Water into wine

God’s Glory: Jesus

Jesus’ first miracle

In this passage we see Jesus perform his first miracle referred to by John as ‘a miraculous sign, revealing his Glory’.

Icebreaker: Has God ever performed a miracle in your life? If so what type of miracle was it, and how did it impress you?

Read John 2:1-12 together.

Vv.1-3

Q: What type of event was Jesus attending and who was he with?

Q: So, what type of wedding do you think it was?

Q: What was the problem Jesus’ mother asked him to address?

Q: What does the fact that wine was the issue tell you about God’s view of enjoyment?

Vv.4-5

Q: Was Jesus being disrespectful to his mother when he said “woman”?

Note: He could have referred to her as ‘Mother’, but as a man in his thirties he had left that relationship behind. It was not disrespectful to refer to a woman in this way – the closest in English would be ‘lady’ perhaps

Q: What did Jesus mean when He said, “my time has not yet come”?

Note: Jesus’ hour had not yet come to reveal Himself publicly. He did do the miracle as His mother wanted, but He did not show the public that it was He who did the miracle. The headwaiter, and hence the bridegroom and guests, did not know that Jesus was the one who supplied the wine or how it was supplied. Only the servants knew, and it is apparent they weren’t talking. Jesus came as a servant. His goal wasn’t to be noticed. He came with a purpose.

Vv. 6-7.

Q: Why would there be stone water jars in the building? Why would they be empty at this stage?

Note: They were likely used for the wedding guests to purify themselves before taking the food. They even had a saying, “he who uses much water in washing will gain much wealth in the world”. The containers held a total of about 120-180 gallons of water! That is a lot of water. It likely points to the fact that there were a lot of wedding guests.

Q: Would you have used such jars? What does it tell you that Jesus used ‘ordinary’ things like Jars and Water to perform his miracle?

Vv 8-10

Q: What do you think the servants thought of what they were being asked to do?

Q: What can we learn as disciples of Jesus from the way the servants responded?

Q: Why would the better wine normally be served first?

Q: What, if anything, did it indicate that the better wine was served last in this case?

Note: Jesus supplies the absolute best. In an instant He could create wine far tastier than the best (for a wedding) that man could make. Notice that the headwaiter is surprised because it is recognizably better than the other wine. And he didn’t know it came from Christ. Therefore, if someone is truly objective they will recognize that the things from God are better. Because he didn’t know it came from Christ it shows even more clearly that the wine Jesus made was better than the other.

Vv. 11-12

Q: Why do you think John chose to record this miracle when there were so many to choose from?

Q: Does this miracle have any special significance?

Q: What was the result of the miracle?

Note: John calls the miracles “signs”. He records them to show who Jesus is, not just for the sake of telling us about a miracle. They were signs which show us that Jesus is the Messiah. before. Rather their fledgling faith was confirmed and validated.

Q: What does this show us about Jesus and His character?

Q: What does this reveal about His relationship to His mother?

Q: What did he do after the performing this miracle? Why do you think he did that?

At the end of the study you could think about what aspects of Jesus’ character are revealed as a result..

Prayer: Besides praying for one another – it might be worth praying about the aspects of Christ’s character that have been revealed in the study, that they might be more real to us.