On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.
12 After this He went down to Capernaum, with His mother and His brothers and His disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
Today we are taking a look at the first of seven miracles, or signs which we find in the gospel of John. We are all familiar with the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine, and yes, He certainly did spare the blushes of the groom’s family. This was an act of kindness and compassion by Jesus, and we will get into that, but unfortunately so many believe that this was the main purpose of this miracle. Verse 11 though, spells it out for us. “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.” We need to connect this verse with what John wrote in 20:30-31 in order to properly understand this miracle and its meaning. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
The people at that wedding in Cana were certainly the beneficiaries of Jesus’ miracle, but as with all of His other miracles, He performed them to reveal His true identity as God in human form, to bring glory to Himself, and in so doing, those who believe in Him might receive the gift of eternal life.
This particular miracle is full of symbolism. It signified the transformation of the old order associated with Moses, which is represented by the stone water jars used for ceremonial washing, into the new. The wine represents eternal life in God’s kingdom. The wine in particular is significant, something which the prophet Isaiah wrote about some 700 years earlier. “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.’” (Isaiah 25:6-9)
The abundant fruitfulness of vines and wine was a picture of the new age which would be ushered in by the death and resurrection of Jesus. The setting of this first miracle is also important, as this particular wedding is a picture of another wedding that is coming. Jesus began His ministry on this earth at a wedding as one of the invited guests, and one day He will be the groom at another wedding. At the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Church will be presented to Him as His bride.
This is the first miracle which Jesus performed. Moses’ first miracle was turning water into blood. That was the first of the ten plagues we read about in Exodus 7. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine. The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Most Biblical commentators regard a wedding as a significant setting for Jesus’ first miracle. His presence at the wedding is regarded as Him blessing and confirming the institution of marriage, but there is a lot more to the setting of His first miracle.
Weddings were joyous occasions, particularly in those times, partly because for perhaps the only time in what was a difficult life, the bride and groom were treated as royalty. Married life in first-century Palestine began with joy, but for most couples it was marked by toil as the couple struggled just to survive in a difficult world.
In Jewish tradition, wine represented life and abundance, and no proper wedding would be without it. Wine symbolised the life of the party and the expectation of a good life to come for the newlyweds. But at Cana, just as the young couple prepared to begin their new life together, the unthinkable happened. They ran out of wine. This probably happened more often that we might realise in those days, because wedding celebrations often lasted as long as a week. This might seem a bit strange to us today, but Jewish marriages in the ancient Middle East were two-stage affairs. Betrothal involved the signing of a binding agreement between two families. The closest we have to betrothal in our culture is when a couple gets engaged. Engagement though, is not a legal contract, whereas in 1st century Israel, betrothal was. A couple who were betrothed was considered as husband and wife, even though they had yet to sign the marriage register, so to speak. This helps us to understand the predicament that Joseph and Mary were in when she was told that she was pregnant. They were betrothed to each other, but their marriage had yet to be consummated. The actual union took place a year later, when the groom went to the home of the bride with his friends and brought her to their new home.
Then the celebration would continue for up to a week, and running out of wine was a cause of huge embarrassment and shame for the groom and his family. This was nothing short of social disgrace. In those small communities everybody knew everybody, so running out of wine at their wedding would haunt a married couple for many years.
Before we move on with the miracle itself, we need to understand something of the role that wine played in ancient Israel. Many people struggle with the idea of Jesus providing an abundance of alcohol, when the guests have seemingly already had a lot to drink. There are all kinds of moral objections raised on this issue, and with good reason. As we know, alcohol has been the cause of all kinds of heartache and misery throughout human history.
In those days however, wine was generally diluted with water. Water purification as we understand it today was non-existent then, so wine mixed with water was much safer to drink than water alone. While the Bible condemns drunkenness, it does not condemn the consumption of wine. Psalm 104:14-15, speaking of the abundance of God’s provision says, “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.”
Most medical prescriptions in those days called for between three to ten three parts of water to be diluted with one part wine. They had no idea about things like bacteria and how they caused illnesses, but they recognised that alcohol in small doses had some healing properties. Timothy had health issues, so what was Paul’s advice? “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” (1 Timothy 5:23)
In its undiluted form wine was a strong drink, and was condemned as a source of drunkenness, but wine was also a symbol of joy and feasting, and was even used as drink offerings made to the Lord in Old Testament times.
So when Mary went to Jesus and told Him that the hosts had run out of wine, this was not because the guests were all drunk and demanding that the bar stay open. Far from it. She recognised the dilemma of the groom and his family, and was trying to do something about the situation they found themselves in.
The conversation between Mary and Jesus is puzzling. “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’” (John 2:3-4)
Why did Mary tell Jesus they have no wine? Some believe that Mary hoped Jesus would do something about the shortage, but what did she expect? For some thirty years Jesus had lived a rather ordinary life in Nazareth, so there was no reason for Mary to look to Him for a miracle. Some commentators say that one possibility is that she hoped Jesus would contribute toward the purchase of additional wine. Apparently this was not an unusual thing for guests to do, remembering that these were relatively poor communities, and a week-long celebration was expensive.
We don’t really know what Mary’s intention was, but why did Jesus respond to her in the way He did? The NKJV translates Jesus’ reply as “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
The term is not necessarily impolite, but it does have the effect of distancing Jesus from His mother and her request. Some have suggested that addressing Mary as “woman” is the modern equivalent of Him calling her “ma’am.”
Jesus’ tone was not rude, but it was abrupt. Having the benefit of knowing the bigger picture now, we can see that His reply to Mary was based on His understanding of His mission on earth. He was not being disrespectful to His mother, but from this point on, Mary had to recognise Him not so much as a son that she raised but as the promised Messiah and Son of God.
It shows a distinct distancing of Jesus from His mother. He was about to set out on the mission for which He came. One phase of His life on earth ended at His baptism only a few days earlier, when the Spirit identified Him as the Son of God, and so now a new phase of His life was beginning.
So when Jesus asked Mary what this had to do with Him, He wasn’t really saying, “That’s their problem. Let them sort it out themselves.” Most commentators agree that Jesus intended to emphasise to Mary that they had come into a new relationship. We don’t know for sure, but this was quite possibly the first time that she had asked Him for help on a public occasion. For Jesus it was the first time He worked under the heavenly Father’s authority and through the Holy Spirit’s power He produced a miraculous sign.
The last part of verse 4 seems to explain the first part - my hour has not yet come. Twice more in John’s gospel - chapters 7 and 8 - we read that His hour has not yet come, but then just before going to the cross He says in 12:23, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” And verse 27, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”
Another interesting take on Mary telling Jesus they had run out of wine was that she had carried the stigma of Jesus’ miraculous birth for thirty years. We can only imagine the scandal of an unmarried woman having a child in those days, so it was only natural she would want some public revelation that her son was the Messiah. She most certainly would have remembered her conversation with the angel Gabriel when he told her just who this was she was to give birth to, but Jesus’ gentle yet firm reply was something along these lines: “What you expect out of this will not occur yet. I’m on a divine timetable and the revelation of my purpose will not happen today.” But God’s timetable for His Son did allow Him to begin giving evidence of His identity by performing this miracle.
And so He turned water into wine. This first miracle revealed His glory and led His disciples to believe in Him. In the short term, Jesus protected His hosts from the embarrassment of running out of wine, but the bigger picture is that with this miracle, He took the first step along a path which would bring healing to many, the agony of the cross for Him, salvation to us and glory to Himself.
Then in verse 5 we have the last recorded words of Mary in the gospel of John, and her words are excellent advice for all Christians of all ages. “Do whatever He tells you.” We should sit up and take notice of what she says here. Note that she didn’t tell the servants to obey her, or any other human being for that matter. She pointed them to Jesus and told them that He was the One who should be obeyed. The teachings of Jesus are given to us in the pages of the Bible, and as we read through the Word, we would do well to take Mary’s advice: Do whatever He tells you.
She had no idea what Jesus was about to do, but she showed great faith and confidence that Jesus would be able to do something. What happened next was an unmistakable miracle. There was no way that the miracle Jesus performed could involve trickery. It was the servants, not His disciples who followed Jesus’ instructions. They simply followed His instructions and filled the water jars with water, and took the water to the master of the feast, or the master of ceremonies as we would call him today. He was the one who was responsible for mixing and distributing the wine.
Jesus’ disciples just stood there, watching this all unfold before their eyes, and when the master of the feast remarked that this was a far better wine than had been served earlier in the week, the servants knew. And the disciples knew. Jesus had turned the water into wine.
There are several points we can highlight in this miracle. There is some kind of harmony between Jesus’ miracle and what happens in nature. It is quite natural for water to fall from the sky, to be absorbed by the roots of a grape vine, to be drawn up into the grapes, and then to be pressed out of the ripe grapes as new wine. What Jesus did was not contrary to this natural process but in harmony with it. The difference of course, is that He changed the water into wine in an instant, and without the usual process of a grapevine. This makes His statement in chapter 15 all the more meaningful: “I am the true vine.” And we can only wonder if the disciples recalled this miracle some three years later in the Upper Room when He said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:27-29)
John writes in verse 11 that this was the first of the signs that Jesus performed. The Greek word for a miraculous sign is semeion, and it is used 77 times in the New Testament. Strong’s Lexicon defines semeion as “an unusual occurrence, transcending the common course of nature; miracles and wonders by which God authenticates the men sent by Him, or by which men prove that the cause they are pleading is God’s.”
So again, there was a wonderfully compassionate and caring result of Jesus turning water into the finest wine, but the ultimate purpose of this and all of His miracles was to reveal Himself and to authenticate Himself as the Son of God, and as we read in verse 11, He manifested His glory.
In the Bible, God’s glory is associated with His self-revelation. In other words, each time He chooses to reveal Himself in whatever way, the mere fact that He is revealing Himself also reveals His glory. John, in his introduction to his gospel, wrote in 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The miracles of Jesus are evidence of God revealing His glory to us, and the reality of who Jesus is began to shine through in this very first miracle. With each succeeding sign, His deity shone brighter and brighter, until the resurrection sealed this truth beyond any doubt. Jesus is God incarnate as a human being.
So how does this miracle apply to our lives today? Mary seemed certain that Jesus could do something about the lack of wine at the wedding. She didn’t know what He would do, but she appealed to Him anyway. Even His rather strange response didn’t put her off. She told the servants to do as He told them, and Jesus solved the problem in His own unique way.
We are often faced with situations that seem hopeless. The best we can do is to follow Mary’s advice and turn to Jesus. We may not receive an immediate answer, and the answer when it does come, might not be the answer we were hoping for, but we should ask God to give us the faith to trust in His greater purposes. He is sovereign over all, and it is He who is God, not us.
In the words of William Cowper’s hymn, God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. Don’t forget what God says through the prophet Isaiah. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
There are times when His answer to our prayers is a firm “no”, but we can take comfort in the apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8:28. “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” We can never predict what God will do to help us, but we can know that our God is a miracle-working God and that His solutions to our problems will be far better than our own. As Jesus answers our prayers, He continues to display His glory, and so our faith in Him continues to grow.
Just as this wedding ran out of wine, mankind ran out of fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. When sin entered the world, everything changed, but by His grace and because of His great love for us, God came in human form. Jesus went to the cross and offered His life for us. Repent and turn to Christ if you have yet to do so, because He is your only hope of peace in this world and in the next.
Just as the master of the banquet said that most people bring out the best wine first and the cheap wine afterwards, in the same way the world throws its best pictures of sin at us to trick us, then the cheap stuff comes along. Eventually the joys and pleasures of the world fade away because they cannot offer us what we really need: to be reconciled to a holy God.
Jesus has poured out His blood as the final and perfect sacrifice for our sins. We have complete forgiveness and cleansing because we’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb. This first miracle of Jesus in John chapter 2 was far more than an act of kindness to satisfy the thirst of the wedding guests. It is a picture of the Gospel. Because of our sin we have been pursuing the pleasures of the world, but we have no more wine, and our only hope is Jesus Christ, the one who not only offers us the choicest of wine, but His own blood for eternal life.
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 2:1-11
Discuss the significance of a wedding as the setting for Jesus’ first miracle. (See Revelation 19:9)
Jesus’ response to Mary in verse 4 has created much speculation and debate.
Discuss His answer to Mary in your group.
Read Psalm 140:14-15
How does God continue to supply all our needs today?
How does He gladden your heart?
How do you see the picture of salvation through Christ in the miracle of changing water into wine?
Drinking water in Biblical times was risky, as they did not have access to purified water as we do today. Diluting water with wine was necessary in order to make it drinkable and safe.
Discuss how sin has contaminated the “water” of our lives, and how the heavenly wine of the Word of God purifies our lives.
Close by praying that God would encourage us to share the sweet wine of salvation through Christ with the world.