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Biblical Analysis: Water Into Wine
During his ministry on Earth, Jesus Christ performed a number of miracles. Everywhere He went people approached Him asking, or at least hoping, for a miracle. Many times, these miracles were what caused people to believe He was the Messiah. But before Jesus began his ministry, and miracles, He was a child who grew up under the close watch of His mother. It wasn’t until a wedding in Cana when things began to change. This is where Jesus performed His first of many miracles: turning ordinary water into the best wine around.
The story of Jesus turning water into wine is found in John 2:1-12, however it is not in any of the other gospels. This should stand out to the reader and should be considered to fully understand the story. Why would John include this story when the other writers did not? It’s important to remember that John’s gospel is much different than the others. He did not write his gospel to tell of what happened in Jesus’ life, but so that readers would “believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31). Therefore, the reader should understand as they read this story that John included it not to explain what happened, but to explain who Jesus is.
John begins the story with the wedding, mentioning that Jesus’ mother was there, along with Jesus and His disciples. Jesus’ mother becomes worried after noticing the wine was gone and asks Jesus for help. This tells the reader a couple things. Although John does not specifically say who was getting married, it seems the couple are either friends, or possibly related to Mary, and that she is helping with the arrangements, especially the serving of the food and wine. In Jewish wedding traditions of the time, if wine was to run out it would be extremely embarrassing to everyone involved, so Mary’s concern is real and her desperate desire for help is evident in her request to Jesus for help. There is no evidence of Jesus performing miracles before this, but Mary knows who Jesus is. She knows the miracles around His birth, and knows Jesus could help.
In verse 4, John records Jesus’ response to his mother, which is a very important part of this story. In today’s culture, responding with the word woman would be considered quite rude, however in Jesus’ time this was not so. Jesus uses the same term to Mary as He speaks to her from the cross in John 19:26 and other times with other women throughout the gospel of John (4:21, 20:15). What the term does, however, is make clear the relationship between Jesus and Mary. It is clear that Jesus lived an obedient life to his parents (Mark 2:51), but now things were beginning to change. By using this term Jesus redefines his relationship to Mary; He no longer follows her orders, but only those of His father in Heaven.
Following the dialogue with Jesus, Mary tells the servants to do whatever Jesus asks of them, which shows that even though Jesus responded sharply to Mary, she still felt something might happen…and happen it did. Jesus tells the servants to fill the stone water jars that guests used for ceremonial washing with water, which they did (2:6-7). Six stone jars full would be a very large amount of water, and again, the water was not for drinking, but for ceremonial washing.
When Jesus then tells them to take some water to the master of the banquet, the servants had to be confused, perhaps scared. Was Jesus really going to give the master of the banquet ceremonial washing water to drink? It was not like they were asking some random guy to take a drink, but the head master of the banquet, the big kahuna. Fortunately, somewhere between the servants drawing the water and taking it to the master of the banquet, the water turns into wine, the best wine, which is contrary to normal practice, but appreciative to those in attendance (2:9-10).
The story that John writes, again, is not to tell what happened, but who Jesus is. By turning water into wine, Jesus shows two important qualities of Himself. One, Jesus turns what is dirty into something wonderful. The ceremonial washing water, which sat in dirty washing pots would not have been tasteful to anybody at the wedding, however Jesus takes that and makes it into something wonderful: the best wine around.
Jesus also shows that when He gives, He gives plenty. The six stone water jars used for washing would have been quite large. Together, the water must have equaled over 100 gallons, all of which Jesus turned into wine. Where at first there was no wine, now there is more than enough to go around. That is how Jesus gives. If Jesus gives a large amount of wine to those at a wedding, imagine how much love and how many blessings He will give to those who trust and follow Him.
