The Wedding at Cana
Jesus illustrated his identity and work through the...
Jesus illustrated his identity and work through the institutions and festivals of Judaism (see 2:1; 5:1).
In this section, Jesus appeared at two symbolic...
In this section, Jesus appeared at two symbolic Jewish ceremonies. At a wedding in Cana (2:1–12), he replaced the ritual cleansing water with his own superior wine. Later, around Passover, he cleansed the Temple (2:13–25).
1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”
4“Woman, what is that to you and to Me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”
6Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons.† 7Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim.
8“Now draw some out,” He said, “and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so,
The master of ceremonies cited a proverb. The...
The master of ceremonies cited a proverb. The best wine was always served first when palates were most sensitive; yet this miraculous wine, served last, was the very best. Good wine symbolized God’s blessing (Amos 9:13–14). The Messiah, God’s greatest blessing, had arrived at last.
9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, “Everyone serves the fine wine first, and then the cheap wine after the guests are drunk. But you have saved the fine wine until now!”
11Jesus performed this, the first of His signs, at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
(Matthew 21:12–17; Mark 11:15–19; Luke 19:45–48)
12After this, He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples, and they stayed there a few days.
13When the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Those who came for Passover needed to have...
- Those who came for Passover needed to have approved sacrifices for worship. From this need grew a considerable industry for selling animals and exchanging money, but this business was being conducted in the Temple. Jesus, like a prophet, demanded that God’s house be returned to its intended uses—worship, prayer, instruction, and sacrifice. This put Jesus at odds with the Temple leadership.
- The synoptic Gospels place the clearing of the Temple near the end of Jesus’ ministry (Matt 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46). John might have placed his account of the event here to emphasize a connection with the miracle that transformed the water in purification jars into wine (John 2:1–11). The Temple and the stone jars were both instruments of purification in Judaism. Stone jars filled with water for ritual washing now contained Jesus’ wine, and a stone Temple dedicated to sacrificial purification would be replaced by Christ himself (2:19–21). Another view is that Jesus cleared the Temple at the beginning and again at the end of his ministry.
14In the temple courts† He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables. 15So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace!”
17His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”†
18On account of this, the Jews demanded, “What sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do these things?”
Destroy this temple: Herod the Great began reconstructing...
Destroy this temple: Herod the Great began reconstructing the Temple’s magnificent structure in 20 BC, and work on it continued until AD 64. This explains why Jesus’ audience was amazed when he claimed he could destroy and rebuild it in a few days. However, Jesus spoke figuratively of his own body as the temple where God was present (see 1:14, 51)—his body was destroyed and restored in three days through the resurrection, rendering the Jerusalem Temple and its services obsolete. Later, at his trial, Jesus’ symbolic reference to destroying the Temple was used as evidence of blasphemy (Mark 14:58).
19Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
20“This temple took forty-six years to build,” the Jews replied, “and You are going to raise it up in three days?”
21But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body. 22After He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
23While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the signs He was doing and believed in His name. 24But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew them all. 25He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.