John 2
People in this chapter
John gives the wedding at Cana the place of honour: it is the beginning of miracles (v. 11), the first of the signs by which, all through this Gospel, Jesus will manifest His glory. The scene is ordinary and warm - a village wedding, His mother present, Jesus and His disciples among the guests - and into it falls a quiet disaster: they wanted wine. To run out of wine at a wedding was no small thing; it meant shame for the host and a feast cut short.
Mary brings the need to her Son without spelling out a demand: They have no wine (v. 3). His answer sounds, at first hearing, like a refusal - Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come - yet she turns to the servants with perfect confidence and gives the instruction that the whole Gospel turns on: Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it (v. 5).
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
John 2:1-11This Beginning of Miracles
1And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 5His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
John begins with an ordinary village wedding. Jesus is there with His mother and His new disciples. Such feasts could last for days, so running out of wine would bring public shame on the household. Mary notices the need and tells Jesus, They have no wine (v. 3). She does not direct Him or name a solution. She places the need before her Son and trusts Him with it. His first sign begins inside a small human crisis that others might have overlooked.
Jesus' reply sounds sharp to modern ears, but Woman was a respectful form of address. He uses the same word from the cross when He places Mary in the beloved disciple's care (John 19:26). The phrase what have I to do with thee marks a difference between her concern and His calling. In John, my hour points toward the appointed time of Jesus' suffering and glory. His actions follow the Father's timing. Mary does not argue. Her next words show that she still trusts Him to act.
Mary tells the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it (v. 5). She does not know what Jesus will do or how He will do it. She simply trusts Him and prepares others to obey, even if His command sounds strange. Soon they will fill huge jars with water when the feast needs wine. Her words give a clear picture of faith: obey Christ before you can see where His direction will lead, because you trust who He is.
6And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. 7Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 9When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 10And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. 11This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
Jesus uses six large stone jars kept for ceremonial washing, not ordinary wine jars. Together they may have held roughly 120 to 180 gallons. He tells the servants to fill them with water and carry some to the governor of the feast (vv. 7-8). They obey exactly, filling the jars up to the brim. The water becomes wine in astonishing abundance. The servants know where it came from because they followed Jesus' command before they understood what He was doing.
The governor of the feast was responsible for the food and drink. He tastes the wine without knowing its source, then calls the bridegroom in surprise. Hosts normally served their best wine first and brought out the lesser wine later. Here, the best has come last: thou hast kept the good wine until now (v. 10). His words carry more meaning than he knows. Jesus has answered a shortage with abundance and brought the finest gift at the appointed time.
John explains the event in verse 11. It is the beginning of Jesus' signs, the first in a series that reveals who He is. It manifested forth his glory, making His power and character visible. And it led His disciples to believe on him. A sign points beyond itself. The wine matters, but John wants us to see the Person who provided it. The disciples saw more of Jesus' glory and placed deeper trust in Him.
John 2:12He Went Down to Capernaum
12After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.
Verse 12 quietly moves the story toward Jerusalem. Jesus goes down to Capernaum because the town lies beside the Sea of Galilee, below Cana in the hills. Capernaum will become a center of His Galilean ministry. For now, His mother, brothers, and disciples travel together and remain there only a few days. The brief stop joins the joy of the wedding to the coming confrontation in the temple.
John 2:13-25Destroy This Temple
13And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 16And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 17And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
At Passover, Jerusalem filled with pilgrims who needed animals for sacrifice and accepted coins for temple payments. Selling animals and exchanging money served a real need. Yet the trade had taken over the temple courts. A place meant for prayer and worship had become a noisy market where devotion and profit were mixed together. Jesus comes to keep the feast and finds His Father's house crowded by commerce. His response is deliberate and public.
Jesus makes a whip from small cords, drives out the animals and merchants, scatters the money, and overturns the tables (v. 15). The action is physical, public, and unmistakable. He tells the sellers of doves, whose birds were the offering available to the poor, Take these things hence. Then He names the offense: make not my Father's house an house of merchandise (v. 16). By calling the temple my Father's house, Jesus also makes a striking claim about His relationship to God and His authority there.
The disciples remember Psalm 69:9: The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up (v. 17). The psalm describes a sufferer consumed by devotion to God's house and bearing reproach for it. That Scripture helps them understand Jesus' actions. His response is deeper than sudden anger. Zeal is a burning commitment to God's honor, and eaten me up shows how fully it claims Him. Because Psalm 69 is also a song of suffering, their memory hints that this devotion will cost Jesus dearly.
18Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21But he spake of the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
The authorities challenge Jesus' right to clear the temple: What sign shewest thou unto us? (v. 18). He answers, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (v. 19). They think He means the building, which had been under construction for forty-six years. Their response makes sense, but they are hearing the wrong temple. Jesus will not perform a wonder on demand. He points instead to the decisive sign of His authority, speaking in advance about His death and resurrection.
John explains that Jesus spoke about the temple of his body (v. 21). The temple was the place of God's presence among His people, the meeting place of heaven and earth, and the place of sacrifice. Jesus draws that meaning into Himself. His words give John's first clear promise of His death and resurrection: His body will be destroyed and raised on the third day. The disciples do not understand at first. After He rises, they remember His words and believe both the Scripture and what Jesus had said (v. 22).
23Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
Many people in Jerusalem believe in Jesus after seeing His miracles (v. 23), but John adds a warning. Jesus does not commit himself unto them, because He knows what is in every person (vv. 24-25). Their faith rests on spectacle and may be shallow. The same word family lies behind their belief and Jesus' refusal to entrust Himself to them. He sees what their faith rests on. That is both comfort and warning: Christ knows us truly, and outward excitement cannot hide the real condition of the heart.
Where this echoes in Scripture
This Beginning of Miracles
- John 1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.The glory declared in the prologue is the glory now manifested at Cana (v. 11).
- Isaiah 25:6And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees.The prophets pictured God's salvation as a feast of abundant wine - the gladness that breaks out at Cana.
- John 15:14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.The pattern of verse 5 - the friend of Christ is the one who does whatsoever He says.
- Psalm 104:14-15that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man.Wine as God's gift of gladness - the gift poured out in abundance at the wedding.
- Matthew 22:2The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son.The kingdom likened to a wedding feast - the joy whose firstfruits appear at Cana.
He Went Down to Capernaum
- Matthew 4:13And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast.Capernaum, the lakeside town of verse 12, became the centre of Jesus' Galilean ministry.
- John 7:5For neither did his brethren believe in him.The brethren who travel with Him here (v. 12) did not yet believe - a quiet note John will return to.
- Mark 2:1And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.The town Jesus repeatedly returns to - the base named in passing here.
Destroy This Temple
- Psalm 69:9For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.The Scripture the disciples remembered (v. 17) - a consuming jealousy for God's house, fulfilled in Christ.
- Colossians 2:9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.Why His body is the true temple (v. 21) - the fulness of God dwelling in Him.
- John 10:17-18I lay down my life, that I might take it again... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.The death and resurrection foretold in verse 19 - the temple of His body torn down and raised.
- Jeremiah 17:10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways.The searching knowledge of the heart (v. 25) that Scripture ascribes to God - here, Jesus' own.
- 1 Corinthians 3:16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?The temple language of verse 21 carried forward - the true temple is the risen Christ, and His people in Him.