Rooted in Faith

A Bible study on the purpose pictured in Jesus' first sign and His last healing miracle before the cross.

Nothing Jesus did was without purpose. His words, His actions, His parables, and His miracles all pointed toward who He was and why He had come.

That makes an interesting question worth asking: What did Jesus show us through His first miracle – and what did He show us through His last healing miracle before the cross?

When we put the two together, they form remarkable bookends around His earthly ministry.

The First Miracle: Water Into Wine

Jesus' first recorded miracle took place at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. The wedding party ran out of wine, and Mary brought the problem to Jesus.

But John gives us a detail that is easy to read right past. The water Jesus used wasn't simply ordinary drinking water.

"And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews…" – John 2:6 KJV

These vessels were associated with purification and ceremonial washing.

"Fill the waterpots with water." – John 2:7 KJV

They filled them to the brim. And Jesus turned that water of purification into wine.

Why would Jesus choose this as the first sign of His ministry?

"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him." – John 2:11 KJV

It was a sign. And signs point toward something.

From Purification Water to Blood

Later, during the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup and gave it meaning that His disciples could not have fully understood at Cana.

"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." – Matthew 26:28 KJV

Wine had now become connected with His blood.

"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." – 1 John 1:7 KJV

Look at the picture. The water in Cana was associated with cleansing and purification. Jesus turned that water into wine. Later, the cup points toward His blood. And His blood provides the cleansing mankind truly needs: cleansing from sin.

"Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." – Matthew 1:21 KJV

At the beginning of His ministry, His first sign can therefore be understood as a picture pointing toward the very reason He had come.

"Mine hour is not yet come." – John 2:4 KJV

Throughout John's Gospel, that coming 'hour' eventually becomes associated with His suffering, death and glorification. So at the beginning of His ministry, the story is already looking forward.

Then Comes His Last Healing Miracle

Now move from the beginning of Jesus' ministry to its final hours before the crucifixion. Jesus is in the garden. Judas has arrived with the men who have come to arrest Him. Peter draws his sword and strikes the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. John tells us the man's name: Malchus.

"And he touched his ear, and healed him." – Luke 22:51 KJV

Jesus knows He is about to be arrested. He knows what lies ahead. Yet His last recorded healing miracle before the crucifixion is performed upon a man who came with those arresting Him.

And what does Jesus restore? An ear.

Why an ear? An ear allows a person to hear.

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." – Matthew 11:15 KJV

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." – Romans 10:17 KJV

How Does Faith Come?

"And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" – Romans 10:14 KJV

The Gospel must be proclaimed. People must hear it. Through hearing the Word of God comes faith. And through faith people can receive what Christ came to accomplish.

That makes the restoration of Malchus' ear particularly thought-provoking when viewed as a sign. Jesus' final healing miracle wasn't merely restoring a damaged part of someone's body. The very thing He restored was the thing necessary to hear. And Scripture tells us: Faith comes by hearing.

Two Miracles – One Message

Now place Jesus' first sign beside His final healing miracle before the cross.

His first miracle: water associated with purification becomes wine – pointing toward cleansing, and ultimately toward the blood of Christ that cleanses from sin.

His last healing miracle: a severed ear is restored – pointing toward hearing the Gospel, because faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Put them together: Christ came to cleanse us from sin. We must hear the Gospel. Through hearing the Word comes faith. And through faith we receive what Christ came to provide.

There is something else beautiful about the final miracle. Malchus wasn't standing with Jesus. He was standing among those who had come to arrest Him. Yet Jesus healed him anyway. The message of the Gospel isn't reserved for people who already believe. It must be heard by those who do not yet believe.

Nothing Was Without Purpose

It would be easy to read the miracle at Cana simply as: They ran out of wine, so Jesus made more. And it would be easy to read what happened in the garden simply as: Someone's ear was cut off, so Jesus healed it.

Both statements describe what happened. But John's Gospel encourages us to look deeper. John calls Jesus' miracles signs.

"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." – John 20:31 KJV

The signs reveal who Jesus is. They lead people toward belief. And believing leads to life.

His first sign involved purification. His last healing involved hearing. Between those two miracles He preached, taught, healed, called people to repentance, revealed the Father, and prepared His disciples for what was coming.

Then He gave His life. The blood that would cleanse was shed. The Gospel would be preached. People would hear. Faith would come. And people would believe.

The First Miracle Said:

This is what I came to do – cleanse mankind from sin.

The Last Healing Miracle Said:

Hear what I have done – because faith comes by hearing.

And between the first sign and the last healing miracle stands the entire earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.

A Note for the Reader

Scripture explicitly tells us that the Cana waterpots were for Jewish purification, that Jesus transformed the water into wine, that His blood cleanses from sin, that Malchus' ear was restored, and that faith comes by hearing. Reading the first and last miracles together as deliberate symbolic bookends is an interpretation of those biblical details rather than an interpretation the biblical writers explicitly state. As with any Bible study, read the passages yourself and examine the connections in their full context.