The Wedding at Cana
I helped to teach and lead the women’s Bible study at my church. This spring we were walking through stories of Jesus in the Gospels. This post and a couple of future ones are some of the work and devotion of those Bible studies. I honestly am an Old Testament junkie so spending time in the New Testament and especially in stories about Jesus has been good for my heart. Today we’ll be in John when Jesus attends a wedding at Cana.
John 2:1-12
1On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10and 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.” 11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
12After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
Who doesn’t love a good wedding? I’ve been married for 14 years now, but I remember our wedding as if I’m driving away from the party now. It was a sweet day filled with sunflowers, a warm breeze coming off the lake, and a lot of laughter from friends and family. The reception was a whirlwind of silly dancing, homemade ice cream cake, and making sure we chatted with every person in the room. Weddings can be really fun to attend, but planning and throwing a wedding party can be full of lots of details and decisions. That’s why I love this story, we get a behind the scenes picture of this party, but also what God is beginning to do in Jesus’ life.
The beauty of this story in John doesn’t come from just reading it. In order to understand the depth of what Jesus is doing and communicating in this story we need to dig deeper into the Old Testament. We don’t only see Jesus doing his first miracle, or just preventing the shame of a probable family member, or even turning water into wine to keep the party going. No, what we see in this story goes back to the days of Moses in the wilderness.
If we read the passage carefully we see that on the third day of the seven day long celebration, the wine was running out. Mary, Jesus’ mother, comes to him and tells him the problem. This most likely means that she was closely related to the groom’s family and attempting to prevent them from the shame of running out of wine. Jesus tells his mother that it’s not his time to start his public ministry just yet and then tells the servants to fill the 6 stone jars that were used for the rites of purification with water. When the servants drew out the water it had turned into wine. Better wine than what they had been serving so far. The disciples had seen what had happened and it says that “they believed in him” (vs. 11).
Simple enough of a story right? Jesus performed a cool secret miracle and helped his disciples believe in him. Yes, however, it’s so much more. Before we jump in, watch this short video that will give you a little more insight into the context and background of this story.
Notice that Jesus didn’t just fill water pitchers with wine. No, he chose the six stone jars used for rites of purification. So what were those rites? Looking back in Leviticus chapters 11-15 we see there are many ways to become ceremonially unclean. If you were unclean, you couldn’t go to the temple to worship, and in some cases, you were unable to be around or touch other people because then they would be unclean as well. Also, typically after a wedding ceremony, the bride would wash before the reception would take place and the water in the 6 stone jars was what she would have used.
So what does this mean for our passage? In order for God’s people to be able to come into the Lord’s presence or be acceptable to him, they needed to be washed in holy water and proclaimed “clean.” Our sin and the fallenness of the world makes us “unclean” and unable to come to the Lord like them, and in the Old Testament, God makes a covenant with his people. He makes a way for them, sinful, to have fellowship with him, holy. Follow the steps, abide by the rules, and life will work best and you will be blessed as my people.
Jesus takes this water that is the very representation of this Old Covenant between God and his people and he turns it into wine. This doesn’t mean much unless we fast forward to Jesus’ last day when he is celebrating the Passover feast with his disciples. We can read this story in Matthew 26. After breaking the bread, he takes the cup and gives it to them saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (vs. 27b-28).
We see Jesus passing the cup of wine and saying that the wine represents his blood that will be poured out when he dies on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He is instituting a new covenant. No longer do God’s people need to pour out the blood of animals in sacrifices, and abide by cleansing rituals to be made right before God, but instead trusting in the shed blood of Jesus for their sins to do that. This, as Jesus’ first miracle, is significant. More significant than the servants or disciples could have realized in that moment. It started at his baptism when God opened the heavens and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. God stated, “this is my Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). We see Jesus identified as God’s Son, the promised Messiah. He initiates his earthly ministry at that moment and when he turns the water into wine we see him proclaiming, although privately to those closest to him, that this ministry was going to change the way they do everything. He’s ushering in a new kingdom with new covenant rules. And those rules are trust, repentance, and faith. This is a simple but revolutionary move on Jesus’ part. This story isn’t just about wine at a wedding, it’s about the transition from the old covenant to the new.
This is the new covenant that we are invited into. We are invited into the story of all creation. God creates the world, man disobeys and all creation is fractured and broken–tainted by the stain of sin, but God sends Jesus to live the sinless life we couldn’t, to take our punishment on the cross and die, and because of that sacrifice for us, we can live in right relationship with God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit until the day that Jesus returns to make all things new and restores the fallen creation. This is the story that we are brought into and the New Covenant of Jesus’ shed blood for us. We no longer need to clean up to come to God. We are invited into a renewed relationship with God, through the Holy Spirit, because of Jesus. That is the significance of this story and miracle.
Here are some questions to prompt reflection as you walk through the message in this passage:
In what ways are you functionally living out of the Old Testament, trying to make yourself good or “clean” enough to come to God?
Jesus was working on a heavenly timeline, not on man’s expectations. Where are you doubting God’s perfect timing to move and to act?
Jesus didn’t just make wine, but he made even better wine, and a lot of it! Do you trust God to give good and abundant gifts?
Lord, thank you for your good and abundant gifts you give. Thank you that you see us in our trouble and you provide. Thank you also, that we no longer need to be purified by rituals to be made clean, but through your blood poured out for us we can be made right before You. Thank you for sending Jesus to cover our shame, take on our sin, and die on the cross for us. Help us when we doubt you and try to work to earn our salvation. Thank you that you raised him from the dead and you will raise us to new life as well. Amen.
*I want to thank the women of Coram Deo Church Bible study for the time and devotion they’ve put into workshopping these passages. I’m always incredibly awestruck at how God can take the same passage or story and speak so individually through the Holy Spirit to teach and convict so personally. Thank you for your wisdom and insights into these passages!
