The Lord of the Ordinary: On the Road to Jerusalem Text: John 2:12
Introduction: Divine Pacing
The Gospel of John is a masterfully constructed theological account of the life of Christ. Nothing is accidental. Every detail, every movement, every conversation is freighted with meaning. We have just witnessed the first of Jesus' signs in Cana of Galilee, where He turned water into wine. It was a glorious display of His power over the created order, a manifestation of His glory that caused His new disciples to believe in Him. It was a loud, celebratory bang. And what follows? A quiet, transitional verse. A verse about moving from one town to another with His family.
It is easy for us, in our hunger for the spectacular, to read a verse like this and simply skim over it. We want to get to the next big thing, which in John's gospel is the cleansing of the Temple. We want the confrontation, the whip of cords, the righteous fury. But in our haste, we can miss the profound theology embedded in the mundane. God is not only the God of the wedding feast and the God of the Temple showdown; He is the God of the dusty road between them. He is the Lord of the ordinary days, the Lord of geography, the Lord of family dynamics. This verse is a crucial hinge. It shows us the humanity of Christ, the strategic nature of His ministry, and the deliberate pacing of our sovereign God. He is never in a hurry, and He is never late. He is always moving, always working, always fulfilling His purposes, even in the quiet moments.
This verse forces us to pay attention to the earthly life of our Lord. He didn't just teleport from one miracle to the next. He walked. He had a mother, and brothers who, at this point, did not believe in Him. He had disciples who were just beginning to figure out who they were following. And He went to Capernaum, a place that would become the headquarters of His Galilean ministry. This is not just a travel update. This is a snapshot of the incarnate God moving His chess pieces across the board, preparing for the next great public advance of His kingdom.
The Text
After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.
(John 2:12 LSB)
The Lord of Geography (v. 12a)
We begin with the simple statement of movement:
"After this He went down to Capernaum..." (John 2:12a)
First, notice the timing: "After this." After what? After the display of glory at Cana. Jesus does not linger in the glow of His first miracle. The applause, the wonder, the free-flowing wine, none of it causes Him to set up a permanent base of operations there. He is not building a ministry on the foundation of spectacle. The sign was for a purpose, to manifest His glory and confirm the faith of His disciples, and with that purpose accomplished, He moves on. This is a lesson for us. We are often tempted to build monuments on the sites of past victories, to live in the memory of a great spiritual moment. But the Christian life is a pilgrimage, a journey. We are to give thanks for the "Cana" moments, and then we are to get back on the road. The mission is always forward.
He "went down" to Capernaum. This is geographically precise. Cana is in the hills of Galilee, while Capernaum is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, a significant drop in elevation. John is an eyewitness, and his details are accurate. But there is more here than just topography. Capernaum would become Jesus' "own city" (Matthew 9:1), the hub from which His Galilean ministry would radiate. This move is strategic. He is positioning Himself in a bustling town on a major trade route, a place where His teaching and works would have maximum exposure. This was not a random vacation. This was the Son of God, in His perfect wisdom, establishing His forward operating base for the invasion of enemy-held territory. He is the master strategist, and not one step He takes is wasted.
The Lord of Relationships (v. 12b)
Next, John tells us who was with Him on this journey.
"...He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples..." (John 2:12b)
Here we see the Lord in the midst of His earthly relationships. This is the incarnate reality. He is not a disembodied spirit, but a man with a family. And what a complicated family it was. We have His mother, Mary, who had just witnessed her son perform a miracle. She had treasured up all these things in her heart for thirty years, and now she sees the beginning of the fulfillment. She is a believer, a model of faith, though even she had to be gently corrected at the wedding when she presumed upon His timing. She is learning, as we all must, to relate to her son as her Lord.
Then we have "His brothers." John tells us later that "not even His brothers believed in Him" (John 7:5). Think about that. They grew up with Him. They saw His perfect, sinless life. And yet, they were blind to who He was. At this stage, they are likely tagging along out of familial duty or perhaps simple curiosity after the events at Cana. Their presence here is a stark reminder of the hardness of the human heart. Proximity to Jesus is not the same as faith in Jesus. You can be in the Lord's own family, in the Lord's own church, and still be on the outside. Their eventual conversion, particularly that of James who would lead the church in Jerusalem, is a glorious testimony to the power of the resurrection. But here, they are part of the unbelieving world that travels with Jesus.
And finally, we have "His disciples." These are the men who had just seen His glory and "believed in Him." They are distinct from His family. A new spiritual family is being formed, a family built not on blood and birth, but on faith and rebirth. Jesus would later make this explicit: "Who is My mother and who are My brothers? ... For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:48-50). This traveling party in John 2:12 is a picture of the great division Jesus brings. He is a sword that divides families, distinguishing between those related to Him by flesh and those related to Him by faith.
The Lord of Timing (v. 12c)
The verse concludes with a simple statement about the duration of their stay.
"...and they stayed there a few days." (John 2:12c)
Why only a few days? Because the Passover was approaching, and Jesus had an appointment in Jerusalem. "The Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" (John 2:13). This short stay in Capernaum is a pause, a brief stop, before a major, ministry-defining confrontation. He is not yet beginning His extended Galilean campaign. That will come later. First, He must go to the heart of the Jewish religious establishment and declare by His actions who He is and what He has come to do.
This demonstrates the divine rhythm of Jesus' ministry. There is a time for quiet movement and a time for public action. A time for being with family and disciples, and a time for confronting the money-changers. Jesus is living His life in perfect submission to the Father's timetable. "My hour has not yet come," He told His mother. But now, the hour for His first public act in Jerusalem is drawing near. He is not driven by impulse or opportunity. He is driven by the divine calendar. He is on a mission, and that mission has a schedule, ordained from before the foundation of the world.
Conclusion: Your Ordinary Roads
So what does this brief, transitional verse mean for us? It means that God is intensely interested in the ordinary parts of our lives. He is with us on the road from Cana to Capernaum. He is with us in our complicated family gatherings, with believing mothers and unbelieving brothers. He is with us in the "few days" we spend in one place before moving on to the next assignment He has for us.
Our lives are not just a series of spiritual highlights. Most of life is lived on the road, in the in-between moments. This verse teaches us that none of those moments are wasted in the economy of God. He is using the travel time, the quiet days, the mundane interactions to prepare us for the "Jerusalem" moments, the times of testing and confrontation that lie ahead. The same Lord who turned water into wine is the Lord who packs up and moves His family to a new town. The same Lord who will cleanse the Temple is the Lord who spends a few quiet days with his new disciples.
Therefore, do not despise the day of small things. Do not resent the ordinary paths God has you on. See His strategic hand in your geography. See His sanctifying purpose in your relationships. Trust His sovereign timing in the pacing of your life. He is the Lord of it all. He is with you when you are celebrating at a wedding, He is with you when you are on the road, and He is with you when you are called to stand and fight. He is the Lord of the ordinary, and because He is, every ordinary moment is charged with divine purpose and meaning.