The Gospel of John - Outline Part 4 - Misappropriation and Submission

TITLE

John 2:1-11 – Misappropriation and Submission

EXPLANATION

Now John shows us the first of the miracles of Jesus that he records.  Jesus and His mother Mary attended a wedding at Cana.  The wine ran out at an inopportune moment during the celebrations.  In verse 3 Mary went to Jesus and asked Him to fix the situation.  This is really quite ridiculous.  Mary was treating her divine Son as if He was a common parlor magician, ready and able to perform tricks on command.  This is the same man-centered mindset she and Joseph both demonstrated in Luke 2:41-51 when Jesus was “lost” in Jerusalem.  It never occurred to her then that Jesus would be in the house of His Father.  And it apparently did not occur to her now that her Son was here for more than just miracles.

Nevertheless, in spite of the inappropriate nature of the request, Jesus demonstrated incredible submission to His human mother’s authority.  He did inform her that she was out of line in verse 4.  Yet, in the end He condescended to do what she wanted.  He transforms common water into the best tasting wine imaginable.  It was so good that the wedding guests were shocked.

In verse 11, almost as an afterthought, John mentions that this miracle was a manifestation of Jesus’s glory.  This is actually an incredibly important point to understand as one attempts to study the life of Christ.  His miracles, for all their wonderful power, for all of their tenderness and care on a human level, were never about the miracles themselves.  The supernatural displays of power that Jesus performed were always a means to an end.  That end was the unveiling of His divine glory and the authentication of His ministry. 

APPLICATION

I see two points of application in this text.  First, we must be careful not to misappropriate the things of God for our own mortal, short-sighted, purposes.  Mary had her mind on the people at the wedding rather than the Lord.  This was a mistake, and she was gently rebuked for it by her Son.  In the same way, we can very easily be guilty of focusing on the human element as we do acts of outreach, evangelism, hospitality, service, etc.  It is not that those human components are irrelevent.  There is intrinsic worth and goodness in performing acts of kindness for other people.  Yet, these actions must always be subservient to the greater purpose of the revelation of the glory of God.  Jesus masterfully took Mary’s human failure and turned it into a perfect opportunity to accomplish exactly that.

Second, to my fallen mind it is incredible that Jesus submitted to Mary here, in spite of her pathetic desire to “make use” of His power.  I think the human tendency, when confronted with an inappropriate request like this, is to focus on the unsuitability of the request rather than the opportunity to be kind and gentle, or in this case, submit to the authority of another.  Jesus’s interaction with His mother in these verses gives us a splendid example of willing submission.