7 Miracles in John (1): Water Turned Into Wine

by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung

The Bible records the life story of Jesus in four gospel books. Why was it necessary to use four books? Because Jesus is too amazing, he is perfect man, he is also perfect God, thus, four different perspectives were needed to present him clearly.

The Book of Matthew was written for the Jews, the author emphasized Jesus’ Jewish origin, that he was the awaited Messiah of the Jews. Mark was written to the Romans, the author presents Jesus as God’s servant. Luke was written to the Greeks, the author presents Jesus as perfect man. John was written for the whole world, the author points out that Jesus is the Son of God.

John 20:30-31 “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Jesus performed many miracles while he was on earth; those that were recorded numbered about thirty-five. John recorded seven of these miracles. These seven miracles were written down to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. In the original text, the word miracle meant sign.

With seven miracles, we have seven signs. Signs are meant to point out matters more important than the signs themselves. A one-way sign tells us we may not enter the road the wrong way. You may ignore the sign but still you cannot enter, because you may endanger yourself or others.

These seven great miracles tell us Jesus is the son of the eternal God, and those who believe in his name have eternal life. I want to discuss with you the seven miracles in seven sessions, so that we will understand more clearly that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the eternal God, and that we may spread this good news.

Today, let us look at the first miracle: `Water Turned into Wine.’

V.11 “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” This is the first miracle Jesus performed while he was on earth and his disciples believed in him, meaning they came to believe in him all the more. In this passage, we find that Jesus assumed three identities: 1. He was a guest 2. He was a son 3. He was a master.

These three identities revealed his glory:

I. He was a guest 1-2

1. Jesus joined a social gathering – Jesus and John the Baptist were different. John lived a reclusive life. He lived in the wilderness, ate wild honey and locust. He didn’t attend wedding parties or any kind of parties. But Jesus was the opposite. In the Gospels, we see Jesus was often invited by people to dine with them; in fact, even the Pharisees invited Jesus. Jesus enjoyed eating! Matthew 11:18-19 “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” Jesus is telling us we cannot please everybody. When John came neither eating and drinking, the Pharisees said he had a demon. When Jesus came eating and drinking, the Pharisees said he was a drunkard and glutton. But wisdom is proved right by her deeds. We must understand why we eat and drink, or why we won’t eat or drink. 1Cor 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” We eat and drink unto God, we abstain from eating and drinking because of God. We do everything for God. There are some gatherings you don’t want to attend, but for the Lord’s sake, you go. And there are gatherings you want to attend, but for the Lord’s sake, you choose not to attend. May the Lord grant us wisdom to make right decisions, because wisdom is proved right by her deeds.

2. Jesus was invited to the wedding party – The Bible says: “…and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.” Jesus was clearly invited and the disciples were invited because of Jesus. Jesus wasn’t that popular yet as he had just begun his ministry. Turning water into wine was his first miracle. Before this, Jesus had not performed any miracle yet. So Jesus was not invited because he was famous. Most probably the reason he was invited was because his mother was related to the newlyweds. Because it seems that his mother played an important role in the wedding for when the wine was gone, the first person informed was Jesus’ mother.

But in any case, what I want to say is: this newlywed invited Jesus to their wedding and it was truly wise of them to have done so. Once, I saw a plaque in a bookshop which had this inscribed on it : “Christ is the head of this house, the unseen guest at every meal.” How about you, did you invite Jesus to be the guest of honor at your wedding? In your marriage, have you invited Jesus to help? In this wedding at Cana, if Jesus had not been around, it would not have ended happily as it did. Because they invited Jesus, their wedding party ended joyfully. If Jesus is in your marriage, in your family, in your work, in all areas of your life, your life will be wonderful; if not, it will end unhappily. This is a choice you must make, may you make the right decision.

II. Jesus was a Son 3-5

Traditionally, Jewish wedding celebrations last for a week. So, the groom has to prepare enough food and wine, or it would be embarrassing. We do not know why the wine ran out – was it because not enough was prepared? or there were too many guests? or the guests drank too much? No matter the reason, what was urgent then was how the problem could be solved. Jesus’ mother handed the problem over to Jesus. Why? Jesus’ mother knew who he was.

Before Peter publicly recognized Jesus as the son of God, Mary already knew that Jesus is the son of God. Before conception, the arch angel Gabriel already told Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” Mary knew that no one could solve this problem – she knew that there was no place they could go to buy wine, that it would take more than one or two days to turn grapes into wine.

Mary knew that apart from Jesus, no one could solve this problem. But we must be mindful that Mary only expressed the predicament to Jesus, she did not instruct Jesus on how to solve it. She didn’t have any idea that Jesus would turn the water into wine, but she told the people: “Do whatever he tells you.” Maybe because the Catholics worship Mary, we become hesitant to praise her; but actually, Mary had many qualities that are noteworthy, for one, she had complete faith in Jesus. Yet, we must recognize that Mary didn’t have power to solve the wine problem. Mary was the first one to know the problem, but she was powerless to do anything about it. Only Jesus could solve the problem, because Jesus wasn’t simply Mary’s son, Jesus is the son of God.

When Mary told Jesus, “They have no more wine”, Jesus answered her, “Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” He seemed to be disrespectful. Actually, in using the term woman, Jesus was not being disrespectful to Mary. When Jesus was on the cross, as he suffered terribly, hardly able to utter a word, he spoke only seven words. One of those was when he told Mary: “Woman, your son.” And then he told John, “Your mother”. Jesus entrusted the care of his mother to John, the disciple he loved. The term mother he used on the cross is the same term he used in John 2.

We therefore realize Jesus was not being disrespectful towards Mary by addressing her in that manner. Jesus was telling Mary that from this point on, he no longer will submit to her authority, he will no longer follow her instructions, he will only obey the Heavenly Father’s bidding.

Eighteen years earlier, when Jesus was only 12 years old, he already told his earthly parents (Joseph and Mary) the same thing. When his parents found him at the temple after looking for him for three days after the Passover Festival in Jerusalem, they told him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Jesus didn’t answer them with `I am sorry.’ Have you noticed how Jesus never said I am sorry while he was on earth? We often have to say I am sorry, but Jesus never did say so for he had no need to do so. Instead, he told his parents: “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Still, he obeyed his parents and went home with them. After submitting to their authority for 18 years, the time had come and he is telling Mary that from then on, they no longer have anything to do with each other, that `I (he) will be after my (his) Father’s affairs.’ But what was most important was Mary’s response. She didn’t get angry at all; she told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Because she knew Jesus will do what is right. May our children be like Jesus, concerned about the Heavenly Father’s affairs; may we as parents be like Mary – have confidence in our children.

III. Jesus was a Master 6-8

Jesus went as a guest, but because of the crisis, the wine running out, Jesus became the master at this wedding. Wine running out was the master’s problem, not the guest’. But Jesus solved the problem and in fact, Mary told the servants, `Do whatever he tells you.’ Thus, he became the master. We often say: `Jesus is our Savior and Lord.’ If he is truly our lord, have we submitted the authority to him? May we let Jesus be our lord! For He alone is the greatest Master we can have in this life! From the incident of water turning into wine, we realize how great and wonderful a master he is:

1. He can transform the quality of our life – Water is water and wine is wine. Water cannot turn into wine, wine cannot turn into water. This is an issue about the basic nature of the elements. If you leave a jar of water here, it will remain as water even after a hundred years had passed. It can never turn into wine. This is the problem we face. We are sinners. We were born in sin, we are born sinners. Education cannot change our true nature, morality cannot change our ways, even if we live a hundred years, we will remain the sinners that we are. We can never become righteous men. Only Jesus can transform the quality of our life completely. We must understand that Jesus does not improve our life, He completely changes our nature. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. Our nature is transformed.

2. He can bring true joy to our life – The seven miracles recorded in John had been specially chosen. In fact, you will discover that Jesus often explained the meaning of the miracles after he did them. When he healed a man on Sabbath who had been ill for 38 years, he said: “I am the Lord of Sabbath.” When he healed a man born blind, he said, “I am the light of the world.” When he fed 5000 men with 5 loaves and two fish, he said, “I am the bread of life.” What do you think Jesus could have said when he turned water into wine? I believe he could have said “I am true joy.” He would tell the world, “The joy that the world gives last only for a day.” Just like what we say: “There are no parties that last forever.” But he can give us everlasting joy. Wine in the wedding represents joy, and the wine Jesus transformed from water was the best. The master of the banquet told the bridegroom: “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” Jesus always gives us the best, he gives us joy that lasts.

3. He causes us to enjoy his abundant grace – John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Our God is a God of grace. Grace is something we do not deserve. There were six stone jars, each jar could carry 20 gallons. With six jars, there was a total of 120 gallons. If that isn’t grace, what is? What is most amazing is this – when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, he performed ten plagues (ten miracles) and the first miracle was turning water into blood, and that was judgment. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine, and that is grace. Our Lord is a Lord of grace! A drunkard who became a believer, often testified of the Lord to his friends. His friends would make fun of him and say: “Do you really believe that Jesus turned water into wine?” He answered them, “Of course, I do. Jesus not only turned water into wine. In my family, Jesus turned wine into appliances, food for my family, clothes, and even into a car.” I believe you know what he meant. Everything is from His grace and mercy. May this be our motivation to testify of the Lord, may the world find the grace that our Lord can give.

This miracle revealed the glory of Jesus. His disciples believed in him (believed more). This miracle makes us see the Lord, the glory of him as a guest, a son, and a master. May we follow Jesus’ example, and be the best guest, the best child, the best master, not for our own sake, but for the Lord’s sake.