John 2:1-11
The Wedding at Cana:
Water Turned to Wine
On the third day, a wedding was to be held at Cana, a rural
area near Nazareth.
Weddings were usually held at the bridegroom’s house for
about a week. People would dance, drink, and enjoy sumptuous meals. Mary, the
mother of Jesus, attended the wedding and so did Jesus and his disciples.
During the banquet, the wine for the guests had finished.
This disappointment was very embarrassing for the host. Well, in life,
sometimes we do miscalculate. What should we do?
Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” She was
gesturing to Jesus to solve the problem.
Jesus replied, “Woman, what does this have to do with
me? My hour has not yet come.”
Jesus may sound somewhat disrespectful in his reply, but his
mother was not displeased. She nevertheless, instructed the servants,
“Do whatever he tells you!”
Although Mary did not really understand the situation, she
still trusted Jesus and
submitted to him. This confirms the sovereignty and transcendence of the
Messiah.
Now we understand why Jesus answered in such a way, from a
theological point of view.
The Gospel according to John opens in this way, “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All
things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was
made.”
Before anything existed, the Word, Christ Jesus was. From a
human perspective, He was the son of Mary but, actually, He was the Son of God
who became flesh to dwell among humanity.
The eternal Word, God the Son, has an intimate relationship
with God the Father. The Father is the one who decides the hour for
Jesus His Son. The hour is the
timing of His ministry on earth, especially with regards to His death and
glorious resurrection. This hour was to be determined by the Father.
Compared to the intimate relationship between God the Son
with God the Father, Jesus’ earthly mother, Mary was an outsider who had no
right to intervene. Jesus was about to enter into public ministry. Thus, his
status as the Son of Mary must fade because His true identity was the Son of
God, the Lord of all humanity.
In Israel’s tradition, the “third day” refers to the
manifestation of the glory of God when the Law was promulgated at Mount
Sinai (Exod 19:16). Jesus was glorified in resurrection on the “third day”
after His death. Will Jesus display His glory on the “third day” of this
wedding at Cana? The answer is “Yes”!
Jesus then commanded the servants to fill up six stone jars
to the brim with water. These jars were used for the Jewish rites of
purification. It is not ordinary water but concerns the Jewish religious
tradition.
So, the servants filled up the jars with water. Then, Jesus
commanded the servants to serve the water in the jars to the guests. And the
servants did so. The servants were likewise in complete obedience to Jesus. If you
were the servants, would you listen to Jesus?
When the master of the
feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came
from. He called the bridegroom 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.”
Master of the feast was essentially a master of ceremonies.
It was his job to call people to celebrate and to make sure the conditions for
that celebration were all in place. Bottom line: It was his job to make the
party great.
And when Jesus turns water into wine and saves the day; he is
saying, as it were, I am the true master
of the feast. I am Lord of the
Feast. Jesus came to bring
festival joy, to rescue lives.
The miracle of turning water into wine at Cana was Jesus’
first miracle which displayed His glory. His disciples came to believe in Him
(v. 11).
The Christology of
Water Turned to Wine
The miracle of turning water into wine at Cana was not Jesus’
inaugural speech but his inaugural act.
As Jesus’ ministry unfolds, we see that the hour that Jesus referred to was subsequently
His death on the cross and His glorious resurrection.
In Judaism, marriage symbolizes God’s close relationship with
Israel. In the New Testament, marriage symbolizes the relationship between
Jesus and the Church. Jesus is the bridegroom and the Church is His bride.
Besides, the Old Testament frequently uses a sumptuous feast
to point to the coming of the Messianic era where God rules.
Isaiah 25:6-8 say, ““On this mountain the LORD Almighty will
prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best
of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud
that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up
death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he
will remove the disgrace of this people from all the earth. The LORD has
spoken.”
To John, the miracle of turning water into wine at the
wedding at Cana was a sign. This sign is to point to Jesus’ identity and
ministry. He is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. Jesus not only
turned water into inexhaustible wine, it was also the best wine which was kept
to the end.
This shows us that Jesus was not merely a prophet or a king
like those in the Old Testament. He was not merely the kind of Messiah that
people generally expected. He was indeed the Son of God who came from heaven –
the Savior of the world! He is the “latter wine”, the inexhaustible best wine
to satisfy the whole world.
Jesus died on the cross to bear the penalty for our sin for
us, in our place. Whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life. This
salvation of Jesus is a feast. He is
calling us to “taste and see” that the
Lord is good.
Feast is a very real thing and wine is all the more a real
thing! When we believe in and rest in Jesus’ salvation for us, it becomes real
to our hearts. Jesus’ love is like honey, or like wine. Rather than only
believing that he loves us, we can and we ought to sense the reality, the
beauty, and the power of his love.
If you are filled with shame and guilt, you can come to Jesus
and sense, on the palate of the heart, the sweetness of his mercy. Then you
will know you are accepted. If you are filled with worry and anxiety, you can
come to Jesus and you will see, with eyes of the heart, his dazzling majesty. You
will be united with Jesus Christ here on the earth just like the intimacy of
marriage.
Trust and Obey the Lord
Leads to Transformed and Blessed Lives
In Jewish thought, the number seven signifies perfection. Six
stone water jars signify imperfection. Moreover, the stone water jars were the
most ordinary of objects – for the cleansing of hands and feet. This symbolizes
that the Jewish law-keeping faith was impotent to patch up defects or bring
about the transformation of life.
When Jesus’ mother and the servants obey the command of
Christ, who is the Eternal Word, the water in the jars was transformed into the
best of wine.
The wine supplied by Jesus is an allusion to the cup of the
Lord’s Table, which symbolizes His sacrifice of His own life, His redemption of
sinners through His precious blood, so that human life may be made complete and
abundant.
Jesus came to surpass and transform the impotency of Jewish
rituals. He came to accomplish in reality what the ceremonial and sacrificial
laws of the Old Testament pointed to. Those who believe in Him and obey His
commandment may have new life.
Human beings are limited and unable to fully grasp the
potential of life. But we have Jesus. He is truly the master of feast of our
lives, who is able to transform imperfections, shortcomings, miscalculation, and
crises into perfection abundance and joy.
We are unable to ensure that our lives are lived wonderfully
and to the full. We often experience difficulties due to our own
miscalculations. We also often hurt others due to our own weak human nature.
Besides, our overcoming of obstacles in life to move on to
the next level does not come from our ability to make perfect calculations or
deep resources. Yes, we do our part. But we only overcome and succeed in many
things by learning how to grasp the grace of God through trusting and obeying
Him.
Just like Mary and the servants, let us obey the words of
Jesus even though we may not comprehend what is going on. Jesus is our timely
help and, today, He is still performing miracles of transformation. Jesus wants
to turn the useless “water” in our lives into good use.
Come, taste the wine of the Messiah, Jesus Christ! How to
do it?
We must draw near to the Lord every day, pray to the Lord, listen
to His word, obey His leading, and live according to His will.
We should pray now, “Lord Jesus, please come into our lives! We
pray that you perform the miracle of transformation in our lives so that
negativity may be transformed into positivity and so that deficiencies and
weaknesses may be transformed into abundance and strength. Please turn the
useless aspects of our lives into blessing.”
Let’s desire after Him and pursue to know Him more, and serve
Him diligently. Let’s offer our lives as living sacrifices to God. Only by then
we may, by His grace, grow in faith, move from strength to strength.
No matter what the situation or challenges, whether we understand His work or not, we ought to humble ourselves and fear God. We must trust in God’s wisdom and action by giving thanks in everything and constantly pursue spiritual growth. This is the way of becoming Christ’s disciples, the way to grow in faith, so as to be blessed to the fullest in the Messianic feast.
