“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.” John 2:1-2.

There is some confusion as to what the third day refers to, if it is the third day of the week, the first day being Sunday, and then the third day would be Tuesday.

But this may not be right because the reference could also be to the third day after the following passages.

“Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’” John 1:35-36.

Yet another following day is mentioned next.

“The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow Me.’” John 1:43.

Presumably Jesus wanted to go to Galilee because that is where the wedding was being held, so yet another day, the third day, is mentioned.

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.” John 2:1.

Add in the confusing Jewish traditions for wedding dates and what day this is, is anyone’s guess.

For instance, virgins were to be married on the fourth day of the week, while widows were to be married on the fifth day.

The reason virgins were married on the fourth day was that the Sanhedrim (in charge of judicial matters) met on the second and fifth days, meaning that if there were a dispute over the marriage, it could be taken care of the next day.

It should be added that weddings were not to fall on feast days or Sabbaths (Saturdays) either.

Because Mary was there, and Jesus and His disciples were invited, indicates that this must have been the wedding of someone in Mary’s family; giving her some sort of position of, at least, implied authority.

Attending a wedding was seen by the Jews as an act of beneficence and kindness, and as one commentator said, it was an indication of the Lord’s courteous and affable nature.

Things like this also showed His humility because He was not too good to attend the wedding of someone of low estate. My friends, God Himself is a kindly and proper gentleman.

More importantly it showed His respect and approval of marriage itself, having instituted it Himself some four thousand or so years earlier.

“Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:22-24.

Notice that the vows, so to speak, are spoken by Adam, but the commandment in the last sentence, which is specific and unmistakable, is God’s commandment.

Marriage vows are a solemn matter to God, not the pagan circus men have made it into. How you esteem marriage, how you treat it, or how you even speak of it, whether you are married or not, will have serious consequences in your own life.

One of the intentions of the gospels is to show us who Jesus is. A look past the words on a page shows us someone who is affable, courteous, and humble. It is said that actions speak louder than words, let us try to see what actions accompany the Lord’s words.

“And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.’” John 2:3-4.

Running out of wine during a wedding feast would be, as you may well agree, an embarrassment. It is probably safe to assume that Mary being related to in some way to the hosts would feel that embarrassment.

Again assuming that she was a tenderhearted woman she would want to ease this humiliation for her relatives, thus causing turmoil within her heart.

This turmoil seems to spill out in the form of a statement, “They have no wine.” You can read several different translations and find that this is not a question, or a request, but it seems to be just a statement, “They have no wine.”

So why did Jesus respond as though she had made a request? Personally, I think that He was not only listening to her words, but He was reading what was on her heart.

The gospels do record incidents where Jesus knew what was in a person’s heart. God can read your mind; He knows your every thought because He is omniscient.

The devil cannot read your mind, what goes on in there is strictly between you and God.

While Satan cannot read your mind, he can put thoughts into your mind which you will think are your own. He can read your body language or deduce by the things you have said what you are going to do and then set things up in a way to make you think that he actually did know them, it is just another of his lies.

“Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11.

Returning to Mary, it is said of her concerning all of the things she had heard and seen of her Son Jesus:

“But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19.

For some thirty years Mary watched Jesus and pondered over Him, was she wondering in her heart whether Jesus would do something about what was happening? Was Jesus, God the Son, hearing her heart as the words, “They have no wine.” spilled out?

On the surface His answer seems to be rude, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?” This term, woman seems to be a rude way of addressing His mother, but it is not the way we think of it.

In those days, in that society and language, the term woman used this way, was more one of endearment, such as if He had said, “My lady”.

As for the statement, “…what does your concern have to do with Me?” Having read several versions, the New American Standard Version seems to put it the clearest, “…what does that have to do with us?” or the Douay-Rheims, which is a Catholic translation of the Latin Vulgate, “…what is that to me and to thee?”

So the question seems to be, “My lady, how does this concern us?”

Still, this seems a peculiar question for the God of the universe to be asking, until one remembers that the Lord did not use His creative powers to satisfy Himself, only others, in healing, and feeding.

As a result, all the myths surrounding Christ’s early years are just that, myths. So His mother and His siblings never saw the miraculous worked by the Lord before He began His ministry.

The question now becomes, “My lady, how does this concern us, since it is the job of the master of the feast to provide the wine?”

Hopefully this can be clarified with an example. Let us say two years earlier, Jesus’ mother came to Him and said, “We have no money, and there is no food.” What would Jesus have done about it?

Since He did not satisfy Himself with His abilities and only did what the Father told Him to do, He did not miraculously provide food for the household, rather, being a carpenter, He would have gone out and gotten work to earn money for food.

There are two keys here, one when Mary said, “They have no wine.” Jesus legitimately told her that it was the job of the master of the feast.

The second key is why? Because, as Jesus stated, “My hour has not yet come.” Simply put, God the Father had not told Him to do something about the wine.

In a sense the Lord is drawing a line here. All of His life Jesus had been subject to His parents (though His father Joseph had apparently died by now); it says of Him when He was 12 years old.

“Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.” Luke 2:51.

When it says that He was subject to them, it means that He was obedient to them.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1.

But now it was time to obey His Father in ministry and Mary needed to understand this, miracles come at the command of God the Father, not the mother.

Jesus makes this clear when He tells her, “My hour has not yet come.” This is for the Father to commence; and in grace the Father gives Mary her desire, which she somehow understands has been granted.

“His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’” John 2:5.

That Mary could turn to the servants and tell them to do whatever Jesus told them to do, gives us an idea of her authority in that household.

“Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim.” John 2:6-7.

These six empty waterpots contained 20 or 30 gallons apiece, a total of 120 or 180 gallons of water, it was no easy task for the servants to fill them, likely from a well, yet they filled them to the brim. This is the measure of God’s blessings, to the brim, measured out the way you measure out the things God has given you.

“Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38.

“And He said to them, ‘Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.’ And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, ‘Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then that which is inferior; but you have kept the good wine until now.’” John 2:8-10.

Not only was water put into empty waterpots and only water, but the wine that came out was good wine, not watery wine, and not just a little, but up to 180 gallons, enough for the feast that could last up to seven days.

“This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” John 2:11.

This verse says that this was the beginning of Jesus’ signs, and as stated in the study on chapter one, this gospel is often called the book of the seven signs, or attesting miracles which were the Lord’s credentials verifying His title of Messiah. We will not see the second sign until we get to chapter four.

“After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.” John 2:12.

Capernaum was the Lord’s adopted home base for He often went there; still He could say the following.

“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Luke 9:58b.

The rest in Capernaum is short lived, for He soon heads to Jerusalem for the Passover.

Water to Wine taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 6-18-12, updated on 6-13-17.

Scripture taken from the New King James version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.