Water Into Wine

The idea of transforming water wasn’t new for the Jewish people.  In fact, Moses had done it before when he had turned the water into blood as the first of the plagues.  This was a sign of God’s impending wrath and judgement upon the Egyptian people if Pharoh did not relent and release God’s beloved people from their bondage.  Now, approximately 1,200 years later, Jesus initiates his ministry by turning the water into wine as the first of his miracles. I believe that this was a sign of God’s impending forgiveness and redemption for all people through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross just a few years later. 

The jars that were used were special jars.  They had been set apart with an important and very specific purpose; they had been sanctified, if you will.  These jars contained the water used for ritual purification, and they obviously were running low because the servants were instructed to fill them back up! No matter how much they tried, the wedding guests would continually become ceremonially unclean through the course of the day and would have to return again and again to wash themselves in these jars.  Over the course of several days, the water was running low, and you can imagine people leaning over the edges, trying to get more and more water, only to be frustrated to find them empty. The more they tried to obey the law and cleanse themselves, the harder it became. 

Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine, and at a wedding celebration no less, symbolized that the time of the law had been completed, and the time of celebration had arrived.  No more would the people be bound by empty religiosity but would be purified once and for all through the blood of the perfect sacrificial Lamb. Through his sacrifice, we have all been invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb, and we can rejoice because we are no longer bound by emptiness.  We rejoice because our Savior has come and has made the way clear for us. 

Like the jars, we have purpose and potential, but all that matters is what we have been filled with. Is it the empty water of the world or the transforming presence of the power of God? “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”