Why Did Jesus Do Miracles?

John 2
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” 11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him


Jesus is at a wedding in Cana, when the bridegroom runs out of wine. In the middle eastern culture this would have been a huge "faux pas". Jesus' mother tells her son to fix the problem. Like a good son, he tells the servants to fill the ceremonial jugs, which held 20-30 gallons of water. As the servants drew out the water it had turned into wine. Not only wine, but good wine, better than what was being served. The master of the banquet praises the bridegroom for his generosity. Jesus saved the groom from not only the social embarrassment, but also probably saved him from his wife and in-law's ire.

At the end of the story, John writes that this was the "first of the signs" that would reveal who he was as the son of God. As we said yesterday, this is John's main purpose to show Jesus is both God and man. John uses the term "signs" instead of "miracles". The word intrinsically means an event or action that points to something bigger than itself. The purpose of the signs were not the miracles themselves, but what they pointed to, the supernatural power of Jesus. We will see this word used in future chapters quite often.

Today, we are generally very skeptical of miracles. Many "faith healers" on TV have promised miracles and often tried to manipulated circumstances to prove their occurrence. These are false teachers. The problem is we can't create our own miracles. Only God can, and in fact they are quite easy for him. As we pray for miracles, we know that God can grant our request. But oftentimes God works in other ways. In ways we can't even see. This stretches our faith even more. It stretches our faith when see prayer answered in God's timing. Miracles are things that can only be explained by God's intervention. And I am sure you have seen things in your life happen that can only be explained by God.

And the greatest miracle of all time is when Jesus rose from the dead just as he said he would. And the greatest "sign" in our lives will be when we die, we too will be raised from the dead. So when we see a miracle happen today, let's not only give thanks for what happened, but give thanks to the one who made it happen!

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