Jesus' First Miracle

TEXT: John 2:1-11

OBJECTIVE

The students will be able to describe Jesus' miracle at the wedding in Cana. They can explain that it was the first of many miracles that He performed and that He is still working miracles today.

BIBLE LESSON OUTLINE

Introduction: Bring to your class a picture taken at a wedding reception. (A photo taken beside the punch bowl would be especially appropriate.) Ask your students if they have ever been to a wedding reception. What did they do there? How do you think the bride and groom would have felt if they had run out of cake or punch for the guests? That is what happened in our Bible story today.

1. Jesus and His disciples were invited to a marriage in Cana of Galilee.
2. When wine was needed, Jesus' mother told Him of the need.
3. Mary then told the servants to do whatever He said.
4. Jesus told the servants to fill six water pots with water and they obeyed. He then instructed them to give some to the governor of the feast.

Climax: Jesus miraculously changed the water into wine.

Conclusion: Jesus performed this beginning of His miracles 2000 years ago. He still performs miracles today.

Response: The students will be able to describe the miraculous event which took place at the wedding in Cana. They can explain that it was the first of many He performed, and that He is still working miracles today.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The word miracle comes from a Latin word miraculum which means "an event or action that apparently contradicts known scientific laws and is due to supernatural causes." The plagues that God sent on Egypt were miracles. It is not natural for such things to happen in the manner in which they occurred. It is true, plagues of frogs, locusts, flies, and lice have occurred, but not at the word of a man, nor could they be stopped at a certain time by man's word. God had a two-fold reason for the miracles that are recorded in the Book of Exodus. He brought judgment on Egypt and confirmed to the Children of Israel that the God of Abraham was the Living God and superior to any other god.

Christ did not perform miracles just to satisfy curiosity. He said "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas" (Matthew 16:4). But when there was a need that was brought to Christ, He was able to perform a miracle to satisfy that need as He did in today's lesson. From then on He did many miracles as the occasions arose, and He still does today! Perhaps the greatest miracle that Christ performs is to change a hell-bound soul into one redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb and start him on the way to Heaven.

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

• Pretend to be a reporter. Ask the children questions and record them as they help you tell the story. They love to talk into a microphone and will enjoy hearing themselves on tape.
• As you talk about how Jesus' first recorded miracle was to supply a need, bring out that God still supplies our needs today. Invite someone to your class and have him give a personal account of how God miraculously supplied a need for him.
• Decorate your class area as if for a wedding reception. Use wedding bells, crepe paper streamers, napkins, plates, and cups. Have a small decorated cake in the center. Fill paper cups with grape juice. Have two pitchers, one full of water, one full of more grape juice. As the class is eating the cake, tell them the story about Jesus' changing the water into wine. Explain that no matter how we try, we can't change water into juice, but because Jesus is the Son of God, He can do anything.
• Give each child a copy of the Water Into Wine coloring picture (see Patterns). Let them color the picture as you tell that the servants were obeying Jesus when He told them to fill the pots with water.

QUESTIONS

1. What did Jesus do at the wedding?
2. What is a miracle?
3. Why was this miracle so special?
4. Do you think the servants knew that the water was changed before they served the governor of the feast?
5. Talk about salvation. What is changed? How long does the change take? When do you know that you have been changed?
6. Why did Jesus work miracles? Does Jesus still perform miracles?
7. What would you have thought about Jesus if you could have been at the wedding? Talk about how most people really didn't know Jesus before this time.

PRE-SCHOOL SUGGESTIONS

• Bring a small plastic juice container. Fill it with water. Then pour it into small cups for your children to sample. Explain that you cannot change this water into something else, but Jesus can.
• Enlarge the main illustration for this story. Color in the details with felt marker pens. Cover the entire picture with clear contact paper. Make the picture into a puzzle by cutting it into several pieces.
• Copy the wine pot lacing-card pattern onto heavy paper for each child (see Patterns). Punch out the holes where indicated. Give each child a length of yarn so he can "sew" around the shape. Be sure to wrap a small piece of tape around the end of the yarn so it will be easy to thread through the holes.

REVIEW IDEAS‍

On the right-hand side of large sheets of construction paper, print the complete verses of the references given below (and any others you might choose to use). Leave a 6-inch space on the left side of each sheet of paper so the figure of a paper doll can be added later. Cut paper dolls out of construction paper (see Patterns). Use the same amount of paper dolls as you use verses. On each figure print one of the needs or feelings listed. Mount all the verses on a board so the children can easily read them. Choose one of the figures and read the need or feeling to the children. Ask them to match it to a verse that answers that need. When they are all done let the children know that these are some of the ways that show us God will still supply our needs today.

1. John 3:16 — If you feel unloved.
2. 2 Corinthians 1:4 — If you need someone to comfort you.
3. 2 Corinthians 5:17 — If you want your life to be different.
4. Philippians 4:13 — If you feel weak.
5. Philippians 4:19 — If you have a need.
6. Hebrews 13:5 — If you feel alone.
7. James 1:5 — If you need answers.
8. James 4:8 — If you want to feel close to God.

Have a skit showing a mock wedding, followed with guests at the table, complaining that all the wine is gone. Have the servant go out and soon come back with more to give to the governor. Have the governor praise the bridegroom for how good it tastes. Have the guests leave, with two servants cleaning the table, the one servant explaining to the other the miracle that took place right before his eyes.

Ask the children if they have ever been to a wedding. Show a picture of a bride and groom. Tell them that a long time ago Jesus went to a wedding and afterwards went to a reception. Explain a reception by setting out things on a table: pieces of cake, nuts, mints, napkins, forks. Set out several see-through glasses in which you have put some grape juice concentrate (so it looks like the glasses are ready for a refill). Tell the children that the wine was all gone so the people couldn't have anymore. When Jesus' mother saw this, she told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. Jesus told them to fill the pots with water. Then He told them to give a glass of this to the governor! At this point pour some water into one of the glasses (it will dilute the grape juice concentrate and make good juice) and ask one of the children to taste it. Tell the children that you didn't really make it into grape juice but that Jesus really did work a miracle. Explain that this was the first of many miracles which Jesus did for people.