March 13, 2016: Day 70 – John 2

I use Jesus’ first miracle every single time that I do premarital counseling.  Turning water to wine at a wedding is a wonderful symbol of Jesus wanting the celebration of a marriage to continue and not allow it to stop.  I know it may be a bit of a stretch, but there is some real affinity to Jesus knowing that the party would end, and thus bring shame upon the couple, and wanting it to continue, and thus bringing them praise.  But there was also another lesson in this miracle.  If you notice how vs. 11 describes this miracle you will see a theme that will continue throughout the book of John.  John calls this first miracle a “sign”.  If you look later in the chapter you will see in vs.23 that many believed because of the “signs” that he was doing.  If you back up just a little bit you see them asking in vs. 18 for a “sign” that he was capable of doing all that he said he was able to do.  

The word “sign” in Greek is semenion.  What Jesus is wanting to portray and what John allows us to understand is that every single thing that he did on the earth was a sign pointing to His Father.  The signs that Jesus performed can also be called miracles.  The miracles of Jesus all point to who Jesus is.  Jesus was not quite ready to perform his first sign of turning water to wine, but his mom insisted and who can say no to their mom?

His next sign, which wasn’t much of a miracle but sure did leave a mark on the temple, was to drive out the money changers from the temple.  I know, if you were paying attention to the other Gospels then you would have noticed that Jesus normally drives out the money changers at the end of the Gospel and right after he rides triumphantly into Jerusalem.  This is why I’m loving John because it gives us such a different perspective than the other Gospels.