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“GREAT CROWDS APPROACHED HIM” 145
will also learn that he is always welcome to approach you
with any problem or care.
14 Jesus conveyed to people that their concerns mattered
to him. For instance, consider the first miracle Jesus
performed. He was attending a wedding feast in Cana,
a town in Galilee. An embarrassing problem arose—the
wine ran out! Jesus’ mother, Mary, told her son what had
happened. And what did Jesus do? He had the attendants
fill up six large stone jars with water. When a sample was
taken to the director of the feast, why, it was fine wine!
Was that a trick, some sleight of hand? No, the water
“had been turned into wine.” (John 2:1-11) Turning one
thing into another has long been a dream of humans. For
centuries, men called alchemists tried to turn lead into
gold. They never succeeded—although lead and gold are,
in fact, remarkably similar elements. What about water
and wine? Chemically, water is simple, a combination of
two basic elements. Wine, on the other hand, contains
nearly a thousand components, many of them complex
compounds! Why would Jesus perform such a marvelous
deed in answer to something as trivial as a shortage of
wine at a wedding feast?
15 The problem was not trivial to the bride and groom.
In the ancient Middle East, hospitality to invited guests
was of profound importance. Running out of wine at the
wedding feast would have caused the bride and groom
Students of chemistry know that lead and gold are quite close on
the periodic table of elements. An atom of lead simply has three more
protons in its nucleus than gold has. Modern-day physicists have
even converted small amounts of lead into gold, but the process requires
so much energy that it is not cost-effective.
14-16. (a) What circumstances led Jesus to perform his first miracle,
and why was it a marvelous deed? (b) What does Jesus’ miracle in
Cana reveal about him, providing what lesson for parents?