Water Into Wine: The Meaning of Jesus' First Miracle
The second chapter of John's Gospel offers a most interesting
account of the beginning of Jesus's ministry of miracles and
teaching. Yet, where is John going with this, and why did he
include it? But before we undertake to solve this mystery, let
us first read the text in question.
John 2:1-11 [with comments in brackets] reads:
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and
the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called [i.e.
invited], and his disciples [also], to the marriage. And when
they wanted [i.e. ran out of] wine, the mother of Jesus saith
unto him, "They have no wine." Jesus saith unto her, "Woman,
what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." His
mother saith unto the servants, "Whatsoever he saith [commands]
unto you, do it." And there were set there six waterpots of
stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing
two or three firkins [of water] apiece. Jesus saith unto them,
"Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the
brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now [what is in the
waterpots], and bear [bring it] unto the governor of the feast.
And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the
water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the
servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast
called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the
beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well
drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good
wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of
Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples
believed on him."
Now, to understand the books of the Bible, you must always start
your investigation by reading the end of the book first.
Although this will at the first seem out of order, it actually
provides the best approach. The author has the end of the book
in mind when he lifts his pen to write the first letter. He has
a plan and a goal, and he holds this goal -- the end of the
story -- fixed firmly in mind from the very beginning. So he
writes every account within the gospel with one eye on the end
of the matter. By taking this approach then, we mimic the
author's own mindset. So let's start at the end of the gospel to
look for clue #1.
Now John tells us at the end of his gospel that "....there are
also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they
should be written every one, I suppose that even the world
itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen"
(John 21:25). John knows of a great many "things Jesus did"
(i.e. miracles and astonishing teachings) which "showed forth
his glory," meaning that these clearly pointed to Him as "the
Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus' miracles point to
resurrection glory. But also note John's lament -- his inability
to tell us all that he knows of Christ (for lack of time, space
and ink). This shows us that's John writes with an Evangelist's
heart, with the buring desire to tell anyone who will listen
everything Jesus ever did and said. The greatness of the Lord
has overtaken John, and John overflows with joy to tell of it.
Or in his own symbolism, John was a startling waterpot, filled
to the brim with new wine.
John's problem -- too much to say, and not enough ink, pens,
parchment or world -- will come to profit us. For John has thus
indicated by the Holy Spirit that he has chosen this material
carefully and selectively. The fact that this account made it
into the gospel, when there were thousands of other accounts
about Jesus he could have included instead, tells us that this
is extremely important.
Clue #1. John has included only what he deems MOST important
about Jesus, to show us the Greatness of God in Christ. This
greatness, John calls "showing forth his glory." At the end of
the gospel, this glory shines from the Resurrected Messiah
literally, as radiant light. Just as the gospel's beginning
calls him "The light of men." But John has here told us that we
could and should have seen all along that Jesus was the Messiah.
For this radiant light shot forth into public view -- so to
speak -- now and again during the ministry of Christ.
Now let's move onto Clue #2. In chapter 21, John has told us he
is interested primarily in the miracles that Jesus did, and the
things he taught. The Bible often dubs a teachers words his
"deeds," for, as the proverbs tell us, the power of life and
death is in the tongue...". By a cursory reading of the verses
1-11, we notice that most of the words in this account belong to
persons other than the Lord Jesus. He does not say much here.
This tells us that John wishes to focus on the deeds of Jesus in
the more strict sense. So John highlights the particular
water-into-wine miracle of Jesus, and then the testimony about
this miracle from the other actors in the narrative.
Any good detective must ask "the big five" questions: who, what,
when, where, and why? Now each of the answers to these may not
be equally important. In this case, it turns out that "where"
forms one of the most important questions because the answer
turns out to be something other than what one -- especially if
one were a first-century Jew -- would expect. Where did the
wedding take place? In Galilee. That is, in the north, somewhat
removed from Jerusalem (which then was "the Holy City"), and
Galilee was associated with a high percentage of Gentile
inhabitants.
How did the Jews view Gentiles? Let's just say that to pronounce
correctly the word "Gentiles" in first-century Hebrew, you must
spit at the saying of the final syllable to say it correctly.
Gentiles, also known as "pigs" and "dogs," to them resembled
"unclean animals."
Conspicuous clue #3: Jesus had honored those of Gentile
territory -- even though the guests were likely all Jews -- in
his first miracle. And note that Jesus Himself seemed to
consider this miracle premature, and likely assumed that his
first miracle would occur later, perhaps in Judaea. But in
keeping the fifth commandment, "Honour thy father and THY
MOTHER," the Lord saved the wedding from disaster. To run out of
wine would have left a shameful blot on the reputation of the
hosts.
The second time we ask "where?" -- this time meaning "more
exactly where" did the miracle take place -- we answer "in the
waterpots." Now THIS gets interesting. These were no ordinary
stone pots. They formed a necessary part of the purification
ritual commanded in the Older Testament for Jews to maintain
ritual purity. In other words, they form the centerpiece of this
story as the symbol of cleanness before God.
Clue #4: Cleanness before God forms a central theme in this
narrative.
Clue #5. Since we know that the waterpots are not incidental,
but central, to John's point, we must zoom in on any detail
given about them. Jesus had commanded "Fill them." And John then
notes that they obeyed by "filling them TO THE BRIM." This
connotes a sense of overflowing, where "filled to the brim"
means nearly spilling out the sides.
Clue #6. What follows next? The interchange between the "ruler
of the [wedding] feast and the bridegroom. Notice that the
complaint came from the ruler (wedding supervisor) to the
bridegroom. Now the ruler of the feast would have been
responsible for supervising the whole wedding to see that it
went smoothly. His complaint to the bridegroom shows that he had
delegated certain tasks to others to help out, and that the
bridegroom specifically held the duty to keep the wine flowing
freely.
But Jesus had done the faltering bridegroom's job for him, and
the ruler of the wedding feast did not know this. But the
servants did. Jesus, in effect, then IS the responsible
bridegroom, who took upon Himself the groom's task and succeeded
where the groom had failed.
Clue #7. John's own punchline comes from the mouth of the feast
supervisor as a complaint: "Every man at the beginning doth set
forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which
is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now."
His complaint is this. When people first show up to the wedding,
you must give them the best wine to drink. The California Pinot
Noir's come first. After the guests have had a few marvelous
glasses, the wine has dulled their pallets and made them happy
(or as we might say, "tipsy.") When they cannot now distinguish
the flavor of wine very well (dulled pallet), they do not care
what the wine tastes like. So then you break out the
second-string wine -- Here come the Merlots -- and no one cares.
But the bridegroom -- actually Jesus -- had reversed the order!!
The ruler complained, "You didn't do it the way we expected."
But he didn't know it was Jesus, the True Bridegroom, that had
done it in the unsuspected order.
Clue #8. Thus, says John, Jesus showed forth his glory as the
Messiah, long before his Resurrection into glory. Glory bespeaks
resurrection. The Lord had hereby granted us a preview of his
glory to come -- even though his hour had not yet come. Later,
John will tell us, that Jesus died with the placard above his
head, "King of the Jews." But in his resurrection, Jesus says,
"All authority in heaven and earth is given me..." (Matthew
28:18). This makes Jesus king, not only of the Jews, but of all
nations. That is what "ALL authority IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH"
means. In his death, God reveals Christ as Lord of the Jews, but
in Christ's resurrection glory, God has revealed him as "King of
the Gentiles" too.
For it was in His resurrection that God the Father swore an oath
to Christ, "Thou art a priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek." And said to Him, "Ask of me and I shall give thee
the nations for thine inheritance" (Psalm 2).
Now let us put it all together. Any good sleuth must put his
pool of relevant data together and draw the intended conclusion
from them. Clue #1. John had something very important, even
urgent, to say [clue #2] about the miraculous work of Jesus [C3]
on behalf of the Gentiles [C4] by which he would purify them and
make them clean [C5] as it were, filling them to the brim with
His Spirit and overflowing joy ("New wine") [C6] and replacing
the intended bridegroom (i.e. the Jewish rulers which would
irrepsonsibly fail before God to bring His "wine" to the wedding
guests). God would then supplant the failures -- scribes,
Pharisees and Saducees --with Jesus (and his apostles), who
fulfilled the duty of the bridegroom and saved the wedding
guests from a ruined celebration. Now God would also accomplish
this in a way that offended the Jewish leaders (remember the
complaint against the Bridegroom), and in a way that people did
not expect, a way which seemed out of order to them. So when the
complaint [C7] of the Jewish rulers grew to become something far
more sinister -- the execution of the Son -- God would indeed
raise Him to life [C8] in vindication of Christ against the
false charges that led to his demise. Thus, by resurrection God
had reversed a tragic situation and would bring joy (like that
of a wedding) to the world -- to Jew and Gentile alike by
filled-to-the-brim "purified waterpots" like John, like Paul,
and like Peter.
Finally, what does it mean, "You have saved the best wine til
last?" This is a marvelous punchline. John revels throughout his
Gospel in showing how those who oppose the Lord often say far
more than they know. Here John offers just such an example.
First came the patriarchs, then Moses and Samuel, and great men
like David, Solomon the Wise, and Josiah the king, and also many
great prophets besides -- who brought the word of the Lord by
His Spirit -- God's wine -- to teach and to rescue his people.
But, at the very last, God sent His very Best -- when the Jewish
nation had lost its taste for good wine -- Jesus came "in the
fullness of time." "In past times, God spoke to our forefathers
in many ways and at various times; but IN THESE LAST DAYS hath
He spoken to us BY HIS SON..." (Hebrews 1:1). God sent His
obedient Son at the last to replace the failed Jewish leaders.
God had saved the best for last.
Jesus, the greatest of the prophets -- and oh-SO-much-more --
had come at the end of the Older Covenant, at the "last days."
Well said Solomon, "The end of a matter is better than its
beginning." But this was only Christ's FIRST miracle. See how
great a story THIS preview of Christ's glory is?, says John.
Wait til I tell the rest!! John was saving the best for last
too.