turning water into wine

As John continues his mission to prove to you that Jesus is God (20:31), he introduces the first of 7 miracles designed to demonstrate the nature of Jesus. The first miracle recorded in 2:1-11 is a creation miracle. This, of course, makes sense. In chapter 1, John introduces Jesus as the Creator God. Now, he demonstrates that Jesus has creation power. At the wedding in Cana, Jesus created wine where none existed before. He completely bypassed the natural order of things.

In his helpful book, Miracles, C. S. Lewis has pointed out that every miracle of Jesus is simply a kind of short-circuiting of a natural process; doing instantly something which in general takes a longer period of time. This is God demonstrating His power to us in a way in which we can understand it.

In Cana, Jesus is overlapping the elements of time, of growth, gathering, crushing and fermenting. He takes water—an inorganic, non-living, commonplace substance—and without a word, without a gesture, without any laying on of hands, in utter simplicity, the water becomes wine, an organic liquid, a product of fermentation, belonging to the realm of life.

When the disciples saw it they believed more deeply in him than before. They saw that here was One who could create life. Here was One who could take a commonplace thing, nothing out of the ordinary, simple water, and make of it wine, make it a source of joy.

Friends, Jesus is able to do the same for you. Not only is He able to create new life in you, He is able to take the humdrum, commonplace, ordinary events of any life and with his touch make them full of flavor, fragrance, strength and beauty; to turn them into wine. He will do this with any of us as we faithfully walk with him, follow him, and believe in him. Let me encourage you today, let him make the ordinary, extraordinary. You’ll be blessed for it.