The transformation of water into wine

274 the transformation of water into wineThe Gospel of John tells an interesting story that happened roughly at the beginning of Jesus' ministry on earth: He went to a wedding where he turned water into wine. This story is unusual in many ways: what happened there looks like a small miracle, resembles a magic trick rather than a messianic work. While it prevented a somewhat embarrassing situation, it did not address human suffering as directly as the healings Jesus made. It was a privately performed miracle that happened without the knowledge of the beneficiary - nonetheless, it was a sign that revealed the glory of Jesus (John 2,11).

The literary function of this story is a bit puzzling. John knew more about Jesus' miracles than he could ever have taken into account in his writings, yet he chose just this for the beginning of his gospel. How does John's aim serve to convince us that Jesus is the Christ (John 20,30: 31)? How does it show that he is the Messiah and not (as the Jewish Talmud later claimed) a magician?

The wedding to Kana

Let us now turn to a closer look at history. It begins with a wedding in Cana, a small village in Galilee. The location doesn't seem to matter so much - rather the fact that it was a wedding. Jesus made his first sign as Messiah at a wedding celebration.

Weddings were the largest and most important celebrations for the Jews - the weeks of celebrations signaled the social status of the new family within the community. Weddings were such celebrations that the wedding banquet was often used metaphorically to describe the blessings of the messianic age. Jesus himself used this image to describe God's kingdom in some of his parables.

He often performed miracles in worldly life to clarify spiritual truths. He healed people to show that he had the power to forgive sins. He cursed a fig tree as a token of the impending judgment of God that was to befall the temple. He healed on the Sabbath to show his primacy over this holiday. He raised the dead again to show that he is the resurrection and the life. He fed thousands to underline that he is the bread of life. In the miracle we are looking at, he brought abundant blessings to a wedding party to show that it is he who will take care of the Messiah's banquet in the kingdom of God.

The wine had run out and Mary informed Jesus, whereupon Jesus replied: ... what have I to do with you? (V. 4, Zurich Bible). Or in other words, what do I have to do with it? My hour has not yet come. And even if it wasn't time, Jesus acted. At this point, John points out that Jesus is to a certain extent ahead of his time in what he does. The Messiah's banquet had not yet come, and yet Jesus acted. The Age of the Messiah had begun long before it was about to dawn in its perfection. Mary expected Jesus to do something; for she directed the servants to do whatever he told them to do. We don't know whether she was thinking of a miracle or a short detour to the nearest wine market.

Water used for ritual washing becomes wine

It was now the case that there were six stone water containers nearby, but they differed from the usual water jugs. John tells us that these were the containers used by the Jews for ritual ablutions. (For their cleaning practices, they preferred water from stone containers instead of the otherwise used ceramic vessels.) They each held more than 80 liters of water - far too much to be able to lift and pour from. In any case, a huge amount of water for ritual ablutions. This wedding at Cana must have been celebrated on a really large scale!

This part of the story seems to be very important - Jesus was about to turn certain water into wine for Jewish ablution rites. This symbolized a change in Judaism, it could even be equated with performing ritual ablutions. Imagine what would have happened if guests had wanted to wash their hands again - they would have gone to the water vessels and found each one of them filled with wine! There would have been no more water for their rite itself. Thus the spiritual cleansing through the blood of Jesus replaced the ritual washings. Jesus performed these rites and replaced them with something much better - himself. The servants filled the containers to the top, as John tells us in verse 7. How fitting; for Jesus also fully justified the rites and made them obsolete. In the age of the Messiah there is no longer any place for ritual ablutions. The servants then skimmed off some wine and carried it to the caterer, who thereupon said to the bridegroom: Everyone gives the good wine first and, if they get drunk, the less; but you have kept the good wine until now (v. 10).

Why do you think John recorded these words? As advice for future banquets? Or just to show that Jesus makes good wine? No, I mean because of their symbolic meaning. The Jews were like people who had been drinking wine (having performed their ritual ablutions) too long to be able to notice that something better had come. The words of Mary: You have no more wine (v. 3) symbolize nothing other than that the rites of the Jews no longer had any spiritual meaning. Jesus brought something new and better.

The temple cleaning

In order to deepen this topic, John tells us below how Jesus drove the traders from the forecourt of the temple. Biblical commentators leave pages out on the question of whether this temple cleansing is the same as that attributed in the other Gospels to the end of Jesus' ministry on earth or whether there was another at the beginning. Be that as it may, John reports about it at this point because of the meaning that is symbolically behind it.

And again John puts the story in the context of Judaism: ... the Passover of the Jews was near (v. 13). And Jesus found people in the temple selling animals and exchanging money - animals that were offered as offerings by believers for the forgiveness of sins and money that was used to pay temple taxes. Jesus prepared a simple scourge and drove everyone out.

It is surprising that one individual was able to chase out all the dealers. (Where are the temple police if you need them?) I suppose the merchants knew they didn't belong here and that many of the common people didn't want them here either - Jesus was just putting into action what the people already knew already felt, and the dealers knew that they were outnumbered. Josephus describes other attempts by Jewish leaders to change temple customs; in these cases such an outcry rose among the people that efforts were halted. Jesus had nothing against people selling animals for sacrifices or exchanging money for temple sacrifices. He said nothing about the exchange fees charged for it. What he denounced was quite simply the location chosen for it: They were in the process of turning God's house into a warehouse (v. 16). They had made a profitable business out of faith.

So the Jewish leaders did not arrest Jesus - they knew that the people approved what he had done - but they asked him what gave him the right to do so (v. 18). But Jesus did not explain to them why the temple is not the right place for such hustle and bustle, but turned to a completely new aspect: demolish this temple, and in three days I will let it rise again (v. 19 Zurich Bible). Jesus spoke of his own body, which the Jewish leaders did not know. So no doubt they thought his answer was ridiculous, but they didn't arrest him now either. Jesus' resurrection shows that he had full authority to cleanse the temple, and his words already pointed to its imminent destruction. When the Jewish leaders killed Jesus, they also destroyed the temple; for the death of Jesus made all previously offered offerings invalid. On the third day after that, Jesus was resurrected and built a new temple - his church.

And many people, John tells us, believed in Jesus because they saw his signs. In Johannes 4,54 it is said to be the second character; this, in my opinion, leads to the conclusion that the temple cleansing was reported out of sequence because it is an indication of what the ministry of Christ is actually about. Jesus put an end to both the temple sacrifice and the cleansing rituals - and the Jewish leaders unwittingly aided him by trying to physically destroy him. Within three days, however, everything was to be turned from water to wine - the dead ritual was to become the ultimate potion of faith.

by Joseph Tkach