New Wine

John 2:1-11

“They have no wine.”

I love reading a familiar passage in Scripture and finding something new.  I see the story from a different angle, ponder words I had previously skipped over, and I learn lessons I missed before.   Sometimes I realize that I will never get to the bottom of a passage, there will always be something more to understand.  John 2:1-11 is one of those places.

Jesus and his disciples went to a wedding.  Now, weddings were a really big deal; invitations went out to as many people as possible.  This groom was obligated to make sure that enough wine was provided to last through the whole wedding celebration.  The master of the feast was charged with managing the supply so that it would not run out.  But it did.  The groom was unable to meet his obligation.  He did not have enough.  He was facing public disgrace, and it appears, he didn’t even know it. 

The Bible is so true to life, and here we have a great example.  How often can everyone else see that we are face to face with disaster?  We plan and prepare, thinking we’ve ‘got this,’ but still find that we are utterly unable to meet our obligations.  We are easily blinded to the gaping deficits in our own lives.

But this is what I love.  In John 2:3, we read that Mary saw the problem.  She knew her son well enough to know that somehow, he would help.   She went to Jesus. “They have no wine,” she said.   Oh, how I must learn from Mary’s example not to criticize or stand back when something or someone is lacking.  How I must learn to go straight to Jesus.  Did Mary expect a miracle?  Did she expect that Jesus would finance the purchase of additional wine?  The text does not say.  But it is clear that she knew he would not stand back.  He would know what to do, and he would help.

Wine is a significant symbol.  Hundreds of years earlier, the Old Testament prophets told of a Day when there would be plenty of new wine.  The old struggles would pass away and the new would come.  (Joel 2:24; 3:18; Amos 9:13; Jeremiah 31:10-14).  A few short years after this wedding, Jesus will use wine to remind us that our salvation comes through his blood that was spilled for us. Wine is the sign of a new covenant, new joy, new abundant life and blessing, bought with great pain and sacrifice. 

On this particular wedding day, wine was the need.  “They have no wine.” Jesus looked around and saw six very large jars used for the Jewish rites of purification.  The jars were not full, so Jesus asked that they be filled with water.  All six.  The servants filled them to the brim.  Following instructions, they drew some out to take to the master of the feast.  It was wine.  It was better than what they had started with.  They had a great abundance of new wine! 

The disciples saw and believed.  They knew what the prophets had said.  They knew what new wine meant.   Surely this man, who could turn need into abundance so easily would be the One to make right everything they saw wrong in the world.  Surely He was the Messiah!  The servants must have believed.  Who turns water into 180 gallons of wine, anyway?  Jesus.  Only Jesus.  Who He Was had everything to do with what He did with the water in those jars.  At that wedding feast, what they had was not enough.   They needed something more.  Only Jesus could meet their current need so completely and abundantly.

When I read this passage, my heart cries out, Lord Jesus, what I have is not enough!  I have no more wine!  However pure my traditions are, no matter how I plan, it is not enough.  But you are the One who was promised, the One who fulfilled, the One who was poured out and emptied, the Fullness of His Glory who reigns at the Father’s right hand.  You have enough.  You meet my need.  You bring forgiveness, life and joy to the full.  You sustain my life in every way.  You turn emptiness into abundance.  You make all things new! 

“This is the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory.  And his disciples believed in him.”  John 2:11