John 2:3 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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John 2:3

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‘They have no wine.’ You can almost hear Mary saying it under her breath. This was the sanitary drink of the day. Hundreds of people would come. They would be there for two, three, four days maybe, because it was a long walk. Like the Lord, many of them had walked for two days or a day, and they would need refreshment. ‘Well, can we go ahead with the wedding?’ Probably they felt they must be able to rustle up some modest supply from surrounding areas. But the day came nearer and nearer and when it arrived, they had not succeeded. It appeared that everyone had run out, and there was a real problem. There is great embarrassment coming for a wedding. This poor village would have the reputation of being the poorest of the poor and the least well provided for years. People will say: Do you remember that wedding, and they could not give hospitality? So Mary says, ‘They have no wine.’ What did she expect him to do? To work some miracle? Yes, but he had not worked any miracles yet; this was the first. So how did she know he could work a miracle? How did she know what he would be capable of doing? Well no doubt, he told her in the previous thirty years. He had not left his mother in the dark, about what he had been called to do. She knew his perfection, his perfect life, his more than saintly character, his ways. She heard the angel at his nativity saying what he was set for, what he was going to do, who he was, the Son of God. Of course, she had no trouble believing that if he willed, he could do anything.

Application

The disciples learned about intercession. What brought this miracle about? A humble request from Mary his mother, which you might say she should not really have made and she had to have the gentlest reproof – please do not ask me for family favours. But still, it was intercession. A quiet prayer and the miracle was performed in response.

Questions

The wine of those days was the ultimate cottage industry. Not everywhere, but in Galilee it was just a cottage industry. This is roughly six months after the end of the grape harvest, and they had already exhausted the local supply.

What sort of wine was it? The experts say it was between one and a half and two percent alcohol. It was very weak stuff. In more sophisticated regions, they could get it up to four and five percent. Well yes, you could still be drunk on it and people did by using excess. But in the villages it was weaker because they did not have the technology. It would turn into vinegar. They could not control the fermentation process so well. So it was weak wine, and even then, many people think it was watered down, which it certainly was for their religious events.

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Introduction

John 2:3 Commentary and Bible Study