October 2, 2025; John 2:1-12

Daily Dose of Hope

October 2, 2025

 

Scripture – John 2:1-12

 

Prayer:  Amazing Father and Lord, Thank you for who you are.  Thank you for how you care for us.  We get distracted.  We veer away from you and your Word.  For that, we are so very sorry.  Forgive us, Lord.  Help us to abide in you.  Help us to remain close so that we can be fruitful and effective for your Kingdom.  Help us get outside ourselves and see others as you see them.  And help us trust.  Lord, we belong to you.  In Your Name, Amen.

 

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope!  This is the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church Bible reading plan.  We are currently doing a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we begin a deep dive into John 2.

 

We meet Jesus at a wedding celebration.  Weddings are usually wonderful celebrations. And they are so different and unique. Some of you probably had huge, elaborate affairs, while others had small backyard barbeque weddings and most of us were somewhere in between. My wedding was very nice but not excessive in any way. I was the first of my friends to get married so I had nothing to compare it to, I didn’t have any idea what was expected, and I think that was probably a gift.

 

Weddings in first century Palestine were very different from American weddings of today. In fact, they would last about a week. It was the responsibility of the groom to provide food and care for the guests for that week. In an honor-shamed based culture, which we find in this part of the world, that was a big deal. In this case, the groom runs out of wine three days in. This would have meant that the family was not prepared, it been a source of shame and embarrassment for them. Some of you might be thinking that after three days of drinking, they probably needed to be cut off. But this actually would have been very serious. I read that guests could actually have sued the family for their lack of care in this case.

 

This wedding must have been a relative or someone close to the family, as Jesus, his mother, and the disciples were there. And Jesus’ mother is obviously pretty concerned about the wine issue. She knows that the family’s reputation, their honor, is on the line. She cares for this family. So she goes to Jesus and she’s like, ummm...there is no more wine. Hint hint. You wonder how she knew he could do something about it. What was it about his growing up years that she knew he could handle it? And his answer is, “Dear Woman, my time has not yet come.” Some translations simply say, “Woman.” He isn’t being disrespectful but he is being kind of firm. My time has not yet come. I love this passage because there are so many layers of meaning. His time had not yet come.

 

And yet, Jesus takes matters into his own hands.  He tells the servants to fill the jars with water.  These would have been really large jars for storing clean water.  Some pictures I’ve seen have the jars almost waste high.  And then, after the jars were filled, some of the liquid from the jars was taken to the master of ceremonies.  The Scripture says this, He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside