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)
We have no portraits of Jesus painted by people who saw Him, no sculptures of Him or busts of His likeness made by the talented sculptors that existed in the Graeco-Roman world. God saw to it that our mental image of Jesus would be painted entirely by the written Word, not the visual image. So when it comes to understanding the person of Jesus, the character of Jesus, we understand Him best not by trying to look at paintings of Him done by medieval painters, or even by watching Jesus movies. We understand Jesus best by reading of Him in the Gospels, hearing His words, and seeing where He went.
When we learn that John the Baptist spent most of his time in the wilderness, eating wild honey and locusts, that does tell us something about him: probably a severe character, in many respects. But in the Lord Jesus, we see Him in many different circumstances, and many different places: synagogues, the Temple, houses, seashores, waterwells, boats, grainfields, mountains.
Here we will encounter Jesus in one of the most human and warm environments, a wedding feast. We don’t need a Jesus movie to picture the face and expression of the Lord Jesus when at this wedding feast. Here we are going to learn what sort of attitude Jesus has towards human joy. We’ll see what kind of heart He has for very human dilemmas, and what He does with those. And like those disciples, we can simply observe, and decide who He is.
Remember, this book is written to convince us that Jesus is the Christ, the Chosen One, the Messiah, and so that we would place our trust and loyalty in Him. So this passage is not here to merely amuse us, or impress us. It is meant to persuade us, convince us, teach us who Jesus is, by showing us how He acted at a ceremony known to all of us, a wedding.
John unfolds the story for us in four parts: The Day of the Wedding, The Dilemma of the Wine, The Directives of the Word, and the Display of His Worth.
I. The Day of the Wedding
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.
The third day, counted from the four days John related in the previous section brings us to a full week from when John the Baptist had been interviewed by the Pharisees and priests. In all likelihood, this was a Wednesday, because in Jewish tradition, maidens were married on Wednesdays, widows were married on Thursdays. Jesus and the six men who had become his disciples are with Him as they travel north to a town in Galilee called Cana. Cana is about 7 kilometres north of Nazareth, so it’s likely that this wedding involved family of Jesus, or close friends. His mother Mary was somehow involved, she was invited, as was Jesus, and according to verse 12, his half-brothers.
Weddings were hugely important in Jewish culture; greatly anticipated, and greatly celebrated. A couple was formally betrothed many months before the wedding, not longer than 12, but several months. Betrothal was more formal and more serious than our practice of engagement. The groom at betrothal would hand the bride a letter stating he had formally betrothed her, and legally they were now treated as if married (as to inheritance, adultery, need of formal divorce). “In NT times the parents of the bride and groom met, along with others as witnesses, while the groom gave the bride a gold ring or other valuable item. To the bride he spoke this promise: “See by this ring you are set apart for me, according to the law of Moses and of Israel.”
During that year the man prepared the home for his bride. The wedding ceremony began with the bridegroom bringing home the bride from her parents’ house to his father’s house. The bridegroom, accompanied by his friends and amid singing and music, led a procession through the streets of the town to the bride’s home. Some carried torches, myrtle-branches and chaplets of flowers, Along the way friends who were ready and waiting with their lamps lit would join in the procession (Matt. 25:7–10). They would distribute nuts for the children, wine and oil for people. The bride was veiled and dressed in beautifully embroidered clothes and adorned with jewels, would be accompanied by her attendants, joined the bridegroom for the procession to his father’s house (Ps. 45:13–15). People rose to salute or join the procession, people would loudly praise the beauty of the bride. We don’t know what the form the actual religious ceremony took, some formula as ‘Take her according to the Law of Moses and of Israel,’ would be spoken, and the bride and bridegroom crowned with garlands. Then they would sign a formal legal instrument, called the Kethubah, which set forth that the bridegroom undertook to work for her, to honour, keep, and care for her.
Then they would wash hands, there would be a benediction, and the marriage supper would formally begin. The cup was filled and the prayer of bridal benediction spoken over it. The couple sat under a canopy, the Kuppah, and festivities and games and dancing which could last up to a week began. Through the whole week, the bridal couple wore their wedding clothes, and there were to be sumptuous meals that filled the hall or banquet hall.
That is the scene in which Jesus and His disciples find themselves.
And it is worth commenting that Jesus was no recluse, who avoided these happy social events. In this respect, His ministry contrasted the ministry of John the Baptist, with its solitude, severity and fasting. We remember that later on, Jesus will be criticised for not fasting more often like John, and for attending these events and eating and feasting with people.
But this shows us that God does not frown upon our joy; joy was what we were created for. The laughter of a wedding is far more the goal of creation than the sobriety of a funeral. Granted, in our world, we need to sobriety of a funeral to give us perspective; but a funeral is not the atmosphere of Heaven. Heaven is where the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place, so it is a place of rich enjoyment, reunions, laughter, and gladness. By His presence at this wedding, Jesus showed that God desires the joy of His people.
But the joy at this wedding was about to face a serious obstacle.
II. The Dilemma of the Wine
1 Enns, P. P. (2003). Weddings. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p. 1664). Holman Bible Publishers.
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.”
The wedding ran out of wine. In ancient feasts, the guests elected a president, who determined the mixture of wine and water and presided over the evening’s entertainment. The Hebrew version was the master of the feast, who did all that and oversaw the details of the wedding’s organisation. Table wine in the ancient world was always taken diluted with water. Average mixtures would have been from two to four parts water to one part wine. If a stronger mixture was desired, the beverage may have been taken half and half; the wine was taken straight only if early drunkenness was desired. Wine as it is drunk today was drunk, but the Hebrews would have called it by the biblical term strong drink. What you drank at a Hebrew wedding was a vastly diluted version of that, particularly because guests are with you for several days, drinking multiple cups through the day. Yes, you could get intoxicated, but that was not the idea, and it could only happen if the mixture was unusually strong, or if you drank 20 or 30 cups of the diluted kind.
Now whether it was because more guests showed up than expected, or because more was drank than expected, they ran out. Now this was terribly embarrassing for the bridal couple. In fact, they could even face legal trouble, as the guests had the right to sue them for failing to make provisions, and the couple could start marriage with a crippling debt. But this wedding feast is about to come to a screeching, crashing halt filled with angry voices, unhappy relatives, and a weeping bride.
So Mary, the mother of Jesus, having found out about the problem, says to her son, “They have no wine.”
Now we don’t know exactly what she intended by saying this. We have no record of Jesus having performed a miracle before this, legendary tales of Jesus doing miracles in His boyhood are just that: legends. Mary did know that Gabriel had told her about her son, that she had bore Him in her virginity, and that He was the promised Messiah. She had no doubt known Him to be an extraordinarily different son to her other children borne to Joseph. So we cannot say that she expected Him to do a miracle. We are not sure if she expected Him to begin His Messianic ministry by some great act here. But she obviously does hope He can do something, because she brings the problem to Him.
Now His response to her sounds rough to our ears, and our English translation makes it sound positively rude. In English, any son saying to his mother, “Woman, what does this have to do with me” would be dishonouring. So a bit of cultural background.
First, the word “woman” in the original was not how sons usually addressed their mothers, but it was still a thoroughly respectful title. A better translation for our ears would be “Madam” or “Ma’am”. In fact, Jesus uses exactly the same term when He is on the cross, and He tenderly commits her to the keeping of John, the author of the Gospel. “Women, behold your son”. Jesus is speaking to His mother using a title of respect instead of a term of affection. There is distance here, but not coldness; formality, but not rudeness.
His next question is a way of saying, “Your concerns and priorities for our family friends are not mine as the Messiah.” In other words, there is a gentle rebuke here: our family relationship is not to be exploited for personal gain, for mundane concerns. The hour, the time for Jesus to be fully revealed to the world and to suffer and die and rise for sins, has not yet come. Mary cannot manipulate the calendar of God the Father because of a temporal concern.
This sounds quite similar to that incident in the Temple when He was 12 years-old, and Mary and Joseph couldn’t find Him. When they did, they found Him in the Temple, asking questions, and amazing learned men with His knowledge. When they chided Him, “He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49)
Here again, the mission of His Father is paramount. Jesus is not about to reveal miracles that will confirm His messianic identity, until it is time.
Throughout the ministry of Jesus, He does this. There is no nepotism in God’s kingdom, no favouritism shown to physical family. When someone praised the mother of Jesus, and said, “Blessed be the womb that bore you”, Jesus responded “
But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28)
When on one occasion, the mother and brothers of Jesus were waiting for Him outside, they told Him they were seeking Him “But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”
And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!
For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:48–50)
Imagine what errors and heresies could have been avoided if people had paid more attention to these passages. Mary did not have the inside track with Jesus. Mary could not get Jesus to do more than He was willing to do on His own. Mary is not the one who persuades Jesus to forgive us, or give us grace.
As Jesus entered into the office of Messiah, Mary had to take her place with everyone else. No special treatment.
But there must have been something in His tone, something about the way He said it, that communicated His willingness to help, even while making her understand the theological lesson. “Madam, you cannot manipulate Me, as long as you know that. I only do what the Father tells me. But…” And perhaps He stood up, perhaps He looked at the master of the wedding. Something said to Mary, He is going to help somehow.
So she says to the servants, “Whatever He says, do it.” She doesn’t know what, but she will clear the way so that whatever He might do, will happen as quickly as possible, and the wedding can go on undisturbed.
III. The Directives of the Word
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.
Sitting there are some large stone waterpots. These were often ceramic, but Jews prized ones made of stone, because it made them ritually pure. And that’s what these were for, not for drinking, but for washing. Large pots holding 75 to 110 litres of water each, that would be used to wash cups, utensils, hands, and whatever else.
Jesus commands the servants to go to the well, and refill these waterpots. Perhaps they were a bit puzzled by the request, but thankfully, Mary had already primed them to do whatever He said. They simply obeyed, and obeyed diligently, filling them up to the brim. These unnamed servants played their part in a miracle by simply doing what they were told, and doing it diligently.
There is some 600 litres of water here.
Now, this is one of the quietest miracles in Scripture. We are not told when the water was turned to wine: whether it was all turned to wine instantly, or as they were drawing it out the waterpots. Jesus does not speak loud words, He does not gesture, He does not touch the waterpots. Everything here is quiet, humble, hidden. In fact, the only ones who know what is going on are the servants, and the disciples of Jesus.
But the master of the feast was the one responsible for all the festivities, so Jesus tells the servants to take a cup to him.
IV. The Display of His Worth
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.
The master of the feast tastes it and immediately remarks on the difference. He reports a common practice, which is that at the beginning of a wedding, when everyone’s palate is more discerning, you serve the best food and drink, and later on, when people are more full, tired, and happy, they are less discriminating, and you can bring out the cheaper stuff and get away with it. What Jesus made was not something made from bitter or tasteless grapes. Different areas in Israel would produce grapes of varying quality because of the fertility of the soil, the amount of water, the climate. Wine was crushed carefully in wine presses using people treading on it barefoot, so that the softness of a human foot would not crush the seeds as well. Crushed grape seeds are bitter, and it would bring a bitter taste. Badly pressed grapes, hastily pressed grapes, would be inferior.
Now here is an important lesson to learn about miracles. In a miracle, Christ is not necessarily simply creating something ex nihilo. He is, in many miracles, taking natural processes and speeding them up rapidly, accelerating them so that what would take years is present in seconds. But had you taken that wine and put it under a microscope, you would likely have found that it had a history, you would even have thought it was much older than it was. And in one sense, you would not be wrong about its age, and in another sense, you would. It was truly wine with all the qualities of something that had been grown, harvested, squeezed, preserved over many months or even years. But it was simultaneously, in real terms, only minutes old. The same is true when Jesus made bread and fish. And the same is true when He made the world in six days. Highly accelerated natural processes, with a history that does add up to very long periods of time, but yet much younger, when made rapidly and miraculously.
Now how much of those waterpots did Jesus turn into wine? Most think it was all of it. In that case, Jesus was actually giving a fairly expensive gift to the wedding couple. He did not just rescue them from lawsuits and a crippling debt, He provided this couple, who were evidently poor, with an unexpected asset to begin their married life together.
And amazingly, He does not take the credit, but allows the credit to go to the bridegroom and his family.
And it is hard to miss the symbolism here. Here are these large stone waterpots, used by legal Judaism for its ritual washings. This water brought purity, strictly speaking, but no joy, no life, no sweetness. Laws prepared you to eat, but brought you no nourishment, and no delight.
Here Jesus takes water used for the purification practices of Judaism, and turns all of it into wine, that which will delight the guests, bring sweetness to palates and joy to hearts. The Old Covenant might show you the difference between clean and unclean, but it cannot nourish you. It can show you that you are not naturally fit to enjoy a meal with God, but it is not the meal itself. But the New Covenant Messiah brings you the actual meal, the actual drink, the sweetness of communion with Himself, the friendship, the relationship, the happiness, the joy, the consolation.
This is the Law turning into the Gospel, the Mosaic Covenant turning into the New Covenant, the shadows turning into realities. When only Moses is there, the hands are washed. But when Messiah is there, the hearts are full.
But for those six men who had recently begun to follow Him, they now saw His glory quietly. They saw that Jesus had sovereign power over creation: over its elements, its chemicals, and over time. They saw that Jesus had the right to demand the credit, but did not seek it; instead He simply served this family in the background.
They saw that Jesus could have left this couple to face a predicament of their own making, or to face the harshness of their own poverty. Instead, He showed mercy, and sought their joy on their special day. All of this revealed to the disciples what kind of Messiah He was. Powerful. Humble. Merciful.
This is written for us, that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This miracle is recorded that you too, might see someone who was powerful, humble, and merciful. We are supposed to see someone who delights in our joy, He does not despise it. He wants our happiness, and shares in it. But He also won’t be manipulated. He will not dance to our tunes, or become our personal servant in a very selfish sense. But He does care for us where we are, and desires to help and save us where He finds us.
And He does wish to save us from the dead waterpots of legalism and works and religion. He wishes to bring the joyful celebration of new life in Him. For that, verse 11 must become true in your life: This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.