Water to Wine

What is the significance of Jesus’ first sign in the Gospel of John? After turning water into wine, John states that this “was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory” (John 2:11). Let’s dig into this sign that took place at a wedding in Cana with some help from Jim Hamilton in the ESV Expository Commentary.

The First Sign in Cana: New Wine at a Wedding on the Third Day

Section Overview

What happens in this scene is as simple and straightforward as it is profound and thought-provoking. Jesus attends a wedding on a third day. When the host lacks wine, Jesus’ mother approaches him with the problem. Jesus asks what this has to do with him, then gives instructions to fill six stone jars with water, draw out some of the water, and take it to the host. The host then calls the bridegroom and praises the water-turned-wine as the best wine at the party. John identifies this as the first of Jesus’ signs and notes that, in response, his disciples believe in him.

Comment

The Lack of Wine at a Wedding on the Third Day 2:1–5

From Bethany across the Jordan (1:28), Jesus and his disciples have removed to Galilee (1:43) and now attend this wedding in Cana. Jesus’ mother is also at the wedding (2:1). Just as the beloved disciple is never overtly named “John son of Zebedee” in the Gospel according to John, so the mother of Jesus is never overtly named “Mary, wife of Joseph.” John may have chosen not to use his own name nor the name of the mother of Jesus in his Gospel as a way of insisting that his audience look at Jesus, not at Mary or John.

John 1:19–51 had presented a series of days:

• Day 1: The Baptist interacts with those sent from the Pharisees (1:19–28).
• Day 2: “The next day” (1:29), the Baptist bears witness to the Spirit descending on Jesus to remain (1:29–34).
• Day 3: On “the next day” (1:35), two of the Baptist’s disciples follow Jesus.
• Day 4: “The next day” (1:43), Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael (1:43–51).

This means that when we arrive at 2:1 “on the third day,” this “third day” is also the seventh day, seven being a number of fullness or completion. John does not overtly name the seventh day, but as we consider whether such information is significant, we should bear in mind that John has not haphazardly included details about days, nor has he randomly selected an event that took place at a wedding. This event is included in John’s Gospel because of how the third day and the wedding signify fulfillment of the significant patterns of third days in the OT and new-covenant-wedding connotations.

The Lack of Wine

The initial report that wine is lacking provides the occasion for the mother of Jesus to look to him to resolve the situation (2:3). This lack of wine affords Jesus an opportunity to provide, and thereby he “manifested his glory” (v. 11). By calling the event and the interactions related to it a “sign” (v. 11), John indicates that the details point beyond themselves to the broader salvation-historical significance of the coming of Jesus.

Mary’s statement, “They have no wine” (v. 3), shows that she expects her son to do something about the problem. Her concern may reflect the deep shame the hosts of a wedding would experience if the supply of wine failed, but John focuses not on the family’s shame but on Jesus’ doing a sign to manifest his glory (v. 11). Jesus’ reply, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?” (v. 4), is somewhat abrupt (cf. the usage of the same Greek phrase in the Greek translation of Judg. 11:12; 1 Kings 17:18; 2 Kings 3:13; 2 Chron. 35:21; and in Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28), but it invites reflection on the significance of this event for Jesus, a significance broader than the need for wine at this wedding.

Jesus’ Hour

Jesus then says, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). This is the first of a number of references in John to Jesus’ “hour” (7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1; cf. also 4:21, 23; 5:25, 28; 16:21, 32). The idea of the fulfillment of a particular time is present in other Gospels (e.g., Mark 1:15; Luke 1:20; 2:6) and grows out of OT passages (e.g., Ezekiel 4; Dan. 9:24–27) describing particular amounts of time being completed before the restoration would arrive. This reference to the hour that has not yet come (John 2:4) is matched later in the passage by the statement that the best wine has been saved “until now” (v. 10).

The description of the water jars, the instructions of Jesus, and the implication from verse 9 that those instructions have been fully and completely obeyed comprises the central moment of this event that John calls a “sign.” The water jars were for “Jewish rites of purification” (v. 6; cf. Mark 7:3), most likely rites approved by the Pharisees. If each jar held “twenty or thirty gallons” (John 2:6), filling six jars meant Jesus made between 120 and 180 gallons of wine—lavish provision. Indeed, John reports that “they filled them up to the brim” (v. 7), pointing to the completion of God’s intention for such old covenant regulations. Jesus then gives instructions for the servants to draw from the jars and serve the master of the feast.

The Master’s Response

Rather than narrate that Jesus was obeyed, John goes straight to the master’s response in verse 9. From the master of the feast’s response when he tastes the wine, we see that Jesus has done something extraordinary. John does not explore how it happened. He does not even narrate the servants’ obeying the instructions Jesus gave. John notes that the master of the feast “did not know” where the wine came from (v. 9), but the master proclaims it “the best” (v. 10 NIV). Thus the master of the feast experiences what happens when Jesus invites others to eat and drink of what he offers (e.g., 4:10; 6:54; 7:37); they may not know Jesus’ identity, but the fruit of his work is beyond compare.

The First Sign

John calls this “the first of his signs” (2:11). Jesus has turned water into wine, but John makes it clear that the supernatural transformation of water to wine is eclipsed by the broader redemptive-historical implications of what has happened. The old covenant was a marriage between Yahweh and Israel, and at a wedding on the third day, the wine ran out. John notes these details to signify that the old covenant has been exhausted. Water jars used for the keeping of the regulations of the old covenant are filled, pointing to the fulfillment of the allotted time and intended purpose of the old covenant and its purification rites. Out of the old is drawn something new and better: the best wine.

John does not call these supernatural things Jesus does “mighty works,” as the other Gospel writers do. Calling them “signs,” John has carefully selected and framed his presentation to bring out the ways in which Jesus is effecting the shift of the ages, the movement from old covenant to new, from water to wine.

At a wedding on the third day Jesus made the best wine, and through these details John illustrates the way that Jesus came “at the right time” (Rom. 5:6), “when the fullness of time had come” (Gal 4:4), when the old covenant had run its course. Jesus called for the water jars to be filled to the brim (John 2:7), as though he wanted to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15), and then he provided new wine (cf. Matt. 9:14–17), pointing to the new covenant.

The First Sign: Water to Wine 2:6–12

When John says that, having done “this, the first of his signs,” Jesus has “manifested his glory” (John 2:11), John’s audience is reminded of the claim in 1:14, “We have seen his glory.” John 2:1–12 also depicts what John summarized in 1:16–18: Jesus has given “grace upon grace” at this wedding, abundantly supplying at the point of need. When the water jars used for old covenant purification rites were filled and the best wine was drawn from them, 1:17 is enacted: “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

The abundant provision of wine in this episode also hints at the fulfillment of passages like Genesis 49:8–12, where the vine will be so fruitful that the coming king from Judah will not bother to keep his donkey’s colt from eating freely, he will use the plentiful wine to wash his clothing, and his eyes will be dark and healthy like the wine itself (Gen. 49:11–12). Among others, Amos uses the same imagery to point to the messianic age, the glorious eschatological restoration, as he describes the plowman overtaking the reaper, the mountains and hills dripping and flowing with wine, and the people planting vineyards and drinking the wine they produce (Amos 9:13–14).

In response to this sign, “his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11). On the one hand, the belief of the disciples is a natural response to a mighty work: Jesus did the sign, and the disciples believed in him. On the other hand, some will see the signs Jesus does and believe in him, but Jesus will not entrust himself to them (2:23–25). This may indicate that the disciples had begun to perceive what the signs signified, which Jesus was committed to revealing to them (cf. 17:8).

Response

We must not think of Jesus as merely a moral teacher or miracle worker. The authors of the Gospels and Acts have selected, included, and presented the mighty works done by Jesus because of the way they advance the narrative and communicate the significance of what God has done in Christ. His life, death, and resurrection comprise the fulcrum of the ages—he has fulfilled the old covenant and initiated the new.

John presents Jesus as “him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote” (1:45) and depicts Jesus accomplishing many-layered fulfillments of the OT. Understanding these things deepens our faith, informing our understanding of our Lord and ourselves in the grand scheme of redemptive history—and deepened understanding deepens love (Phil. 1:9). We want to understand the Bible so that we can understand the Father and the Son by the power of the Spirit. Understanding the redemptive-historical significance of John 2:1–12 will prompt faith, compel worship, and empower love for God and neighbor.

John 2:1–12 shows that God layers good gifts onto good gifts, bringing out the best at the right time: to the gracious gift of the old covenant God has added—grace upon grace—the new (1:16–17). Satan suggests that God withholds good gifts from his people, but as Jesus makes the Father known (1:18) by facilitating plentiful celebration at a wedding, he exposes Satan as a liar. The God of the Bible is revealed by his Son, Jesus, to be one who ensures abundant wine for the wedding feast.

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