John 2:6–11

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

This sounds strangely familiar. Ever had a prayer request granted beyond what you asked for? It doesn’t happen often, but it’s not super rare either.

And when it does occur, there’s little doubting of God’s amazing grace.

That’s what’s going on here. Jesus doesn’t just turn the water into wine; He turns it into wine that blows away the sommelier. Why would Jesus do that?

The answer is in the last sentence. This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

We already saw how Jesus started early in preparing His disciples for martyrdom.

This is part of that plan.

Faith is the foundation of salvation. We all know that.

But do we think of faith as a goal? Here we see Jesus performing what almost looks like a “cheap trick” miracle. But He’s not selling snake oil, so what’s He selling?

True faith. His disciples are going to need a lot of it. Their faith will be assaulted from every angle. Jesus needs to get them to the point where they will walk through fire without flinching.

And He’s only got three years to do it.

Meanwhile, our journey of faith doesn’t have forever either. This is where God’s unique style of answering prayer comes in. Yes, He loves us. Yes, He wants us to be happy.

But when you look at the details of how God answers prayer, building our faith starts to jump out as one of the most obvious objectives.

God’s plans for the disciples have a lot in common with God’s plans for us.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.