Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)

Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)

       
Jesus in John 15:1 calls himself "the true vine": "I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener," He continues in verse 5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing"; and in verse 8: "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
The vine and its fruit are the symbol of God's blessing and the good Christian conduct.
And wine, the product from the vine, has been used as a means to express and share one's pleasure in banquets and feasts. However, you drink it too much, it will give you a suffering instead of a pleasure. The author of Proverbs warns us in 23:31-32: "Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper."

The vine is one of the oldest agricultural products and has been cultivated from the prehistoric age. After the Great Flood Noah planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine and became drunk, and lay uncovered inside his tent. When Ham saw Noah's nakedness and told his two brothers outside, he was cursed and his descendants were cursed to be slaves to serve the descendants of his brothers.

John records the seven signs that Jesus had performed during his public ministry:
In today's passage Jesus changed water to wine; in 4:46-54 Jesus healed the son of a certain royal officer at Capernaum by his word; in 5:1-16 Jesus healed a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years; in 6:1-13 Jesus fed the 5,000 men, not counting women and children with two five small barley loaves and two small fish; in 6:16-21 Jesus walked on the                                                    

water; in 9:1-7 Jesus healed a man born blind; and in 11:1-44 Jesus raised Lazarus from his death. All these seven signs tell us who Jesus is. Jesus is the life-giver and the blessing of God.

(2:1-3) Jesus was on a mission to save the world, the greatest mission in the history of mankind. Yet he took time to attend a wedding and take part in its festivities. We may be tempted to think we should not take time out from our important work for social occasions. But maybe these social occasions are part of our mission. Jesus valued these wedding festivities because they involved people, and Jesus came to be with people. Our mission can often be accomplished in joyous times of celebration with others.
Paul also tells us in Romans 12:15: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."

Weddings in Jesus' day were week-long festivals. Banquets would be prepared for many guests, and the week would be spent celebrating the new life of the married couple. Often the whole town was invited, and everybody would come. It was considered an insult to refuse an invitation to a wedding. To accommodate many people, careful planning was needed. To run out of wine was more than embarrassing; it broke the strong unwritten laws of hospitality. Jesus was about to respond to a heartfelt need.

(2:4-5) Mary was probably not asking Jesus to do a miracle; she was simply hoping that her son would help solve this major problem and find some wine. Tradition says that Joseph, Mary's husband, was dead, so she probably was used to asking for her sons help in certain situations. Although Mary did not understand what Jesus was going to do, she trusted him to do what was right. Those who believe in Jesus but run into situations they cannot understand must continue to trust that he will work in the best way.
Mary submitted to Jesus way of doing things. She recognized that Jesus was more than her human son; he was the Son of God. When we bring our problems to Christ, we may think we know how he should take care of them. But he may have a completely different plan. Like Mary, we should submit and allow him to deal with the problem as he sees best.

(2:6) The six stone water jars were normally used for ceremonial washing.
When full, the pots would hold 20 to 30 gallons. According to the Jews ceremonial law, people became symbolically unclean by touching objects of everyday life. Before eating, the Jews would pour water over their hands to cleanse themselves of any bad influences associated with what they had touched.

(2:10-11) People look everywhere but to God to solve their problems and to be healed from their sicknesses. For some reason, they think God to be dull and lifeless.
Just as the wine Jesus made was the best, so life in him is better than life on our own.
When the disciples saw Jesus' miracle, they believed. The miracle showed his power over nature and revealed the way he would go about his ministry helping others, speaking with authority, and being in personal touch with people.
Miracles are not merely superhuman events, but events that demonstrate God‘s power. Almost every miracle Jesus did was a renewal of fallen creation restoring sight, making the lame walk, even restoring life to the dead.
Believe in Jesus Christ not because he is a superman but because he is the God who continues his creation, even in those of us who are poor, weak, crippled, orphaned, blind, deaf, or with some other desperate need for re-creation.

When you read the Bible, you may find some events in which Jesus reversed the curses in the Old Testament to the blessings in the New Testament.
The first Adam brought God's condemnation to all people when he committed a sin, but Jesus the last Adam brought life for all people when he died on the cross.
Jesus reversed God's curse to God's blessing by his salvific death.
Water in Noah's time was used as a means of God's punishment and death-giving, but the same water is used as a means or symbol of God's blessing and life-giving. That is, the baptismal water is the sign of purification from sins and union with Christ and the symbol of eternal life.

When Moses was sent to Egypt and confronted with Pharaoh, he changed water to blood. In Exodus 7:20, when Moses raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt. The blood which was changed from water was the punishment and curse of God to Pharaoh and his Egyptians who were holding the Israelites as their slaves.

In the New Testament, Jesus also changed water to blood.
Jesus did this in the two step procedure.
The first step was to change water into wine, and the second step was to change wine to blood.
The first step was done in the wedding at Cana when Jesus changed water to wine to serve all the people in the banquet.
The second step was done at the Lord's Supper in the evening before he was betrayed and was caught by the Roman soldiers.

On the night when he was betrayed, Jesus said to his disciples: "This cup of wine is the new covenant in my blood." Then, Jesus shed his life-giving blood on the mount Calvary.
We, thus, drink wine or grape juice which is the essence of Jesus' blood in the holy communion reassures that Jesus is the life-giver who changed water into blood.

Now we are participating in the holy communion in which we eat the bread which is  the body of Jesus broken for us and drink the cup which is the blood of Jesus shed for us.
Jesus' body and blood are the sign of eternal life.
His body was broken and his blood was shed to give us eternal life.
Jesus' changing water into wine and wine into blood is to show that he is the life-giver and to bring God's blessing to us.
Let us participate in this Lord's Supper with hearts of thanksgiving as Jesus came to us and lives among us to heal our illness of death, and to give us eternal life and to bless us with his abundant blessings.