Jesus the Miracle-Worker
In a world of scientific exploration and dominion, of splitting atoms and contemplating quasars, the miracles of Jesus may seem to some as a relic of the distant past. Human ingenuity and progress challenge the believability and relevance of the wonder-working God incarnate. For the Christian, the miracles of Jesus have always been a central confession of our faith, creating an obvious tension between the ancient church and the technological society.
How is the church to respond? What are the purposes of the miracles of Jesus?
It is far too common for Christians to think of miracles as problems to be resolved in our modern world. It is as though miracles are merely to serve a utilitarian purpose for Christian apologetics. While apologetics are an important endeavor of faithful ambassadors of Christ, the miracles of Jesus offer so much more to the disciple.
Operating as “signs” like the Lord’s past Exodus deliverance of his people (Ex. 4:9, 7:3), the miracles of Jesus connect the work of the Son of Man to the broader redemptive story that all Holy Scripture proclaims. They provide not just data to consider and defend but theological truths that form heads, hearts, and hands! Through the 40+ miracles that we find in the ministry of Jesus, we are invited to learn about God’s nature, his actions in the world, his care for the church, and the ultimate restoration of all things.
Consider Jesus’s first miracle in the Gospel of John.
After one of the most theologically rich and beautiful prologues (John 1:1–51), the miracle of the turning water into wine takes place at a wedding in Cana, marking the first of many “signs” through which Jesus reveals his glory (John 2:1, 11). Though the account itself is brief (John 2:6–8) and relatively straightforward—water is poured into jars, and Jesus transforms it into wine—several details reveal the theological depth and formative purpose of Christ’s miracles for the encouragement of his disciples.
Over the course of 12 weeks, this study helps readers explore various miracles of Jesus and see how they connect to Old Testament prophecy, the future hope of heaven, and life today.
Christ’s Hour
Jesus’s response to his mother may sound abrupt to modern ears (John 2:4), though it would have been received more politely in its original context. More importantly, his statement that his “hour has not yet come” is deeply instructive. It reveals both Jesus’s unwavering commitment to the Father’s mission and the misplaced expectations we often bring to him. John’s Gospel helps us interpret the term hour to be directly connected to the cross specifically (John 4:21; John 7:30) and the resurrection and ascension more generally (John 5:25, 28; John 13:1). Jesus’s ministry work was always working towards a climax, a wedding banquet of a more cosmic, sacred nature: the purchase and redemption of the church, the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:22–33).
Christians are tempted, like Jesus’s mother was, to desire Jesus’s working on their behalf in a variety of material ways. But, while Jesus does provide for our physical needs, we should never forget the primary purpose Jesus has been assigned to accomplish on our behalf. His divinely appointed hour saves us—body and soul—from sin, death, and eternal judgment.
Good Wine
As with several of the miracles of “fertility” (i.e., provision), Jesus provides abundantly by filling six stone jars, each holding twenty to thirty gallons of water (John 2:6). When the water is taken to the master of the banquet, his response is important. He takes the bridegroom aside and states, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus provides not just cheap wine but good wine!
The Old Testament allusions to this pronouncement are numerous. Amos 9:13–14 alludes to a coming day of restoration when the people will freely drink the wine of their harvest. Isaiah 25:6 promises a blessed ceremony on the mountain of God with a “feast of well-aged wine.” The work of Jesus is a work of full blessing, of God’s tender care and bountiful, eternal provision.
Christians are tempted to find their satisfaction in the “cheap wines” of this world. This may be career success, family stability, the cheaper pleasures of food and drink, or many other worldly blessings. This wedding miracle of Jesus invites the church to drink of the “good wine” and find its ultimate hope and identity in the one who gave his blood (wine!) to rescue and restore.
The work of Jesus is a work of full blessing, of God’s tender care and bountiful, eternal provision.
The Greatest Wedding
As hinted above, this wedding ceremony is but a snapshot of a bigger and better wedding. Jesus’s ministry in Cana is temporary, although it leads to real blessing and a response of faith (John 2:11). Through Jesus’s fulfilling the role of the master of the feast and especially the bridegroom, this miracle story teaches the reader to see the far grander wedding depicted through Scripture: the wedding between God and humanity.
The wedding feast of Cana is a shadow, a wink, a trailer to the real wedding, the future marriage supper of the Lamb:
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Revelation 19:6–9)
Christian, the miracle of turning water into wine speaks into your brokenness, your loneliness, and your longing. It reminds you of the glory, power, and provision of the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ!
This miracle is more than a proof of Jesus’s divinity, though it is certainly not less. When we read the miracle stories theologically, we are invited to trust in God’s character, rest in his redemptive work, and hope in the restoration he has promised. The miracles are not merely fuel for apologetic debate; they are nourishment for discipleship—a foretaste of the coming kingdom and the renewal of all things.
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31)
Casey F. Ehlers is coauthor with Edward W. Klink III of The Miracles of Jesus: A 12-Week Study.
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