Flashback Episode — A Mother’s Faith: John 2:1-12

As we continue forward in our year of podcasts looking at Jesus’ miracles, we actually step back slightly in the timeline of the gospels to the first miracle Jesus did. If you are wondering how we know this, the gospel of John records this miracle, and John also clearly states after this miracle that this was Jesus’ first miracle, or the first of Jesus’ signs.

With this as a backdrop for our episode, let’s read what happened and discover one big thing we can learn from this event. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 2, and we will be reading from the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, John tells us:

¹ On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; ² and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Let’s stop reading here, because what John has just told us about Mary is amazing. Next week, we’ll finish looking at the rest of this miracle, but with what has just happened, I don’t want us to miss this powerful theme that we can see in what Mary just said. But before we get to why this is powerful and amazing, let’s read verse 11, which I alluded to at the start of this episode to give us a little additional context for what we will discover. In verse 11, after the miracle had happened, John tells us that:

¹¹ This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

In this event, and especially in Mary’s declaration, we see an amazing level of faith in Jesus’ ability even though no prior miracle has taken place to make Mary certain of Jesus’ ability to perform miracles. While no previous miracle had taken place, we can look at Mary’s bold statement to both Jesus and to the servants and see faith present in at least two different angles.

The first angle we can see is Mary simply asking Jesus to help, but not necessarily asking for Him to perform a miracle. Mary knows that Jesus is more than physically capable to take the servants out and find a place where they can get wine, but we also don’t know what time of day this is. If it was at night, the shops would be closed and the shop owners would be sleeping. While Jesus chose to perform a miracle, the setup for the miracle doesn’t really emphasize a miracle being necessary, only that help is being asked for and expected.

The second angle we can see in this event is Mary asking Jesus for miraculous help. While there may have been plenty of non-miracle options for Jesus to choose from to help, from Jesus’ response when He says that His hour has not yet come, we can conclude that Mary is asking for help from Jesus’ divine nature more than His human nature. And Mary is unwilling to accept “no” for an answer.

In Mary’s persistence and her unwavering confidence in Jesus’ ability to solve the problem, we discover a model for us to use with our faith, persistence, and confidence. While it isn’t always smart to blaze forward ahead of God’s will, through Mary’s example, we see that when we move forward confidently and fully trusting in God’s help, we discover that He is willing to step in to help us even if it isn’t part of His original plan.

In contrast to Mary’s faith being present before having a miracle to back up her faith, verse 11 finishes by saying that following this miracle, “His disciples believed in Him”. The disciples didn’t have the same history with Jesus that Mary had, but that didn’t stop them from believing in Jesus when they were given a reason to believe.

While we don’t have the same privilege that these early followers had to witness this miracle, they demonstrate faith based on what they saw Jesus doing, and we can base our faith on what we see Jesus doing in our own lives. While culture and Satan tempting make it easy to be skeptical of the truly miraculous, when we ask God to open our eyes to what He is doing in the world today, expect to see the world in a different way. God wants us to see the world as He sees it, and He wants to help us love the world as He loves it!

From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, we discover a miracle that confirmed the faith of Jesus’ mother, and it gave the first disciples a reason to place their faith and belief in Jesus as God’s Messiah.

While there is more we could focus in on in this miracle, we’ll save it for the next episode. I can think of no better focus for Jesus’ first officially recorded miracle than to bring out the faith that this event included in it: both the faith of Mary who prompts this miracle, and of the disciples who believe in Jesus because of this miracle.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and let Him lead you forward through life. Ask God to teach you how to see the world through His eyes, and be willing to live, love, and help in a compassionate, Christ-like way.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, be sure to intentionally and regularly pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. Through a personal relationship with God, we are able to have faith in Him and the closer we draw to God, the easier it will be to live how He wants us to live, and see the world as He sees it.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!