This week, we hear the story of the first miracle Jesus performed in public, the changing of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. It is a familiar story, but there may be things you miss if you read through it too quickly. We slow down and go through the metaphors and images, savoring each one, to get a look at what’s really happening in this story. Yes, there is water and there is wine, and yes, there is a wedding feast with a bride and bridegroom. However, the water isn’t only water, the wine isn’t just wine, and there are more than one bride and bridegroom in view. Speaker: Pastor Tom Hendrikse.
2:1 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.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.1 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.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers2 and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
[1] 2:6
[2] 2:12
(ESV)
In John 12:32, Jesus said, "If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all manner of human beings to Myself." In John 12:32, Jesus said, “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all manner of human beings to Myself.”