Jesus changes water into wine (John 2a Exposition)

Jesus changes water into wine 

John 2:1-11
[1-3] There was a serious shortage of  wine in  wedding
The third day is to be taken to mean three days after Nathanael joined with the other three, Andrew, Philip and John, the author of this book to follow Jesus. By indicating the time at the outset of this story, the author John wanted to the readers that it is significant and that significance must be sought and included in the understanding of this story. On this day, Jesus and these followers were invited to a wedding. It was Cana, not far from Nazareth (about 3-8 miles). Since Jesus' mother was working in the kitchen, the wedding might have been one of his relatives or close friend of the family.

The wedding is the time of joy in life and no matter how small it might be, all want to pour out their blessing on the couple. Jewish wedding feast usually lasts one week. To support the feast, the bridegroom must prepare and supply a lot of food and drinks. Among the drinks, the wine was pictured an emblem of joy in the OT and is actually a source of joy that any wedding cannot do without.  If wine runs out in the middle of this feast, it would be a talk of the day. At the same time, it might be taken as a sign of lack of God's blessing. Practically without wine, there would not be much joy and happiness. But actually, in the middle of the wedding, the wine ran out. It is said that a Jewish virgin usually marries on Wednesday.  If this was so, then the wedding would last until next Wednesday. Also if the third day in v1 indicates the seventh day of the time when Jesus was introduced to the crowd. This implies that this time fell on the seventh day of Jesus ministry (from the introduction), which most likely fell on either Saturday (Sabbath) or Sunday (Lord 's Day). If this was so, then, the wine was gone just in the middle of the feast, indicating a far too short supply of wine for the next 3 days.
God spoke about wine many times in regard to his blessing. When Israel do well by keeping the Law in the blessed land, God would provide an abundance of wine. (Deut 7:13; 11:14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil.) But when they do poorly in God's eyes, God would let someone else take their wine, indicating that they would be invaded by a foreign power and there would a scanty of wine.(Deut 28:39; Hos 9 "Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her naked body.) So we do not know why they ran out of wine in this wedding. But we can think of three causes: the family was so poor that they could not afford to serve so many; next, wine was scarce and expensive because of poor harvest or because Roman's took the most of the best wines and Jews were left with poor and scanty amount of wine as Isa 62:8 indicates; thirdly, unexpectedly a large number of guests came, which might be unlikely in this small town. So the situation of this wedding reflected the situation of Israel under God's punishment which resulted in either because of poverty of this family or poverty of the nation as a whole.

[4-5] Mary's faith
As the wine ran out, Jesus' mother brought this to Jesus' attention.
3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine
Was it just a motherly plead to his son to do something about it or something else? Also what she said was impregnated with a great trust in her son Jesus. She neither asked if he would do nor he could do something to provide wine. On hearing his mother's request, Jesus answered this;
" 4 "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet come."
In Jesus answer, we can think three things; his mother requested this based on mother-son relationship and that relationship was one of the trust and love. She knew her son than any other men. She loved him and trusted him so much that she did not need any extra words for Jesus knew what she needed even one word. This showed a glimpse of the relationship between Jesus and his mother as he grew up. She also remembered what the angel said her while she was pregnant and what the 12 years old boy, Jesus, said ‘ don't you know that I had to be in my father's house'  Thirdly she knew and understood what ‘my hour' implied. Otherwise, Jesus could not say such an enigmatic word to his mother that she could not understand. This means that she knew so well that at one point Jesus would go on his way to do the work of the Father.   Lastly, she was not just asking him to do something that any son could do. Not only had the situation dictated an impossibility to do anything but also Jesus understood that his mother's request was asking something of God's power or His work.
In this way, Jesus clearly draws a line that he was already not in the family plan but in God's plan. If he had to do something of God's work, then it should be according to God's will and His time.
Though Jesus' word seemed to reveal his reluctance or unwillingness, she did not doubt that Jesus would and could do something; so she said this
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
Her attitude was like Hannah's as she entrusted all her burdens on God's hand in prayer, she went home with joy.(1 Sam 1 Sam 1:18) Or she was like the woman in Zarephath who cooked for Elijah with the last batch of flour. (1 King 17:12) There was nothing that could be done to solve this problem. Unless there was a miracle, this family or the bridegroom must suffer humility, disgrace and even insult from the guests.  In faith, she held on the last straw, Jesus her son who came through the power of God with a great hope and expectation. "Do whatever he tells you! No question! Just listen and obey!" For her, having a new wine was a total necessity in order to escape such embarrassment to the family.  This was a total trust in Jesus. In that trust, she could influence others to faith as well.

[6-8]Obedience of the servants
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so,
There were six stone jars used for ceremonial washing. It was one shy of seven and ceremonial washing could never bring a joy to the wedding though it might bring the unity in the solemnity of the marriage that God ordained in the beginning of creation. They were likely for a large number of wedding guests. They had to wash their hands and then they could participate in the wedding to make the wedding holy and acceptable. Jesus said to the servants to fill the jars with water. So they filled them up to the brim. It might be a hard work for all these could hold up to 120-180 gallons. When they did so, Jesus told them to take to the banquet master. So again without any questions, these servants took some to the banquet master.

[9-10] the choice wine for the last
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "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."
The banquet master did not know where the wine came from. So he was an independent and free of all bias. He tasted and it was the best wine. Until the banquet master said this, all those who were involved in this did not know what would happen. Now Jesus' mother came to know that Jesus did what she wanted to see. Not only her, all the servants, the disciples came to know that the water was changed into the best wine. Now in the six stone jars was about 120-180 gallons of wine, the best wine. It was far more than enough for the rest of the wedding; in today's term, there was 600 to 900 bottles of regular size wine bottle (750 ml). This could easily more than a couple of thousands of people. Truly it was well overabundance overflowing far more than anyone could imagine. Also, it was the best wine than any wines that the banquet master tasted. As a banquet master, he surely knew which one is the best wine, indicating that there was no question that the wine Jesus created was the best among all wines of the time. When he said it was the best, then truly it was the best of all.   So overall effect of this new, the best wine was great, on the bridegroom and on such a large number of guests. Everyone drank much and was in a very happy mood. It was so good that everyone could enjoy, even those who seldom tasted wine. I almost never drink any alcoholic beverage. But once my in-law gave me a drink, a wine supposed to be a very mild and tasty one. On the first sip, I loved the taste and finished the bottle in a matter of ten min. I got drunk in joy. It is not difficult to imagine that the word of the arrival of the best wine got spread among the guests and everyone wanted to take a sip of this best wine or asked more and more with full of joy and happiness. In this way, Jesus changed the atmosphere of the wedding feast from the atmosphere of emptiness and sorrow to one of the most joyful weddings. This was the seventh day of Jesus' first week in His work as the Messiah.

[11-12]the first sign; revealed his glory and disciples believed in him
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.
John called this a sign. The synoptic Gospels called such things miracles. When it is called a sign instead of a miracle, it indicates something more thing than just a miracle. That is that when there is a sign, it is not explicit which is easily discernable by seeing it. It must be read like road signs. When I see a road sign that has a triangle with an arrow along the side of the triangle, I read it as a sign that in front is a road that goes up or goes down in a stiff hill. Certainly, it was a miracle, which could only be possible by God's power. Second, this event must be read to be something more than what it appeared to be, a simple and joyous wedding. What does this overabundance of blessing with the choice wine for the wedding lead us to see? This event signals the arrival of two things
First and the most obvious message is that Jesus had the power of God and that power was to bless His people.
As the prophetic word of Jeremiah indicated, the time of restoration has arrived here with Jesus and the proof is in the abundance of wine that Jesus produced and so many guests enjoyed the best wine.
The wine which brought joy in this wedding was the best wine that ever tasted by the Banquet Master.  It was an expression of Jesus' will to serve people with something that would give them such a joy brought by the best wine. In this regard it is good to note that the promise of the new wine in Jer 31:12 continued to address a blessing of the new covenant 31:33-34 (33 "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."), suggesting of the sending of the Holy Spirit. So the new wine signals the coming of the NEW covenant which would be characterized by the sending of the Holy Spirit.
So the abundance of wine and the best wine allude us to see not only the arrival of the time of God's blessing but also how that blessing would come upon his people. It is through wine, the best wine. This was most explicitly prophesied by Jacob in his blessing for Judah.
11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.(Gen 49)
Here the abundance of wine and choices wine are addressed together as what one of Judah's descendant (the scepter will come out of Judah) will do. This was quoted as Jesus was to enter Jerusalem in the last week of his life.

As was noted in the message on John 1:19-51, these four disciples confessed that Jesus was, the Messiah, the one Moses and the Prophets wrote about, and the King, Son of God. One thing that was missing these confessions is that Jesus was the Lamb of God. It was totally alien or unthinkable idea to these disciples. Here the two, the arrival of the new age of God's blessing and the way how Jesus would bless the nation Israel by becoming the Lamb of God, are strongly alluded and combined to indicate Jesus' the lamb of God to suffer shedding his blood so as to bring such an abundance of grace to all. This is the sign and John called it ‘glory'.
We can only praise the Lord for the richness of His grace and wisdom and knowledge that far exceeding the mind driven to see only something visible.