Incidents in the LIfe of the Messiah

The First Miracle – Changing Water into Wine

Can you spot the error in this picture?

John identifies the miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee as being the first.  Nevertheless, it appears from the words of the Messiah that it would have been a more appropriate sign at the end of His public ministry. This is why He said to His mother, “my hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). But the grace of God permits it at the beginning.

The main facts are these. Jesus and His disciples attended a wedding where they ran out of wine. When His mother brought this information to His attention, she expected Him to do something about it.  He commandeered the six giant water pots that held water for the ritual cleansing of the family and guests.  Each of the water pots held between twenty and thirty gallons.  The Messiah ordered the servants to fill them with water.  The servants filled them to the brim. He changed this  water into wine – the best wine, according to the governor of the celebrations. John adds, “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”  (John 2:11)

This first miracle demonstrates the seeds of the move from law to grace.  John had previously stated, “the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) The water, which had been set aside for the rituals of purification, is a reminder of the legal requirements being imposed on the population at that time.  The Pharisees wanted the general public to observe the rules of ablution that the priests in the Temple obeyed. They were aiming to establish a kingdom of priests! These champions of legalism were legislating joy out of the nation. Jesus turned the water, symbolic of the ritual cleansing under the Mosaic covenant, into wine, the symbol both of the New Covenant, where it represents the blood of the Messiah shed for sin, and the blessing under the Melchizedekian priesthood. In providing between 120 and 180 gallons of best wine it is also a physical illustration of the text, “I am come that you might have life and that more    abundantly” (John 10:10).

At a wedding feast, they formally drank several cups of wine.  The first was the cup of Terumah, which denoted that the virgin bride might have had a priest as a bridegroom.  (The Church’s bridegroom will be the High Priest of the order of Melchizedek) (Heb.6:20).

The second cup was the cup of good news when they proclaimed and certified the virginity of the bride. (The Church is espoused to Christ as a chaste virgin) (2 Cor.11:2). 

They pronounced the bridegroom’s blessing over the third cup, a blessing that was repeated every day of the feast. At this wedding, attended by Jesus and His disciples, the supply of wine ran dry. Mary asked her son to address the   problem. Jesus, as Messiah of Israel,  rather than Mary’s son, responded to the challenge.

 It is unlikely the wine ran out before they drank the cup of Terumah, because that took place at the beginning of the celebrations.  For the same reason, it is unlikely, that it was before the cup of good news.  It could  be  that  the  problem  surfaced  when the governor of the feast was preparing to pronounce another of the bridegroom’s blessings, or  perhaps a blessing after the order of the customary sevenfold marriage blessing.

Next Time: The Marriage Blessing