More Than Meets The Eye

Jesus’ first miracle was to change water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. Shortly afterwards, in Jerusalem, He chased moneychangers from the temple, along with cattle, sheep and doves, which were there for the convenience of buyers intending to make sacrifices. One might ask whether these two familiar stories in the Bible were simply to describe what Jesus did because He believed what He was doing was right, or if there was a principle involved? Actually, the two stories are very much related.

There were many guests at the wedding feast, including Jesus, His mother and His disciples. During the feast, the wine was depleted and in that culture it would have been a disgrace for the host, to have invited guests to the wedding and then be unable to serve them wine. Jesus’ mother asked Him if He could do something to correct the situation. When He replied, “Woman, what has this to do with me?” she took His reply as a “Yes.” He provided the wine and also used the situation as an object lesson.

Close by were six very large, empty earthenware containers used for “cleansing ceremonies,” a part of many rules and rituals considered necessary. He asked His disciples to fill them to the brim with water. He had one of His disciples take a carafe of new wine from one of the containers to the host so he could taste it. The host’s reaction was that it was the finest of wines and that it was exceptional to reserve the very best wine to the last rather than to serve it at the beginning of the celebration. Usually, the best wine would be served first, until depleted, and then the poorest wine would be served because the drunken guests would not know the difference.

Most people, upon reading this story of Jesus’ first miracle, which He performed at the wedding of Cana, would think, ‘wasn’t it wonderful, that Jesus used His power to change water into wine.’ However, He used this as an opportunity to show everyone that the Old Covenant of abiding by a set of rules for spiritual cleansing was to be replaced by the New Covenant, which rests on the blood of our Saviour being the cleansing agent. The clean, empty vessels represented His body and the new wine, His blood. He would also save the host from disgrace. His ‘blood’ would cover the difficult situation.


A church piper playing at a communion service might remember this miracle and choose for his hymn, “Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus.”

With His first miracle, which He performed at the Wedding of Cana, Jesus not only changed water into wine for the sake of replenishing the supply of wine and to save His host from the embarrassment of not being able to serve his guests. He also presented a very significant lesson to those who were able to understand the symbolism.

He, His mother and His disciples had been invited to the wedding. It would have been a disgrace to their host to have invited them and others and not show them proper respect by allowing the wine to become depleted. When Mary realized the supply had been exhausted, she appealed to Jesus, asking Him if He could do anything to rectify the situation. His response beginning with, “What has this to do with Me?” was respectful and Mary accepted His reply as if He had said, “Yes,” then turned to the servants, asking them to do whatever Jesus requested.

John, our narrator, one of the disciples present, tells us the story first-hand, and did not neglect to include such details as the description of the six earthenware jars. He noted they were “ceremonial jars” and could hold an abundance of water. Their purpose was to purify the Jews as they commenced their religious ceremonies. Jesus asked the disciples to fill the jars to the brim and then deliver a container of that water made into wine to the governor of the feast. He tested it and declared it better than that which had already been served. He complimented the bridegroom on having saved the better wine until the last, which he said was a different method of serving wine. Usually, the poorer wine was served after all had enough to make them less able to judge the quality.

The significance of this first miracle is the dramatization of The New Covenant or Promise. John saw a notable sign by the use of ceremonial jars, in that Jesus was demonstrating a significant principle. He was ushering in a new day in which the ritual covenant of washing for purification was going to be replaced by a New Covenant, the cleansing from sin by His own blood.

The problem with the Old Covenant was that no one could ever keep all of its conditions, and would always be reminded of sins committed and the need to be cleansed from them before beginning a religious ceremony. The New Covenant being introduced would involve ‘washing in the blood of Jesus,’ and it signified that we are to bring nothing as a sacrifice for our sins because the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from them completely. There is also the significance that the best was reserved for the last. Being washed in the blood of Jesus, far surpassed the constant purification according to rules.

The other story, the one about Jesus clearing the temple was told as if it happened immediately after the miracle at Cana. It may not have occurred in that order, but its significance caused John to write about it as if it did. Jesus scattered the moneychangers and their money, including doves, sheep and cattle that were located in the courtyard of the temple. They were there by the authority of the high priest, Caiaphas, and were for the convenience of those who planned to make sacrifices. At the sight, Jesus reacted suddenly with indignation. Flailing a rope, He cried out, “Stop turning my Father’s house into a market.” People asked who gave Him authority to chase out those involved and His reply was that if they destroyed this temple, He would restore it in three days. He was referring to His own body as the temple although the people didn’t understand.

Once again, He was making an important statement. Only a short time before, He made a significant statement by turning water into wine to indicate that it would be His blood that would henceforth be the means by which sins would be forgiven. He was not as much concerned about what people thought about cleansing the temple, as He was about the statement He was making. They would no longer need to make sacrifices as payment for their sins, because He would become the Lamb of God, to be sacrificed. His life would be sufficient payment for all people, forever, and would eliminate the need for a sacrificial lamb, calf or a dove. These two stories when combined, tell the complete story. The blood of Jesus is a sacrifice all sufficient to wash away our sins, when personally accepted.

Nobody tried to constrain Jesus when He exclaimed, “How dare you turn My Father’s house into a market.” The synagogue was a magnificent building and God had decreed that His glory would be sustained there. All would have recognized the temple’s magnificence, and Jesus’ rightful indignation, though they would not have liked to see the doves go fluttering away and the animals being chased from the temple. Instead of constraining Him, they demanded a sign of His authority. If He couldn’t answer their question, they would declare Him an imposter. He would not conform to their question, but would set His own standard for them to understand that His authority was given to Him by God.

The statements Jesus made were a prophetic claim. He was dealing with the situation that religion had become rotten. People should have been able to come to the temple to worship in a spirit of holiness. Instead, their situation had become corrupt. He was everything the temple was supposed to be and people didn’t realize they actually had a Saviour, the One who could enable them to come before God with no restrictions.

His response was to say, if they were to destroy this “temple,” He would raise it up again in three days. Unwittingly, by crucifixion, they did destroy that “temple,” which was His body. In three days, He restored it. The similarly is to Jonah being freed from the belly of the whale in three days; a Biblical story prophetic of Jesus’ resurrection. The whole of Christianity stands on the claim that Jesus arose after three days from having been crucified. His body was restored and it was not a false claim. Only God has mastery over death. This places Jesus at the beginning of John’s book of the Bible, which states, “In the beginning, was the Word.” “The Word was God.” There are not enough books in the world to adequately embrace our trust in Jesus. Embracing these two stories and their significant statements is sufficient to cause us to think of God’s plan, a promise to cleanse us from all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus, who gave His life as the sacrifice for our sins. John, who was one of Jesus’ disciples, was there for both of these actions about which he wrote, and he told it as he saw them. We have every reason to believe him and to praise Jesus for absolving us from sin, to be clean vessels ourselves, able to come before God in prayer with confidence that our praises will be heard.