Daily Scripture Reading John 2:1-25
Many people picture Jesus as a man who was always polite and never did anything harsh. They believe He always acted in a way that was considered appropriate. Since those same people believe we should do what Jesus would do, they come to the conclusion that Christians should always be nice and kind.
However, we will see in today’s reading from John 2 that Jesus was not always polite. That means the common assumption about what it means to be like Jesus is actually wrong.
Yesterday, in the first chapter of John, we read that John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Lamb of God. That took place somewhere near the Dead Sea. Andrew and Peter began following Jesus. The next day Jesus went into Galilee, and Philip and Nathanael became disciples.
John 2:1 ¶ And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;
John 2:2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
Notice this happened on the third day. John does not specify what he meant by third. I assume it was the third day after Jesus arrived in Galilee.
Cana was a town west of the Sea of Galilee. It was only about 8 miles / 13 km away from Nazareth, so it was in close proximity to where Jesus grew up. It would have taken them 2-3 hours to go from one to the other. I assume the bride and/or groom were friends or relatives of Jesus and His mother.
John 2:3 And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
John 2:4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.”
Different translations render Jesus’ question in different ways. When I look at the original Greek, it appears to me Jesus said, “What is this to me and you?” In other words, He said this was not His or His mother’s problem.
John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
The fact that Jesus’ mother gave a command to the servants indicates she was either a very good friend or a relative of the host.
John 2:6 Now there were six stone water jars set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing two or three measures each.
John 2:7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water jars with water.” So they filled them up to the brim.
The fact that the servants did as Jesus requested indicates Jesus was either a very good friend or a relative of the host.
John 2:8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him.
John 2:9 Now 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,
John 2:10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then the inferior wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did not only turn water into wine, He created very good wine.
John 2:11 Jesus did this in Cana of Galilee as the beginning of His signs, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
Note the word “beginning”. This was Jesus’ first miracle.
The word “manifested” means to make something visible or obvious. In this case Jesus made his glory known. His glory was the fact that He was God Himself and not a mere man.
We see the phrase “believed in Him” in this verse. Many Christians use this phrase a lot because it appears in the Bible, but I am not sure many people actually grasp what it means. What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
Let’s use the example of Santa Claus. The story about Santa is that he lives at the North Pole, and on Christmas eve he flies in his sleigh from house to house and delivers Christmas presents to every child in the world in one night. If you believe in Santa Claus, you believe that actually happens. If you don’t believe there is a man who does that, then you don’t believe in Santa.
When Jesus turned water into wine, He demonstrated that He was not a mere man. The disciples saw the miracle and believed it was a miracle. They did not dismiss it as just a magical illusion. Thus, they believed in Jesus because they believed He had just performed a miracle and demonstrated He was God Himself.
Now let’s think about what believing in Jesus means for you and me. The Bible tells us many things about Jesus, including that He is God, He performed miracles, He was crucified, and He rose from the dead. If you believe there was a man in the 1st century AD who did all those things, then you believe in Jesus. If you don’t believe that actually happened, then you don’t believe in Jesus.
John 2:12 ¶ After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.
We see in this verse that the mother and brothers of Jesus also went to Capernaum with Jesus and His disciples. The other gospels do not inform us that Jesus’ family traveled with Him like that.
Capernaum was 15-20 miles / 25-30 km away from Nazareth and Cana. That distance can be walked in one day, except it was a hilly area. It would have been a strenuous walk.
Also, there was a significant elevation change. Nazareth and Cana are around 1,000 ft / 300 m above sea level. Capernaum is 700 ft / 200 m below sea level.
John 2:13 ¶ And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
This was at least a 60 mile / 100 km journey. It would have taken at least two days.
John 2:14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.
John 2:15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;
Note the word “scourge”. Jesus used a whip to drive them out of the temple.
Think about the words “poured” and “overturned”. Jesus was very physical and aggressive.
Many people picture Jesus as a man who was always polite and never did anything harsh. They believe He always acted in a way that was considered appropriate.
However, this verse indicates that is not true. Overturning tables and pouring coins on the ground would not have been considered appropriate. Nor were His actions nice and kind.
This matters because people believe we should do what Jesus did. If Jesus was always nice and kind, then our lives should reflect that. On the other hand, if Jesus was aggressive at times and broke societal norms, then there might be times we need to do likewise.
John 2:16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”
John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”
John 2:18 The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?”
John 2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.”
John 2:20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this sanctuary, and will You raise it up in three days?”
John 2:21 But He was speaking about the sanctuary of His body.
John 2:22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
John 2:23 ¶ Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, when they saw His signs which He was doing.
Jesus performed miracles to prove His deity, and many believed in His name. His name means Yahweh saves.
John 2:24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men,
John 2:25 and because He had no need that anyone bear witness concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
John wrote that Jesus was not entrusting Himself to them. In other words Jesus was not dependent on their belief in Him in order to believe in Himself. Furthermore, while He did not rely on men telling Him about human nature because He already knew the truth about human nature.
Many people picture Jesus as a man who was always polite and never did anything harsh. However, driving people out of the temple with a whip would not have been considered appropriate. Nor were His actions nice and kind.
Ponder the ramifications of this.
How should this change our concept of what it means to be like Jesus?
What is a scenario when we should do something that society would consider to be inappropriate?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”