Chapter 4: The Wedding & The Warning
What are you supposed to do once empathy is developed? Once you understand the person you are trying to connect with, you are ready to engage with them.
Notice for a moment that we are already at the second component of the Wordsmith's Wheel, and we have not yet started talking about the content you are trying to share. It is important to remember that effective communication is often less about what you say and more about how you say it.
So, how are we supposed to connect? How can we engage? Similar to the topic of empathy, no one in all of history was better at engaging with people than Jesus. In this chapter, we will look at an interesting series of events that takes place in the second chapter of John’s Gospel. We will examine the entirety of the chapter and see how, in two very different circumstances, Jesus was able to engage with His audience. The first scene was largely positive and lighthearted, while the other could not have been more serious, serving as a reminder that engaging does not necessarily mean we have to be upbeat all the time:
Scene 1 (The Wedding): “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “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.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.” (John 2:1-12 ESV).
Scene 2 (The Warning): “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” (John 2:13-25 ESV).
The Wedding: What Does Jesus Do When We Run Out?
1) He Meets Us Where We Are: At the wedding in Cana, Jesus performs His first recorded miracle. The attendees run out of wine—a crucial component of the celebration. In that moment, Jesus meets them where they are. He does not require them to beg, plead, or complete a list of actions to earn His provision. Instead, He meets their need with compassion and generosity.
2) He Works With What We Have: Everything needed for the miracle was already available—the water pots, the attendees who helped, and even the water itself. Similarly, when we feel lacking or insufficient, Jesus is faithful to work with what we have. He reminds us that we already possess everything we need to do what God is calling us to do.
3) He Makes It Better Than Before: When the master of the feast tastes the wine Jesus created, he remarks that it is better than the wine served earlier. This reminds us that when we surrender our lack to Jesus, He not only provides, but He does so in ways that exceed our expectations.
These three actions paint a picture of the Gospel. In our pain and need, Jesus met us where we were by taking on human form. He worked with what we had, building a team of flawed disciples to carry out His mission. Through His death and resurrection, He made our relationship with God better than ever before, transforming it from one based on behavior to one rooted in belief in Him.
The Warning: What Does Jesus Want To Remove?
After the wedding, Jesus travels to the temple during Passover and finds it filled with buying and selling. His reaction is swift and decisive—He drives out the merchants and overturns tables. What started as an uplifting miracle at the wedding transitions to a sharp, serious moment of warning. This shift reminds us that engaging with others often requires addressing difficult truths.
Jesus’ actions in the temple show us three things He wants to remove from our lives:
1) Limitations: The buying and selling were taking place in the court of the Gentiles, the only area where non-Jewish people could worship. The distractions kept them from fully engaging with God. Jesus’ actions make it clear that He came for all people and wants to remove anything that limits our ability to connect with him.
2) Negotiations: The religious leaders responded to Jesus’ actions by demanding a sign, essentially attempting to negotiate with Him. The disciples, however, quoted Psalm 69:9: 'Zeal for your house will consume me.' This contrast shows us that following Him is not about bargaining or earning favor—it is about surrender. Negotiation must give way to complete trust and submission to God.
3) Preoccupations: When Jesus declares that the temple will be destroyed and rebuilt in three days, the religious leaders focus on the impossibility of reconstructing the building’s physical structure. They missed the deeper truth: Jesus is the true temple. His body would be destroyed, only to be resurrected three days later, giving us direct access to God. Our preoccupation with worldly things can blind us to the spiritual reality right in front of us.
Conclusion
In John chapter two, Jesus conveys the same message in two distinct ways: He is the fulfillment of the temple, bringing new, better wine for humanity. At the wedding, He meets the needs of the people with compassion and generosity. At the temple, He confronts sin and distractions with boldness and clarity. In both situations, He was able to engage with those around Him, paving the way for transformational conversations. In the next chapter, we will explore a discipline that, when applied, can refine our ability to engage with the world around us.
