Wedding wine

John, a disciple of Jesus, tells an interesting story that happened at the beginning of Jesus' ministry on earth. Jesus helped a wedding party out of a great embarrassment by turning water into the best quality wine. I would have loved to try this wine and I am in line with Martin Luther, who stated: "Beer is the work of man, but wine is from God".

Although the Bible says nothing about the type of wine Jesus had in mind when he turned water into wine at the wedding, it could have been "Vitis vinifera," a variety from which most of the grapes that are used today in wine come from will be produced. This type of wine produces grapes that have thicker skins and larger stones and are usually sweeter than the table wines we know.

I find it astonishing that Jesus' first public miracle to turn water into wine took place predominantly in the private sphere, without most of the guests of the wedding party even noticing anything. John named the miracle, a sign by which Jesus revealed his glory (John 2,11). But how did he do this? In healing people, Jesus revealed his authority to forgive sins. By cursing the fig tree, he showed that judgment would come upon the temple. By healing on the Sabbath, Jesus revealed his authority over the Sabbath. In raising people from the dead, he revealed that he is the resurrection and the life. By feeding thousands, he revealed that he is the bread of life. In miraculously giving generously to a wedding supper in Cana, Jesus made it clear that he is the one who holds the fulfillment of the great blessings of the kingdom of God. «Jesus did many other signs before his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, because you believe, you may have life in his name »(John 20,30: 31).

This miracle is of great importance because it gave the disciples of Jesus a proof at the very beginning that he really was the incarnate Son of God who was sent to save the world.
As I ponder this miracle, I see in my mind how Jesus is transforming us into something far more glorious than we would ever be without His wonderful work in our lives.

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. 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 referred to metaphorically in describing the blessings of the messianic age. Jesus himself used this image to describe God's kingdom in some of his parables.

The wine had run out and Mary informed Jesus, whereupon Jesus replied: “What does this have to do with you and me, woman? My hour has not yet come »(Johannes 2,4 Eg). At this point, John points out that Jesus' actions are, to a certain extent, ahead of his time. Mary expected Jesus to do something because she instructed the servants to do whatever he told them. We don't know whether she was thinking of a miracle or a quick trip to the nearest wine market.

Ritual ablutions

John reports: “There were six stone jugs of water, such as those used by the Jews for the prescribed ablutions, standing nearby. The jugs held between eighty and one hundred and twenty liters each »(Johannes 2,6 NGÜ). For their purification customs, they preferred water from stone containers instead of the ceramic vessels they otherwise used. This part of the story seems to be of great importance. Jesus was about to turn water intended for Jewish ablution rites into wine. Imagine what would have happened if guests had wanted to wash their hands again. They would have looked for the water vessels and found each of them filled with wine! There would have been no water left for their rite itself. Thus, the spiritual washing of sins through the blood of Jesus replaced the ritual washings. Jesus performed these rites and replaced them with something much better - himself. The servants then siphoned off some of the wine and carried it to the master of the meal, who then said to the bridegroom: "Everyone gives first the good wine and, if they are drunk, the lesser one ; but you have withheld the good wine until now" (John 2,10).

Why do you think John recorded these words? As advice for future banquets or to show that Jesus can make good wine? No, I mean because of their symbolic meaning. The wine is a symbol of his shed blood, which brings about the forgiveness of all guilts of humanity. The ritual ablutions were only a shadow of the better that was to come. Jesus brought something new and better.

The temple cleaning

To deepen this topic, John tells us below how Jesus drove the traders from the courtyard of the temple. He puts the story back in the context of Judaism: "The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" (John 2,13). Jesus found people in the temple who sold animals and exchanged money there. They were animals that were offered as offerings by believers for the forgiveness of sins and money that was used to pay temple taxes. Jesus tied up a simple scourge and chased everyone out.

It is surprising that one individual was able to chase out all the dealers. I suppose the traders knew they didn't belong here and that many of the common people didn't want them here either. Jesus merely put into practice what people already felt and the traders knew that they were outnumbered. Josephus Flavius ​​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 offerings. He said nothing about the exchange fees charged for it. What he denounced was simply the place chosen for it: «He made a scourge out of ropes and drove them all out to the temple with the sheep and cattle and poured out the money to the changers and knocked over the tables and spoke to those who the pigeons sold: Carry that away and don't turn my father's house into a department store! " (Johannes 2,15-16). They had made a profitable business out of faith.

The Jewish leaders of the faith did not arrest Jesus, they knew that the people approved what he had done, but they asked him what gave him the right to act like this: «What kind of a sign are you showing us that you are allowed to do this? ? Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it "(John 2,18-19).

Jesus did not explain to them why the temple is not the place for this kind of activity. Jesus spoke of his own body, which the Jewish leaders did not know. No doubt they thought his answer was ridiculous, yet they didn't arrest him now. Jesus' resurrection shows that he was authorized to cleanse the temple, and his words already pointed to the imminent destruction of it.

«Then said the Jews, This temple was built in forty-six years, and will you raise it in three days? But he spoke of the temple of his body. When he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this and believed the scriptures and the word that Jesus had said »(John 2,20-22).

Jesus put an end to both the temple sacrifice and the cleansing rituals, and the Jewish leaders unwittingly helped him by trying to physically destroy him. Within three days, however, everything from water to wine and wine to his blood was to be symbolically transformed - the dead ritual was to become the ultimate potion of faith. I raise my glass to the glory of Jesus, to the kingdom of God.

by Joseph Tkach