Jesus Transforms Water into Wine – John 2:1-12

The Gospel of John focuses on the deity of Christ framed in seven miracles. Jesus manifested the glory of God through the miracles He did (v11). Since God does not share His praise or glory, Jesus undeniably demonstrates He is truly the Son of God. The culture of that time fully understood Jesus’ claim and wrongly accused Jesus of blasphemy to the point of crucifixion.

Background
Cana was a small town 3.7 miles from Nazareth. It had maybe 500 population. It was a town where everyone knew each other, everyone was friends and family and everyone was invited to the wedding. Jesus was also at the wedding, celebrating the joy of the marriage. Marriage is a wonderful blessing ordained by God, so naturally Jesus would be there.

The Crisis
A crisis happened at this wedding. The wine ran out. This was not a crisis because the people loved to drink; it was a neglect of hospitality. It was a severe breach of etiquette as well as shame for the groom. It could even escalate into the bride’s family suing the groom because he had not prepared properly for their daughter’s wedding. Wine was the main drink at a wedding and a wedding without wine was a disaster. In comparison, Jesus is central and necessary for life. Life without Jesus is a disaster.

Mary Turns to Jesus
When Mary, the mother of Jesus, told him there is no wine she probably wasn’t expecting a miracle. She was simply a mother relying on her eldest son to find a solution. Maybe he would go out and buy some more wine?

Jesus replies with ‘woman’, instead of ‘mom’. Many misinterpret this greeting as disrespect. ‘Woman’ is not disrespectful but a courteous addressing. Jesus is showing that what he is doing is not because His earthly mother asked him to, but because it is the will of His heavenly Father. The miracle was not done as a favor to Mary, but with the power of His deity for the purpose of His ministry. He is obeying God’s will as the Son of God.

Mary understands what Jesus is saying and humbly submits. She doesn’t get offended but instead tells everyone else to do as Jesus says. Similarly, knowing our life is in crisis, we must also submit and turn to Jesus for salvation.

Jesus Saves
Jesus then turns pots of water into wine. Jesus rescued the wedding. Not only did he miraculously turn water into wine, but it was much better than the original wine. As the guest explains, normally wine worse as the wedding goes on. Similarly, as life goes on, we get weaker and weaker, life gets worse and worse. But here Jesus turned it into good wine! Through Jesus we have the good news (the gospel), by which our deteriorating life can be made good.

4 dilemmas in life (even non believers will admit)

1. Everybody is a sinner (Rom 3:23)

2. We will all die. (Rom 6:23)

3. Everyone is judged (Heb 9:27)

4. We cannot save ourselves. In fact, we don’t want to be saved.

The 4 dilemmas explain the crisis in every person’s life. It is only by God’s grace can a man’s stubborn heart be made to seek God and desire to be saved. By our sins, we have given God countless reasons to not love us, yet He still shows mercy. It is only by His grace can we be saved.

Only Jesus can save us like He saved this wedding. He became man as God. He understands our plight and overcame our crisis, our inability and helplessness. Jesus is the good wine, the good news. His death on our behalf and resurrection on the third day is the miracle by which we are saved.  With His life and death, Christ fulfilled the holy law which no man could. Jesus saw our best which ended in crisis and then died to forgive it.

What must man do?
We must repent of our sins and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Repentance is confession of wrong and changing of mind, heart and life.  Belief is trust in Christ with your life. Those who follow Jesus are convicted He is the Son of God who saved them from death. They love Jesus for what He has done and obey Him.