Here is a teaching of part 1 of chapter 2 of the book of John. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters going forward, join our group here. Once you get added into that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and you'll see all of the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.
John Chapter 2. Part 1
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
Okay, so I want to address a few things here. I know you may be wondering why Jesus was at a wedding when he was on a mission to save lives, and out of all the miraculous things he could do, why would he be at a wedding? Jesus socialized with people and these social activities were part of his mission. It’s also important for us, with our mission to spread the gospel and let others know about Jesus Christ, to socialize and be around other people. In any situation that you’re in, there could be someone that was placed there for you to talk to them about Jesus. Jesus liked socializing with people. There were many occasions in the Bible where Jesus went places that other people didn’t think he would go and did miraculous things or things to show that he was the son of God.
I know for us in today’s world, we wouldn't think that running out of wine is such a big deal, but back then running out of wine at a wedding was more than embarrassing. It broke this unwritten law of hospitality so it was really looked down on back then to run out of wine. Now as far as Mary telling Jesus that they ran out of wine and wanting him to do something about it, she was probably just hoping that her son would solve the problem and find more wine. Since Jesus’ dad Joseph had passed away Jesus was the man of the house, so Mary came to him for everything. He was also a carpenter so he probably fixed everything for Mary. Jesus asked her why she involved him because his time hasn’t come yet. He didn’t plan on performing any miraculous signs at that wedding.
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. ”They did so,
So first, whenever Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus said, I don’t think she knew that he was going to perform a miraculous sign. I think that she just thought that he would find a solution and get some more wine and she just trusted that he would find a solution. In any situation, when we don’t understand something or if we really don’t know what to do, if we are running out of things (running out of time, patience, anything), we can always trust and know that Jesus has us and know that he’s going to take care of it. That is exactly what Mary did here in this passage.
So Jesus told the servants to fill up stone jars with water, jars that were used for ceremonial washing. So these were dirty jars that they found in the back that were normally used for washing and he told them to fill them with water. Then he told them to draw some out and give it to the master of the banquet. Now I don’t know about you guys, but if I was one of these servants that didn’t know that this guy was Jesus Christ, I would have probably been thinking like “ he wants me to fill these jars with water and then take them to the master of the banquet, I’m going to get in big trouble for this.” I would've been hesitant to do that. Okay, I’m going to go ahead and put the verses 9-11 here because it talks about what happens next.
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” 11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Alright, so that’s all the verses we are going to read today, but let’s discuss these verses here. The master of the banquet tasted the wine and he said that they saved the best wine until the end. So, Jesus had these servants take these dirty stone jars and he turned the water into the best wine that they had tasted; that is how amazing Jesus Christ is. He can take the dirtiest thing, he can take something that we thought was going to go horribly, and turn it into something great. They ran out of wine at a wedding and Jesus‘ mother came to him for help, she didn’t know what he was going to do, but she trusted him and he turned water into choice wine. He did this even though he said his time hadn’t come yet.
I know there have been a lot of times in my life where I’ve run out of things (patience, time, sanity) and I’ve had to trust in Jesus and he’s always provided in his perfect timing. With this miraculous sign that Jesus performed, he revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. Has there been a time in your life where Jesus Christ revealed his glory? A time where you thought it was only going to go downhill, or you were about to give up, and Jesus performed a miraculous sign in your life? Or a time where Jesus helped you with a situation that you didn’t think that you would ever recover from?
John Ch 2 Bible Study. Part 1
1. Why was Jesus at a wedding?
2. why did Mary tell Jesus that they ran out of wine?
3. What did Jesus tell the servants to put water in?
4. What kind of wine did Jesus turn the water into?
5. Based on what I discussed in this bible study, why do you think that Jesus performed this miraculous sign when he said his time hadn’t come yet?
6. After Jesus performed this miraculous sign, what did his disciples do?
7. Has there been a time in your life where Jesus Christ revealed his glory?
I know there have been several occasions in my life, I’ve talked about different situations on past blogs and podcast episodes, where I just depressed or I was in really bad situations and Jesus always saw me through that and revealed his glory to me. That’s exactly what he did here with changing the water to wine. I know that thinking of all of the miraculous signs that he could do, you might be wondering why was changing water to wine his first miraculous sign? But he showed his glory here and his disciples put their faith in him, and he came through for his mother Mary. Jesus will always come through for you too in your life. You just have to put your trust in him and know that he’s got you, and whatever he decides to do is going to be the best possible thing. When you put things in Jesus’ hands, there is no way that it can end badly. He is almighty, he’s great, he’s the way the truth, and the life, and we can have peace knowing he’s in complete control.
I’m going to say a quick prayer for you before I let you go... Lord, I pray that you are with every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up their heart, their mind, their eyes, their ears, and their spirit to you Lord and that they know that they can put their complete trust in you and that you will come through for them. And that when they put things in your hands, there is no way that it could go bad. I pray that every single person reading this right now can see how amazing you are and that they have the knowledge and understanding to know the truth of your words and the truth of your mercy, grace, love, and that they seek you in every single thing that they do. I love you so much, Lord. In your name, Amen.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, business, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.
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Holy Bible. New International Version (NIV