life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11).
Thank you for your elaboration. You have made it easy to understand the connection between the wedding in Cana and Moses delivering the Hebrews from Egypt. It has also brought out the big picture John wants us to see.God bless.
The 6 pots of water infact were dirty, not good for health. But when Jesus instructed the disciples to fill them and share to the audience, to their amazement, the taste was better. The water turned into wine, not only taste good but at the command of Jesus all the dirt, germ, bacteria etc were cleansed leaving it purified best from Creators hand for human consumption. It was a miracle to show the audience that Jesus alone can bring healing, vitality and restore life.
I believe after the wedding, every individual took home news about the party, it was a great benefit for those who physically saw Jesus actually performing the miracle. Others talked much about the taste of the wine and least about the Saviour's hand.
We need to know the hand that performed the miracle and not the miracle itself.
Dear Ronald, what is your evidence for writing that
I find that statement highly unlikely considering the strict laws of cleanliness to which the Jewish people adhered. But I'm open to evidence that demonstrates otherwise.
You make an excellent point when you write that
Yes, we need to know Jesus personally. Nothing else is more important!
Shalom my friends,
I'd like to share a connection that I saw with this first sign recorded by John, and the miracle of Creation. Starting with the jars, there are 6 of them, these jars were being cleansed through a process called kashering, even today observant Jews will bring all new vessels, dishes, and utensils through this process before putting them into service. These 6 hadn't been used previously. John begins His Gospel Identifying Jesus as the Creator, with this first sign Jesus exercises His Creative authority just as He did at Creation. Genesis 1:2 Is the first use of the Hebrew word MeRakaphet, which is the transforming power of The Holy Spirit, it says darkness was on the face of the deep, the word Tehome is the the word for a dead place not capable of supporting life. Then it says The Spirit of God was moving, moving is the word merekaphet, transforming, and then it says on the face of the waters, mayim, my-eem, which means living water. As Jesus exercised the authority of The Spirit of God at creation transforming the abyss into living water from which all life sprang forth, Here at Cana He exercises that same authority transforming the water into wine, showing Himself to be the Creator.
What an amazing experience, what an amazing God. when He introduces Himself into our lives, He brings with Him that recreating transforming power He exercised at creation. The first sign recorded in the Gospel of John, performed by Jesus, who he introduced as Creator.
I think we have an amazing opportunity set before us this quarter with our Creator, through the eyes and experience of the longest living original disciple of Jesus, who received the intimate Revelation of Jesus that he wrote down for us, in the book of Revelation. Enjoy the experience of John this quarter.
Shalom
Thank you
Beautifully written, Thanks for your explanation
This is a very eye-opening lesson, Thank you for in-depth commentaries.
What a fitting way to end this year's study with the Gospel of John. (The disciple whom Jesus loved). John has given us many experiences with his (our) savior and what we are to look forward to when Jesus comes to take us home (the book of Revelation). This will be an exciting study that I plan to dive into and I hope everyone else into the lessons we will learn here this quarter.
It's likely that the people drank alcoholic wine as it would have been impossible to preserve the fresh juice for any length of time. Perhaps they rarely drank fresh juice, thus pronounced it so much more tasty than the alcoholic variety.
Good point. I have struggled with whether the drink was fermented or not. It seems typical that the wine at weddings would be alcoholic. But, the wine that Jesus made was fresh and, likely, more tasty and non-alcoholic.
If Jesus could turn water into wine.Then he can easily turn my life around.
Amen
This is a wonderful message no matter how you look at it.
But I want to address the issue of grape juice.
Maybe Jesus turned the water into grape juice or wine. It doesn't change the significance or meaning of the event.
But, in general terms, grape juice doesn't keep very well. It starts turning into wine after about 7 days, absent refrigeration or modern techniques.
Grape harvest in the region is generally from July through October. Therefore, any reference to the use wine outside of those dates, by definition means actual wine, not grape juice.
Maybe part of the miracle was that Jesus provided fresh grape juice when it was not available. Maybe it was that the wine was a much better quality wine. The value of the miracle stands and it's significance doesn't change.
But at the Last Supper, which took place in April, there was no way to find grape juice. All there was available was actual wine because grape harvest had not taken place.
Any time the Israelites reference to the use of wine during their travel through the desert, it means actual wine for the same reason;grape juice doesn't keep.
I'm not promoting the use of any alcohol. I'm just disagreeing with the idea that the many references in the Bible to the use of wine refer to grape juice. It just doesn't make sense and takes away from the actual message of salvation.
Hello Linden! I'm not sure if you are aware that the Bible uses two different words for wine. All juice of the vine was referred to as wine. "In the Hebrew text, the writers use different words to distinguish between the two. The word tîyrôsh is used for new unfermented wine, and yayin is generally used for fermented wine, but there are some exceptions (Isaiah 16:10). However, in the
New Testament, only one Greek word is used to describe both fermented and fresh grape juice: oinis. But this shouldn't be a problem. By simply understanding the context of the word in a passage, the appropriate meaning will usually surface. So unless the passage says old or new wine (as in Luke 5:37-39), the context will often tell us what kind of grape juice is being described." 1
There is new wine, freshly made and unfermented, and old wine, aged and fermented. My question is why would the Banquet master compliment the family of the Bride on the quality of the wine, saying that they saved the best for last if it tasted just like the old wine? In my understanding Jesus did make fresh, delicious and healthful juice of the vine, (wine) not the old,
fermented, health destroying wine. There's far more to the subject than meets the eye. I encourage you and anyone interested in looking deeper at this subject to click the below listed link in your browser and read the article. It is both interesting and informative.
1 https://www.amazingfacts.org/news-and-features/inside-report/magazine/id/10698/t/christian-and-alcohol
Look up Leviticus 23:13, Numbers 28:7, Deuteronomy 14:24-26.
The point is that none of this discussion is relevant to salvation. And we run into issues of "doctrine" that make us sound more like Pharicees than followers of Jesus.
Hello brother Linden. Yes/no
I respectfully disagree that it isn't an issue of salvation. It most certainly can become one.
See 1 Cor. 6:10. Drunkards are listed there. Every alcoholic started with one drink. People can have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism that can be triggered by just one drink of alcoholic beverage. Speaking from 42 years of sobriety I know. I don't see it as legalism, or Phariseeism. I just don't see the Creator of the Universe making a beverage that He knows could lead to bondage and potentially eternal death.
The health message wasn't given to us to just add years to our life, but life to our years, and to ensure that we would have clear minds to grasp, appreciate, and accept the Gospel.
Have a blessed day!
Thank you brother Tim for the wise admonition to look at the use of a word contextually. As they say ‘text without context is pretext’ Modern science today attests that even one glass of alcohol has a negative impact on the body, particularly the brain and liver. In particular pregnant woman are advised not to drink alcohol for all kinds of physiological reasons on the health of the developing foetus including epigenetic effects which last for 3rd and 4th generations. A wedding in those days was far more inclusive and communal than weddings in our culture. There would be pregnant women, children amongst them. Would the Creator of all life and joy and health be happy to convert water into alcohol?
Re the point that after seven days the grape juice would ferment. Very true, but then the Jews from very early had ways of concentrating the grape juice -probably by evaporation into a mush that would allow it to keep fresh much longer. Maybe this is what is alluded to when JESUS say you cannot put new wine into old wine skin bags otherwise they would burst.
For me the most relevant point is that everything JESUS did was an object lesson pointing to Himself and salvation. The wine surely represents the refreshing, lifegiving, blood of JESUS which is His pure life imputed and imparted to us. I would hardly think that alcohol product of bacterial decomposition is a fitting symbol. May we all as drink of His blood and eat His flesh enjoined by JESUS Himself in John 6:53-56. Amen