He Turned the Water Into Wine

Scripture — John 2:1-11 (NRSV)

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Devotion

For those denominations such as mine which follow the liturgical year, we spend a lot of time around both Christmas and Easter standing up and yelling (at least metaphorically, or in our heads) “Wait, this isn’t over yet!” as the secular calendar barrels on through the seasons. The stores around you are probably halfway to Valentine’s Day at this point, but traditionally Christmas has twelve days, and Epiphany in its fullness isn’t just a one-day visit from the magi but a season celebrating Christ’s manifestation in the world that stretches all the way to Ash Wednesday. (While we’re at it, Easter has fifty days. That will probably come up again in a few months.).

So, this coming Sunday is the Second Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany. Every one of these Sundays until we get to Ash Wednesday has a story about Jesus Christ being made manifest in the world, and today’s story continuing the theme I established in yesterday’s devotional, is about a wedding.

I’m fascinated by several things about this story. The fact that Jesus is in no big hurry to manifest his glory. (Does he accept the necessity of it but recognize that his quiet days as a carpenter are over?) The fact that his mother seems quite certain Jesus is going to manifest his glory anyway, though she has no clear idea how. The fact that most of the people the miracle has been done for don’t seem to have any clear idea it actually was a miracle—they just think someone hauled some more jars out of storage. And, perhaps, above all, the fact that the first thing Jesus does to get someone to believe in him isn’t to give them information or sign them up in his membership books, but to help people throw a party.

Jesus is, indubitably, present in all our earthly times of celebration and joy. But I think there’s more than that at work here. Of course, if we’ve read our Isaiah 61-62, we know that what God is promising his shattered people is a wedding where everything goes right. The bride and bridegroom are perfectly dressed and beautifully adorned, and they feast—as the Communion liturgy of at least one church says—at the heavenly banquet.

Perhaps, for those who had eyes to see, Jesus didn’t need to hand out membership sheets or explicitly spell out his relationship to Israel’s story and prophecies. Perhaps all they needed to know to claim him as the long-awaited Messiah was that this was a guy who shows his glory at weddings.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Water Into Wine at the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11).