Thursday, December 25, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: John 2-4
Key Verse
John 3:33 — “He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.”
Devotional Thought
On this Christmas morning, while many of us are still lingering near the tree and the table, John gives us a wedding at Cana. Jesus, His mother, and His disciples are guests at a marriage feast in Galilee, and the wine runs out — an ordinary embarrassment that becomes the setting for the first sign of His glory. Mary brings the need to her Son with simple confidence: “They have no wine.” He answers that His hour is not yet come, yet He acts anyway, and the servants fill six stone waterpots to the brim. What the governor of the feast tastes is not water but wine — and not merely wine, but the good wine, kept back until now. John tells us plainly why he recorded it: “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”
From that quiet village feast, John carries us to the temple courts in Jerusalem, where Jesus makes a scourge of small cords and drives out the oxen and sheep and money-changers, crying, “Make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” Then, by night, comes Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, seeking a teacher — and he receives the words the whole world has clung to ever since: “Ye must be born again.” “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” On the very day we celebrate that gift, John shows us the gift arriving: the Word made flesh, turning water into wine, cleansing His Father’s house, and teaching an old man that the Spirit blows where it wills.
And still the chapter is not done. Weary at Jacob’s well, Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for a drink, and offers her living water instead — water that becomes “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” He tells her everything she has ever done, and she leaves her waterpot and runs to the city, and many Samaritans believe. Then, back in Cana, a nobleman begs Him to come down to Capernaum before his child dies. Jesus does not go; He simply says, “Go thy way; thy son liveth.” The man believes the word, and finds at home that the fever left at the very hour Jesus spoke.
Notice what kind of King has come. He does not arrive in pomp but at a wedding, at a well, at a deathbed — meeting ordinary people in ordinary need. He is the friend of the bridegroom, as John the Baptist said, and He must increase. On Christmas Day we sing of a babe in a manger; John shows us that babe grown, already pouring out His glory in wine and water and healing. The best wine is kept for now. The Light has come into the world. And to all who receive Him, He gives power to become the sons of God.
Reflection
- Mary simply told Jesus, “They have no wine,” and left the outcome to Him. What need in your life — or in the life of someone you love — are you carrying to Him in that same trusting way this Christmas?
- The servants at Cana “filled them up to the brim,” and the nobleman “believed the word” before he saw the proof. Where is Jesus asking you to obey fully, or to trust His word, before you can see what He will do?
Prayer
Father, on this Christmas Day we thank Thee for the gift of Thine only begotten Son, who came not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. As Thou didst turn water into wine at Cana, turn the common things of our lives into vessels of Thy glory. Give us living water, that we thirst no more. Teach us to worship Thee in spirit and in truth, and to believe Thy word even before we see the answer. Let Him increase and us decrease, until every heart in this house, like that nobleman’s, believes and rejoices. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.