I think that for those who have read through any of the Gospels, we can say that Jesus is known for doing things that were both out of the norm and caused people to talk. Never because it was bad, but because Jesus challenged preconceived notions that were common during his day.
As we go through chapter 2 of the Gospel of John, we’re specifically going to look at two situations that Jesus finds himself in. In both situations, Jesus shows us something about himself: that he is the God who cares about his people and the things they care about; and that he is the God who will not tolerate abuse being done in his name.
Making Water into Wine John 2:1-12
The scene opens with Jesus and his disciples attending a wedding in Cana. As we read. We also see that Mary (Jesus’ mother) is also prsent. Mary’s presence is indicative that this was probably a family wedding, with Mary being a relative of either the bride or groom. Based on the culture of the day – weddings were normally paid for and hosted by the groom – Mary is likely a relative of the groom, and since Jesus showed up with extra people, he obviously knows the groom as well. At least I would hope so.
Long story short, someone didn’t order enough wine. This is a hospitality issues – you need to be able to provide drunks and food for all the guests, and traditional, at a wedding the best wine would have been veought out first with the cheaper wine coming out as people were getting schockered.
This is obviously a problem.
Mary decides that she is going to tackle the problem and brings it to her son, aka Jesus. This is completely reasonable given that Mary knows that Jesus is the Son of God. She brought her concerns to God.
Initially, Jesus gets a touch of sass asking how this was his problem (my paraphrase), and Mary, in an act of absolute faith just tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them.
And Jesus makes wine from water.
Why does this matter?
1. Jesus didn’t have to. But he listened to the concerns of someone who acted in faith.
2. Jesus told Mary it wasn’t his time yet. He adjusts his time line to respond to Mary’s faith. This doesn’t mean that the character of God changes, but it does mean that God will adjust in response to the prayers and faith of his children.
Jesus Flips Tables John 2:13ff
As we move into this newest situation that Jesus finds himself in there are a few things we need to keep in mind.
A. John is a book of theology. His purpose is to show how Jesus is God, and the general goal of the book is moving Jesus in the direction of the cross.
B. John specifically records situations of Jesus that point to how he subtle fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
The situations begins with Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. Animals are being sold and there are money changers. Neither of these things is bad, as they are a purely practical part of worship. A brief history lesson: after the Babylonia captivity, although many Hebrews returned to Israel there were still many that remained nine Persia or that immigrated to others areas. Those that were devote and continued to practice Judaism would have traveled to Jerusalen at least once in their lifetime to offer sacrifices and participate in the different festivals. Because they would have traveled from other countries they would have had different money and they would have had different trades that would not have been condusive to raising animals. There were laws that accounted for this such as like in Luke 2:24 – Mary and Joseph offered doves in place of a sheep when Jesus was dedicated to the temple as the first born son. Mote information about offerings can be found by going through the book of Leviticus.
The problem here was not that there were olmoney changers. It was not that animals were being sold. The problem was that the exchanges were not accurate – someone was giving them less than what was being presented. The othernproblem was that the animals clearly didn’t meet the requirements to be sacrifices, which in turn was causing people to be in sin without their knowledge. (Yes, this does happen and there are laws in place – read through Exodus and Leviticus).
In holy anger, Jesus flips tables and chases the people out. They were sinning and were causing others to sin. It was a form of abuse, since the people behind it would have been the high priestly family. Jesus is self assured in who he is; he tells them that he’ll tear the temple down and rebuild it in 3 days. He acts in the authority he has. Even when he is questioned, he doesn’t budge on treating the Temple as a holy place, and he doesn’t budge on stopping the abuse that is happening to the people who are trusting those in authority to help them present appropriate sacrifices.
Discussion Questions
- What does Jesus’ response to Mary day about the mind of God?
- Do we come to God with the small things, the things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things?
- Why do we feel comfortable coming to God with the big things but not the seemingly trivial?
- Why did the temple officials allow the abuse of the people?
- Have you seen abuses happening in your church? How did you respond?
Road Trippin With Rachael 
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