From Water to Wine

Introduction

Illustration: What do you think of when you hear the word Joy? Can you remember a time in your life when you truly felt joy? For me many of the most joyous memories that I have are now tinged with an outline of sadness. Many of them involve people that I have lost contact with, or who have left this world behind. What do we do when the Joy runs out? Where can we find a source of Joy that is unending?

We live in a world of endings and partings. People we love move away. Loved ones get sick and die. Pain and sorrow come to replace joy, sometimes spoiling the moments that we had hoped would be the most joyous in our lives. Yet we believe in a savior who says in John 15:11

John 15:11 CSB

“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

Jesus wants us to have complete and everlasting joy in Him. What does this joy look like? How do we receive it? Well let’s take a look at this week’s passage found in:

John 2:1–11 CSB

On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.” “What has this concern of yours to do with me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.” “Do whatever he tells you,” his mother told the servants. Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained twenty or thirty gallons. “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.” And they did. When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

So your first question may be something like, “hold on Josh, what does this passage have to do with joy?” Bear with me here. First and foremost I want to paint you a picture of what a wedding in the first century would be like. For many couples this would be the most extravagant event of their entire lives, and no expense was spared. This would still be humble for many of low to no means, but they would still go all out and throw as extravagant an event as they could manage. It wasn’t a service and then a reception and then everyone goes home. It was an elaborate event that involved everyone parading through town to get the bride and bring her to the bridegroom’s house and culminating in a feast that would last a whole week long, during which the bride and groom were treated as if they were a king and queen, waited on hand and foot and obeyed in their orders (within reason). Above all the prevailing mood that they were going for was joy and celebration, and in exchange for this kind of town or city wide celebration the Bride and Groom with their friends and families were expected to supply food and wine for all their guests.

Wine as it turns out in that time was a symbol for joy. Turns out many women on facebook agree with this symbolism whole heartedly from some of the Facebook posts that I have seen. Failure to provide wine for your guests would have been a huge black mark on what was supposed to be the most joyous event in a couple’s life. Likely Mary the mother of Jesus was a close friend or relative of this couple, explaining her urgency in coming to Jesus with this problem.

So what does Jesus do when confronted with this situation? He provides new wine for this wedding. Not just any wine either, but the best wine of the night according to the bridegroom. So if we’re tracking with the symbolism here, Jesus is providing joy just when it seems like all the joy had run out.

Now some of you may be tempted to wonder at this point if the symbolism is intentional. I assure you with the gospel of John, it certainly is. John’s gospel is absolutely dripping in metaphor and symbolism, and Jesus has proven Himself time and time again to take advantage of symbolism at every opportunity to express truths about Himself and about the Kingdom of God.

So the question then becomes, what is Jesus telling us through His actions during this averted wedding disaster? As usual I see three crucial points that we as disciples can learn from this account of Jesus’ first miracle.

First we learn from Jesus’ mother than when things start to go wrong, Jesus is the one that we can turn to. And that when we do, we can count on Him to help us even if it’s not in the way that we expected. Second we learn that where the Old Covenant was incomplete and temporary, the New Covenant is perfect and able to bring us unlimited joy. Third we learn from this narrative that when Jesus returns we can expect a celebration unlike anything that we have ever seen in this life.

Trusting Jesus in Trouble

Illustration: It’s reassuring to be surrounded by lifeguards when you’ve got small children with you in the pool.

Who do we have to rely on when things go wrong? When life seems to be drowning us? In this case the standard Sunday School answer is the correct one. Jesus is the one to whom we need to turn when things start to go wrong. When the joy in our lives starts to feel like it’s running out.

Evidently Mary understood this. I mean to be fair she has known Jesus for His whole life, I’m sure by this point in the story she has had plenty of opportunity to witness Jesus’ reliability in tough situations first hand. It’s perhaps for that reason that Mary responds the way that she does as we see in:

John 2:1–5 CSB

On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.” “What has this concern of yours to do with me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.” “Do whatever he tells you,” his mother told the servants.

Now John doesn’t comment on particularly how long it was between the wine running out and Mary seeking out Jesus, but the impression we get by the pacing of these verses is that it was pretty immediate. As soon as there was a problem, Mary comes to Jesus. Now here’s the interesting thing. According to John the apostle, this is the first miracle that Jesus performed. To be fair, it is entirely possible that what John meant was that was the first miracle witnessed and taken as a sign, but it seems to me that the implication seems to be that this is the first miracle, full stop. Meaning it’s not as if Mary had witnessed a bunch of miracles and knew exactly what sort of thing Jesus would do here.

She just had faith in Him. She of course knew who He was from the announcement of the angel, but more importantly she simply knew that if there was anyone to turn to when a situation seemed hopeless, it was her son Jesus.

Now if you’re anything like me you might at first be taken aback by Jesus’ reply to His mother. First you need to understand that calling someone “woman” wasn’t offensive or insulting at the time, which I already knew. What I didn’t realize about this goes deeper than that. I had always read this as if when Jesus says “my hour has not yet come,” He was saying that it wasn’t time for Him to perform miracles, but then He performs one anyway because His mother asked Him to. Which brings up all sorts of questions about His foreknowledge, and whether He actually changed the plan for Mary and so on.

Here’s what actually happened. By asking Jesus to intervene, Mary is putting Jesus in a situation where on the surface it seems like He has to either ignore His mother’s plea for help and allow the wedding to be ruined, or He needs to perform a miracle and mess up the divine timeline for His ministry. What might seem like a difficult situation where we can’t see a way Jesus does. He takes a different route and finds a way to answer Mary’s request in relative secrecy, so that He can keep God’s plan intact while still coming to Mary’s aid.

The coolest part? Mary has no idea about what He’s about to do. He hasn’t even told her that He will do it. Yet she turns to the servants at the wedding and says to them, “do whatever He tells you.” What faith Mary had. This is perhaps why she was chosen in the first place.

Of course the application becomes pretty obvious here. In this situation we should learn to be like Mary. When things go wrong and there is trouble, our first instinct should be to go to Jesus. He’s the one who can help when no one else can. Who we can count on to give us strength and wisdom and yes, joy, when there seems like there isn’t any to be found. In the same way we should also trust Jesus and do whatever He says. Which I guess makes us both Mary and the servants in this scenario. In any case, remember that the faith that we have in Jesus is active trust in Him. Believing that He is who He says He is and that He loves us and is looking out for us even when it seems like there’s no hope.

Old Water, New Wine

Illustration: There’s nothing like a much needed upgrade, am I right? Now I know there are some people out there who get the next newest phone right away, who upgrade their computer as soon as it’s out of date, so on and so on. I am not one of those people. I tend to hold out as long as I can stand it before getting the new phone or the new computer. Meaning that I really feel the difference when I finally do get the upgrade. My last phone before this one had all sorts of problems.

Now when God gave the Israelites the Law it wasn’t a broken phone. It was God’s law. It was a good law that was meant to be a loving way for God to shepherd His people and bless the world through them. Psalm 119:103 says,

Psalm 119:103 (CSB)

How sweet your word is to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth.

But the old covenant was not a permanent and complete way. The nation of Israel proved time and again that God’s law was not enough to keep them from sinning, from falling away. And they had broken God’s law and earned the curses that they had agreed to when God gave them the law. But God promised better would come. Jesus shows us with the sign of the water turned into wine that He is the fulfillment of this better that was promised.

Let’s take a look at verses six to nine of our passage.

John 2:6–9 CSB

Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained twenty or thirty gallons. “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.” And they did. When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom

Now you may or may not have heard that there was specially significance to particular numbers in Jewish thought. Of particular significance was the belief that seven was the number of perfection. Perhaps because God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh and made it holy. But because the number seven represented perfection and wholeness, the number six came to represent imperfection. A lack of something needed.

Did you notice how many stone water jars there were in this story? Six. And what was the purpose of those six stone jars? They were meant to hold the water for the purification described in the law of Moses. The ritual of purification that was necessary before those attending the wedding could enjoy the feast.

So the very fact that Jesus used six stone jars represents the old covenant being incomplete. And what does He ask the servants to do? To fill the stone jars to the brim. This is symbolic of Jesus fulfilling the Old Covenant. Isn’t that cool?

Then, after filling these stone jars with water, He asks the servants to draw some out and bring it to the headwaiter, the person in charge of distributing the wine. And now the water has become wine. He has taken the old water of the covenant and turned it into wine. What does the wine represent in the New Testament? In the culture it represents joy, but Jesus gave wine a particular significance, didn’t He? Luke 22:19

Luke 22:20 CSB

In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

The New and better Covenant was coming. Quietly Jesus shows His disciples, and now everyone who reads the Bible, the foreshadowing of the coming of a New and Better Covenant, that Jesus created by fulfilling the Old Covenant and by the shedding of His blood for our sake. Hebrews 10:1-10 says,

Hebrews 10:1–10 CSB

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings. Then I said, “See— it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, God.” After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law), he then says, See, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first to establish the second. By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

So what should we do now in response to this image of the New and better covenant? Well the first call is for those of us who have not yet put our faith in Jesus to put our trust in Him. Like the Israelites, we can get the mixed up idea that we can earn our way to heaven by doing right. Jesus tells us that He is the only way to heaven, and that we are saved by believing in His name. Second, we can take joy in knowing what Jesus has done for all of us. We can try to make ourselves the most thankful people around, constantly giving God the glory and the praise for the free gift of salvation available to us because of the immense price that Jesus has already paid.

The Wedding Feast to Come

Illustration: Who here loves weddings? I love weddings. A lot of the time weddings are when I see a lot of friends that I almost never get to see anymore. Try to imagine the most fun wedding party ever.

How much does that image have in common with your picture of our eternal destiny? When I watch tv and movies, which is not much these days with three kids three and under, and they depict images of heaven there is a very different picture given. First of all, the floor is made of clouds. Everyone is wearing togas for some reason, we all get wings, which I guess is cool, and there are definitely harps involved.

If I had to describe the picture of heaven that I see in the media with one word, it would probably be “boring.” Now of course we know that no matter what heaven looks like, being in the presence of God will certainly not be boring, but media leaves the glory of God pretty much entirely out of it.

The picture given by the Bible of how we’ll be spending eternity is a much different one. A picture we get a small taste of in our Bible passage for today. You see even in the Old Testament but especially in the New the image most often associated with how those who are right with God will spend the end times is a wedding. So then it’s no coincidence that Jesus’ first miracle is a foreshadowing of this future wedding feast. He of course is the one that provides the wine, symbolic of Joy as we’ve already said. He brings the joy that we will be experiencing in the New Heavens and the New Earth. Let’s for a moment zoom in on the last few verses of our passage for the day.

John 2:9–11 CSB

When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

Now to clear up a possible misunderstanding, when the headwaiter says that usually people serve the best wine first and wait until people are drunk to give out inferior wine, that is not necessarily to suggest that the people at this wedding were already drunk. Some may have been, but the Old Testament Scriptures already prohibit drunkeness so if they were observant Jews they probably wouldn’t. The headwaiter is talking about a practice common at the time, not necessarily true of this particular wedding. In case you didn’t know it was common at the time to water down wine up to a ratio of 3 parts water to 1 part wine.

The point however is this: “you have kept the fine wine until now.” Jesus didn’t just give them wine. He gave them fine wine. The quality of the joy that Jesus brings are abundant. And seeing the abundant miracle of Jesus His disciples see the glory of Jesus and believe in Him. Which by the way is a quick nod to the deity of Jesus. They didn’t see the glory of the Father through Him, they saw His glory. And to those of us who believe in Him also, we await a wedding feast to come.

Revelation 19:6–9 (CSB)

Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying,

Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns! Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself. She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.

Then he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”

So what should our response be to this image of the wedding feast to come? It should renew the hope that we have in Jesus. The knowledge that good is what awaits us. That though the sorrow may come through the night His joy comes with the morning. It should give us strength in times of despair in the knowledge that our future is so certain that it’s joy is present to us even now.

Conclusion

So in this short story about Jesus turning water into wine we have seen three significant truths. We have witnessed the faith of Mary that Jesus would be able to intervene, and her trust in Him to take over and lead when times were tough. We see the superiority of the new covenant in Jesus’ blood over the old covenant of law and ritual. We see also a picture of the coming glory of the wedding feast of the lamb that those of us who are in Christ will be invited to.

That is where our joy comes from. When we face times of darkness and times of trial, take heart in Jesus. He is the one we can rely on, He is the one who gives us joy through His New covenant for us, and He is the one who guaruntees us a seat at the table of the Wedding feast where there will be joy for all eternity.

So then as we prepare to once more leave this place and go out into the world treasure these things in your heart, and be ready to share these beautiful pictures with others. Reach out a hand to those in despair and offer them an endless well of pure joy.

Let us pray.