< John 2 >
1 Two days later a wedding was held at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus' mother was there.
2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3 The wine ran out, so Jesus' mother told him, “They don't have any more wine.”
4 “Mother, why should you involve me? My time hasn't come yet,” he replied.
5 His mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Standing nearby were six stone jars used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each one holding twenty to thirty gallons.
7 “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them right up.
8 Then he told them, “Pour some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So they took him some.
9 The master of ceremonies didn't know where it had come from, only the servants knew. But when he tasted the water that had been turned to wine, he called the bridegroom over.
10 “Everyone serves out the best wine first,” he told him, “and once people have had plenty to drink, then they put out the cheaper wine. But you have kept the best wine till last!”
11 This was the very first of Jesus' miraculous signs, and was performed in Cana of Galilee. Here he revealed his glory, and his disciples put their trust in him.
12 After this Jesus left for Capernaum with his mother, brothers, and disciples where they stayed for a few days.
13 Since it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went on to Jerusalem.
14 In the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves; and money-changers sitting at their tables.
15 He made a whip out of cords and drove everyone out of the Temple, along with the sheep and cattle, scattering coins of the money-changers and turning over their tables.
16 He ordered the dove-sellers, “Take these things out of here! Don't turn my Father's house into a market!”
17 His disciples remembered the Scripture that says, “My devotion for your house is like a fire burning inside me!”
18 The Jewish leaders reacted, asking him, “What right do you have to do this? Show us some miraculous sign to prove it!”
19 Jesus replied, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I'll raise it up!”
20 “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you're going to raise it up in three days?” the Jewish leaders replied.
21 But the Temple Jesus was speaking of was his body.
22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered what he said, and so they believed in Scripture and Jesus' own words.
23 As a result of the miracles Jesus did while he was in Jerusalem during the Passover, many believed in him.
24 But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all about people.
25 He didn't need anyone to tell him about human nature for he knew the way people think.
