John Chapter 2

John Chapter 2 – Lesson 1

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

John 2:1 (ESV) On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.

John never refers to Mary by name but calls her “the mother of Jesus.” This distinguishes her from other people named Mary such as Mary Magdalene or Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha. The Apostle John would be the one who Jesus entrusted with the care of His mother from the place of ultimate sacrifice, the cross, as He was dying.

John 19:26-27 (NASB) When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

As soon as Jesus said this, John took over the responsibility for caring for Mary who was probably widowed at this point.

The fact that both Mary and Jesus were invited to this wedding may indicate that the groom was a family member or close friend to one or both of them. The disciples may have known the bride or groom or may have been invited simply because they were accompanying Jesus everywhere. At this point, there were five disciples: Simon Peter, Andrew, Philip, Nathanael, and presumably John.

John 2:3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

A wedding feast in Israel at this time could last as long as a week, so it is not surprising they could run out of wine in that amount of time. The groom was responsible for financing this elaborate affair, and it would reflect badly on him if his guests were not well taken care of. He would not want his new bride’s family to think he was “cheap!” So Mary points this out to her Son. Why would Mary tell Jesus rather than someone else? Maybe Mary told Jesus because she knew going to any other person might cause gossip to start. She knew they could handle it judiciously and quietly. If the groom was a family member, maybe she was trying to save face. Do you think she was expecting Jesus to do a miracle? She of all people knew Jesus was the Son of God, a miraculous child. She was there when He was conceived in her virgin womb. Gabriel had even told her that the child placed in her by the Holy Spirit would be the Son of the God. When she gave birth to Jesus in the stable, she beheld the worship of the shepherds and the wonder of the star. Surely she knew Jesus could do something about the lack of wine.

John 2:4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Jesus says, “Mom, it’s not time yet. Please don’t rush me.” He may have meant it was not time to reveal Himself through signs yet, or He may have been saying that the time of celebration when wine would flow freely had not yet come. Calling her “woman” was not rude nor disrespectful. It was the equivalent of addressing her as “ma’am”. However, it did indicate He was responding as the Messiah rather than her son.

Amos 9:13 (ESV) “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.

Jesus is shifting from His position as the son Mary raised to His position as the Son of God who must act according to the Father’s plan and time schedule. He moved from His human responsibilities to His divine mandate.

John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Undeterred, Mary instructs the servants to follow Jesus’ instruction. She has faith that He will remedy the situation somehow and that He will do the right thing. Mary knows her son and that He will do it out of respect for her and the fact that He would not want anyone to suffer embarrassment on his wedding day. She gives the servants advice that is still good for us today, “Do whatever Jesus says to do.”

John 2:6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.

Those six stone jars, used because they kept the water from the impurities that would seep into clay jars, would have held at least 120 gallons! That’s some party! Jesus told the servants to fill them up, and they followed Mary’s instructions and obeyed Him. This is another thing that makes me think Mary may have been a relative of the groom because her words carried weight with the servants. They filled the jars to the brim which is how Jesus wants to fill those who believe with His Holy Spirit!

Q – Are you so filled with Jesus that you can be poured out like wine to bless others?

John 2:8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.

If I had been one of the servants, I might have said, “If you want it taken to the master of the feast, you take it! I’m not taking a chance on getting in trouble.” Maybe they could smell the change of the water into wine, but I think they would still be apprehensive about its quality. However, they followed instructions.

John 2:9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

The master of the feast had not seen what had occurred over at the water jars. He was amazed at the quality of the wine. He was surprised the groom had saved the best for last. Apparently the groom was also unaware of the miracle that had transpired. Jesus had met his need before he even had to ask and even though he would have had no way of knowing Jesus could perform such a sign. Jesus does not do things half-way. Jesus is a “go big or go home” God.  He can and does do much more than we can imagine. Jesus cared (and still does) about the ordinary concerns of ordinary people.

Ephesians 3:20-21 (KJV) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

John 2:11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

This first sign or miracle of turning water into wine helped to solidify His disciples’ belief that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. It helped to strengthen their confidence and trust in the reality of His divinity. Therefore, when He left the wedding, these five disciples, along with His mother and brothers continued following Him to Capernaum.

Q – Jesus first miracle was not something spectacular like raising a dead man or casting out a demon. It was meeting a very practical need in a miraculous way. Do you ever wonder if we fail to recognize everyday miracles in our own lives? Are things really “coincidental” or does our sovereign Lord orchestrate “circumstances” to guide us into His best for us?

***************************************John Chapter 2 – Lesson 2

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

John 2:13 (ESV) The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language defines Passover as follows:

P'ASSOVER, noun [pass and over.] A feast of the Jews, instituted to commemorate the providential escape of the Hebrews, in Egypt, when God smiting the first-born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites, which were marked with the blood of the paschal lamb.

1.          The sacrifice offered at the feast of the Passover

At the specified time each year, the Jews would take an unblemished lamb to temple to be sacrificed. If they did not own a lamb, one could be purchased with temple coins. Jesus, who would ultimately be the final Passover Lamb, traveled to Jerusalem to participate in this ceremony. Jesus’ death on the cross as the final and complete sacrifice would end the need for the sacrificial system.

John 2:14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.

Jesus found merchants in the temple instead of true worshippers. It was as if Jesus could see dollar signs in their eyes because He sees into people’s hearts.  Not only were they profiting from the sale of animals to be sacrificed, but the exchange rate offered to replace Roman coins with temple coins was exorbitantly high, giving them a tidy profit. They were building their own affluence by robbing the people who desired to worship sacrificially. This egregious behavior troubled and angered Jesus to His very core.  

John 2:15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

We do not often think of Jesus as angry, but He was so upset that He actually made a whip and used it to drive out the animals, threw tables over spilling the money, and rebuked the merchants. It seems that the fact he was making a whip in the temple would have given the merchants a clue as to what He was about to do.  He was not only angry, but He was hurt. The outlandish, outrageous behavior offended Him. In His humanness it may have made Him physically ill. As God, Jesus was insulted by their blatant disregard for what should have been a holy atmosphere and the purpose for which His house was built. The other three gospels record a time near the end of His ministry that Jesus cleansed the temple and reminded the merchants His Father’s house was supposed to be a house of prayer. Apparently, this was a constant problem. As a Holy God, Jesus must have been irate that the Temple continued to be desecrated in this way.

Psalm 69:9…for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

The temple was designed to focus all attention on God, a place of prayer and communion with Him. These merchants and money changers were using it for their own personal gain. Rather than serving the worshipers by providing healthy animals, they were robbing their fellow Jews by unfairly raising the prices. They were disobeying God by committing usury. They were more devoted to creating creature comforts for themselves than their obedience to God. Communion with the Lord should be our focus in worship, and really for every believer, every day. Nothing should be done that detracts from devoting ourselves to prayer, worship, and fellowship in the house of God.

John 2:18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

The Jews questioned His authority to cleanse the temple of them. They wanted Him to perform a miracle, sign, or wonder to authenticate Himself. I’m sure that some thought Jesus to be mentally unstable. In present day vernacular, they thought He had “gone postal.” Today they might call the people in the little white coats to pick up Jesus and take Him to a place where nice people would care for Him. Once again we have non-believers wanting to see a “sign” before they will accept Jesus’ authority. They want a sign, but they could not decipher the living billboard of Jesus before them. What makes them think a sign would make it any easier to believe?

Q – People today think a “proof,” some type of evidence or the opportunity to witness a miracle firsthand would enable them to believe; but the people who witnessed the miracles when Jesus was among them had trouble believing. What makes us think we would be different? It is only through faith that we can understand the truth of Jesus’ reality.

John 2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus tells them to destroy the temple, and He will raise it in three days. Now they really thought He was crazy. The Jews pompously, arrogantly explained that it had taken forty-six years to build the temple. They were incredulous and incensed that He would claim to be able to restore it in only three days! They were not sure His elevator went anywhere near the top floor.  They were blinded to the fact that He was prophesying about the destruction of His body and His resurrection on the third day which was an even more amazing miracle, if you think about it. Those sitting in judgment of Jesus had no clue He was referring to His own physical body as the temple. This statement was filed away in the disciples’ memory banks, and the Holy Spirit brought it to their minds after the Lord’s resurrection and used it to make their faith stronger.

John 14:26 (NIV) But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

There were many things the disciples did not understand at the moment they were happening, but after the gift of the Holy Spirit, these things became clear. Before I surrendered my life to the Lord, the Bible often seemed murky to me. After my conversion and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I began to understand more clearly. The Holy Spirit illuminates, shines a light, on the word of God to make it easier to grasp. The Spirit makes it crystal clear because that is one of the Holy Spirit’s jobs.

John 2:23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

People were drawn to the miraculous signs, the miracle works, rather than the miracle Worker. They were more interested in what He could do FOR them rather than in the intimate relationship with Jesus. As we will see in future lessons, this intimate relationship involves following Him through the tough times as well as the good. It is a total submission to His will rather than my own. Jesus could see right through their enthusiasm of the moment to the fact that they were not in it for the long haul. He knows our hearts. Some may have been in it for the prestige following a great Teacher could bring them. Some of them just wanted to be His groupies. But would they remain after the religious elite of the day accused Jesus of blasphemy? Jesus knew these fish were not keepers.

Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV) Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Q – As we examine our own hearts, do we see that we desire only what Jesus can do for us here and now, or are we wholly devoted to carrying out His will?