Water into Wine
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Water into Wine
Water into Wine
Let’s begin by hearing the word. John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it.
9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom
10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Now let’s do something different this morning. I want you to put yourself into the story. I am going to read it again and I want you to put yourself in the place of the mother of Jesus, or the disciples, or the servants, or the steward. Think about what you saw in this story, think about what you felt in the situation from their perspective. Go ahead and choose someone from this story and when I read the passage again, you are going to try and see the story as they did. From their perspective, see if you can answer one of these key questions:
Why do I need to know this? What do I need to know? How does this work? What can become of this? I’ll put these questions on the screen
Why do I need to know this?
What do I need to know?
How does this work?
What can become of this?
I will read the scripture again and I want you to close your eyes and think and feel what that person in this passage might have experienced. Also keep these questions in your mind and see if one of them jumps out at you or if could see this passage answering one or more of these questions. I will re-read the passage now. John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it.
9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom
10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Why is this passage important? When I was looking over this passage and studying it all week I came to the conclusion of a few points that make this passage important.
This is a miracle story. According to verse 11, this is the first miracle Jesus performed. In studying this passage, there is a faith demonstrated by Mary and the servants. Jesus, Mary, and the disciples were invited guests of this wedding. An extreme social disgrace was about to happen here so Mary turns to Jesus to help them. Jesus does not respond in a way that you expect. He responds with why should this be our problem, my time has not come yet. She does not argue with him but defers to the servants to do whatever he asks, knowing he will act but not knowing how. Perhaps Jesus will tell the servants to go buy wine, or ask around other guests, or some other means that would not reveal Jesus’ glory. She believes Jesus will act. She has faith. There are also the servants in this story that demonstrate faith. Jesus instructs them to go and fill these stone jars with water, to fill them to the brim, and so they do this. Next Jesus tells one of them to scoop out a cup and provide it to the steward. Jesus does not tell him anything about it but to simply get some of this water they just put in this stone jar and give it to the steward. They had to have thought something was up with this. Something strange was going on with what they knew to be in the stone pots, yet they were to give it to the stewards. They did not question but instead, responded faithfully.
There is something unique here that links to other miracles Jesus performed. The amount of wine that was transformed was an incredible amount. When you think of it, 6 jars x 20 gallons is 120 gallons (conservative estimate). When scholars look at this extravagant volume of wine provided, it speaks to the incredible generosity of God. When they look at other miracles, you can see this same extravagance with the loaves and fishes feeding 5,000 or 4,000. There is the miracle of turning water into wine but there is an generosity in the act as well. In Jewish culture, the abundance of wine represented an ushering in of a special period, “In the OT, an abundance of good wine is an eschatological symbol, a sign of the joyous arrival of God’s new age (Amos 9:13; Joel 3:18)” (Keck, Leander E. The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary. Vol. IV (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015), 461.) This showed the power Jesus has to not make some but well above and beyond what was required. Jesus’ power is not limited. The New Interpreters Bible Commentary suggests “The extravagance of Jesus’ act, the superabundance of the wine, suggests the unlimited gifts that Jesus makes available.” (Keck, Leander E. The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary. Vol. IV (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015), 461.)
Finally, there is importance in seen in that last passage, verse 11. “and his disciples believed in him” I don’t believe Jesus turned the water into wine necessarily because Mary told him to fix the problem. His response makes that clear that, Mary did not direct what he was to do. Clearly in this point, Jesus is following the Father’s will and direction. I don’t know that he was doing this miracle as a favor to the wedding host because his answer to Mary says, why should we be concerned of this, or why is this our problem. I personally believe this last part of the verse speaks to why Jesus did this.