The miracle at Cana (John 2:1-11), where Jesus turns water into wine, is the first of a series of signs that he performs on his way to the cross. And it’s a sign that has at its core one meaning, it points to one thing: the glory of Jesus.
And it reveals the glory of Jesus in two ways: one, Jesus exposes our need for salvation; and two, he offers himself as the one who will save us. Let’s look at each of these briefly, beginning with the first one: Jesus reveals our need for salvation.
Jesus and his mother Mary, along with his disciples, are at a wedding when the unthinkable happens: they run out of wine. Out of compassion for the host, Mary says to Jesus: “They have no wine” (2:3). Jesus recognizes this cry for help, but says “My hour has not yet come” (2:40).
This response may seem whimsical, but nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus shares Mary’s concern, but on a larger scale, on a cosmic level that other human beings can neither share nor bear.
He equates Mary’s cry with the human cry for help, and he equates wine with life. And therefore, Mary’s cry is the human cry for help, because we’ve run out of wine, we’ve run out of life.
And the reason none of us “have wine”, the reason none of us have life, is because of sin. All of us have sinned, all of us need salvation, all of us need the wine of life. This is our predicament.
But then Jesus goes on and points to the way of salvation. And this is the second point: Jesus is the one who will save us.
“Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons” (2:6), we read. These jars were used for cleansing and purifying. “The water contained in these vessels was used for the ceremonial washing of hands as well as for the cleansing of drinking utensils.”1
The water that was in the jar was not sufficient to purify us from our sin, however. It needed something more, it needed energizing life, pure life. So Jesus turns it into wine, providing inherent strength that the water doesn’t have.
The Psalmist says that wine “makes glad the heart of man” (104:15), but the wine that Jesus makes here does even more than that: it gives life, abundant life.
Wine here is a most fitting symbol for the new spiritual power made available to us through the blood that Jesus would shed on the cross. He would pour out his own precious wine, his most precious blood, to save sinners. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus would tread “the wine press alone”, because no one was with him (66:3).
It’s interesting that there are critics of Jesus’ miracle at Cana. His miracle was unnecessary, a miracle of luxury. The argument goes something like this:
Jesus’ miracles are usually acts of mercy, where a "real" need is met: he heals the sick, he restores sight, he casts out demons, he even raises the dead. At Cana, it is said, Jesus saves the steward of the feast from embarrassment, he helped out a host who should’ve hired a wedding planner! It’s an unnecessary miracle, a luxurious miracle.
Such a reading of Scripture is not only flat and shallow, but it can only come from a culture of scarcity, where fear is the primary motivator. The result is to save, grasp, and hold on tightly to our money, our time, and our resources; to worry and be anxious about our health, the environment, and overpopulation.
But Jesus speaks the language of abundance, not scarcity. His signs did not alleviate human suffering alone. Christ did not come primarily to satisfy our physical needs or to add to our happiness. He came to offer us full redemption, full restoration, abundant life. And the miracle of turning water into wine, “lavishly provided and freely offered”, was a fitting symbol for the full salvation that He would win for us on the cross.2
Jesus was turning his attention to the goal he’d come to accomplish, namely, to answer the human cry for help, to quench the human thirst for life. This cry only He could respond to, this thirst only He could satisfy.
This is the glory of God in Christ that is revealed to us, and a most appropriate theme it is, on this day of Epiphany.
Thanks be to God.
Amen ✠
And it reveals the glory of Jesus in two ways: one, Jesus exposes our need for salvation; and two, he offers himself as the one who will save us. Let’s look at each of these briefly, beginning with the first one: Jesus reveals our need for salvation.
Jesus and his mother Mary, along with his disciples, are at a wedding when the unthinkable happens: they run out of wine. Out of compassion for the host, Mary says to Jesus: “They have no wine” (2:3). Jesus recognizes this cry for help, but says “My hour has not yet come” (2:40).
This response may seem whimsical, but nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus shares Mary’s concern, but on a larger scale, on a cosmic level that other human beings can neither share nor bear.
He equates Mary’s cry with the human cry for help, and he equates wine with life. And therefore, Mary’s cry is the human cry for help, because we’ve run out of wine, we’ve run out of life.
And the reason none of us “have wine”, the reason none of us have life, is because of sin. All of us have sinned, all of us need salvation, all of us need the wine of life. This is our predicament.
But then Jesus goes on and points to the way of salvation. And this is the second point: Jesus is the one who will save us.
“Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons” (2:6), we read. These jars were used for cleansing and purifying. “The water contained in these vessels was used for the ceremonial washing of hands as well as for the cleansing of drinking utensils.”1
The water that was in the jar was not sufficient to purify us from our sin, however. It needed something more, it needed energizing life, pure life. So Jesus turns it into wine, providing inherent strength that the water doesn’t have.
The Psalmist says that wine “makes glad the heart of man” (104:15), but the wine that Jesus makes here does even more than that: it gives life, abundant life.
Wine here is a most fitting symbol for the new spiritual power made available to us through the blood that Jesus would shed on the cross. He would pour out his own precious wine, his most precious blood, to save sinners. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, Jesus would tread “the wine press alone”, because no one was with him (66:3).
It’s interesting that there are critics of Jesus’ miracle at Cana. His miracle was unnecessary, a miracle of luxury. The argument goes something like this:
Jesus’ miracles are usually acts of mercy, where a "real" need is met: he heals the sick, he restores sight, he casts out demons, he even raises the dead. At Cana, it is said, Jesus saves the steward of the feast from embarrassment, he helped out a host who should’ve hired a wedding planner! It’s an unnecessary miracle, a luxurious miracle.
Such a reading of Scripture is not only flat and shallow, but it can only come from a culture of scarcity, where fear is the primary motivator. The result is to save, grasp, and hold on tightly to our money, our time, and our resources; to worry and be anxious about our health, the environment, and overpopulation.
But Jesus speaks the language of abundance, not scarcity. His signs did not alleviate human suffering alone. Christ did not come primarily to satisfy our physical needs or to add to our happiness. He came to offer us full redemption, full restoration, abundant life. And the miracle of turning water into wine, “lavishly provided and freely offered”, was a fitting symbol for the full salvation that He would win for us on the cross.2
Jesus was turning his attention to the goal he’d come to accomplish, namely, to answer the human cry for help, to quench the human thirst for life. This cry only He could respond to, this thirst only He could satisfy.
This is the glory of God in Christ that is revealed to us, and a most appropriate theme it is, on this day of Epiphany.
Thanks be to God.
Amen ✠
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1 R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel according to Saint John. An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 55.
2 R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel according to Saint John. An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 56-7.
2 R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel according to Saint John. An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 56-7.
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