A Foundation of Grace: Water Into Wine

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.-John 2:1-11 (NKJV)

Welcome to the second day of the Write 31 Days series, A Foundation of Grace.  Each day I am going to free write about a passage of Scripture where I will discuss Jesus and the grace that came with Him as our foundation. Today, I will be discussing the passage of scripture in John 2 where Jesus turned water into wine.

This was the very first miracle of Jesus.  Up until this point, He had done no miracles, no healing, nothing of any kind.  Those things only took place after He was baptized in the Holy Spirit when John the Baptist baptized Him in the Jordan River.  

Jesus, and his disciples, and his mother were all at a wedding in Cana in Galilee.  Wine was one of the party supplies in use at weddings during this time.  At some point they run out, so Jesus' mother comes to Him. At first, it seems as though He is not going to act.  But then, by what seems the prompting of his mother, he does something that demonstrates who is, what He can and will do, and what He came for.  This is a beautiful picture of His ministry.

There are six waterpots of stone, the Bible says "according to the manner of purification of the Jews," sitting there.  Jesus chooses those in which to perform this miracle.  It would make sense that this was a significant act on His part.  Jews used these jars to wash their hands and their eating utensils, as part of purifying themselves.  In Nelson's Bible Illustrated Dictionary, it says the definition of purification is  "the act of making clean and pure before God and people. The Mosaic Law provided instructions for both physical and spiritual purification."

Then Jesus comes. And He takes something that the Jewish people had been using to purify themselves and He replaces the water with wine.

"Fill the waterpots with water," He tells them. So, they do what He says, and then they draw some out and it is changed. They take some to the master of the feast and Jesus' command, and the master says this:

Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the best wine until now!-John 2:10 (NKJV)

When I was thinking about writing this post, I was reminded that wine was present at the Last Supper.  It is symbolic of the blood of Jesus.  Jesus was replacing their purification rituals with Himself.

If you take this all back to the scripture I shared in my introductory post, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ," this story is a perfect picture.  The Jews (and the rest of the world) were coming into a new time.  The Old Covenant was being fulfilled by Jesus in the new!  He is the new wine!  He is the best!


To read more in the series, please join me here, at A Foundation of Grace.