John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus *said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus *said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother *said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” 6 Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. 7 Jesus *said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He *said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him. 9 When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter *called the bridegroom, 10 and *said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
One thing that has always intrigued me about Jesus’ ministry on earth is why He wanted things to remain a secret. We can recall times throughout the Gospels that he tells others not to talk about what He had done. I hope to gain further insight of this as I continue my study. Maybe some of you have an idea?
“His hour,” as referenced here and in other places throughout the scriptures, is in reference to His revealing of being the Messiah. This is why He decides to perform the miracle anyway, because it would not be viewed as a messianic miracle by most, however the disciples knew as well as the servants.
Having spent much time in Sunday school as a kid, this was one of those stories that was repeated a lot, often referenced as Jesus’ first miracle. The Apostle John calls miracles “signs,” in reference to signs of His Godness. The particular sentence I would like to focus on is in verse 4, “what does that have to do with us?” Now, we know based on the passage the Jesus was with His disciples. Until now, we had seen Jesus gathering followers and in the other Gospels, we read more details of that before this first sign. Jesus’ second sentence in this verse is the qualifier of the first, “my hour has not yet come.” In putting these sentences back to back, we see an interesting subtlety. His hour involves us.
One thought I had at first is a reference to the Trinity. However, that application doesn’t fit. I’m not going to argue about the capitalization (or lack thereof, actually) of the word “us” as a way to negate this possibility, but if Jesus was talking about the Trinity, then his second sentence would have said “Our hour has not yet come.”
His hour, the recognition of Jesus as Messiah, involves us as believers and followers. Those of us whom believe in Jesus as the Christ are involved in spreading the word of his Lordship. This is in reference to the Great Commission which we find in Mathew 28, “18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
It is in Jesus’ becoming the Messiah and our recognition of it that spreads the word. We get to celebrate His saving grace by living it out and teaching others about it. Notice I didn’t say convincing others…rather that is His job (hence the aforementioned signs).
How are you taking part in His hour?
