Jesus, The Supplier of our Faith; Devo, John 2:1-12

The turning of water to wine at Cana is a popular story. Many people take many details from the text to expound on them, but I think it is important to keep ourselves from saying what the text does not say. After all, we want to speak God’s explicit words and not our own. There may be some significance to the superior wine, but the text does not say. There may be some significance to the fact that Jesus used water meant for purification, but the text does not say. There may be the common Mother’s Day application—showing how Jesus honored His mother even though it was not His time, but the text does not go in that direction. When we truly believe in the sufficiency of Scripture, it shows in how we approach and talk about the biblical stories. Instead of all this, John tells us his point explicitly—and I rarely hear the actual point of the text when the text is presented.

More and more, I am unsatisfied when the sermon misses the actual point of the text in favor of the point the preacher wants to make. In verse 11, John gives us the only point of this story. This was the first of Jesus’s signs. It manifested His glory. His disciples believed in Him.

Jesus might have been honoring His mother’s request, but the sign was performed explicitly and primarily for the disciple’s sake. Jesus might have intentionally used purification water, but that detail doesn’t matter. If it did matter, I think God would have thought to say it explicitly to us. It’s background at best, and we shouldn’t make it our main point because it is not the Bible’s main point. It was not yet Jesus’s time to start His public signs. So, He did this sign privately for His disciples only—for the sake of their belief in Him as their Messiah.

For the sake of “winning the lost” or advancing our own ministries, we often neglect building the faith of those already present with us. We are more about building than serving. Jesus’s ways are better. He serves His people and increases their faith. Then, at the appropriate time, builds His kingdom out. He does not neglect the faith of those already with Him to gain more followers. Neither should we, even though that is the temptation because we tend to idolize growth. I thank God that He takes the time to increase my faith, that Jesus actually has communion with His people. I thank God that the kingdom of heaven is not merely about growth but about Christ abiding with His people in the faith He so graciously provides.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him. When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days (John 2:1-12).