Jesus was human, like us, in all ways except sin. But from this starting point he becomes to us “the perfect man” – and the perfect man is obviously in control, in command of himself and the situation around him at all times, a man who understands everything about what will happen to him.
I don’t know if that really is the perfect man, but it isn’t the person Jesus was. John starts his account of the ministry of Jesus at a point where he was explicitly not in control (John 2:1-11). The person who understood the situation was his mother. Jesus had to recognize that something was required of him that he hadn’t realized or expected.
And the point of this epiphany was? It wasn’t so the newlyweds could have a better party. It was so that “his disciples began to believe in him”, because they had “seen his glory”. The disciples had already accepted Jesus and begun to follow him, but it took this act for them to “begin to believe”. To believe what? John has just finished his account of the calling of the disciples, summarized by Nathaniel “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” That sounds like a declaration of faith – but the reaction of the disciples at the wedding takes them beyond that, to another stage in belief. Belief is not a simple either/or – I believe or I don’t. I might ‘sort of believe’, but could easily be persuaded otherwise – right through to: I believe so strongly that I will die for this.
We are used to making a declaration of faith – we do it every time we recite the Creed. But believing in Jesus is more than that. It takes us on a journey that leads through death to resurrection. And the journey starts by following a man who is not in control, who doesn’t know what he is doing, but who is willing to listen and react in humility to the situation around him. That’s where his glory is first revealed. The final revelation of his glory will be when he dies on a cross.
Perfection is not being right, is not knowing what to do, is not being in control, it is being willing to recognize the will of God in every moment. That is the way in which Jesus was perfect. That is the perfection he calls us to emulate.