We’ve all heard of Jesus turning water into wine; His first miracle. But what if that’s not the main point of the story. What if the story is more than a caterer running short, or the miraculous change of liquid states?
John 2:6 reads; Now there were set there six water-pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty to thirty gallons apiece.
John describes the containers; six stone jars, holding 20 to 30 gallons, for Jewish purification. He recorded this on purpose. Why stone and not clay, after all, clay was lighter and much more affordable? Clay jars were a ‘one time only use’ because the clay quickly became contaminated whereas stone didn’t. Once used, clay was discarded. Wine; a fine drink for a pure vessel, not for a vessel which contaminates easily.
A little side note; the water turned to wine on the third day of the feast. That’s a bit of a hint that things aren’t as they seem. Water to wine was where law met grace; ceremonial washing to the blood of the Saviour. This was a wedding, a ceremony with food, wine and dance.
When the host runs out of wine, Mary brings the problem to Jesus (the starting place for all our problems). Jesus tells Mary, His hour has not yet come. He’s talking of His hour at the cross. Mary ignores Jesus’ remark and says to the servants to ‘do whatever He tells you.’ Mary doesn’t know what Jesus is going to do but she knows Him and puts the problem into His hands – just as we should.
Stone jars are expensive, heavy and harder to make than clay. When it comes to vessels, materials matter. Stone is safe, permanent, perpetually pure. It’s a ceremonially acceptable and unchanging vessel of the old way.
Why six stones and not seven? Why didn’t John just say some stone jars? Why be this precise? Seven is considered the number of completion - six is one less. Six is almost but not quite. It’s a state of ‘not finished yet.’ The external washing, endless and every day, never quite able to finish the job. And never internal. Ceremonial washing was always external; hands, face, feet – never internal. Never reaching deep enough. External washing cannot cleanse the internal.
Jesus didn’t get rid of the Jews old system, the law. Jesus told the servants to fill the jars with water to the brim. He doesn’t destroy what was but fills the jars with what is and not only fills them but fills them to the brim. He didn’t come to abolish but to fulfil, to bring to completion that which wasn’t complete. He takes those six jars of incompletion and brought them to fulfilment. The old was holy and not to be done away with. The transaction is complete by what is now held inside; wine.
Jesus tells the servants to draw some out and take to the master of the feasts. The water has become wine; the drink of the new marriage covenant. Wine; the initial point of what was to come; the blood poured out. A transformation of washing externally to washing internally. The old and the new in one moment.
Endless washing now transfigured into grace by the wine, into a new covenant. Not a new disconnected religion but an addition from old to new. The Master of Ceremonies has no idea what’s happened. He told the host, you’ve kept the best, the good wine, for last. Normally good wine is used first and old wine last. Here, the old went first and the good kept for last because this is a holy occasion.
The best is ahead. The marriage supper is still to come. The servants knew where the wine came from, not the Master of Ceremonies, nor the host. The servants had the miracle in their hands, not the elites, but the lowly servants and the disciples were there to witness it.
John 2:11 reads; This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
The first sign Jesus did manifested His glory and the disciples believed in Him. The first sign is the headline of what is to follow, of turning the six into seven, of the almost complete to completion. Turning law into grace.
It’s the bridegroom’s responsibility not to run out of wine. Today, Jesus is the bridegroom. He provides the wine which never runs dry. It is His hour. In this story, you feel the weight of the wine pointing the way to the cross. A forecast of what was to come. The fulfilment, the completion, the good wine kept to last. Jesus, our bridegroom, once and for all time.
Thank you, Jesus, for pointing the way. We do repent of our sins before you today and ask your forgiveness. Thank you for Your great and ineffable sacrifice on the cross, that we may pure and acceptable before You.
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