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Biblical Stone Jar for storing wine – 20-30 gallon. John 2:6 Wedding at Cana [photo by Ted]
John 2:1-11
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OBSERVE:
Even the casual reader of the Gospels can recognize the striking difference between the Gospel of John and the three synoptic Gospels.
(Synoptic means “seeing together” because the other three Gospels — Matthew, Mark and Luke — can be placed side by side with a similar narrative pattern, and many shared parables, teachings and other accounts.)
In John’s Gospel, the very first miracle performed by Jesus is not a physical healing or an exorcism. Instead, Jesus accedes to his mother’s urgent request to help the host of a wedding save face by providing wine!
There are no “throw away lines” in the Gospel of John. John mentions the fact that:
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
There are two significant items that we find here.
First, John’s Gospel mentions that this wedding occurs on the third day. What does this third day suggest? Surely one likely possibility is that this reference foreshadows the resurrection of Jesus three days after he is crucified.
Shortly after the wedding at Cana in John 2:1-11, Jesus has gone to Jerusalem and makes the statement:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body (John 2:19-21).
The second item we should notice is the recurring significance of weddings as a symbol of God’s Kingdom and of the age to come throughout the Scriptures.
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” (Matthew 22:2)
When Luke describes the readiness required of Christians as they await the coming of Christ, he says:
“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks” (Luke 22:35-36).
Paul writes to the church at Corinth:
I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2).
And finally, The Revelation describes the final consummation of time in this way:
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready (Revelation 19:7).
Clearly, it is very likely that by beginning his Gospel with this scene from a wedding, John is illustrating that the true Bridegroom has already arrived, and preparations for the wedding have begun.
At the same time, we catch a very realistic glimpse of an encounter between a mother and her son. When Mary archly points out that the wedding hosts have run out of wine, Jesus says:
“Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
If only we could hear the tone of this conversation between mother and son! Was Mary impatiently trying to push her son into the limelight before he was ready? Was Jesus annoyed with her prodding? Or was there a lightness in his voice, and a teasing smile? We don’t know.
What we do know is that Jesus does act in response to this wedding faux pas when the wine runs out.
Six large stone jars of water that were used for ritual purification stand nearby. The Jewish rites of purification, particularly prior to a meal, were quite elaborate. These rites included not only the washing of hands and arms, but also feet as guests entered the house.
But when Jesus commands that the jars be filled with water to the brim and then drawn out in a cup and taken to the chief steward, a transformation has occurred.
The steward tastes the wine, and then praises the bridegroom:
“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.”
Although wine does receive mixed reviews in Scripture, from condemnation of drunkenness to praise for wine’s power to gladden the heart, wine often suggests the good life. Often, wine is included in prophecies of hope and restoration of the age to come:
In that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the stream beds of Judah
shall flow with water (Joel 3:18).
In this passage, if wine symbolizes anything, it is the abundant life that Jesus brings, especially in this inaugural miracle.
John affirms this as he declares:
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
The glory wasn’t simply that Jesus had the power to keep a party going by providing refreshments, but that the wedding and the wine are a foreshadowing of the abundant life to come.
APPLY:
The most significant take-away from this passage for us is the power of Jesus over nature. The Gospel of John has established in the Prologue (John 1:1-18) that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. And as God, Jesus participated in making all things:
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being (John 1:3).
In this miracle, Jesus the man demonstrates his authority as God over nature itself. As C.S. Lewis says of miracles:
Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.
What God does each year, with the growth of the grape on the vine, then harvest, then crushing and fermentation over a period of time, Jesus does in a moment.
Jesus acts consistently with his own divine nature and according to the boundaries set up at creation. The difference is that he does it immediately. This is essentially what he does when he causes the blind to see and the lame to walk, and when he stills the storm. The consummation of the Kingdom is foreshadowed in all of these miracles, looking forward to that day when Jesus will be recognized universally as King of kings and Lord of lords.
That’s why this miracle is so significant, because of what it reveals about the nature of Jesus, and the response of faith in his disciples:
Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
RESPOND:
Every time I have performed a wedding as a pastor, I have been reminded of the Biblical symbolism of THE ULTIMATE WEDDING — the wedding of the Lamb of God and his church.
When I stand with the bridegroom awaiting the procession of his lovely bride dressed in white, I can’t help but think of THAT day, when Jesus as the bridegroom will greet his perfect bride. And my heart always beats faster.
Of course Jesus was going to keep that wedding going by transforming water into wine! One day, he will keep the wedding celebration going forever and ever.
Lord, you have come into the world as the Lord of life. Prepare us for the great wedding that will come at the close of history! Amen.
PHOTO:
“DSC_0115” by Ted is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
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