Did you ever wonder if Jesus performed miracles when he was living at home with his earthly family? John records Jesus’ first public miracle when he turned the water to wine at a wedding in Cana.
Why was this wedding so important to Mary that she would be concerned about the wine shortage? If she was a guest, she may have felt sorry for the bridegroom since it was a disgrace to run out of wine, but would she want Jesus to expose his abilities for some wine? The ceremony must have been extremely important to Mary for her to want Jesus to identify his ministry to these people over a wine shortage.
We know Jesus had brothers and sisters. We also know weddings were a very important event during Jesus time. Most would last for a week.
This particular wedding could have been one of Jesus’ brothers or sisters. Since it was of such value to Mary, perhaps it was the wedding of her youngest daughter. Jesus is believed to have been around 30, so Mary’s youngest daughter would have been around 12 or 13 which is the accepted age for Jewish girls to marry during Jesus’ time.
Mary simply said to Jesus, “They have no wine.” She didn’t ask him to do anything. She just made a statement. She knew Jesus would be concerned if the groom of his little sister was embarrassed at their wedding.
Jesus replied, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.”
Woman? Why would Jesus call his mother woman? Perhaps this was a term of endearment Jesus had used for Mary before. It almost implies he was teasing Mary.
Mary wasn’t upset with the salutation because she turned to the servants and said, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
Mary knew without a doubt Jesus could fix the wine shortage. She didn’t ask him to do anything. She knew he would do it because she had seen him do so much more at their home in Nazareth.
He knew how important it was to his mother and little sister and he could not bear to disappoint them. His little sister was marrying the man of her dreams and he wanted the ceremony to be one she would remember forever. He may have also thought this was the last time he would see her.
By the power of two persuasive women, Jesus did perform the miracle and John was there to record it.
So did Jesus perform miracles at home? Mary would not have known Jesus could fix the wine shortage if she had not witnessed similar things at home.
This miracle also reinforced to the six followers he had already chosen that he was indeed the Messiah with special powers.
John writes about a lot of events the other disciples don’t mention. He knew of the importance of this miracle to show Jesus’ concern for his earthly family. To identify this as just a first miracle is an injustice to the relationship of Jesus and his family. He performed this miracle for his little sister and his mother whom he deeply loved.
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