John 2:11

Posted by DJL on Jan 20, 2015 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Just one more word on this first public event in Jesus’ ministry. Notice that when John describes Jesus’ act of turning water into wine he doesn’t describe it as a miracle. We usually do, talking about Jesus’ miraculous activities in John’s Gospel – which as we’ll see include feeding a multitude and even raising someone from the dead – as, well, miracles. And that makes a certain sense. But it’s not the word John uses, and that makes sense as well.

John calls these kinds of events, not miracles, but “signs.” Why? Because for John the point isn’t that Jesus turns water into wine or feeds thousands or whatever. John isn’t, finally, all that interested in the question of whether Jesus can defy the laws of nature. Rather, he’s intensely interested in whether or not we sense God’s presence in these events and, even more, see in them confirmation of Jesus’ unique role to represent God on earth.

Jesus, according to John, and as we saw in the Prologue, is the one who makes the unknowable God knowable. Jesus is, particularly in this Gospel, the Revealer, the one who is close to the Father and makes God known (1:18).

That’s why these things Jesus does are important – not as manifestations of supernatural power (indeed, we’ll see that Jesus in this gospel redefines power altogether) – but rather because they reveal who God is for us. In this story, then, we see that God is the God of abundance, the one who brings blessing of out curse, abundance out of scarcity, joy out of sorrow and, eventually, life out of death.

Prayer: Dear God, as we read John’s story of Jesus, let us come to know you better and trust you more. In Jesus’ name, Amen.