About This Guide: This weekly groups guide, “A Light Has Dawned,” is designed as a companion to our Epiphany 2022 teaching series, fostering discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting. Join a group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
the miracle at cana
Teaching Text: John 2: 1-12
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “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.”
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.
After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
This is a story about what happens when Jesus gets involved.
Presence
Meditate on these with others:
Take 2 minutes and spend it in silence. Prepare your heart to encounter God and each other.
God, open the ears of my spirit this week to hear your voice of invitation into the way of the Kingdom. May I hear and obey. I trust where you will lead.
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
John says…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.
The Invitation
By inviting Jesus, all the rest of what happens can happen. So simple but don’t rush past this detail. We would do well to invite Jesus into whatever we are are doing. He takes the invitation to get involved. He responds to intercession.
Behind the Scenes Miracle
Sheer Abundance
This is not a miracle of mere utility.
[We are] but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins. (Betrand Russell, British philosopher, mathematician, and notable atheist)
Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind's eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. (Richard Dawkins, prominent scholarly atheist)
What if we have a God behind this astonishingly finely-tuned creation who is wildly creative, fully of love, heart broken over our pain and death, our sins and wars, but willing to step into repair and healing.
Trust Grows
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. (John 2:11)
How’s your relationship? Will you invite Jesus in?
How’s your trust? Will you do what He says?
How’s your hope? Can you believe for abundance?
Love
Read these notes and discuss the questions below:
You are a part of Jesus body and so you can invite people to your table, to your church, to Alpha, to walk in the park.
To invite is to love.
Invitation to be heard
Invitation to a meal
Invitation to community
Invitation to small group
Invitation to experience joy
Invitation to the Kingdom
Invitation to meet Jesus
What invitation can you extend this week to your loved ones, your neighbor, your co-workers?
Pray for one another in the group.
