In the custom of Jewish weddings a feast ensued after the marriage ceremony where the bride was actually considered married once she entered this "festive evening meal" (Edersheim 359). It is this wedding feast for which we find the setting for Jesus' first sign in John's gospel, the changing of the water to wine. In the old Mighty Mouse cartoon the animated superhero would yell "here I come to save the day!" Jesus would find himself needing to save the bridegroom from a potential disaster. The reading comes from John 2:1-11 where Jesus is at the wedding with his mother and his disciples in Cana of Galilee. Let's see what happens in this story where we see a "Rescue by Refill."
Jesus Was Aware of the Absence of Wine (1-5)
A host of a party commits a big no-no by running out of food or drink. Knowing how many people are going to attend a function such as this is necessary as proper preparations have to be made to ensure the right quantity of refreshments are available, whether it's a super bowl party, catered meal, etc. The bridegroom made the mistake of running out of wine. It was Jewish custom that the bridegroom was responsible for paying and providing for everything at this event, which could be quite costly. This was an error in etiquette; you've heard of fashion faux pas, but this was feast faux pas!
As if Jesus didn't know it, his mother made sure he was aware of the absence of wine. Much has been said about the manner in which Jesus replied to his mother by calling her "woman," (4) but in that day and time there was not even a hint of disrespect in what he said. He was letting her know that when it was time for him to act he would do so. Notice she believed in him wholeheartedly for she told the servants to do whatever he said. Could she have been reflecting on the fact that she knew this was the Son of God? (Luke 1:35) Even after finding the boy Jesus in the temple, the reply that Jesus must be in his Father's house made Mary treasure all these things in her heart (Luke 2:51) It seems as though her faith in him was concrete to prompt the response "do whatever he tells you" (5).
Jesus Rescued the Day by Refilling the Wine (6-8)
When your beverage runs out at a restaurant you can get a refill. Even when you run out of drinks if you're hosting an event, you can still drive to the nearest store to pick up more. There is no worry about having to say bye bye to your beverage! Life in the first century did not lend itself kindly to resolve a situation such as this. In the midst of a wedding feast if you ran out of wine you couldn't just run down to the local Piggly Wiggly to restock like we would if we needed more drinks. Whether too many people forgot to RSVP or the bridegroom miscalculated on the appropriate amount of wine, he was now in a quantitative quandary!
Jesus rescued the day by refilling the wine. There were six stone water jars nearby which were used for purification. There were all kinds of laws for Jewish purification. The number six represented imperfection to the Jews, but this imperfect representation wasn't used to purify, but to provide the perfect replacement. The book of Hebrews is clear that the New Covenant is in every way better than the Old Covenant, and perhaps Jesus was demonstrating that as he began his ministry with this first sign. The volume of liquid contained in these six jars would be somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons. Jesus made sure the wedding feast went from failing to flourishing.
Jesus Manifested His Glory with the Miraculous Wine (9-11)
Many substances have been changed throughout the ages but only miraculously. If we alter a substance you must add to or take away from the chemical compound. Consider H20, which is water. Add another atom of oxygen and you get a completely new compound called hydrogen peroxide, H2o2. Human beings cannot change the properties of substances miraculously, but God can. Consider the changing of Aaron's staff into the snake or the changing of the water to blood, which were both signs to Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. These were changed miraculously, but not by human beings. Only God has the power to transform properties such as water into wine.
Notice the reaction of the master of the feast to what had happened. As he tasted the wine, he realized what he had just put into his mouth. The custom for Jewish wedding feasts was to use the best wine first, then when guests have had their fill to serve a lesser quality wine. The quality of wine that Jesus provided last exceeded that of what the bridegroom provided first. This writer believes to get into a discussion of whether the wine was fermented or not is fruitless (no pun intended), and it loses sight of the meaning of the sign performed by Christ. However, research has been done and there are methods of preserving the juice of the grape both in unfermented and fermented conditions. The meaning of the better wine is not totally known other than to know it was far better quality than the previous, but it shows just as Merrill C. Tenney writes that Christ is the master of quality (http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/BSac-NT/Tenney-TopicsJohnPt2-BS.pdf).
Jesus manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. Jesus affirmed that the man who was born blind in John 9 would result in the works of God being displayed in him. The works of Christ being signs, miracles and wonders showed that Jesus truly was the Son of God. Just as John says of the signs of Jesus, "but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). His disciples believed in him. Don't look past this statement, because the proof is written for us to believe!
While it does seem interesting that only a handful of people knew what Jesus did at Cana of Galiliee, there is no denying the fact of how amazing this was. Jesus truly showed that he was the master of quality by coming to the rescue as he refilled the wine, even as an upgrade in quality. Jesus' first sign involved him providing what is referred to by many as the blood of the grape to rescue the party. How much more meaningful should it be to us that Jesus later provided his blood to rescue those who would partake in him?
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