During the season of Epiphany, which begins on January 6th and generally runs until the beginning of Lent, the readings from Scripture are focused on the theme of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ being revealed. In John 2:1-11, we have the record of Christ miraculously changing water into wine at a marriage celebration in Cana. Jesus came to this wedding with His disciples and His mother. The hosts of the wedding had miscalculated the amount of wine needed for this wedding and the wine ran out before the wedding celebration was over. This would have been incredibly embarrassing for the family hosting this important party! So, out of compassion, Jesus’ mother appeals to her Son by telling Him that the hosts had no more wine. Mary then tells the servants at the banquet in John 2:5, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Mary is saying that whatever Jesus tells them to do, they should follow it.
In the giving of these instructions to the servants, we are shown a wonderful picture of being a disciple of Jesus. We are to do, follow, and obey whatever our Lord tells us to do. It is interesting to note that as this miracle is worked by our Lord, very few people at the wedding realized or recognized what had happened. John 2:9 states that while the servants knew that Jesus had turned water into wine, the head waiter did not know what had happened. The concluding verse in this passage gives us the purpose of this miracle, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”
This is the first of the Christ’s miracles recorded in John’s Gospel. The purpose of this sign was to manifest Christ’s glory, and His disciples believed in Him. The signs and miracles reveal Christ’s glory, that is His identity as the divine Son of God. John has testified to Christ’s identity in John 1:1,14 as being with God the Father and being God. This same One, who was with God and was God, entered humanity. John in John 1:14 says about Jesus who is both God and man that, “we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The signs that Jesus worked revealed His divine glory. The purpose is the same for us as it was for the disciples, that we might believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and that we will have life by believing in His Name (John 20:31).