And three days after they came to it, there was to be a wedding in Cana. The mother of Jesus was there, and Our Lord and His disciples were invited to the marriage. Now, you know the Lord Jesus and His mother were poor, and no doubt the people who gave the feast were also poor, for they had not enough wine to last till the end; and when there was not any more the mother of Jesus went to Him and said, "They have no wine." Jesus did not say at once, "I will give them some;" He said, "What have I to do with thee? My time has not yet come." But His mother believed that He would help all the same; she knew how good and kind He was. So she said to the servants, "Do what He tells you."
Now there were some large stone jars or pots in the room used for holding water, and Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the water-pots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And then Our Lord told them to pour it out and take it to the man who was ruler of the feast; for the Jews used to get a friend to see that things went right at their feasts, and he was called the governor or ruler.
CHANGING THE WATER INTO WINE.
Now Our Lord had changed the water into wine, and when the ruler of the feast had tasted it he sent for the bridegroom, and said to him, "You have kept the good wine till now," for it was very good wine. But the servants knew that it had been water, and they told every one that Jesus had made it wine. This was the first miracle—that is, wonderful thing—that Our Lord did before all the people. It was a great miracle; and when His disciples saw it they were sure that He must be the Christ.
Why did our Lord do this wonderful thing? To be kind, and to show men that He was God. There are things men cannot do; but God can do them, and when Jesus did them He showed men that He was God.
Soon after this, Our Lord went up to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. He went to the Temple—God's house in which He was worshipped; and where every day they killed a lamb and burnt it on the altar. The lamb was offered up that God might forgive the sins of the people. So when John the Baptist said, "Here is the Lamb of God," he meant that Our Lord would die, as the Temple Lamb did, to save men from their sins.
TURNING OUT THE MONEY CHANGERS.
But when our Lord came into the Temple He was very angry. For He saw in it oxen and sheep, doves and pigeons waiting to be sold to people for sacrifice, and tables with heaps of money on them that came from all lands; for the men whose the tables were, changed the gold of far off countries for the Jew's money. Do you not think it was very wrong of men to bring oxen, and lambs, and money to change into God's House? Our Lord was very angry to see it. He made a whip of small cords and drove out the oxen and sheep; and He upset the tables of money, and the seats of those who sold doves, and said, "Take these things away. Do not make my Father's house a place to buy and sell in."