Did Mary, the mother of Jesus, witness miracles before Jesus turned water into wine?

Before Jesus began His public ministry, Mary experienced several extraordinary, miraculous events related to Jesus’ birth and early life. While these were not miracles performed by Jesus Himself, they were miracles Mary witnessed before He turned water into wine.

In Luke 1:26–38, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, announcing that she would conceive Jesus, the Son of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This miraculous conception is central to Christian doctrine. The virgin birth of Jesus itself was a miracle in which Mary participated like no other human on earth (Matthew 1:18–25; Luke 2:1–7).

After Jesus’ birth, angels miraculously appeared to shepherds to announce the Savior’s arrival, and the shepherds visited Mary and Joseph to witness the newborn child (Luke 2:8–20). Later, wise men bearing gifts visited Jesus; they were guided on their journey by a miraculous star (Matthew 2:1–12). Another angel warned Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt to protect Jesus from King Herod (Matthew 2:13–15). Mary had firsthand knowledge of all these miracles.

The Bible says that Mary kept all these experiences in her heart, like treasures, often reflecting on them (see Luke 2:19; 2:51). Scripture does not record any miracles that Jesus Himself performed during childhood or young adulthood.

After His baptism (see Matthew 3:13–17; Luke 3:21–22; Mark 1:4–11; John 1:29–34), Jesus began His ministry and called His first disciples. Three days later, Jesus performed His first miracle.

The Gospel of John records the event, which occurred at a wedding in Cana (John 2:1–11). The miracle is witnessed by Jesus’ mother, His disciples, and some of the household servants. When the wine runs out, Mary informs Jesus of the shortage, believing He can solve the problem. Scholars speculate that the wedding may have been for relatives of Mary, and she might have played a role in organizing the event. Mary may not have even expected Jesus to perform a miracle, but she trusted Him and instructed the servants to do whatever He told them. Quietly, with no fanfare, Jesus turned water into wine to serve at the wedding. This was “the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory”; the result was that His disciples believed in Him (John 2:11).

Certain early writers, unsatisfied with the Bible’s silence on the subject of Jesus’ childhood, invented the “Infancy Gospels” that attributed numerous miracles to the child Jesus. These works, including the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Arabic Infancy Gospel, portrayed Jesus performing various miraculous and sometimes bizarre acts such as these:

Another unorthodox writing, the Protevangelium of James, focused on Mary’s background, describing her as dedicated to the temple as a type of “vestal virgin” at the age of three. Many of these accounts were incorporated into the Golden Legend, a thirteenth-century collection of short biographies on the saints. The Golden Legend significantly influenced medieval European religious understanding and contributed to the unbiblical exaltation of Mary.

The Infancy Gospels may provide insight into early church thinking and the heresy of Gnosticism, but they are fundamentally different from the canonical texts, which are far superior in quality and reliability. The absurd tales of Jesus as a youngster are entirely incompatible with the historical Jesus. As a young boy, Jesus was obedient to His parents and could reason wisely with teachers (see Luke 2:41–51). The Bible sums up Jesus’ childhood with one sentence: “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people” (Luke 2:52, NLT).

Mary did not witness Jesus perform boyhood miracles, but she did experience supernatural events associated with His conception, birth, and early childhood. These events, described in the Gospels, were acts of God or angelic intervention rather than miracles worked by Jesus Himself. Scripture explicitly says the miracle at Cana was “the first of the signs” (John 2:11). This statement seems to refute any claim that Jesus performed miracles during childhood. The inspired Word of God is the believer’s only trustworthy source.