Whats with the wine?

2:1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

So I am drinking coffee today.  We live in a coffee culture.  people want coffee and even look forward to a cup of coffee.

Jesus lived in a wine culture.  Wine was not cheap, but it was better than water.  You know that charity: water commercial?  The one where they have to drink the brown water?  That’s sort of what the water would have looked like in the days before chlorine and water treatment facilities.  Wine was cleaner, it tasted better, and it reminded the people of the possibility that things could be better than they seemed.

This is what the wine was about.  Things can be better.  As always, there are a lot of things going on in this story.  There are a few thousand years of Jewish history.  For generation upon generation the people had been taught through an annual celebration involving wine.  Wine was used as a symbol of bitter things to remember and better things to come.

When Mary came to Jesus to ask him to help with the wine, they both knew what it meant.  It meant that better things were coming.

In this miracle, Jesus first of all displayed his authority.  He was the one who made the water and the wine and he could demonstrate that by changing their molecular structure.

Secondly he displayed his supremacy.  What had come before was not as good as what came after.  Jesus took an instrument of an old ceremony and improved upon it.  It used to hold water, possibly murky and less that delicious water.  Now it held wine, and it surpassed other wine.

Jesus, with his first miracle, began a ministry that would last only a few years.  And in this miracle he announced that he was authoritative and that he was supreme.

The people who knew what he had done were astonished by this simple man from a simple town.

Are you astonished at him?

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