Rick and I have been studying John for quite a while now. Again and again, Jesus taught that He is the Son of God and that He, Jesus, was sent by God the Father into the world. Jesus gives ample evidence that He is not just half man and half God, but that He is fully human and fully God—both. Completely and at the same time. To demonstrate this, the Apostle John selected specific miracles that Jesus worked as evidence, proving the humanity and deity of Jesus in his gospel. And the first one John wrote about happened at a wedding. Here’s what happened…
Jesus’s mother, Mary was at the wedding, and she noticed that the host had run out of wine. So, she turned to Jesus, and said, “They have no wine” (John 2:4). Mary wanted Jesus to do something about it—because she knew He could do something about it and spare the master of the wedding feast the social embarrassment of running out of wine. But how did Mary know Jesus could help out? Jesus had never done any miracles up to this point, so how did she know? Let’s think about what Mary had already experienced. About 30 years earlier, Mary had received a heavenly visitor (Luke 1:26—35)…the angel Gabriel. He came to tell Mary that she was going to have a baby by the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember how she became pregnant? By the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20). Remember what the baby would be called? Jesus, holy, the Son of God. Mary raised Jesus as her son, yet He was also the Son of God.
Back to the wedding. The party is proceeding but there was no wine. Jesus instructed the servants to fill stone jars with water. Water. And instantly, it became wine. Immediately. Jesus had the servants draw out some of the wine to take to the master of the wedding feast so that the master could taste it, to make sure that it was good. The master was stunned! Not only was the wine good, but this was better wine than they had had before. The bridegroom had held back the good wine to serve after the poor wine, the opposite of what would normally be done. Also, this was not just a tiny bit of wine, but six jars, each holding 20-30 gallons of wine! In a single moment, Jesus turned ordinary water into wine.
We tend to read about Jesus’s miracles as if the events they tell us about are commonplace. None of Jesus’s miracles are commonplace. They are miracles. They are works of supernatural power that testify to who He is. He was born of a virgin birth to a human mother, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was God in the flesh. As an adult, once His ministry began, He worked innumerable miracles. Works of divine power that put His identity and glory on display. There is no other way to understand Jesus other than Him being fully man and fully God, sent by God the Father into the world so that by believing that Jesus is the Son of God you may have life in His name (John 20:31). I pray that you, too, believe, and that you are alive in Christ, not dead in sin. If you need prayer or a Bible, let me know.
