John 2:1-12

Jesus Changes Water into Wine

1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."

4 "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come."

5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.

8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples put their faith in him.

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.



Dig Deeper

Just yesterday I was able to spend the school day at my youngest son's school volunteering. Being two days before Halloween, but the last school day before the 31st, the kids knew that they were gong to have some sort of party. Right away when they got to school they were told that they were going to have some snacks that were a mixture of treats. They were also told that the secret ingredient to make the snack complete had been taken by a mysterious figure named "Frankie." An hour or so into the day, just as promised they were told that, not only had Frankie taken their treats and hid them, but he had left clues in order for the class to find them. The first clue was "left" right on their teacher's desk and was a pretty easy clue leading them to the second clue. After that, though, the clues got harder for the kids to find and they weren't left out in the open and so obvious. The clues were there as had been promised, but they had to look closely to find them. After finding and following all of the clues they finally found the mysterious missing ingredient, a bag of M & M's.

Nathanael and the other disciples had been looking for the missing ingredient. They weren't quite sure where it was or how to find but they were on the lookout. In the last chapter, Jesus told Nathanael that he was going to see things that were beyond his wildest imagination. He was going to see what it looks like when the line between heaven and earth are blurred. He would, in fact, see what can happens when heaven breaks into the physical realm of earth. That was not just an empty promise and John certainly will not leave that as an empty statement. He is about to send us on our own hunt for clues to the missing ingredient. He helps us out with this first sign, and will make the second one obvious as well. After that, though, we're on our own. We will have to keep our eyes open and look for the signs and see where they lead us. As we go along on our search, take special notice as to how many signs John leaves for us, the number might surprise you.

Weddings were huge affairs in first century Israel. The wedding feast itself could last up to a week and would include everyone from the village in which the betrothed lived. This wedding may even have been of a family member of some time of Jesus, or he might just have been invited as a nearby neighbor. It would appear that his mother, Mary, may have had some official role of helping to plan the wedding based on her concern for what was going on and her ability to give orders to the servants.

John says that this was the third day since Jesus' encounter with Nathanael, and if we count that day with Nathanael as the first day (which is how Jews in the first century would have counted), then the second day was not explicitly mentioned (it may have been the Sabbath), then this third day is the seventh day of John's opening week. Both of these numbers would have had high symbolic importance for John. Seven days, of course, were symbolic of the opening of the new creation. Any idea as to what significance John might have seen in categorizing the day of Jesus' first miracle as the third day?

With weddings going on up to seven days, it is likely that by the time Jesus arrived with his disciples (presumably Andrew, Peter, John, Philip, and Nathanael) the wedding had been going on for some time. It would be unlikely that the hosts would run out of wine on the first day, so we can infer that Jesus had been invited to the wedding, but is just now arriving several days into the wedding. Running out of wine was no small thing in this culture. It would have been a disastrous situation that would have brought shame on the entire family; it would likely have caused the couple getting married to view this as a bad sign for their marriage; it even could have led to the family having legal action taken against them for not properly providing what was expected at a wedding.

Whether she was a family member or one of the attendants in charge of the wedding celebration itself, Mary takes specific concern over the situation, and immediately brings the issue to Jesus. There is nothing in her statement, "they have no more wine," that implies that Mary was expecting a miracle of any kind, though there does seem to be some sort of special expectation on her part. Jesus' response in calling her "woman" is a bit terse, but not at all a harsh response. His statement that his hour has not yet come, seems significant in John's mind. It points ahead to other moments in John's Gospel where he will record that Jesus recognized that his time had come (12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1). The hour, for Jesus, seemed to be the moment when the full glory of God would be revealed through him. (That, we should note, is the time when Jesus is going to the Cross. The miracles are important and hold great significance but if we really want to understand and behold the full glory of God, we must look to the Cross.) Mary, then, may have been gently prodding Jesus to reveal himself as the Messiah. Whether that was her intent or not, Jesus is determined to not be forced into a public manifestation of his full identity before it is time (see also 7:6, 8).

Despite Jesus' tepid response, Mary seems to be convinced that her son will still resolve the situation. Jesus does resolve the situation by revealing his glory through this miraculous moment, but doing so in private. Only a small number of people have any clue what Jesus has done. The master of the banquet and most everyone else at the wedding have no idea what they are taking part in.

With John's affinity for numerical symbolic significance, it is quite possible that he denotes that there were six stone water jars with a specific purpose in mind. In fact, there seems to be much symbolic significance with this scene. Although there may certainly be some debate over specific symbols, it seems that the following explanation is something of what John sees in this account. Seven was the perfect number in biblical thought, and six was usually seen as the number symbolizing falling short of perfection. It was the number of man (which John uses with great importance in the book of Revelation). The stone jars held water and were used for all of the ceremonial aspects of the Law. Water was connected frequently in the Old Testament with the Holy Spirit or the action of God while wine was symbolic in the Jewish culture for God's age to come and that joy that would be abundant in that age. The wedding feast itself was another symbol of the age to come. It seems then, that in this first miracle, John wants us to see a moment in which the emptiness of the Jewish rituals is being filled up with the work of the Spirit and turned into something entirely new, a moment from the new creation.

Whether we agree with all of that symbolism or not, and it does seem rather likely that John intends for us to see at least some symbolism in this event. We do know this for sure; Jesus had promised Nathanael that he would see greater things than he could imagine. This is what it would look like when heaven was opened up and Jesus became the ladder between heaven and earth. His ultimate hour had not yet come, but this was certainly the first step up the mountain. Nathanael, Jesus told him, was going to get far more than he expected. The wine that Jesus was making available was far superior to anything that had been revealed before (as was Jesus' ministry).

We should note that some have criticized this miracle, asking the question if Jesus was contributing to the drunkenness of people by creating so much wine. That criticism simply doesn't hold water though (no pun intended). Jesus did make 120 to 180 gallons of wine, but we must remember a few important details. There would possibly have been several hundred people present at the wedding and it would still have been their responsibility to drink wisely. Plus, there is nothing that even implies that all of the wine was consumed at the wedding. There may have been a great deal of wine left over which would have served as a generous resource and a wonderful gift for the newly married couple. We must be careful, ultimately, not to read our cultural negativity towards wine into this account.

It was through this first sign that the journey has truly begun and God's glory was revealed through the Word that had become flesh. The Old Testament had boldly declared that the true glory of God would be revealed through the Messiah (Ps. 97:6; 102:16; Isa. 60:1-2) and John makes it clear to us that that time had come. This is what it would look like when the Son of God entered into the world, bringing the new creation with him. The exciting thing for us is that the new creation that came through the water turning into wine is not something that happened one time two thousand years ago. The new creation is available to us now (2 Cor. 5:15-21). Jesus can have the same sort of transformational power in our lives as he had on the water. All we need do is to heed Mary's words to do whatever he tells you.



Devotional Thought

How do you compare with the servants in this account? Mary told them to do whatever Jesus told them to do, and certainly John intends for his readers to contemplate what that concept means in our lives. Do you do whatever Jesus says in the Word of God or do you have a tendency to look for only the parts you like? What aspects of the life of Christ have you been selective with in your life?