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Sermon

Jesus Turns Water into Good Wine

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 2:1-11

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In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia examines John 2:1-11 and the account of Jesus’ first sign at the wedding in Cana. John the apostle presents Jesus’ first sign-miracle of turning water into good wine so that you will believe in Jesus and find eternal life.

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

This passage from John 2:1-11 teaches us that Jesus’ first sign miracle—turning water into good wine at a wedding in Cana—was chosen by God to reveal the glory of the Messiah and call people to saving faith. We are reminded that Jesus operates on the Father’s timetable, not ours, and that humble faith that submits to God’s will is the kind of faith God rewards.

Key Lessons:

  1. Jesus’ sign miracles are not mere displays of power but revelations of his character—his creative authority, compassion, humility, and commitment to the Father’s will.
  2. True faith means moving from trying to direct God to humbly submitting to whatever he chooses to do, as Mary exemplified when she told the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”
  3. God saved the best wine for last—the coming of Jesus fulfills and surpasses everything that came before in the Old Covenant, and clinging to the old instead of embracing Christ means missing the fullness of God’s grace.
  4. Believing in Jesus means going all the way as a disciple—not hedging bets, not clinging to self-righteousness or religious ritual, but trusting fully in Christ alone for salvation.

Application: We are called to examine whether we have truly crossed over into full discipleship with Jesus. We must stop trying to get God on board with our plans and instead submit humbly to his will. We must not cling to old systems of self-righteousness or mere religious tradition but embrace the new and better reality found in Christ alone.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what areas of your life are you trying to direct God rather than humbly submitting to his will and timing?
  2. How does the image of God saving the best wine for last shape your understanding of the relationship between the Old Testament and Christ’s fulfillment of it?
  3. What does it look like practically to go “all the way” as a disciple of Jesus rather than merely professing faith while living for yourself?

Scripture Focus: John 2:1-11 records Jesus’ first sign miracle and its purpose. John 20:30-31 explains that John wrote selectively to produce saving faith. John 1:14-17 establishes that Jesus reveals God’s glory and brings grace that surpasses the old covenant. Isaiah 25 points to the eschatological banquet fulfilled in Christ.

Outline

Introduction

Well, let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we come now to hear from you. We don’t want to hear a man’s opinion. I don’t want to hear my opinion, and you want to hear what your word says. Because you have the words of eternal life. There is nowhere else to go.

We want those words. We want you to help me, God, to be able to explain your word in a way that is accurate and helpful. And pray, God, that you would help us to give attention to it and change us by it. Amen.

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

Moving on today in our next passage of the Gospel of John, and it is an important one. Recall the purpose of this gospel from John, the son of Zebedee, one of Jesus’ closest disciples. John writes primarily to Hellenistic Jews—that is, Jews who were Greek-speaking, Greek-cultured. They didn’t live in Palestine, but John writes to them so that, as he himself says in John 20:31, you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name.

But recall the way that John seeks to bring about this soul-saving conversion in his readers, his listeners. John 20:30-31 says, “Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written so that you may believe.”

In other words, our author John is presenting us a selective record of Jesus’ life and ministry. John can’t say everything that could be said about what Jesus did, but John has purposely reported certain signs that Jesus performed to show that Jesus really is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing in him and in him alone, you have eternal life.

“John has purposely reported certain signs to show that Jesus really is the Christ, the Son of God.”

Sign Miracles Reveal the Messiah

Now, what are these signs? We’re not talking about literal boards with words on them, are we? No, certainly not. We were talking about sign miracles. We’re talking about works of power, supernatural acts of power that only the Son of God could do.

These miracles—especially selected miracles from our author John—not only prove that Jesus really is the Messiah, but they also reveal what Messiah is like, who he is, and what his mission is all about.

John says in John 1:14: “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth.” So that means that these sign miracles of Jesus and the words that Jesus spoke alongside these sign miracles, these mighty works, they revealed to us the glory of God, even the glorious character of the Eternal Word.

“These sign miracles revealed to us the glory of God, even the glorious character of the Eternal Word.”

If you want to get to know who Jesus really is, if you want to experience eternal life with him, then according to John, you must pay attention to these signs and you must appreciate what they communicate about Jesus.

The First Sign: Water Into Wine

Now, today we’re looking at the beginning of Jesus’ signs, the first sign miracle recorded in this book, and probably the first miracle that Jesus did on the earth. If we think again about the Gospel of John kind of like a courtroom scene in which John is intent to prove Jesus’ identity to the people and counteract the lies and misunderstandings of Jewish opponents of Jesus, John begins the book by providing powerful eyewitness testimony.

He gives John the Baptist testimony in John 1:19-34, and then he presents the testimony of Jesus’ early disciples in John 1:35-51.

But now John presents before the people the evidence that corroborates the witness testimony. Here is exhibit A: that Jesus really is the Christ, and eternal life is found in him. What did the Triune God choose to be the inaugural sign miracle proof of Jesus as Messiah? Might be a little surprising.

God chose that Jesus would turn water into good wine at a not-so-important wedding in a tiny little town known as Cana in Galilee.

“Here is exhibit A: that Jesus really is the Christ, and eternal life is found in him.”

Why this particular sign, and what does it show us about Jesus? That’s what we’re going to investigate today. Please open your Bibles to John 2.

We’re looking at John 2, verses 1 to 11.

The title of the message today is straightforward: Jesus turns water into good wine. John 2, verses 1 to 11. This is page 1059 if you’re using the Pew Bible. Let’s read our text.

Reading the Text

On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”

Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 20 or 30 gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter.” So they took it to him.

When the head waiter tasted the water which had become wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

John 2:11: “This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”

This is one of the well-known accounts of the Bible. Even people who are not Christian have heard of Jesus turning water into wine. But even if the account is well-known, that doesn’t mean it’s well understood, especially in a life-transforming way.

Considering the explicit purpose of John’s gospel, which we already heard from John 20:30-31, and also what we see in verse 11 here, we can readily understand the main purpose of this passage in John 2:1-11. John presents Jesus’ first sign miracle of turning water into good wine so that you will believe and find in Jesus eternal life.

I’ll say that again: John presents Jesus’ first sign miracle of turning water into good wine so that you will believe in Jesus and find eternal life.

The narrative here unfolds in four main parts. The first one comprises verses 1 to 5. Let’s go through the passage starting with that first part.

The Sign Miracle Needed

Number one: the sign miracle needed.

Look again in verses one and two: “On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding.”

Notice that phrase “on the third day.” This chronologically ties our new passage to the ones that have come before. We’re still part of that first amazing week of Jesus beginning his public ministry in Israel.

Last time, on days three and four, we saw Jesus collect his first disciples. Here, when it says “on the third day,” that probably means we are now three days later from that, or what would be day seven, the end of the week. I don’t know what day of the week it began, but this would be day seven.

Why these time details? Certainly this is the eyewitness author John showing that he knows exactly when these things took place. It was all within the span of seven days.

But notice where Jesus and his disciples are now. They are in Cana of Galilee. We learned last time that Nathaniel, the last of the first five disciples to be collected, was actually from Cana. So it may be that Jesus had journeyed from beyond the Jordan, where he was with John the Baptist, into Galilee, specifically to Cana, and since Nathaniel happened to be there, Philip went to get him.

The Wedding Setting

But whether Jesus originally traveled to Cana or just shows up now, he’s in Cana now to attend one of the happiest social events of the ancient world, and that is a wedding. Remember, life in the ancient world was hard for most people. They spent their days mostly working and doing household chores. They had to. They didn’t have time to just kick back and banquet. But weddings were the exception.

Here’s the one time where even poor people felt like they could really party. Good food, good drink, good conversation, music, dancing—all part of these weddings. Weddings were truly special occasions. And for Jewish people in Jesus’ time, weddings were the culmination of someone involved in the marriage preparation process. There was often a year-long betrothal period before marriage, in which the bridegroom prepared a place to receive his bride and he readied everything for the wedding banquet that would take place there.

“Weddings were truly special occasions—the one time where even poor people felt like they could really celebrate.”

When he was ready, the bridegroom would process through the town, often in a kind of night parade, to collect his bride at her home and then bring her back to be his wife in the new home that he had prepared. Invited friends and family would then join the new couple for a wedding banquet celebration in the new home that would often last more than one day, sometimes as long as a week.

Jesus and His Mother Are Invited

You can see that weddings were really important, really joyous occasions for the Jews of Jesus’ day. And it just so happens that for this wedding, Jesus, his mother, and his disciples—probably meaning the first five disciples mentioned in the last chapter—they were all invited.

Now notice it says they were specifically invited. This is not Jesus and his disciples crashing a wedding that they weren’t really invited to and causing a problem with the amount of wine there. No, they were all invited. The bride and groom had specifically invited them all.

Now, why were they invited? Well, presumably it’s because Jesus and his mother and maybe his disciples too, they knew the bride and groom. They were friends or relatives. This is not too unexpected. After all, Cana, as far as we could tell, is not far from Nazareth—only about nine miles north. They’re both sleepy little towns in Galilee with no more than a few hundred people at best.

The townspeople in these two places, since they lived near one another, they probably would have interacted with each other relatively frequently. The craftsmen and merchants would go back and forth between Cana and Nazareth. Farmers and the pastoralists of each town, they would work alongside one another in the fields.

And inevitably, over time, families between the two towns would get married to one another. There would be intermarriage.

“Cana is not far from Nazareth—only about nine miles north. They’re both sleepy little towns in Galilee.”

Jesus and his mother Mary, they probably knew the bridal couple, and that’s why they were invited. And maybe the other disciples did too, or perhaps they were merely invited as a courtesy to Jesus since they had become his disciples.

As an aside, notice that Mary is not called Mary here, but just “the mother of Jesus.” Actually, this is the way that John refers to Mary in this gospel. He never calls her by name, only refers to her as “his mother” or “Jesus’ mother” or “the mother of Jesus.”

We will see this description again in John 19 when Mary is at the cross.

Why this version of identifying Mary? Why not identify her by name? Don’t know. Perhaps it’s so he simply won’t confuse the reader with two other important Marys in this gospel: Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene. Or maybe it’s kind of like why John doesn’t identify himself. He doesn’t want to draw attention to Mary, just prefers to refer to her as the mother of Jesus.

But anyway, she’s invited. Jesus is invited. His disciples are invited to this wonderful occasion, this little wedding going down for a family friend in Cana. It’s going to be a great time, right?

Well, verse 3.

The Wine Runs Out

“When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’”

A big problem is emerging at this wedding. They’ve just run out of wine. Why is that a problem?

Well, it’s not only a practical problem of what people are going to drink for the next few days at this banquet, but it’s also a huge social scandal for the bride and groom, particularly the groom. After all, the wedding is supposed to take place when the bridegroom has everything ready, including the wine for the wedding banquet. To run out of wine shows that the bridegroom was not ready and suggests either that he’s not really able to provide for his new bride or that he’s trying to be stingy with his guests.

“To run out of wine shows that the bridegroom was not ready and suggests he’s not able to provide for his bride.”

He could have provided wine, but he chose not to. In fact, according to the rabbis, if a Jewish bridegroom failed to provide adequately for a wedding banquet, the bride’s family members could sue him for fraud and extract monetary compensation. “You promised to provide something, and you didn’t. You’ve shamed the bride. Therefore, you’ve got to pay up.”

And it’s not as if the bridegroom at this point could just serve water instead. In those days, most people didn’t drink water regularly because most water wasn’t that clean, being affected by various kinds of bacteria that could cause stomach problems. Wine is much safer to drink because the natural fermentation process of grapes that produces alcohol has a kind of purifying effect on the liquid produced. Not to mention, people mostly enjoy the taste of wine much more than water.

Ancient wine was usually diluted with water so that the wine served—what the Bible calls wine—was actually only one-third or even one-tenth alcoholic wine versus water. The rest was just water. You could still get drunk on this stuff if you try hard enough, but it was way less alcoholic than the wine that is served today. Actually, the ancients referred to unmixed or undiluted wine with a different term. They called it “strong drink.” And actually, you see that term in other places in the Bible.

Now, why did the wine run out here? We don’t know. The text doesn’t tell us. It could be that this bridegroom was poor and he knew he needed to gather enough wine for the feast. He thought he had enough, maybe it wasn’t enough, but he tried to stretch it and it backfired. He took a risk, but now it’s backfired majorly, and he is on the edge of social and perhaps financial disaster. Not a great way to start wedded life.

Mary Approaches Jesus

Now, verse 3 tells us that Jesus’ mother notices what has happened and tells Jesus, “They have no wine.” Based on what follows, this is not Mary just telling Jesus to inform him of a tragic development. “They have no wine. What a shame.” No. This is because she hoped that Jesus would be able to do something to help save the situation.

Why is Mary taking it upon herself to intervene? Again, we don’t know. Maybe she has a family friend or a relative. She was appointed to help oversee the banquet in some fashion, so she feels responsible. Or maybe she’s just a concerned, compassionate guest, and she’s like, “Oh man, they’ve run out of wine. I know somebody who can help.” She turns to her son.

What precisely she expects from Jesus in approaching him is a little unclear also, as apparently Jesus has never performed a miracle up to this point. It’s not just like, “Oh, Jesus, you do miracles all the time. Do a miracle here.” It’s probably never happened before this, though there has been a change that’s taken place recently, right? As we even know from the previous chapter.

Jesus, I’m sure, has proved to be a reliable son over the years, even giving good counsel, courageously facing problems, and showing himself resourceful. Mary would have really needed that because Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father and Mary’s husband, apparently died early. He’s probably already dead, has been dead by this point for a number of years. So she’s learned to rely on her firstborn son. That would have been true even without a miracle.

But Mary is aware who Jesus really is. Mary is aware that Jesus has just started attracting his first disciples. He’s begun his public ministry. And if the Messianic mission has begun in earnest, that means the power of God, the power of the Son of God, is ready to be put on display, even in the accomplishment of miracles. So might Mary petition Jesus to put that Messianic power on display here and save a family friend from massive social scandal?

“If the Messianic mission has begun, the power of the Son of God is ready to be put on display.”

After all, Jesus is her son. Is there anything wrong with a mother asking her loving son to do a miracle for her? Whatever exactly Mary is thinking, she turns to her son expectantly but receives a surprising reply. Look at verse 4.

Jesus’ Surprising Reply

“And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.’”

Your first impression of this reply might be that Jesus is being shockingly rude to his mother. Probably most moms here would be offended if their son addressed you as “a woman,” right? Even if that son’s grown up. We have to understand, though, that the address “woman” wouldn’t have been considered rude in Greek or Aramaic. It’s a way that somebody could address someone else, more akin to the way that our Southern brethren might use the word “ma’am.” It wasn’t a rude term.

Jesus will again address his mother as “woman” when she’s there with him at the cross, before asking John to take care of her. That being said, it is extremely unusual for a son to call his mother “woman” in either Greek or Aramaic. In fact, we have no recorded instance of a son doing that in any of the surviving Greek literature we have outside of this in the Bible.

This is unusual. It certainly is a distancing form of address. He’s downplaying the familial connection that he has with his mother. He’s not acknowledging that he refers to her simply as “woman.” It’s not disrespectful, but that certainly is distancing, very unusual for a son to say.

“It is extremely unusual for a son to call his mother ‘woman’—it certainly is a distancing form of address.”

But the phrase that accompanies Jesus’ address is even more distancing. Literally, he says to her, “What to me and to you?” What does that mean? That’s an idiomatic expression. We could translate it the way we have it in the New American Standard version that I’m preaching from here, but better is the King James version of this phrase, which reads, “What have I to do with thee?” That’s, I think, a more faithful translation.

In fact, we see this same idiomatic expression in other parts of the Bible, like when Jesus is dealing with the demoniac with the legion. A demon comes up to him and says, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the most high God?” It’s that same expression: “What to me and to you?” “What business do we have with each other?” That’s what Jesus replies to Mary when she gives this implied request to save the wedding. He says, “Woman, what business do we have with each other?”

Now, if that sounds like an abrupt rebuke, that’s because it is. It’s not a stern rebuke, but it is a rebuke nonetheless. The reason for the rebuke is given in the statement that comes after. Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come.”

My Hour Has Not Yet Come

Now, there’s a phrase we’re going to see again in the Gospel of John, or versions of it, multiple times in this gospel, culminating at the Passover just before the cross. We’re going to see this phrase. Actually, at the Passover, Jesus will announce, “The hour has come.” But before that, he’ll say, “My time has not yet come” or “The hour has not yet come.”

What exactly does Jesus mean? “My hour has not yet come?” Well, at the most basic level, Jesus is communicating that it is not yet the right time to act. But we’ll see another layer to this answer as we move through the gospel, namely that as Jesus is officially beginning his public ministry, he is now firmly set on a timetable that is not determined by his mother, by his brother, by his disciples, or even by Jesus himself. It’s determined by the Father alone.

This is the timetable of the glorification of God’s son, which will culminate in the eschatological hopes for the Messiah from the Old Testament of all the Jewish people. This will be chiefly fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the cross and by his resurrection.

There will be times in this gospel where people try to rush this glorification timeline, this eschatological fulfillment timeline. They try to get Jesus publicly revealed or glorified or even reigning before the time set by the Father. The response that Jesus gives to such people throughout this gospel is essentially the same as the one he gives his own mother here: “What business do I have with you? My hour has not yet come. You’re not concerned with God’s interests, but man’s, even your own. I need to gently remind you of what I’m about and what is your proper place.”

“Jesus is now firmly set on a timetable determined not by any human, but by the Father alone.”

In response, this was a message that Jesus’ own mother needed to hear. He needed her to see that now, especially as this public ministry has begun, he is not chiefly her son, but he is her Messiah. He is the savior sent from God. She cannot think that she can prevail on him to do whatever she thinks would be right. Rather, she is to humbly accept whatever God determines is right for him to do and is right for her.

What Mary needed to learn about Jesus, we also do, don’t we? The Christian life is not about getting God on board with your will, even when you think what is best, what God would really want, surely would want this. It’s about you getting on board with God’s will because he actually knows what is best.

Mary’s Exemplary Faith

Now, did Jesus’ mother get the message? She did, but not in a way that caused her to stop hoping in Jesus. Look at verse 5.

“His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever he says to you, do it.’”

That statement is remarkable, and it is highly exemplary for followers of Christ. Mary has moved from a position of trying to direct the Son of God to act as she thinks he should to now being open to whatever the Father deems best. She knows Jesus has the power to save this wedding. She knows that Jesus knows that she would like him to do so. But she now leaves it up. Having made her request, she now leaves it up to his wise and compassionate heart.

“Mary moved from trying to direct the Son of God to being open to whatever the Father deems best.”

She tells the servants responsible for the drinks at the feast, “Whatever he might tell you to do, get ready to do it. I don’t know if he’ll act or what he’ll do or when he’ll do it, but I know who he is. I know his heart. I know his power. So let’s get ready and let’s see what the Son of God chooses to do.”

Mary hasn’t lost her faith in her son. It’s just that her faith has become properly grounded in the humility that is so necessary. That’s the kind of faith that you and I need.

Humble Faith God Rewards

And what’s amazing is that kind of humble faith that God is so pleased many times to reward. It always amazes me. I can’t think of another word besides that. It always amazes me how many times in life, when you are finally willing to say to God from your heart, “God, I really want this. I think this would go along with your will, but if not, God, I’m okay with that. Your will be done, not my will,” what God often does when your heart expresses that to him is he gives you the thing that you request. He’d always intended to do so.

He’s a good God. He doesn’t hold back a good gift from his people. But first, more importantly, he wants your heart to stop desiring that good thing more than him. He wants you first to humble yourself before him so that he can lift you up. That’s more important.

“He wants your heart to stop desiring that good thing more than him. He wants you first to humble yourself before him.”

That God doesn’t always do this. It doesn’t always bring you to the place where you’re okay without it and then give it to you. He frequently does, but even when he doesn’t, your joy is still intact because you’ve gained the thing that is actually more important. You’ve gained contentment in God. You’ve learned to trust God.

So whether he does or he doesn’t, you can praise the Lord.

Let’s see what Jesus chooses to do next at this wedding. Here we saw number one: the sign miracle needed. Now let’s go to verses 6-8 and see the sign miracle prepared.

The Sign Miracle Prepared

Number two: the sign miracle prepared.

And we’ll take these verses all together, verses 6 to 8: “Now there were six stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing 20 or 30 gallons each. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the water pots with water.’ So they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, ‘Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter.’ So they took it to him.”

Isn’t this interesting? Having communicated what he needed to his mother, Jesus now takes action, showing that the Father had indeed ordained for Jesus to compassionately intervene at this wedding. It had to be at the right time, but Jesus was going to.

Notice how Jesus does this. It is by some surprisingly ordinary means. Jesus simply tells the banquet attendants to fill up some water pots with water and then take some of that liquid to the head waiter to taste it.

“Having communicated what he needed to his mother, Jesus now takes action, showing the Father had ordained him to intervene.”

The Stone Water Pots

Now notice the way the water pots are described here: “Six stone water pots set up for the Jewish custom of purification.” This custom of purification is not something prescribed by the Mosaic law, nor is it about hygiene. They didn’t know washing hands was really good for preventing bacteria and such. Rather, this is a custom prescribed by the Pharisees for protecting against ceremonial uncleanness.

According to the rabbis, you never know how you might pick up ceremonial uncleanness during the day. You’re going into the marketplace, might bump into a dirty Gentile. You’ve got to make sure you’re ceremonially clean before you eat. According to Mark 4:1-5, this custom of ceremonial hand washing and washing pots and pans and all those types of things was widespread among the Jews in Palestine during Jesus’ day.

So understandably, the bridegroom at this wedding has provided plenty of water for just this purpose: six stone water pots. They needed to be stone because according to the Mosaic law, stone was a type of material that could not become unclean. It’s not porous. So even today, if you go to Israel, stone things can’t become unclean. So they’re very valuable.

He’s got these stone water pots for each guest to ceremonially wash his hands, with the water poured over his hands according to the tradition, before they banquet at the feast. These stone pots are huge. We learned from the text that they can hold 20 to 30 gallons each. The bridegroom wanted to make sure there was quite enough water for all of his guests to ceremonially wash if they needed to.

“Stone was a material that could not become unclean—so these stone water pots were very valuable.”

Jesus Directs the Servants

Jesus takes note of these large stone jars and tells the attendants to fill them up again with water. Apparently, they’re not full of water. They’ve been used. So he says, “Fill them up again,” and notice John tells us the attendants filled the jars to the brim with water. That’s important because what does that mean? It means that nothing else besides water was added to these jars. That’s part of verifying what’s about to take place.

Jesus then tells the servants to draw from the jars and take it back to the head waiter. We could translate that term “head waiter” as the Greek word “head steward” or even “master of the banquet.” This could have been a servant, or it could have just been a friend or family member who was temporarily appointed by the groom to oversee the banquet aspect of this wedding celebration, something like a maître d’ today.

Jesus says to the servants, “Take some, give it to the banquet master.” The last line of verse 8 says, “So they took it to him.” The servants do exactly as Jesus says, and as Mary wisely counseled them to do.

Notice something about the “they” of this last phrase. The “they” is emphatic in Greek. More clunkily, we could translate this: “They themselves took the drawn liquid to the banquet master.” Why is that important?

That emphasis underscores the truthfulness of what is about to take place. There was no switching from the servants who filled up the water in the jars to other servants who took the liquid to the head waiter, the banquet master. No.

The servants can testify. The ones who are bringing the liquid to the banquet master—no one has tampered with the water jars. They filled it up. They know what’s in it. They’re bringing it to the banquet master.

“The servants who filled the water can testify—no one tampered with the water jars.”

Now something amazing happens between the filling up of the water jars and the tasting by the banquet master. That’s the third part of our narrative, verses 9 to 10.

The Sign Miracle Revealed

Number three: the sign miracle revealed.

The sign miracle revealed. Like John 2:9.

“When the head waiter tasted the water which had become wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.’”

I’m amazed at how understated verse 9 is. A miracle has taken place, but if you’re reading quickly, the way the author has written it, you might not even have noticed. “When the head waiter tastes the water which had become wine”—almost like an aside.

What exactly happened? After the water jars were completely filled up with water, Jesus turned the water into wine. No grapes. No growing. No harvesting. No fermentation. Nothing added to the water mixture. All the servants did was fill up the jars with water and draw from it according to Jesus’ direction. And boom. 120 to 180 gallons of wine. Wine should have solved it and then some.

“No grapes. No fermentation. Nothing added. And boom—120 to 180 gallons of wine.”

Except there was no boom. There was no flashing lights. There’s no sound. No announcement. Nothing. Nobody in the room was made immediately aware that a miracle has just taken place at this wedding banquet. Least of all the banquet master, because notice what we see in verse 10: “He did not know where it came from, though the servants who drew it did.” They can testify.

The Banquet Master’s Testimony

And what does the headwaiter do after tasting this water become wine? Yeah, understandably, he calls the bridegroom, supposing that the bridegroom himself has provided some new and special store of wine. In other words, the banquet master does not know that Jesus has just miraculously created this wine, which makes what the banquet master says to the bridegroom in the next verse even more significant.

Verse 10: “And he—that’s the banquet master—said to him, the bridegroom, ‘Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poor wine. You have kept the good wine until now.’”

Notice how the banquet master first notes to the bridegroom the standard practice when it comes to serving wine at a feast or banquet. People serve the better wine first, and the poorer wine, the inferior wine, only after. And why is that? Well, this just makes sense.

Once banqueters have already had their fill of wine, they either decide they’re not going to drink anymore, or if they’ve already gotten drunk, it doesn’t really matter what they drink. So as a host, it makes sense to serve your good wine first, when people are actually going to drink it and appreciate it, and save your cheap wine for when they don’t care.

That’s not an endorsement of drunkenness. That’s just an observation about feasts. The Bible does call drunkenness a sin. But then at the end of verse 10: “You have kept the good wine until now.”

John 2:10: “Every man serves the good wine first… but you have kept the good wine until now.”

In other words, you’ve done the opposite of custom. You served the poor wine first, and you save the better wine for last.

Now there’s some dramatic irony in these words from the banquet master to the bridegroom, isn’t there? Because like Jesus’ disciples and the servants at the banquet who filled up the water pots, we the readers know the bridegroom hasn’t done this at all. The bridegroom hasn’t provided the new and better wine later. It was Jesus.

Yet the banquet master becomes an unwitting yet objective witness to two amazing realities. He doesn’t know, but by what he says, he ends up testifying to two truths. First, the water from the stone pots really did miraculously become wine. This is wine. The banquet master knows that, and he testifies to it.

Second, this wine tasted better than even the best wine already offered at the feast, which means that must have been some seriously good wine. And Jesus made more than 120 gallons of it without any noticeable effort at all.

I wonder what the bridegroom said in response to the banquet master’s observation. But we don’t know because this is where the account of the water turning to wine ends, except for one concluding verse. Look at the final part of the narrative now.

The Sign Miracle Understood

Number four: the sign miracle understood.

The sign miracle understood. And this is verse 11.

“This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”

John 2:11: “This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory.”

From this verse, we learned that though Jesus’ first sign miracle was public, or at least semi-public, at this wedding, its true meaning and significance was understood only by a few, really by his disciples. John, our author, wants to make sure that we also understand the meaning of this sign miracle, so he includes verse 11 for us.

Notice that this verse begins with “This beginning of his signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee.” With this, John tells us that this was the beginning of the sign miracles that Jesus did. This is the first. There would be many more, but this is the first, and it happened in Cana, Galilee.

Jesus Manifested His Glory

And then notice the next phrase: “He says, and manifested his glory.” This phrase importantly clarifies that this first sign miracle was more than a simple verification that Jesus is the Christ. Does he do a miracle? Yes, he’s the Christ now. This sign was a revelation of the amazing nature and character of the Christ, the Son of God.

What exactly has Jesus revealed about himself here? I’m sure we could answer that a number of different ways. Certainly, one way is that he has revealed that he is the all-powerful Creator and sustainer. Just as John 1:3 has already observed about Jesus as the Word, Jesus creates wine from water, a scientific impossibility unless you are the Creator and can command that which cannot come into being on its own to come into being.

This is what Jesus did, and he did it without any discernible work, without any hand movement, without even a word, except for the directions to the servants to fill up the pots.

“Jesus creates wine from water—a scientific impossibility unless you are the Creator.”

What kind of man has this kind of creation power? Only one: the God-man.

But it’s not just Jesus’ power that’s revealed here. We also see his independence and his holy commitment to his Father’s will. Jesus proved that he will not set aside the will of God for any human interest, not even the interest of his beloved mother. He is not a God to show his partiality, but one who is totally committed to the Father’s will.

We also see his compassionate mercy. This poor bridegroom made a costly error in failing to have enough wine. Truly, he did nothing, yet observed a miraculous rescue from the Christ. But it was God’s will that Jesus would intervene, and lavishly too.

Jesus not only provided abundant wine, but the best quality wine. This was an undeserved gift to someone in need. Yet that’s the kind of God that God is.

Jesus’ Mysterious Humility

We also see Jesus’ mysterious humility. Are you struck by the fact that Jesus did not draw attention to himself with this miracle? He didn’t stop the wedding banquet and announce, “I just want you all to know that good wine that you’re all tasting right now, I did that.” He doesn’t do that. As far as we know, he never clarified for most of the people at the feast what really happened. But he did make sure that his disciples knew, and he made sure that they knew without a doubt he had done it.

When Jesus promised in John 1:51, the last verse of the passage we looked at last time, that his disciples, his new disciples, would see the heavens opened and angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man himself, they perhaps might have expected a dazzling and dramatic show. Something that the Messiah would do that would just attract the wonder and attention of all the world.

But we can see from this first sign miracle that that is not the way that God has chosen to operate. It’s not that what he’s doing is not wondrous, but there’s this mysterious humility about it. God is manifesting his glory. The Son of God is manifesting his glory, but it’s in a way that people, even his people, the Jews, would not have expected.

“God is manifesting his glory, but in a way that people, even his people, would not have expected.”

Why This Sign Miracle?

We see this also from Jesus here. But there’s one other aspect of Jesus showing his glory to which I want to draw your attention. I raised you the question at the beginning: Why this sign miracle? Out of all the signs that Jesus could have done to inaugurate his public ministry, his sign miracles that reveal his messiahship, why this one? Why turning water into good wine at a wedding?

Well, as I said in Sunday school many times, we cannot say for certain why God chooses to do what he does. We know that he’s committed to his own glory. He will always glorify himself. We know that he does whatever he pleases. So evidently, this is how he determined to glorify himself. This is what pleased him.

But can we say anything more than that in this specific instance? I believe we can. I think the key is in that last line of dialogue in verse 10, where the banquet master says, “You have kept the good wine until now.” Does that remind you of anything else that we’ve already heard in the Gospel of John?

Maybe John 1:16-17. John 1:16-17: “For of his fullness, we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

Do you remember how I explained verse 16 to you? The best understanding of that phrase “grace upon grace” is not super abundant grace. Rather, grace after grace, grace instead of grace, grace replacing and superseding the previous grace.

Why? Because as glorious as the law of Moses was, as glorious as God’s covenant with Israel was, the grace and truth brought about by the Word made flesh is so much better. Verse 17: it’s like grace and truth weren’t even existent before, and they finally come into being with the arrival of Jesus, the Christ.

“The grace and truth brought by the Word made flesh is so much better—like grace replacing and superseding the previous grace.”

God Saved the Best Wine for Last

And isn’t this exactly like what we see happening with the wine at this wedding feast spiritually speaking? God saved the best wine for last. It was wine better than anything previously served. What was served before wasn’t necessarily bad, but this is way better. And it’s certainly better than the Pharisaic Judaism that is masquerading in Jesus’ time as God’s chosen drink.

Is it any accident that we also see in the other gospels Jesus’ coming is tied to a wedding, to the drinking of wine, and to the need to let go of the old to embrace the new? Each of the synoptic gospels—Matthew 9, Mark 2, Luke 5—records a certain conversation in which those concepts are all emphasized.

Some Pharisees come by and they’re like, “Hey, why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples do, and like we do?” What Jesus says? “Then you can’t tell the attendance of the bridegroom to fast, and the bridegroom is here,” implying, “I’m the bridegroom, and I’m here. This is like a wedding. It’s a celebratory time.”

Then he adds soon afterwards, “But you’ve got to put the new wine of my arrival into new wineskins because if you try and put the new wine in old wineskins, what happens? The skins will burst, and both the old skins and the new wine will be ruined.”

Is it not fitting, therefore, that the first miracle of Israel’s Messiah would itself be a metaphor for how all of Israel’s hopes were being fulfilled in something new, something so much better than what came before, something to which the old, which was good, was always pointing and anticipating?

“A metaphor for how Israel’s hopes were being fulfilled in something new, something so much better than what came before.”

If the new is so much better, then what that means that every person needs to do is this: don’t cling to the old. Move from the old to the new. Why hold so tightly to the old system of Judaism and fail to follow Jesus into the culmination and fulfillment of Judaism, into the new age of joy in the Messiah?

The Call to Believe

Thus, verse 11 fittingly ends with a phrase that denotes the only appropriate response to this sign, this first revealing of the glory of God’s Messiah. Verse 11 ends with “and his disciples believed in him.”

Those first five disciples saw what Jesus did. They saw his glory revealed. They were confirmed in their belief in him. They said, “He is the Messiah. He is God’s savior. He is the Lord. I will believe in him, and I will follow him.”

But it wasn’t just for them. John intends for the Hellenistic audience to whom he’s writing that they will do the same. They will not stay with just John the Baptist or with Judaism, but they will go all the way to where God meant them to go: to Jesus. That is what we are to do as well. This is written to us also, so that we would do the same.

So, brethren, do you really believe in Jesus? Have you crossed all the way over into becoming his disciple, not trying to go back to Moses, back to Judaism, back to the keeping of the law as if that will get you into heaven, and not simply clinging to man-made traditions, to your own good works, or to rituals as if that’s going to save you?

No. You ought to trust instead in the one who has the power to turn water into good wine, who also has the power to pay for your sins once and for all by suffering them on the cross, and has the power to clothe you with his own righteousness by his perfect life given to you when you believe, and also has the power to transform the way you walk so that you are no longer a slave of sin but a slave of righteousness.

That’s what it means to believe. That’s what you are to do. That’s what I am to do. That’s what you and I are to keep doing. We cannot stop short. We cannot go back. We must believe in Jesus as he really is, as he reveals himself to be: the only savior, the Lord, the true Lord of your life and my life.

“We must believe in Jesus as he really is—the only savior, the true Lord of your life and my life.”

Don’t merely profess to be a disciple but fail to follow through, fail to actually go all the way to Jesus and live as his disciple. Come all the way so that you may see also and testify that God saved the best wine for last with the coming of his own son. No one else will save. No one else will satisfy. No one will supersede him. He is the climax. He is the full unveiling of God himself.

If you want to experience the spiritual banquet of walking with Christ, if you want to experience the eschatological banquet—we read from an Old Testament passage earlier in the service with constant references to the banquet, to the wine that is going to be in the kingdom of God that he’s going to bring—you want to be part of that banquet?

Remember, even Jesus said that at the Passover before his crucifixion: “I’m not going to drink this wine with you again until I drink it new with you in my kingdom.”

If you want to be part of that banquet, then you must repent and believe in Jesus. You must turn from your sin. You must follow, or you must trust in Jesus to be your only righteousness and salvation, and then you must follow him as a disciple. That’s what the early disciples did. That’s what John wanted the Hellenistic Jews to do who are reading this gospel, and that’s what he wants us to do.

And if you have done that, keep going. Keep going. Keep your eye on the Lord Jesus and on the banquet that he promises to us now and in the future.

Closing Prayer

Let’s close in prayer.

Lord God, I’m thinking about Isaiah 25 again and this wonderful kingdom that you’re going to bring—yes, even to Israel, but to which we Gentiles by faith have been brought in. I think of the testimony of that poetic portion of scripture and how those in that day will say, “It is for the Lord that we have waited. We have waited for him, and he has come. He has provided.”

Lord, how that has been true through the centuries. Your people have waited for you. They have waited for your salvation to be revealed. They have waited for you to bring what you have promised. And Jesus, in your coming, what we were waiting for has arrived. Salvation has arrived. The good wine has arrived.

God, I pray that there is anyone who has not yet tasted and seen that Jesus Christ is good, that they would repent and believe today and they would go all the way as a true disciple, not hedging their bets, professing a Jesus but really living for themselves. Lord, they’d go all in. They’d go all the way.

But God, we know from your scripture that even though our salvation has arrived and it’s been accomplished in one sense, we’re still waiting for it because our bodies are not yet redeemed, your kingdom is not yet on the earth, but it will be one day. And how good that kingdom is going to be. Your prophets and apostles have testified of that again and again. We read about it even in the Book of Revelation, the eternal kingdom that you will set up. And it is just the light. It is the light, God.

In one sense, we’ve tasted in part the good wine that is to come. Yet that is why your Apostle Paul testified, “I am convinced that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed.” And I pray that we would embrace that truth also by faith.

As another Psalm says, “You have shown us many troubles and afflictions in this life, but you will revive us again.” You will do that temporally now to sustain us through our pilgrimage here, but ultimately, God, we know that you will revive us again when we die. You will revive us, and you will bring us into your kingdom. And you will say, “I have saved the best banquet for you.”

Now, amazingly, God, you say that you yourself will serve at this banquet. We don’t deserve to be there, much less be served by you, and yet you say that you will do that. What a God! Who is like you, O God? And who are we that you would show us your lavish kindness, your generous mercy now and forever?

Oh, Lord Jesus, all praise be to you. All glory be to you, God. Let us not treat lightly such a great salvation, we who God, why they haven’t come to you or say they’ve come to you. Lord, we dare not walk in uncleanness when such a marvelous savior has arrived. Forgive us, God, for where we have. But no more, Jesus. Help us to walk as your true disciples.

That same creative power, God, that turned water into wine, is the power that you work in us to turn us from people bound in sin now to be bound to righteousness, that we would walk with you, Jesus, to enjoy you as really the best and

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