Water to Wine

Many of us have heard the story of Jesus turning water into wine a number of times either in Sunday School or sitting in church.  This story is largely considered to be the first public miracle that Jesus performed and is filled with a lot of imagery and parallels that you don’t get with just quick reading of the chapter.  John provides us with the retelling of the miracle in John chapter 2, verses 1-12 (NASB):

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him. When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.”

Lets start with the first verse:

“On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galileo, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.”

Many translations don’t include the reference to it being the third day where as others do.  I’m not sure why that is.  It could be that there doesn’t appear to be any significance to when the wedding happened but what I have learned is that in biblical times, the Hebrews/Jewish people didn’t have the days numbered the way we do today.  The names we use for the days of the week came from the Roman’s times and were named with the latin words for the sun, moon and the five known planets.   Where as Sunday was named for the sun, Monday was named for the moon, Tuesday was named for Mars, Wednesday was named for mercury, Thursday was named for Jupiter, Friday was named for Venus and Saturday was named for Saturn.

The jewish people named their days after the day of creation.   With Sunday being the 1st day, Monday the 2nd day, and so on with the Sabbath day being on Saturday.   So, in this case the wedding occurred on a Tuesday.   Why is this significant and why was there a wedding occurring on the third day of the week?  It is my understanding that Jewish traditions indicated that the third day of creation came with a double blessing.  Reviewing the creation account in Genesis 1:9-13 (NASB):

“Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day.”

There are two reference to God seeing that “it was good” on the third day of creation.   Looking back over the seven days of creation, this is the only place God does this.   Not that it means that His creation on the other days are any less, but that this day is doubly blessed.  The thought is that the Jewish people had weddings on Tuesday’s because it was the good day due to the double blessing of God on the third day of creation.

Note also that this was a wedding in which Jesus, His disciples and His mother Mary were in attendance at this wedding.  No background is given as to who specifically is being married, but it is speculated that the wedding may have been a family member of Jesus and Mary.

At this point, it would be good to point out the Jewish customs around weddings (https://walkerswonder.blogspot.com/2016/12/jewish-wedding-traditions-in-biblical.html).  While the ceremony itself was somewhat short, what we know as the reception would last for up to a week.  During this celebration, the bride and grooms family was expected to provide the food and drink for everyone in attendance – which generally was eveyone in the community.  If the family ran out of either food or wine, then it was a very disgraceful thing for the family.  As it turns out, the family runs out of wine.

Knowing that this isn’t going to be viewed favorably by anyone in the community she took action and also provides a great example of what to do when we encounter problems in life.  She turns to Jesus and asks for help.

Jesus’ response does two things when we read it.   First we wonder where the respect is for his mom? And second we wonder why he seems to be reluctant to help.   “Woman, what does that have to do with us?  My hour has not come.”

In biblical times, the term speaking to a female in this fashion was not a sign of disrespect.  It was actually quite the opposite.  So, if we read this with any negative tone or connotation being expressed from Jesus to His mother, then I feel we are reading it incorrectly.

Jesus’ reference to His hour not yet coming is, in my eyes, a reminder that it isn’t time for Him to reveal who is is and why He has come.

While Jesus doesn’t give Mary any real assurance that He is going to do anything about the lack of wine, please notice the faith Mary shows.  She immediately turns to the servants and provides them the simply instruction, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”  If we would only have that sort of faith!
Please don’t gloss over the example Mary provides for all of us here.  Not only did she turn to Jesus when things are going wrong, but she comes to Him fully expecting a miracle!   How much richer would our lives and relationship with God if we were to have and demonstrate that same level of faith.  When we reach out to Jesus in prayer, are we doing it HOPES that He will do something?  OR Are we reaching out KNOWING that He will do something.  From my perspective there is a huge difference between the two.  And if we are honest with ourselves, the chasm between hoping and believing makes all the difference.

The rest of the miracle plays out with Jesus instructing the servants to fill the stone pots with water, dip some out and to take it to the head waiter.  From here, the head waiter is astonished at the quality of the wine and the family is exalted rather than shamed due to running out of wine.

But notice the symbolism that is contained throughout the rest of the story.  Jesus takes stone pots that have been used for purification.  While we see these pots as being vessels to contain water or other liquids, I feel that they represent each one of us.  They are empty.  Sitting off to the side looking/hoping for a purpose.  Jesus calls them out and they are filled with water.  This is, I believe, imagery Jesus used again in John 4:14 “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”. (KJV).

How closely this imagery is to each one of us.  We are lost and without purpose until we find Jesus – or more likely – Jesus being our Shepherd – finds us, His lost sheep.   When we listen and respond to His call, we are filled with living water and are then able to provide that same living water to others.
Now, let’s look at the wine for a minute.  While this may not seem terribly honest, it is rather frugal, but it was apparently also the practice during biblical weddings to start the day serving the best wine and then replacing it with the lesser quality wine as the day went on.  The thinking being that the more wine the people drank, the less able they are to notice the lack of quality in the wine.

Now, anyone who likes to drink wine will, I think, readily admit that wine requires age/time to become a good wine and that they really great wines take several years before they are considered ready for consumption.   However, notice what the head waiter says to the bride groom after tasting the wine: “…the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.".  The head waiter is praising the groom for holding the good wine until that very moment – despite it just being made by Jesus.   I think that this is a very subtle point being made here in that Jesus/God’s can create things in whatever state they choose.  In this particular case, they created the wine to have age and being of good quality.  Perhaps, they have created other things around us to also appear older than they are.