John 2King James Version
The wedding at Cana. They run out of wine. Jesus's mother says, They have no wine. He turns six stone water pots full of water into wine. The governor of the feast says, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; but thou hast kept the good wine until now. Then he goes to Jerusalem and cleanses the temple, drives out the moneychangers with a scourge of small cords. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He spake of the temple of his body.
Jesus turns water into wine at a Cana wedding, his first sign, revealing his glory to the disciples. Then in Jerusalem he drives merchants out of the Temple. The authorities demand credentials; he speaks of destroying the temple and raising it in three days. The narrator explains he meant his body.
Jesus begins his public ministry with abundance at a party and authority at the Temple, two signals that something new is starting and the old order cannot contain it.
16: "And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise." The first words Jesus speaks in a public place in John are a rebuke, not a sermon.
The wedding at Cana was a social obligation of the highest order in first-century Galilee. Running out of wine was a public shame for the host family. Mary's intervention and Jesus's reluctant compliance captures a domestic moment before the public ministry truly begins. The stone jars used for purification rituals each held 20 to 30 gallons. The volume of wine Jesus made was not subtle.
Jesus; Mary, his mother, who initiates the wine miracle; the servants, who obey without understanding; the disciples, who believe after seeing; the Temple merchants; the Jewish authorities who demand credentials.
The Synoptic gospels place the Temple cleansing at the end of Jesus's ministry, just before his arrest. John places it at the start. This is a structural choice that frames the entire gospel: Jesus's conflict with the Temple establishment is not the climax but the opening move. Everything that follows grows from this confrontation.
For when religious spaces feel more like marketplaces than meeting places with God. The scene has a particular sting for anyone who has sat in a church that felt like a transaction.
1And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
2And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
3And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
4Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
5His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
6And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
7Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
8And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
9When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
10And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
11This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
12After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.
13And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;
16And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
17And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
18Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21But he spake of the temple of his body.
22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
23Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
24But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.