Picture this. You are driving down a deserted country lane, late at night. You have no GPS directions because your phone is dead. There is thick fog, and you are worried that you are lost. The relief is palpable because your headlights suddenly light up a sign that tells you to turn left - you’re not lost after all - just follow the sign and all will be well. For someone who is frequently lost, I’m grateful for signs!
John, in his gospel, offers us seven signs that point to who Jesus is. The miracles that Jesus performs in John are not recorded as spectacular stunts to gain attention, but as signs that point to truth. Just as we don’t stop the car, get out and gaze at a sign, but rather go to where it points us to, so Jesus’ miracles, including the spectacular first sign that involved the instantaneous transformation of 180 gallons of water into fine tasting wine, were not just helpful miracles, but signs that point to the glory of the Christ. The specific miracle at Cana also points to other wonderful truths.
As Tom Wright says, ‘The wedding is a foretaste of the great heavenly feast in store for God’s people (see Revelation 21:2). The water-jars, used for Jewish purification rites, are a sign that God is doing a new thing from within the old Jewish system, bringing purification to Israel and the world in a whole new way’ .The transformation from water to wine is of course meant by John to signify the effect that Jesus can have, can still have today, on people’s lives. He came, as he says later, that we might have life in all its fullness (10:10). You might want to pray through this story with your own failures and disappointments in mind—remembering that transformation only came when someone took Mary’s words seriously: ‘Do whatever he tells you (1).’
F. F. Bruce says, “Christ (is) changing the water of Jewish purification into the wine of the new age (2).”
Just as the disciples responded to the Cana sign by believing in Jesus, so John records the seven signs to prompt us to faith in Christ, so that we will then experience the true life that is available only through Him. As John puts it:
‘But these are written down so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. If you believe this, you will have life because you belong to him. (Jn 20:31).
The seven signs of John are:
- Turning Water into Wine (John 2:1-11)
- Cleansing the Temple (John 2: 12-17)
- Healing the Nobleman’s Son (John 4:46-54)
- Healing the Lame Man (John 5:1-15)
- Feeding the Multitude (John 6:1-15)
- Healing the Blind Man (John 9)
- Raising Lazarus (John 11)
1) Wright, T. (2004). John for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-10 (p. 23). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
2) Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe (p. 62). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.