The gospel of John opens with the idea that Jesus and God are on equal footing. The idea is that when God spoke, it was Jesus doing the speaking. The premise that “Jesus and God are equal” in John 1 is the thesis statement for the rest of John. This means that Jesus’ authority to forgive sin, cast out demons, heal people, etc. comes from what we read in John 1. This idea will be important later.

But the focus here is on the the idea of why would John couple the wedding at Cana with cleansing of the temple? For reference read John 2. The other gospel writers do not mention the wedding so why would John? What does John find important in this event that the other writers missed?

I can not say for certain if John writes chronologically. For instance, there are a few places that would suggest John writes out of order (chart for reference. Notice the highlighted sky blue passages are listed in the chart in an order that would flow better but are not considered chronological). It is important to remember that a writer will sometimes write events out of order so that they can be written beside each other to make a larger, more important, point than if they were written separately. For example, if I wanted to compare which of two athletes are better I would compare these athletes with a few of their best games. I would not write about these games chronologically but in a compare and contrast method. I believe this is what is happening in John, at least in this example, but I have not done enough research to confirm or deny this theory. But for the purpose here we will assume that these two events are placed side by side to enhance an idea that would be absent if they were told separately.

Before I get to what the bigger idea might have been in John chapter 2, I must first provide an overview of the OT. It is only through a general understanding of the OT can one appreciate the NT especially in John and Matthew. First it is important to know that we were created by God, for God, and for our good. When we deiced that we know best and do not need God we are turning away from the only one who can provide life (Genesis 3). This results in a corruption that runs deep into the fabric of humanity. Through this corruption and denial of God we are faced with death. Our overt rebellion toward God causes a corruption that drives us away from life and toward death.

Levitical Law and Sin Corruption

Leviticus 17:11 is clear that in order to come back to life, blood MUST be shed. This is because blood is where life is found. Without blood death will occur. For us to be brought back to life (meaning brought into a relationship with the life giver) we need “new blood”, clean blood. Since the only thing we have that is not corrupted by sin are animals it was their blood that would be a substitute for our unclean blood. In all, the sacrificial system was God’s desire to provide a way for us to maintain a relationship with Him (not a rule we had to follow to gain favor. Instead it was God providing a way for us to him when we were powerless to go to him our own). The whole of the Bible basically says we are unclean and dirty, unworthy of the life God provides, and we must be cut off from Him due to our filth. Even though this is true, for some reason God still shows His compassion on us to continually provide a way to Himself and back to life when there is none and there should be none. In the OT this was done through the blood of innocent animals. The Israelites needed a constant reminder that the corruption of sin was intense, dire, and had high and seemingly unfair consequences. They were not to take their sin lightly and needed this reminder very often. They needed to be reminded that there are consequences to their corruption, consequences that were extreme.

Once a person was made right before God they were then supposed to remain clean and this was usually done through ceremonial cleanliness laws. This can be demonstrated by Numbers 19:11-22. In these verses if a person touches a dead person they are unclean. In fact, even touching the grave of someone would make one unclean. Further, if a person enters a tent where someone is dead then they are considered unclean. What is the point here? We are made for life. Anything that has to do with death is unclean because death and sin are inseparable. The consequences of sin are so drastic that anything that is associated with that corruption is also corrupted. Since a dead body is a visible reminder of the corruption of sin the dead body is unclean, so much so that even the grave is considered unclean.

Once someone had been made clean by the blood of the animal they were then set apart as God’s chosen person. They would show themselves as set apart by abstaining from certain foods, practices, rituals, or ceremonies. If one were to come in contact with someone or something that was unclean they would need to wash themselves of this impurity (such as a dead body or blood). Since people worked the ground with their hands they would not always know when they crossed a grave or touched something unclean. They would then need to wash their hands before they ate. This way the thing that defiled their exterior (touching a pig for example) would not be present on their hands when they ate which would lead to an interior defilement. Without this custom in place the Israelites would be just like every other people group around them eating or doing whatever they choose without having much regard for God. They would have no issue with touching a relative who had just died for one more kiss or hug. In all sin would become common place and viewed as trivial. Sin is so corrupting it effects everything about our lives from what we eat, drink, touch, think about, and interact with. In the OT this corruption only has one result; death and separation from God. No matter how well someone observed these sacrificial and ceremonial cleanliness laws no one was able to keep the law perfectly and therefore unable to warrant any relationship with God. Which brings us to John chapter 2

Wedding at Cana

In John 2, Jesus is at a wedding and the bridal party has run out of wine. Jesus says “his hour has not come”, which is a phrase repeated throughout John that means Jesus’ time to be the final cleansing of man’s sin and corruption has not come. But it is at this time he would provide a sign of things to come. Before providing this sign, Jesus could have instructed the people at the wedding to fill the empty wine skins with water. The wine skins would have been what the wine would have been stored in at the beginning of the wedding. In fact, no one would store wine in a cleansing jar. If Jesus knew this water would end up becoming wine why would he not ask the wine skins to be filled? Instead he used jars that would have been used for ceremonial cleansing and not the wine skins. In Luke we read that Jesus, during the last supper, took wine and told his disciples that this wine would come to represent his blood. During a wedding ceremony Jesus introduces a new wine in jars used for ceremonial cleanliness. Likewise, at his last meal Jesus tells us the wine represents his blood which he will not drink from until the kingdom of God comes (an allusion to marriage feasts in ancient Jewish tradition). Please don’t miss the significance of this! Even though Jesus’ time had not yet come at Cana he is telling his audience that his blood will become the vehicle through which people will be made clean so they can participate in the marriage feast yet to come. His blood is new (significant of a new covenant not founded on the blood of animals) and not fit for old wine skins (the old covenant that is now obsolete due to a better sacrifice that supersedes one of priests from Aaron and sheep). Instead Jesus’ new covenant, instituted through his blood, must be stored in jars of clay.

Cleansing the Temple

Under the old covenant a person must go to the temple with their sacrifice to be made clean. It was there that the priest would preform the sacrifice on the person’s behalf and that person would walk away believing they were clean. The view was that the priests and temple must be holy and clean because if they were not then they would not be able to make everyone clean because one can not make another clean if they are also dirty. Jesus upends this belief in a few short paragraphs. After he was finished demonstrating how the wine (blood), that can only he can provide, was going to be what cleanses people (no one else at the wedding was able to provide the wine) he goes to the temple. It was at the temple where people would go with their sacrifices to be made clean. It was, as I wrote earlier, the sacrifices that brought the people into a relationship with God. John writes that it was the temple that was corrupted and dirty and in need of cleaning. Do not miss this point, the place where people thought was clean and able to provide cleansing was actually corrupted and in need of cleansing itself. The one who was able to upend this long standing paradigm was Jesus. No, one else was in a position to overturn this corruption. Not only is Jesus the one that provides the external cleansing and sets apart for God but he is the one that provides the internal cleansing as well. This cleansing to our corruption can’t be found at the temple which is already corrupted itself, nor can it be found in ceremonial cleansing jars filled with water. Jesus, in chapter 2 of John, is demonstrating that Jesus is the only one, through his blood, who is able to cleanse us of the corruption of sin and is able to set us apart for God. The authority to do this is derived from what we read in John chapter 1. In 2 chapters John is able to say “Jesus is the beginning and the end of everything, creation, the law, the sacrifice, the temple, the priesthood, sin, corruption, death, Satan (the originator of sin), all of it.

Final Though

The old covenant was always supposed to be temporary as the OT also talked about a coming Messiah who would suffer for the nation and God’s judgement would be upon him (Isaiah 53). It would be through the messiah that his chosen people would be restored perfectly to God. Which leads me to one final point. It is common in Jewish tradition that wine represents joy. It is in Christ alone where the tragedy of shedding of blood can bring about the joy of a final wedding. whether the wedding is in Cana or in God’s coming kingdom Jesus shows that he is the only one who can provide true joy like that of a wedding still to come which is realized only through his blood.