One of the first striking things in this passage is Mary's assertiveness. She requested a miracle, "They have no wine."(vs. 3) She desired to see her son do something amazing. Even after Jesus negative response she insisted, "Do whatever he tells you."(Vs. 5) Christ reaction to her can be puzzling. At first glance it appears he refuses the request, but he then proceeds to miraculously turn the water into wine.
We can understand Mary's request, and Christ reaction more if we look to another similar passage. In John 7 the Lord's brothers urged him to go to the Feast of booths. They said, "For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world". Christ response to his brothers, "I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come" was similar to what he said to Mary in our passage. The brother's motivation was clear: they wanted to see Jesus prove himself. Perhaps this was part of Mary's idea as well. She had been told great things about her son from before he was even born. She likely knew he had begun to gather followers. Now she wanted Jesus to reveal himself to everyone at the wedding.
Jesus had another purpose in mind however. He did the miracle, but likely not in the way Mary expected him to. It was not time for Jesus to reveal himself to a multitude of people. That time was coming but not yet. Christ could have made this occasion very public like the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus did not desire to attract to himself a multitude of people who followed him not because they believed in him but because they had drank and enjoyed the wine (like John 6:26). The size of the miracle itself was massive. Six jars carrying twenty or thirty gallons each is a whole lot of wine. Yet Christ purposely limited those who knew about the miracle. The master of the feast did not know (vs. 9). The bridegroom who got the credit for the good wine (Vs. 10) may not have known himself where it came from. For all we know the only ones who knew about the miracle that day were Mary, Christ's disciples, and the servants.
In this passage Jesus did not act as expected. God often does not act in the way people expect. He doesn't even act in the way people who love him (like Mary) would expect. We see this repeatedly in Scripture, and this is for his glory. This is why the Lord stripped Gideon's army down to three hundred men ( Judges 7). This is why Jesus himself would later thank the Father “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children." God's wisdom is unsearchable. At times he seems to do less than we would expect from him,and yet he does abundantly more than we ask or think.
Jesus purpose at the wedding at Cana was not for the the multitude it was for the disciples. "This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him." (vs. 11) He had told them they would see greater things (Jn 1:50), and now he was beginning to show them. His purpose at that time was not that he would be known by everyone, but that he would be known more by a few. The time for the multitude would come. Surely the time has come for Christ to be revealed to the whole world, and him revealing himself to his disciples was necessary for that to take place. It was to the disciples that the great commission was given. Their ministry and their writing would change the world. But first they had to see his glory themselves.
Let us remember this passage when we don't understand God's purposes. When we don't know why God is doing or not doing something. God may be calling us to know him more. His purpose could be, as it was for the disciples, that we would believe in him and see his Glory.
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:8
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