Water to Wine
John 2:1-11

INTRO: Good morning church. Little Johnny was watching his father, a preacher, write a sermon. “How do you know what to say?” asked Johnny. “Why, God tells me”, his father replied. “Oh,” said Johnny, “then why do you keep crossing things out?”

I feel a bit like Johnny’s father when preparing a lesson from the Gospel of John. It is not that the Lord did not provide valuable information through His apostle nor that it is hard to understand. It’s more like there is so much information in so few words that I struggle at times to express it clearly.

Our text for today is John 2:1-11. Keep in mind that John uses the word sign over and over again, and this is going to be the first of the signs that John will give us. As we mentioned at the beginning of this study, John’s Gospel is highly symbolic and highly spiritual. John’s purpose for this gospel is stated toward the end of his writing in John 20:30-31 – “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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.”[ESV]

John does not describe what Jesus does as miracles but as signs, and we mentioned that a sign is something that has a message that goes beyond what we see at first glance. Jesus, in this book, is continually showing us that He is fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament. He wants us to understand John 1:1, “in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and the same was in the beginning with God, and all things were created by him.”

I’m thinking now of Genesis 1:1, “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Our creator has come to the earth, and these signs are uniquely designed to picture for us God having come down in the flesh to show His glory to man and bring salvation. All of those things then are exciting, and the signs, looking at it that way, are very unique.

John chapters 2 through 4 are a introductory section of this gospel because it is a picture of the old passing away and something new that has come. By the way, God is always about a new creation. He created all of us, we sin and when we turn to Christ He makes us… what does Paul says in 2^nd Corinthians 5:17?… a new creation.

He's always recreating what we foul up and bringing it to completion and bringing it to where it ought to be. We see this here. There's new wine in chapter 2. There's a new temple that is given later in chapter 2. In chapter 3, there's a new birth, and in chapter 4, there's a new worship.

What we will find is something new has come with Jesus that outweighs and outshines anything that we saw in the Old Testament. I hope that makes sense.

I. The Context - We will begin at the end of the text, John 2:11 – John records, “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

A. This is the first of Jesus signs. No other gospel writer mentions this miracle. It is the first, and that is significant or else John would not have noted it. Something that is the first is often introductory; it sets the tone for what else is to come. We will need to discover why this was the first sign.

1. Since John included only a few signs in this effort “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”, I suggest each is very significant and we need to put effort into understanding each of them. John only chooses a few and the changing of water to wine is unique among all the other accounts. We don't learn about this miracle elsewhere, even though it's the first.
2. I believe John is using this as a message that's going to tell us something deeper about Jesus and His kingdom. Rather than doing, as I have done, and maybe you have as well, reading this quickly and say yeah, Jesus turned water to wine, this is a wedding feast, ok, and then continue reading. Let's realize the significance of this particular sign.

B. You will notice in verse 11 that the sign “manifested His glory”. Remember, if you want to keep that in context… back at John 1:14, “and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” That is thematic for the book of John. John is constantly talking about Jesus showing His glory.

1. Well what does that mean? It's Jesus showing us the true attributes of God and who He is. Why would that be important? Again, in context refer back to John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” He has made Him known. Jesus makes God known through His identity as the Son of God and the incarnation of God in human form, revealing God's character, nature, and ways, to humanity.
2. Philip later in John 14:8 will say to Jesus, “show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us.” Jesus looks at him puzzled, as you can imagine, and says, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” He's showing God. When He shows His glory, He's showing something about Him that is God-like, that only God can do, that cannot happen any other way but God. With that understanding let us look for the meaning of this sign.

C. Oh, one other thing in verse 11 that's important. The scripture says “the disciples believed in him.” As we read about this sign in a moment, note that not everybody at the wedding feast knew that Jesus had changed water to wine. This is secretive, if you will, this is a secretive miracle. Mary knew about it certainly as did His disciples. The governor or master of the feast perhaps knew about it. The servants who brought the water changed to wine to the master of the feast certainly knew about it. But that's it from what we read.

1. This is early in His ministry and I suspect He did it just for the disciples. Few others really knew, and we'll see why that takes place in just a moment, but it was important that Jesus do it this way. He's preparing His disciples.
2. He is not ready to show himself to the world, and He makes that fairly clear to His mother when she told Him about the wine running out. That is the introductory context. Now let's look at the scripture.

II. The Story - John 2:1-4, “1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”” Cana of Galilee is not far from Nazareth. It's just a little village, and you might imagine that since it is not far away the people who are getting married are known to Jesus, to Mary and the family. We are not told the details but in verse 2 we are told they are invited.

A. That is interesting to me. With all the things that Jesus has to do with His purpose to go into the world and to show Himself and to try to get the people to recognize Him, yet He takes the time to go to a wedding feast.
B. These wedding feasts are tremendous occasions. They're quite different from ours. They go far beyond what we do.

1. All of us here, I'm sure, enjoy weddings. We love the celebration. We love the people there, and we want to see them happy, it's fun, there's a lot of talking, and just great little celebration for, what? Two or three hours? This celebration, this feast lasts for a week.
2. These people are in a society in which they work hard for everything they have, and they do not have much from our view point. When some couple you know is getting married, and they invite you to their wedding feast it is a big deal. We might think this Saturday night we're going to go to a wedding. No. For them, it’s we're going to spend a week at a wedding. It's a great celebration. It's just the best of the best. It is such an honor to be a part of a wedding, and the feast that's provided there.
3. Jesus makes reference to weddings several times in the parables. These were significant events, and it was one of the great enjoyments of that age. Jesus took a week out of His life, His short life, His short ministry, to attend a social function. He never forgot His purpose, and the social function lent itself to the purpose that He had.

C. Place yourself at that wedding now and imagine the beauty of the scene. -- Then suddenly we read these words in verse 3, “… the wine ran out…”. Again that's not like one of our weddings, hey, we're out of punch, somebody run down to 7-Eleven. Nope. This is a one-week feast. A lot of people have come, and wine is a key beverage in the Eastern culture. It was not viewed as we view it today. I have been told that it was common to mix water with wine, typically three parts water to one part wine as mentioned in Talmudic sources.

1. Not much reading is needed before you discover wine is a big thing in the Bible. After the flood, Noah is described as planting a vineyard. Vineyards feature in parables, stories, history, prophecy, and poetry throughout scripture. That's the picture that we have here. It was an important part of what they did.
2. The wine ran out, and what's the next thing we know? Mary takes it upon herself to correct the situation. This always brings questions to our minds. She may have been a responsible person at the feast or just a take-charge lady, but she intends to do something about it… Regardless, Mary takes charge immediately, and she goes to Jesus, and says, the wine's run out. The implication I think, is “You need to do something”.

III. The Discussion - John 2:4-5, Jesus' reply is in verse 4 – “…“Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.””[ESV] Here we see the discussion between Mary and Jesus. In reading this I would not be surprised if you were not as perplexed as me about what is said.

A. Mary says, “they have no wine” and you listen to Jesus words, “woman. What does that have to do with me? My hour's not yet come.” Then Mary's fascinating response to this, she turns to the servants and says, “do whatever he wants”. You feel like you've really missed a whole conversation here. Jesus sounds like I'm not doing anything. What do I care? Mary turns around and says he's about to do something.

1. I suspect we see the key in verse 5 where we have a positive response from Mary. Whatever Jesus said to her, Mary understands it in a positive way.
2. She tells the servants whatever he says to do, you do. I think that should color how we interpret what is going on in this dialogue. Let's look at what Jesus says now piece by piece.

B. The use of this word “woman” to address His mother seems a little harsh to us in English, but in the language of the time it was not so. Vine’s puts it this way; “… used in addressing a “woman”, it is not of reproof or severity, but of endearment or respect.” We should note that when Jesus is speaking to His mother from the cross in John 19:26 He uses the same word.
C. As to the rest of His question Jesus gives an idiom, making translation into English a bit difficult. Literally, the phrase is: “Woman, what to me and to you?” Well, what does that mean? The idiomatic expression asks rhetorically what the two parties in question have in common in the situation, and has the effect of distancing them. I suspect it has to do with Jesus’ action being according to God’s will, His plan.

1. The rest of this verse has been viewed in various ways such as; "they are not yet completely out of wine," or "it is not time for me to step in yet," or "it is not yet time for me to show my glory," or as Barnes put it, "the proper time for his interposing there had not arrived,". This is all speculation of course, since we are not told.
2. I submit to you based upon the context that Jesus is distancing Himself from Mary with this problem. Why the formalism of man to his mother, except he is distancing Himself from the request that's being made? Then to say this idiomatic phrase, what to me and to you in Jesus’ response is in effect to say, we don't have a joint effort in this matter.
3. Next this phrase, “My hour has not yet come” occurs frequently in John’s gospel. Ten times Jesus speaks about “His hour” in this gospel. God works to His own plan.
4. It seems to me that this sign is limited in who knows it occurred. I note that what Jesus did here is not widely declared. His mother, His disciples and the servants who brought the wine know. Beyond that we do not see it acknowledged. Jesus is operating on God’s timetable.
5. We note that Mary doesn't argue with Him about it. Verse 5 – “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”” She just turns to the servants and says, “Whatever He says to do, do it.” Whatever that is, it is in His hands and do whatever He tells you to do. It sounds to me that she knows Jesus is going to handle this in His way. Now let's go on and take a look at the greater story here. Start looking at the significance.

IV. The Sign - John2:6-10, “6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When 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 10 and 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.””[ESV] Now we can get to the issue, the sign itself. Verse 6 is a critical part that we need to start with.

A. There are six stone water jars (or water pots in some translations) for the Jewish rights of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. I notice how John clearly explains this detail so it will not be missed. These are not drinking jars, they are not wine jars. They are for ritual and ceremonial cleansing. They are stone jars so that there will not be any defilement.

1. In the Old Testament, Leviticus 11:29-38 talks about clean and unclean things. In verse 33 you find that if an earthenware vessel (i.e. pottery) becomes unclean it is to be broken. The Jews held that the stone jars used for ritual purification were not susceptible to contamination or defilement in the same way that pottery or other materials were.
2. These ritual washings were not only the washing of hands and things like that, but also the washing of pitchers and bowls and utensils. That's the setup John records for the sign that Jesus is going to give us.

B. Okay, with that in mind, there are many observations to make about this sign so let's look at them and then we'll make the appropriate application. First observation we make, the wine has run out and yes, this is a big deal for the wedding, but it’s a way bigger deal than that. It is not the purpose of Jesus to keep people from having social difficulties. That's not the point.

1. Wine constantly throughout the Old Testament was a symbol of joy and was a symbol of the blessings of God. You can find that all over the place, for example... Psalm 104:14-15 – “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart.” Or Proverbs 3:9-10 – “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” If we have wine, then we have God's blessings and He is with us.
2. Here we have this very fascinating picture being given to us of these first century Jews being out of wine. When you are out of favor with God, you are no longer receiving the blessings of God. It’s all been taken away—the blessings of God have dried up. Jeremiah 38:33 talks about the judgment on Moab – “Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;” I suggest there is an important symbolism in the very simple statement, “the wine has run out”. It is the end of the line for the Jewish nation.
3. No more is God pouring out His blessings upon the people. Consider what the Old Testament prophets indicated when they were looking forward to a time when the wine would be restored as symbolism of the blessings of God, the restoration of God's covenant to the people. Isaiah 25:6 – “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” The picture here is of a great blessing that is being given. When God returns and pours out His blessings this is often described as feasts and banquets and pouring of wine.
4. In his prophecy of a future blessing on Judah Joel 3:17-18 writes, ““So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it. And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.” When God is in Zion, God restores the people and restores their relationship, what is going to happen? The wine is going to flow off the mountaintops. We have this imagery of flowing wine as a picture of the coming of the messianic age.
5. Amos prophesying of the restoration of Israel writes in Amos 9:13-14, “13. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. 14. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 15. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.” In this restoration imagery is a picture of restoring of fortunes, restoring of blessings.
6. When the wine runs out, God's blessings have dried up. You're out of favor with God. When the wine is flowing, God's blessings are flowing and you are in favor with Him and you are in a relationship with Him. I suggest this symbolism is here, in this very subtle statement, “the wine has run out”.

C. Second, Jesus uses the purification jars and thereby removes them from currently being used in ceremonial washing. That is very important to this issue as well. If you would touch something unclean, you became defiled. You then would need to do this cleansing to become clean. Not only yourself but other things that became unclean, dishes, cups and so on. Jesus goes out of His way to use these jars and involve the servants in full view of His disciples.

1. He could have made wine out of nothing. He could have used common drinking elements or the existing wine containers and kept the wine from running out. No, He intentionally uses these and there is a point to that.
2. There is no longer a need for this ritual cleansing, Jesus has set that aside. He has eliminated it because He is bringing the true cleansing, true purification. He brings the true cleansing, purification and washing that the people really need. That is the second picture we see in this sign.

D. Third, the wine runs out, but Jesus brings the wine. I think that is critical to what is going on here. The wine has run out, but Jesus is bringing the blessings of God. We already talked about when the wine runs out as symbolic of being: no longer in favor with God, no longer in relationship with God, no longer receiving the blessings of God.

1. What does Jesus bring? Jesus brings the relationship with God. Jesus restores the blessings. Jesus is the way to be able to have relationship with God. Here you have a continuation of that imagery.
2. The wine itself is not the point. This is about the restoration of blessings. God's blessings are found in Jesus, not in the old system, not in the ritual cleansings. He is the one who brings purification. He is the one who brings restoration. Restoration of God’s blessings cannot be found anywhere else.

E. Fourth, Jesus brings wine that is better. Did you catch that? The statement made by the master of ceremonies here is very important to the story. There in John 2:9-10, “When 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 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first,…”” Look at the last part of verse 10, “… But you have kept the good wine until now”

1. What is implied here is the wine now being served is better then the wine that was previously served. You have kept the good wine until now. You brought something better.
2. Here is another forceful illustration by Jesus. The blessings that Jesus brings are better than anything the people had experienced before. They are greater and better.
3. Anything that the Law of Moses offered is diminished in light of what Jesus brings. His covenant, His blessings, His promises, His restoration is better than anything from the Law of Moses. Better than anything the people had ever experienced up to that point.
4. The relationship that people can have with the Father through Christ is superior in every way to what existed in the time before Christ. The wine is described as better. Better blessings, better covenant, better promises, a better relationship with our God.

F. Fifth, Then we notice something else as well, this is something all the commentators go crazy about. When you go back to verse 6, how much wine did He make? Each jar holds twenty to thirty gallons and there are six of these. That is somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons of wine. In verse 7 we read, “Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.” The jars were full, no room for anything more. That is a lot of wine!

1. Jesus offers an abundance of blessings and grace. He brings more. Remember that goes exactly to what John has done at the very beginning of this gospel. How did he begin this great gospel? That in Christ “from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace”.
2. This is overflowing grace. You received grace and mercy in the Law of Moses, but now Christ has come and you are receiving grace on top of grace. Or as the NIV says, grace in the place of grace already given.
3. Here is the imagery of abundance. It is the overflowing grace of the kingdom now available to all people.

CONCLUSION: John was an eyewitness of the reported occurrences, as he himself writes. As such he was able to give clear particulars as "about the tenth hour" (John 1:39), "six water pots of stone" (John 2:6) and "153 great fishes" (John 21:11).

We mentioned before John’s Gospel is highly symbolic and highly spiritual. Consider the points that come from this gospel. First, all of the old ways are being challenged by Jesus, everything about the old covenant, its ritual system, its cleansing system, its tabernacle system, and its temple system. Jesus did not come to tidy up the old system, to get the Law of Moses back on track, to fix it or put a band aid on it. He came to fulfill the old. He came bringing a better covenant with better promises, with better blessings, with an overflowing of grace.

Second, Jesus provides new wine that surpasses anything that existed before. He gives things that are better and it makes everything else obsolete. That is what is so fantastic about how John records the story. Purification will not be found through the Law of Moses. Purification will not be found through these externals or through the ritual washings.
Purification is now found through Christ and He surpasses anything that Judaism could have had or could have understood, all of it being made obsolete.

Third, the Messiah, the greatest blessing that God has poured out, has arrived. Why is this the first sign, the beginning? Because this shows the arrival of the Messiah and the blessings that are tied to His kingship and His Kingdom.

He has arrived with His kingdom and Jesus came with a new way and a new system calling for people to change. It is a call for radical restoration to God, to turn away from the old way, to turn away from the Law of Moses, a call to receive the abundant grace that is only found in Jesus and can't be found anywhere else. What a way for John to kick off the gospel. After laying this foundation; here is the Lamb of God, here is the Son of God, the Son of Man, the King of Israel, and here is the Word of God, the one and only God who brings grace upon grace.

In God’s plan we learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done this, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Reference Sermon: Brent Kercheville