Page 15 - Gospel of John_teachers lesson_cp 1-10_Neat

John 2:3- And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him,
They have no wine.
John 2:4- Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine
hour is not yet come.

John 2:5- His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto
you, do it.

John 2:6- And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner
of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

John 2:7- Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they
filled them up to the brim.

Lesson Notes:

(2:3-7) – Wine is a standing symbol of life and used often for consecration and blessing. Wine is
also served for the wedding feast to celebrate the fruitfulness of the union and its expected
longevity. The more wine available to serve, adds a greater emphasis placed upon the
celebration long life. For every wedding the availability of wine will come to an end. The end of
the wine would also indicate nearing the end of the wedding feast. Based upon the reaction of
the celebrants, the wine must have been exhausted sooner than was desired or expected by
those hosting the wedding feast.

Mary attempts to engage Jesus to assist in the dilemma of the exhausted wine reserves. Her
knowledge of the insufficiency of wine indicates her personal involvement with the wedding
feast. She does not appear hesitant to suggest that her son’s abilities be used to satisfy a
secondary, un-scheduled mission. Mary informs Jesus, “they have no wine”, she infers that if
He does not respond to the insufficiency, the wedding feast will prematurely end. The
response by Replying, “what have I to do with you”, Jesus makes it clear that He has no sense of
responsibility to the event.

In time all wine on earth will run out and all celebrations of life will come to an end. The
insufficiency of wine or early termination of a wedding feast is unrelated to His purpose.
Strongly Jesus says to His mother, “my hour has not yet come” and when it does, He alone will
respond to it, because it is His, and He alone must own it.

His mother does not respond, she must know there is no argument against the truth He has
spoken. However, it does not prevent her from directing her commands to the nearby servants,
instructing them to do whatever her son may ask of them.
Jesus reacts, knowing everything He will do for them now will not last. He instructs the
servants to bring Him water pots used for ceremonial washing of the hands or utensils
especially during a meal. The six stone pots with the capacity of 2-3 firkins, present day would
hold up to 216 pints or 27 gallons of fluid. They are told to fill each pot with water, which
would indicate they were empty and set aside because like the wine their contents had also
been exhausted.

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