Water into Wine

Water into Wine

 Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine (John 2:1–12) was loaded with symbolism. Its placement at the beginning of John’s Gospel is significant.       For Jews, wine represented life and abundance. No proper wedding would be without it. Wine symbolized the life of the party and the expectation of a good life to come for the newlyweds. But at Cana, just as the young couple prepared to launch a new life, the unthinkable happened—they ran out of wine. That may have been a common problem in that day, given that wedding festivities often lasted as long as a week. Nevertheless, it was discouraging and probably quite an embarrassment to the host. The party immediately began to wind down.

 But Jesus used the moment to reveal to His followers something of who He was. By producing wine from water, He astounded His disciples and encouraged their faith (2:11).

 However, the product was not merely wine, but the best wine (2:10). In the same way, Jesus was the new wine bringing abundant life to Judaism, which, like the wedding, had run out of life and become spiritually empty.