Jesus, Moms, Weddings, and Wine

Jesus’ first miracle was not a healing or a casting out of demons or demonstrating mastery over the weather.

Jesus’ first miracle was saving a party that was about to go sour, by making a ton of wine.

Image via Pixabay

Behold the story, from John’s Gospel:

¹ On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴ “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

¹¹ What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 1.1-11)

There are some things worth noting from this story:

• Jesus liked to party! We probably shouldn’t read into that statement too much. Ancient weddings were often week-long affairs full of feasting, music, dancing, and all manner of celebration. Given that most of what we read about Him in the Gospels is ministry-related, it is interesting and refreshing to see Him cutting loose at a social gathering with His friends and family, outside of His normal routines.

• Running out of wine was a big deal. It was expected that the hosts meet the needs of the guests for the entire celebration. Running out of anything was going to be hugely embarrassing for the host family, and for the new bride and groom. From the very beginning of His ministry, long before the Cross, Jesus was already rescuing people from shame.

• Jesus’ mother pushes Him  into helping out, even though He doesn’t seem to want to. Obviously, Mary knew who her boy was, and knew He could do something to make things better. Fascinatingly, even though Jesus’ initial response is, “My hour has not yet come,” indicating that He doesn’t wish to involve Himself, He chooses to do so anyway. The most likely explanation is that He did it because His mother asked Him to, He respected her, and He needed to honour His mother if He was going to perfectly obey the Law (Ex 20.12; Mt 5.17).

• Jesus used ceremonial washing jars for the transformation. These jars and the washing ceremony associated with them were not biblically commanded, but had arisen out of Jewish traditions that some held to be sacred (see Mt 15.1-20). In choosing to use these traditional jars for His miracle, Jesus is elevating Himself and His actions above the nonbiblical traditions of the elders, which would be the type of thing that got the religious establishment angry at Him.

• Jesus makes a lot of wine (like 600-900 modern-day bottles!), and it is obviously of high quality. In terms of a hypothetical price tag, given the current market value of really nice wine, this would be at least tens of thousands of dollars of high-end wine. Jesus doesn’t just save the family from embarrassment, but does so in an extravagant way. This is a very nice wedding present. And as always when it comes to the Lord, He has more than enough to meet the need (Phil 4.19).

• I grew up being taught in church and Bible College that all wine in the New Testament was unfermented grape juice with little to no alcohol in it, unlike today. Yet in this story, the comment is made that usually the lesser wine comes out at the end, when the guests are affected by the alcohol (the original Greek word clearly connotes intoxication), and won’t care what they are drinking. This context doesn’t make a lot of sense if it’s just no-alcohol grape juice. At the risk of triggering a debate on Christians and alcohol, it’s hard to read this parable without concluding that Jesus made some very good alcoholic wine, that went along with the other alcoholic wine that people have been drinking at the wedding, presumably including Him. I don’t believe Jesus ever overindulged, but scenes like this are perhaps the reason Jesus’ enemies slandered Him and accused Him of being a drunkard (Mt 11.19), again unlikely if what He was drinking was unfermented juice. (As I say these things, I would be remiss to not also acknowledge the many times that we are warned in Scripture about the dangers of alcohol: e.g. Pr 20.1; 23.31-35;  Rom 13.13-14; 1Co 6.9-10; Eph 5.18; etc. Many Christians choose to avoid alcohol altogether out of biblical conviction, and this is commendable.)

• What touches me about this story is that, although the wine screwup would have brought shame on the family, this is not a life-or-death issue. In His ministry, Jesus sets many people free from demons, from illness, delivers people from death, and even raises some from the dead. But this, His first miracle, was about saving a party, and keeping a family from embarrassment. It tells us that Jesus is not just concerned about the major issues in our life, He cares about the smaller stuff too, and is willing to step into these things with us.

And so, we learn from John 2 that Jesus likes weddings. He cares about our problems. He honours His mother. And He makes some really good wine. This was how He chose to reveal His power to the world, and how His disciples began to believe that He was who He said He was.