The first miracle
There is something very special about the first miracle that Jesus did and we can find out about this in the Gospel of John starting at chapter 2.
When we read about this wonderful miracle, if we are to get real revelation, we must begin with understanding why the story appears where it does. The Gospel of John is different from every other Gospel, it is a book written by a son of God, to the sons of God, giving instruction about how to act as a son of God. Of course, the Gospel is about the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and the things that He did. But in reality, it is simply a book from John to you about how you should act when you receive the Holy Spirit into your lives. It gives you the details of Jesus, your role model, and His teaching to you.
Having thought about this for a moment, we are now ready to begin reading the passage of scripture; but not as just another story, reading it with an expectation for us to receive an instruction from the passage directly from God. The story begins by laying out the scene for us as follows. There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was invited; Jesus and His disciples were also invited. It can be quite clear from this description of the scene, that Jesus was not the most important person at the wedding. After all, He had not performed any miracles at this time and was, possibly, relatively unknown other than by His disciples who saw something in Him.
When they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have run out of wine." To which Jesus replied, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My time has not yet come." In truth, there are two points that He raises with His mother.
1.) He asks His mother to think about what she is asking for. It almost sounds as if He wanted her to justify her concern about the situation and explain His involvement in the solution.
2.) He explains to His mother that His time to be revealed to the people has not yet come. We know the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. (John 5:19). Therefore, if His time had not yet come, it was not within the Father's timing for Him to be revealed yet, although we do know that ultimately it is the will of the Father at some time.
It is this second thing that is the most important to us at this time, and it raises a very real question to us, "is it possible for Jesus to go against the will of the Father?" It is, as we look into this question, that we have to ask ourselves something else, why did Jesus perform the miracle?
In answering this last question of why we could allow our minds to go through all sorts of statements about revealing the Son of God and bringing the glory to the Father for the miracle. However, I believe that the answer to why He did it is right there in the text for us to clearly see.
Jesus performed the miracle because His mother asked.
In itself, this could lead us to theological arguments about Jesus honouring His father and mother and even the bias of God towards one person rather than another. However, I do not believe that this argument is valid in this case, and the answer is far simpler than that. It is a principle of righteousness in the word of God. Let me explain:
At that precise time, before Jesus had performed any miracles, possibly the only person in the world who could believe that He was able to provide a solution was His mother. She knew Him better than anyone else and we know from scripture that she had stored in her heart all of the statements that had been made about Him. She was someone who had a full relationship with Him and certain knowledge of who He was, both as her son, but more importantly, as the Son of God.
Therefore, we can see that she asked, believing Him able to do this. For us to believe this answer to the question of why Jesus performed the miracle to be true, we must find proof texts to support this statement and I would like to present them to you as follows:
The first proof text is in the same book, John 14:13
And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
The second proof text is also in the new testament, in Matthew 21:20
And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
The third proof text is in the old testament, where we see God acting upon what man has asked for, 1 Samuel 8:7
And the Lord said to Samuel, "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you.”
For a final proof text, I give you the first appearance where God accepts the statement from man as being right. Genesis 2:19
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
When you look at the proof text, there can only be one real answer to the question 'why'. It was a matter of righteousness for Jesus to perform the miracle in accordance with the biblical principle that God had set out in Matthew 7:7 where it says, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; and again in Luke 11:9 where it says, So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
In many ways, this being at the beginning of John's Gospel highlights the importance of the miracle to us. The first miracle that Jesus did, and the first thing a believer needs to understand, is all about God's faithfulness in answering our prayers, together with our ability to ask them.