John 2

John 2:1

John tells the Good News about Jesus An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Gospel of John www.easyenglish.info Marion Adams This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 2 Jesus changes water so that it becomes wine 2:1-12 v1 The next day, there was a wedding in Cana in *Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. v2 Also the people had invited Jesus and his *disciples. v3 When the guests had finished all the wine, Mary (Jesus’ mother) spoke to Jesus. ‘They have no more wine’, she said.

v4 Jesus answered, ‘Lady, you worry about this matter. But I am thinking about other matters. My time has not come yet.’

v5 Then Mary said to the servants, ‘Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.’

v6 There were 6 pots for water near to them. People had made the pots from stone. The *Jews have special rules about how to make themselves *clean for different occasions. This water was for a particular ceremony. Each pot could contain about 100 litres. v7 Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill these pots with water.’ So they filled the pots right up to the top.

v8 Then Jesus said, ‘Take out some water. Give it to the host.’ The servants obeyed Jesus.

v9-10 The host tasted the water. It had become wine. He did not know where this wine had come from. But the servants knew. He spoke to the bridegroom. The host said, ‘At weddings, people usually drink the best wine first. Then, the servants serve poorer wine. But this wine is so good. It is even better than the wine that we were drinking before!’

v11 This was Jesus’ first *sign. He did it in Cana, which is a village in *Galilee. Jesus showed people that he had great power. And his *disciples *believed in him. v12 After this, he went to Capernaum. His mother, his brothers and the *disciples went with him. They stayed there for a few days.

Verses 1-3 Weddings were very special occasions. After the ceremony, the people went to a party. This party continued for a week. The guests ate and drank together. Everyone was very happy. But if there was not enough food or drink for the week, the bride and the bridegroom felt great shame. It was their duty to provide plenty.

It seems that Mary, Jesus’ mother, was a special guest at this wedding. There was a tradition that the bridegroom was John himself. This tradition also recorded that his mother Salome was Mary’s sister. We do not know if this is true. But Mary had some responsibility for the wedding, because she worried about the wine. And she had the authority to give orders to the servants.

Verses 4-5 Probably, Mary’s husband Joseph had died. This would explain why Jesus lived with his mother and his brothers until he was 30 years old. As he was the oldest son, it was his duty to look after the whole family. So Mary expected that Jesus would help her to get some more wine. Then the party could continue. And the bride and the bridegroom would not be ashamed.

But Jesus was thinking about other things. He said, ‘My time has not come yet’ (verse 4). He was the *Messiah, but he had not shown this yet. So ‘my time’ could refer to the time when he would do this. Or it could refer to his death on the *cross. Jesus knew that he had come to the earth for a special purpose. He never forgot this.

But still Mary was sure that Jesus would help. So she told the servants to obey his instructions.

Verse 6 John was not writing only for the benefit of the *Jews but also for the benefit of the *Gentiles. So he explained why there were pots of water in the house. The *Jews believed that to touch certain things made people *unclean inside their hearts and spirits. So they washed their hands before and during a meal to make themselves *clean again. Also they washed their feet before they entered a house. However, these 6 pots held a very large quantity of water. So it was not likely that the water was for people to wash their hands and feet. It was more likely that the water was for a ceremony called the Mikvah. The Mikvah was a ceremony for women who had had a baby, or after menstruation (when a woman bleeds monthly).

Verses 7-8 Jesus told the servants to fill the pots with water. Then he told them to take out some water. And he told them to give it to the host. The word ‘host’ here means the man who was responsible for the party. He was like a chief waiter. Jesus had made the water change. It had become wine!

The servants obeyed Jesus’ strange instructions. However, they did not know what would happen. Sometimes, we do not understand why Jesus asks us to do a certain thing. But when we obey him, something wonderful happens.

Verses 9-11 People always drank the best wine first at a wedding. But Jesus’ wine was even better! So the host thought that the people had been drinking the cheaper wine first instead.

This *miracle showed that Jesus had power over nature. It showed that he spoke with authority. And wonderful things happened when people obeyed him.

Verse 12 Capernaum was an important city. It was by the shore of Lake *Galilee. It was on a major route for trade. It had a *Roman garrison (building where soldiers live). People paid their taxes to the *Roman government in Capernaum, too. Matthew was collecting taxes when Jesus asked him to become his *disciple (Matthew 9:9). Several of Jesus’ other *disciples lived there (Matthew 4:13-19). Jesus stayed in Capernaum while he was *preaching in *Galilee. However, he said that the people there did not have much *faith (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15). Jesus goes to the *Temple 2:13-25 v13 Just before the *Jewish *Passover, Jesus went to *Jerusalem. v14 He saw merchants in the *Temple. They were selling cows, sheep and doves (a kind of bird) for *sacrifices. He also saw the *moneychangers who were sitting at their tables. v15 Jesus took some ropes (very thick strings) and he made a whip. He chased all the merchants out of the *Temple. He chased the sheep and the cows out. He scattered the *moneychangers’ coins on the floor and he turned their tables over. v16 Then he went to the people who sold doves (a kind of bird). He said, ‘Get these things out of here! Do not change my *Father’s house into a market!’

v17 His *disciples remembered a *prophecy from the *scriptures. This was the *prophecy: ‘God, I love your house so much. This love is like a fire that burns inside me.’

v18 The *Jewish leaders said to Jesus, ‘Do you have God’s authority to do this? Then show us a *miracle to prove it.’

v19 Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this *temple. I will build it again in three days.’

v20 The *Jewish leaders said, ‘It took 46 years to build this *Temple. But you say that you can build it again in three days!’

v21 But Jesus was referring to his body. He was calling it a *temple. v22 After God had made Jesus become alive again after his death, his *disciples remembered these words. Then they believed both the *scriptures and Jesus’ words.

v23 While Jesus was in *Jerusalem during the *Passover *festival, many people *believed in him. This was because of the *miracles that he did. v24 But Jesus did not trust them. He knew what they were really thinking. v25 He did not need anyone to tell him about people’s real characters. He already knew all about them.

Verses 13-15 Jesus and his *disciples travelled south to *Jerusalem for the *Passover. The *Passover was the most important *Jewish *festival. The *Passover *festival happened every year in the spring.

Many *Jews travelled to *Jerusalem to offer *sacrifices in the *Temple at the *Passover.

4 *courtyards surrounded the main part of the *Temple. The outer *courtyard was called the *Gentiles’ *Courtyard. This was where the merchants and the *moneychangers did business.

The merchants sold animals for *sacrifices. Animals for *sacrifices had to be perfect, without a mark or a spot on them. The *Temple employed officials. These officials examined the animals that people brought for *sacrifices. But the officials were not fair or honest. They accepted only the animals that people had bought from the *Temple. They *rejected any animals that people had bought from places outside the *Temple. So this forced everyone to buy animals from the *Temple. But these animals cost much more than usual. They were very expensive, so that the merchants made a big profit.

This was not the only thing that was unfair. Every *Jew had to pay a tax to the *Temple. This tax paid for the daily ceremonies there. But people had to pay this tax with special coins. So when visitors came, they had to go to the *moneychangers. The *moneychangers took the visitors’ coins and gave them the special coins. But the *moneychangers charged the visitors a lot of money for this service. Like the merchants, the *moneychangers were greedy and they made a big profit.

The merchants and the *moneychangers did not care that the *Temple was a holy place. They did not come to *worship God there. They came to earn a lot of money for themselves! They charged the people too much for their services. They were unfair to the people who had come to *worship God.

When Jesus saw them, he forced them all to leave the *Temple. He was very angry. The merchants and the *moneychangers did not respect God’s house. And they did not respect the people who came to *worship him there.

Verse 16 Matthew, Mark and Luke also recorded this incident. They reported Jesus’ words slightly differently. Jesus said that God’s house had become a place for thieves to hide. But Mark added some extra words. Jesus also spoke some words from Isaiah 56:7: ‘People will call my house a place of *worship for all nations.’ ‘All nations’ referred to the *Gentiles.

The merchants and the *moneychangers did business in the *Gentiles’ *Courtyard. *Gentiles who wanted to *worship God came into this *courtyard. The *Jews allowed them to do this. But they did not allow the *Gentiles to go any nearer to the main *Temple. So, for the *Gentiles, this *courtyard was the only place in the *Temple where they could pray. But it was very difficult to pray because it was so noisy! So *Gentiles who wanted to *worship God could not do this. Probably, this was another reason why Jesus was angry.

People offered *sacrifices so that God would accept them. But these *sacrifices of animals did not solve the problem of human *sin. Many of the *prophets had written about this (for example, Isaiah 1:11-17; Jeremiah 7:22; Hosea 5:6). People had to offer *sacrifices often because they continued to *sin. Jesus had come to end the old system of *sacrifices of animals. He had not come to change God’s *Law. He had come to complete what God’s *Law asked people to do. This was because he was the perfect *sacrifice. His death solved the problem of human *sin. He died on behalf of everybody. He suffered the punishment for all our *sins.

Verse 17 These words were from Psalms 69:9.

Verse 18 Jesus’ words and acts caused a shock to the *Jewish leaders. Only someone who had God’s authority had the right to do this. So they asked Jesus to prove whether or not he had God’s authority. They asked him for a *sign; that is, a *miracle.

Verses 19-21 The *Temple was the place where God lived among his people. The *Jews knew that God was everywhere. But he was present in a special way there in the *Temple.

The *Temple was on a hill above the city. King Solomon had built the first *Temple there in 959 BC. (‘BC’ refers to the time before Jesus’ birth. So 959 BC means 959 years before Jesus’ birth). But *Israel’s enemies had destroyed Solomon’s *Temple several centuries later. The *Jews built another *Temple in 516 BC. Then in 28 BC, the ruler Herod the Great started to add many more walls and buildings to it. This third *Temple was magnificent. It had taken 46 years to build.

But Jesus was not referring to the *Temple that Herod had built. Jesus meant that God had come to live among his people in a new way. God was living among them as a man. This man was Jesus. His body was the new *Temple. This was what John meant in John 1:14.

Jesus knew that the people would kill him. So he said, ‘Destroy this *temple.’ But he knew also that he would defeat death. On the third day after his death, his body would become alive again. This is the meaning of ‘I will build it again in three days.’

Verse 22 But on this occasion, nobody understood what Jesus really meant. It was only after his *resurrection that the *disciples realised the real meaning of his strange words.

Matthew, Mark and Luke’s accounts of this incident are towards the end of their *Gospels. They recorded that it happened during the final week of Jesus’ life. But we must remember that John emphasised what Jesus did in *Jerusalem. He recorded that Jesus went to *Jerusalem several times and he even stayed there for several months. But Matthew, Mark and Luke emphasised what Jesus did in *Galilee. They only recorded his final visit to *Jerusalem.

All 4 accounts of this incident record the same main facts. They are all accurate descriptions of what happened in the *Temple. But the writers wanted to emphasise what happened and why. When the incident happened was less important to them.

However, there is another explanation. Perhaps Jesus chased the merchants and the *moneychangers out of the *Temple on more than one occasion. So perhaps John’s account is a record of what happened on a different occasion.

Verses 23-25 Many people *believed in Jesus because he did *miracles. But they did not have a real *faith that would last. They *believed in him for the wrong reasons. They saw that he had power. They wanted to know how they could benefit from this power. Jesus knew this. When there was trouble, they would not continue to *believe in him. Jesus knew this, too. They were following him because he was popular. They would leave him when he became unpopular. Some of them would probably oppose him.

Jesus knows what is in everyone’s hearts. He knows if our *faith is real and sincere. He knows if we really love him. It is not always easy to follow Jesus. Other people may hate us or even hurt us because of our *faith in him. But when we know Jesus personally as our friend, our *faith will always be real and sincere.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

November 2006

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var w0 = new Array;w0[0]=’<b%3EGalilee</b%3E ~ an area and a large lake in northern Israel. The home area of Jesus and several of his disciples.