John 2 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: John 2:1-11: At the Wedding in Cana

A. Find Out:    

1. Who were at the wedding as guests? v.1,2
   • On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
2. What crisis prompted Jesus’ mother to speak? v.3
   • When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’
3. What was Jesus’ response? v.4
   • ‘Woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My hour has not yet come.’
4. What instruction did Mary give? v.5
   • His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’
5. What dod Jesus do? v.6-8
   • Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’ They did so,
6. What sort of wine was produced? v.10
   • ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.’
7. What was the result of this? v.11
   • What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

B. Think:

1. What effect would running out of wine have had on the wedding celebrations?
2. Why do you think Jesus did this miracle?
3. What must his disciples have thought?

C. Comment:

A crisis! A Jewish wedding where the wine runs out. Such a thing might well have brought disgrace and would certainly have brought a premature end to the ongoing festivities.

Let’s note first that it was Jesus’ mother (v.1,3) who takes the initiative but Jesus seems hesitant to act (v.4). The inference is that Jesus has a timetable that He is working to and doesn’t want to be pushed along it earlier that He should. We see first, therefore, Jesus sense of WORKING TO A PURPOSE.

Then we see the method of the miracle. Jesus could have done this entirely on His own but instead he chose to involve the servants (v.7). Second, therefore, we see Jesus WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP with ordinary people. Jesus wants to involve us in what He is doing. But note also that Jesus could have simply created the wine from nothing but instead he took ordinary existing material and changed it (v.9).     

Third therefore, we see Jesus WORKING WITH A PICTURE: Jesus can take the ordinary and transform it into something special. Jesus takes our ordinary lives and by the power of His Spirit transforms them into lives of richness and maturity that can bring blessing to many (v.11).

D. Application?

1.  Jesus, who is Lord, works with ordinary men to transform them.
2. Remember, your life, if you are a Christian, is what it is because of what HE has done. Praise Him.

Passage: John 2:12-17: Jesus cleanses the temple

A. Find Out:

1. Which Jewish feast was near? v.13
   • When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2. What did Jesus find in the temple? v.14
   •  In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
3. So what did Jesus do? v.15
   • So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
4. What did he say they had done? v.16
   • To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here!
5. How did he refer to the temple? v.16
   • Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’
6. What Scripture did his disciples remember? v.17
   • His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’

B. Think:

1. What does this passage tell us about Jesus, that he felt so strongly about the temple?
2. What does it tell us about him that he managed to clear the temple?
3. What characteristics do WE need to be able to speak out against wrong?

C. Comment :

We see Jesus first of all appearing to go to Jerusalem to observe the Passover (v.13). Again and again, Jesus observed the requirements of the law. In Jerusalem he came into the temple and saw all that was happening there (v.14).

Animals were required for the Jewish sacrificial system and so the Jews had made it possible to just come to the temple and get something for the sacrifice then and there, instead of having to bring something from home.

This “processing” of religion had made the temple appear more like a market than a place for meeting with God. Jesus, in righteous anger, powerfully overthrew all the trading tables and drove all the traders out (v.15). What we see here is that there is a great deal of difference between “performing” the law (sacrificial system made easy) and observing it with your heart (reverent awe and worship of God).      Here is the challenge for US today: have we “processed” religion to make it easy and entertainment, or is there within us the reverent awe blended with love for “Father”, that is at the heart of true worship?

D. Application?

1.  Religion is heart worship, love expressed, not formal ritual.
2. To stand against wrong, the “popularising” of worship, will need grace, truth and courage.

Passage: John 2:18-25: Jesus brings a challenge

A. Find Out:

1. What did the Jews want Jesus to do? v.18
   • The Jews then responded to him, ‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’
2. What did he say he would do? v.19
   • Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’
3. What was he referring to? v.20,21
   •  They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
4. When did his disciples realise this? v.22
   • After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
5. Why did many believe in him there? v.23
   • Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.
6. But what was Jesus’ response to them? v.24,25
   • But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

B. Think:

1. What do we learn from this passage about Jesus’ method of arguing?
2. What did he obviously feel about “signs”?
3. What does this passage also indicate about Jesus’ knowledge of himself?

C. Comment:

Jesus has just turned the traders out of the Temple and the Jews, instead of being contrite and acknowledging the truth of what he has said, challenge his authority to do it and, refusing to acknowledge their sin, they pick on him (v.18).

Their beliefs said that the coming deliverer would come with power and authority, doing wonderful things. Very well, they said, show us these things if you are that person.

Jesus’ answer, as it was so often, seems quite obscure to them (v.19). IF there was anyone there whose heart was open, they would be left wondering, thinking, what was he really meaning? For most of them with their hard hearts, they simply took the literal meaning and said that it was stupid and couldn’t be (v.20). They just write off what he is saying, and in so doing expose to the world the sort of people they were.

As we are told the real meaning by the writer John (v.21), it becomes obvious that Jesus is in full control of his life and plans his own death and resurrection which will be THE sign of all signs. We are also told how he held himself back from the people so they wouldn’t acclaim him prematurely (v.24), again a sign of his complete understanding and control of the situation.

D. Application?

1. Jesus’ words expose the hearts of men.
2. When we don’t understand something do we write it off or ask Jesus to teach us more fully?