Jesus Goes Public

John 2

Even with John the Baptist’s hype, Jesus kept a low profile—until He attended a wedding in Cana with His mother, Mary, and His disciples.

Hospitality was an essential part of first-century Jewish culture. The more lavishly a person entertained, the greater his social standing grew. Weddings were the ultimate test of a person’s hospitality. So it wasn’t unusual for wedding celebrations to last for days, with food and wine flowing all the while.

Running out of wine in the middle of a wedding celebration was a worst-case scenario. But that’s what happened at the wedding Jesus attended. Mary realized that the host would face public humiliation and shame if word got out. So she asked Jesus to intervene.

Jesus was reluctant at first. “My time has not yet come,” He told her (verse 4 NLT). He had not yet performed a public miracle. He knew that when word got out about His miracle-working, crowds would follow. And people would be less likely to focus on His teachings if they were just waiting for the next “wow” moment.

Considering that Jesus hadn’t yet performed any public miracles, it’s interesting that Mary believed He could do something in that situation. She’s the first person in John’s Gospel to put her faith in Jesus. “Do whatever He tells you,” she told the host’s servants.

Jesus rewarded her faith. He instructed the servants to fill six water jars, each with a capacity of 20 to 30 gallons, with water. When the servants dipped into the jars, they found that it was wine of the highest quality.

That may have been the first clue for John and the other disciples that the rabbi they were following was something more than a rabbi.

A short time later, Jesus and His disciples traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. But when Jesus entered the temple, He saw that it had become a place of business. The Jerusalem temple was the center of worship for Jewish people throughout Israel. Many traveled long distances to worship and offer sacrifices there. But rather than bringing their own animals for sacrifice with them, many purchased them from merchants inside the temple complex.

Several merchants exploited the opportunity and turned the temple complex into a marketplace. Jesus had too much reverence for God’s house of worship to allow it to be defiled like that. So He overturned tables, scattered coins across the ground, and chased the merchants out of the temple. And those—like John—who listened closely while Jesus disrupted business as usual at the temple, might have heard Him refer to the building as “my Father’s house” (verse 16).

The Jewish religious leaders demanded that Jesus perform a miracle to prove that He had authority to take such drastic action.

“‘All right,’ Jesus replied. ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’” (verse 19 NLT). The religious leaders scoffed because they didn’t realize Jesus was talking about His own body. But John and the other disciples realized it less than three years later when Jesus rose from the dead three days after being crucified.

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