CHOICE 3: JOHN 2. Water to Wine and Cleansing the Temple

What impresses me most about the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine, is how Christ’s mother tells the servants to do whatever Christ tells them to do. Mary had such great faith in the power of her son, that she commanded those around her to listen to Him and do what He says. This tells me that she was His biggest supporter, just as most moms are the biggest supporters of their children.

In John 2:4 Jesus refers to His mother as “woman.” In our day and age this would be considered a harsh and somewhat derogatory way of referring to a female. The institute manual explains that the title of woman refers to her as being the woman of all women. She is the one person to whom a child owes their earthly existence. It also points out that if you pay attention to the times when Jesus Christ refers to Mary as “woman,” such as when He was dying on the cross, you would realize that He did so out of honor, respect and love for her.

In John 2:13-16 Jesus Christ comes to the temple and finds people inside who are selling oxen, sheep, and doves. He drives them all out, pours out their money and overthrows their tables saying, “...make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise (verse 16).” I think this is symbolic of Jesus Christ’s desire for each of us to keep our temples clean. Temples can be not only the actual temple, but also our churches, homes, and even our physical bodies. I believe these verses teach us that Christ wants us to keep these “temples” free of materialistic, unimportant or harmful things.