The Wedding at Cana

by Mrs. Thelma Jenkins


Although I told you about the wonderful miracle that the Lord Jesus performed when He stilled the storm on Galilee, that was not His first miracle. The first miracle was very different indeed.

Jesus and His disciples had been invited to a wedding, in the village of Cana, near the Sea of Galilee. There were many, many guests there and they were all having a lovely time together - until, during the meal, the servants went to fetch some more wine for the people to drink and there was none left! (Everybody had to drink wine in those days because they did not have tea, or coffee, or any of the things we have. The water was not pure enough to drink, as we drink it, so the people drank wine, which was the juice of the grapes). Imagine how the father and mother of the bride would feel. Perhaps they were not very rich, or there may have been many more guests than they expected. How ashamed they would feel to have to say "We haven't anything left for you to drink".

Someone was at the wedding whom you have heard about before - Mary the Mother of Jesus - and the servants must have told her, because she came up to the Lord Jesus and quietly said to Him (so that no one else could hear) "They haven't any wine left". I don't know what she thought He would do, but she was quite used to telling Him her problems. Jesus did not tell her what He would do, but she knew He would think of something. She just said to the servants, "Whatever He tells you to do, you do it."

Just outside the door were six very large pots, which were used for storing water for washing, but now they were empty. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill those pots right up to the top with water". When they had done this, He said to them, "Now take out a jugful and give it to the most important man at the wedding for him to drink!" Well, it would take a lot of courage for them to do that. They knew they would get into dreadful trouble if they gave the most important man only washing water to drink. Yet, the Lord Jesus had told them to do it. As they looked into His face, and listened to Him speaking, somehow they knew they must obey Him and it would be all right. Yet how could it be all right? They knew there was only water in the pots. Perhaps they remembered what Mary had said, "Whatever He tells you to do, you do it".

The servants filled some smaller jugs from the large pots and took one to the most important man at the wedding and, as they poured out , they could see that it was wine and not water any more. When this man had drunk the wine he called the bridegroom and said, "Most people give the best wine at the beginning and keep the not very good wine until last. But this is wonderful - you have kept the very best wine until the end!" Yet we know, and the servants knew, that only water went into those pots!

The Bible tells us that this was the very first miracle that Jesus ever did. (There are some people who make up stories about miracles that Jesus did as a child, but we know those are not true, because the Bible says this was the first miracle and "The Word of the Lord is right" - Psalm 33, verse 4.)

When the Lord Jesus was in the wilderness, the devil tempted Him to turn the stones into bread, because He had not eaten for forty days and He was very hungry, but He would not do it. He knew it was not the will of God for Him to do that. Yet we can see, from this miracle, that He could have done it quite easily.

Now, at the wedding, He knew that it was the will of God the Father that he should do this first miracle. The Lord Jesus did miracles because He was kind and loving and ready to heal and to help, but that was not His first reason. His first reason was to bring glory to God His Father, and to prove to people that He was the Son of God and the Bible tells us that, from that time on, the disciples believed in Him. After all, if He said He was Someone as Special as the Son of God, you would expect Him to have power to do these things, wouldn't you?

The Bible tells us also that, at the beginning, at the creation of the world, He had made everything. He had made the grape vines, He had made the sun, He had made the rain that would make the grapes grow. When the grapes were ready, then the juice would be squeezed out to make the wine but that would take a whole year. Instead of taking a year, Jesus made it all happen in a moment - but it was to prove to His disciples and the people, that He really was Who He said He was - the Son of God.

Copyright © Family Matters 1998