JOHN CHAPTER TWO
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JOHN CHAPTER TWO
VERSE 1
" On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there."
Do note the chronological precision that John uses while writing this text. It was two days travel from the Jordan where Jesus had been baptized, thus, it was the third day.
Do not let this confuse you here...
It is clear through what we read in the Gospel of Mark, and in Luke; " Immediately after Jesus was baptized,The Spirit led Him into the
wilderness to be tempted by satan."
Luke 4:14 reads
"Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee"
This is where we note that Jesus has now returned to His own region. So in verse one of the second chapter of John, it has now been 3 days since Jesus has returned; after the temptation, returning back past the Jordan, into Galilee.
Cana is thought to be about a three hour walk from Nazareth.
In the Jewish culture, wedding feasts lasted for an entire week. This is not only interesting, but important to understand for the text. Usually, the entire town was invited to a wedding.
Carful planning was required to make this event a success. Imagine ifyou will, planning a 6
day party for 200 to 300 people. And knowing that you would be greatly shamed if you ran out of
anything!!
Verses 2-3
"Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
I can see the shock and concern of Mary here. It is believed that Mary was one of the relatives of the couple that was getting married, and one of the ones that was responsible for the planning.
The reason that she immediately came to Jesus should be clear. She knew exactly who Jesus was. Remember, that while she was still a virgin, an angel appeared to her. Lets read that account in.....
LUKE 1:26-35
"Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. "And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
I am sure that Mary immediately thought of Jesus as soon as this dilemma arose. She knew that Jesus was
"The Son of the Highest"
And literally, the
"Son of God."
What a lesson that every believer can learn from this simple verse!!!
Do not miss it!!!
The first place that we should run, as soon as any problem arises, or any decision needs to be made, is directly to Jesus!!!!
I would also imagine that Mary was anxious to see these things that the Angel had told her; at the Holy Spirits miraculous conception; come to pass and begin, and she saw this as an opportunity for just that.
Also, wine in the scriptures often is a reference to 'Joy"
What an accurate description she gave of people who have never been saved! All who were in
attendance of this wedding had no idea that their long awaited Messiah had not only finally arrived,
but was right there in their very presence. Indeed; they were without true Joy!
VERSE 4
"Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."
Woman......... This manner in which Jesus used to address His mother was common in the Jewish culture, and it showed both tenderness, and affection.
What does your concern have to do with Me? .... There are many similar types of language used in the Bible. They all seem to intonate a clear separation between the one speaking, and the one that they are speaking to. I will give a couple of examples of what I mean.
JOSHUA 22:24
"But in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, "What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel?"
2 SAMUEL 16:10
"But the king said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah?"
And in the New Testament
MATTHEW 8:29
"And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?"
The point that I wanted to make here, is that in both the Old and the New testament, this way of speaking "what does your concern have to do with Me? .... Is a very strong point of disconnection. It was literally a loving and gentle rebuke. Gentle and Mild; but still a decided rebuke.
Verse 4 cont.
"My hour has not yet come."
Basically, He is saying here that He would indeed do something, but that He would do whatever he did in His own timing, and not at the call of anyone else. She clearly understood what He was saying, as we see in her response in the next verse.
VERSE 5
"His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you,
do it."
She didn't have a clue yet just exactly what Jesus would do, but she was undoubtedly sure of His ability to accomplish the seemingly impossible. She was very much aware that He was so much more than just her human son.
Here also, we see again that Mary had understood exactly what Jesus was saying to her at his previous gentle rebuke, for in this verse, we see that Mary has submitted to Jesus!
Believing that Jesus would take care of the thing that she had brought to Him, that is, running out of wine,
In faith.
He would resolve her problem in a way that only the Son of God could. Not offering her own solution, but rather,
Placing her complete trust in His ability, And telling the servants
"Whatever He says to you, do it."
VERSE 6
" Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece."
Go figure here!!! we are talking about somewhere in the neighborhood of 180 gallons!!! According to the ceremonial Jewish laws, those in this culture believed that they became 'unclean' by touching things that they came into contact with in normal everyday life.
These 'waterpots' were used for ceremonial cleansing. They would pour the water over their hands to cleans themselves of any bad influencesassociated with what they had touched before they would eat. It is just like we would wash our hands before we eat.
VERSE 7-8
"Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim......
The miracle, the first of many, many miracles to come has now taken place. Jesus has changed the water into wine.
"And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."
I think that it is cool to notice here that our Lord directs everything;
yet He doesn't touch anything.
He works the same way today.
Each one of His miracles is accomplished through the work and hands
of His servants!
"And they took it.'
No delay, no questions asked. These servants simply complied with what Mary had told them to do. She had not told them to listen to her, rather;
She had pointed to the Lord Jesus
She instructed them to do whatever He told them to do.
Clearly, not only did Mary understand that He is the only one to be obeyed, but these men understood this as well.
VERSE 9-10
"When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"
The clear application that we can see here for our lives, is this...
Just as the wine that Jesus had made was supreme...
The best...
So,
Life in Jesus is far superior to anything that this world has to offer!!
Yes! God had indeed saved His best until this time!! Sending His only begotten Son to redeem the
world from sin!
VERSE 11
" This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him."
This is the but the first miracle, of the many manifestations of the Deity and the glory of Jesus at the onset of His ministry.
And His disciples believed.....that is; the faith that they already possessed was strengthened.
VERSE 12
"After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days."
Capernaum was a town that was on the shores of the sea of Galilee. It was the center point of Jesus ministry. All of the major trade routes ran directly through this little town. It held the Roman garrison, and is the place where Jesus called many of His disciples. It had at least one major synagogue, and even though Jesus made it His home base of operations, He condemned it for the peoples unbelief. The reason that they did not stay there very many days is told in the next verse.
VERSE 13
" Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem."
The Passover celebration was held three times every year, and every man was expected to travel to Jerusalem for this Sacred event.
In Deuteronomy 16:16, God Commanded;
" Three times a year all your males shall appear before the
LORD your God in the place which He chooses:
At the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
At the Feast of Weeks,
And at the Feast of Tabernacles;
and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed."
So, Jesus and the first five of the twelve disciples that He would call, in accordance to the traditions, and the commandment of God, made their way to Jerusalem.
(These five were; Matthew, Peter, Andrew, James and John)
This too, like the wedding festival, was a week long festival.
Passover, was one day, and the festival lasted the rest of the week.
The entire week was a celebration in remembrance of when the Jews were freed from their slavery in Egypt, by the Mighty hand of God. VERSE 14
"And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business."
There is a whole lot to understand here, so bear with me for awhile, and let the things that I am about to tell you lay a necessary foundation for a clear understanding what is happening here.
First of all, just a curious note of information, this temple site is the very same location where Solomon had built the temple in about 949 B.C..
The temple was rebuilt in about 515 B.C.
Now, first picture this... The temple area was extremely overcrowdedduring this time.
Thousands of worshipers gathered together for this sacred event. Keep in mind, that one of the strongest rebukes that Jesus gave the leaders here, is that they were................
"filled...with greed......".
The Temple Courts were crowded even further by the religious leaders who set up their money changing booths.
They made all those who came to worship, pay the temple tax in
'local currency', Often charging them far more than was fair in an exchange rate.
Also, they demanded that the price paid for the sacrifices was paid likewise.
Such a crowd made it very difficult, if not impossible to worship. Imagine if you will, a cattle auction taking place in your sanctuary on Sunday morning, as you come to worship!!!
These religious leaders, in their pseudo holiness were also ripping off those who had come to worship.
They would often reject the sacrifices that worshipers had brought, calling the sacrifice 'blemished', or 'insufficient' and then requiring them to purchase a 'pre-approved' sacrifice, and then charging them an outrageous price for it!!
NO WONDER THAT JESUS WAS ANGRY!!!!!
Jesus clearly saw greed, dishonesty, and blatant, open mockery of Gods house of worship!!!
This among other things could have been what caused the Apostle Paul to pen what We read in
1 Timothy 6:10
"For the love of money is the root of all evil; which some covetedafter, they have erred
from the Faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
OK now with that foundation laid, lets move on to
VERSE 15
"When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables."
"When He had made a whip of cords, ..........
The first thing that I would like to point out here, is that this was not a spur of the moment flair of anger. Yes, Jesus was angry. But He took the time to sit down, think this situation through, and twist together a whip. This wasn't something that you could sit down and twist together in a short time. It took awhile.
This was the first cleansing of the temple.
The second was recorded towards the end of His ministry.
Gods Holy house of prayer was being misused, literally turned into a marketplace.
I am sure here, that these who were driven out were not driven out by this small whip.
Rather, they RAN from Divine Majesty!!!
The whip was nothing more than a sign of Divine anger!! ;
And perfect Authority.
VERSE 16:
'"And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!
Do not make my Fathers house a house of merchandise!!"'
These moneychangers knew that they were in the House of God.
Jesus had just clearly called God his Father! Many times in all four of the Gospels we will see that the Jews and leaders will try and kill Jesus for this very claim. We see one example of this in Chapter five, verse 18;
"Therefore the jews sought all the more to kill Him,
because He not only broke the Sabbath,
but also said that God was His Father,
Making Himself equal with God."
Back when he was a youth, with no Authority ; we read in Luke 2:49.... Jesus had said to his earthly parents;
"Didn't you know that I must be about My Fathers business?"
There He was a Son in His own house.
Now we see Jesus as a Son over His own house!
Hebrews 3:6
"But Christ as a Son OVER His own House;
whose house are we,
if we hold fast to the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end."
The proper Representative. In the flesh. The 'Heir' of His Fathers House.
VERSE 17
"And His Disciples remembered that it was written;
"The zeal of Thine House hath eaten Me up" (Psalm 69:9)
And another place we read of the zeal of Christ:
"My zeal hath consumed Me, because My enemies hath forgotten Thy Words." (Psalm 119:139)
And one more is found in
Isaiah 59:17
"For He put on Righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of Salvation upon His head;
And He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing;
AND WAS CLAD WITH ZEAL AS A CLOAK"
We also; as followers of Jesus Christ should be clothed with the same zeal. We should have the very heart of Jesus as a child; and
"Be about our Fathers business"
Time is so very short. Jesus Christ is coming back in all of His glory so very soon. It is then that as it is written "Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!"
THERE ARE SO MANY EXHORTATIONS THROUGHOUT THE SCRIPTURES TO SHARE THE 'GOOD NEWS' OF THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL OF OUR MERCIFUL GOD; FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH!!
He is not willing that any should perish, but all should come into a knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Accepting His FREE offer of Salvation!
John 4:35
"Say not ye, there are yet four months,
and then the harvest?
Behold, I say unto you;
Lift up your eyes
And look on the fields;
For they are white, already to harvest."
We cannot shirk the duty to share our faith!
VERSE 18
"So the Jews answered and said unto Him;
'what sign do you show us, since you do these things?"'
As we just saw, Jesus had just clearly told these men that
God was His Father.
This should be a sufficient sign alone.
Yet they missed this awesome truth completely.
They ask Him for a sign.
VERSE 19
"Jesus answered and said to them;
"Destroy this 'temple'
and in three days I will raise it up"
This is not the word 'hieron', which is used to refer to the temple courts.
Rather; it is the proper sense of the word. The word 'temple used here is the word 'Nahos'.
Many have read this passage and thought mistakenly that the Jews had truly missed what Jesus had just said here.
This is far from true.
They knew exactly what Jesus had said.
They knew exactly what He meant.
They were mocking Him.
VERSE 20
"Then the Jews said; "it has taken fourty-six years to built this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"
Allow me to illustrate further.
Turn with me to Matthew 27:63
These same men are going before Pilate, just after the crucifixion of our Lord;
"Sir, we remember that deceiver said,
while He was yet alive,
'After three days, I will rise'
Jesus had used a different word for temple. It was abundantly clear to these men that He was speaking of His Body.
They were once again trying to 'trap Him in His Words.'
They were perfectly aware that he was referring to
His death by their hands;
and
His resurrection by
His own power!
VERSE 21
"But He was speaking of the Temple of His Body."
The stone temple that the Jews were referring to here, was nothing more than a shadow of the true Temple of God. That Temple became a reality for all men at Christs resurrection.
1 Corinthians 3:16 says;
"Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
And let us not forget the words of Jesus; when He spoke to the woman at the well; when He said;
"The hour is coming, and now is,
when the true worshipers
will worship the Father
in Spirit and in truth.
For the Father is seeking
such to worship Him."
(See also 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 2:21, Leviticus 26:12)
VERSE 22
"Therefore, when he had risen from the dead,
His disciples remembered that He had said this to them.
And they believed the Scripture,
and the Word which Jesus had said."
VERSE 23
"Now, when He was in Jerusalem,
at the Passover, during the feast,
Many believed in His name
when they saw the signs that He did."
VERSE 24
"But Jesus did not commit Himself to them,
because He knew all men."
VERSE 25
"and had no need that anyone should testify of man,
for He knew what was in man."
