Turning Water into Wine

          

          Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 

When the wine had given out, Jesus' mother said to him, “They are out of wine.”

“You must not tell me what to do,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

Jesus' mother then told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

          The Jews have rules about ritual washing, and for this purpose six stone water jars were there, each one large enough to hold between twenty and thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill these jars with water.” They filled them to the brim, and then he told them, “Now draw some water out and take it to the man in charge of the feast.” They took him the water, which now had turned into wine, and he tasted it. He did not know where this wine had come from (but, of course, the servants who had drawn out the water knew); so he called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone else serves the best wine first, and after the guests have drunk a lot, he serves the ordinary wine. But you have kept the best wine until now!”

Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana in Galilee; there he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:1-11, Good News Translation)

 Oh, gosh, there is so much in this short episode that I could drag it out over several weeks. Instead, you’ll get a long post today. Hope you take the time to read it all.

1.    Jesus, His disciples, and His mother, Mary, were attending a wedding. It was a time of celebration, and not just for one night like we are used to. The Jewish weddings of those days would last for days.

2.    And because the party would last for days, the host had to be prepared with ample food and beverages. But this poor host ran out of wine! Can you imagine how disgraceful that would be? In our day and age, friends would bring it up years later – “Remember when John and Sally got married? They ran out of booze! It was a horrible party, and everyone bailed on them and went down to the bar.” Does anyone ever want that to happen at their wedding reception? So Mary appealed to her Son, knowing in her heart that he could fix the problem.

3.    His answer to His mother shocks us. In most Bible translations, He refers to her as Woman, which sounds disrespectful to us, but it was how any son might call his mother at that time. In this translation, Jesus’ words sound even harsher.

4.    At this point, I picture Mary having the same look on her face that many mothers have worn over the years, thinking to herself, “My son may sound snarky, but I know my boy, and I know he will do right.”

5.    Jesus tells the servants to fill a bunch of huge jars with water. Umm, according to this translation, that would be up to 180 gallons. Wow! That could get a lot of people good and drunk! And here’s where it really gets interesting – the wine Jesus changed from the water was better than what had been served up to that point.

6.    Turns out this was the first recorded miracle that Jesus performed.

There is so much we can take away from this short story, but here is what just dawned on me. We may not be drinking the best stuff now – we may have problems in our lives and may be struggling financially, physically, or emotionally – but don’t leave the party, the best is yet to come.