The First Miracle

“This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and [a]manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”  (John 2:11)

                Depending on how you count the miracles of Jesus, there are about 40 recorded miracles of Christ in the New Testament – 7 of them included in John’s Gospel.  The first miracle takes us back to an occasion when Christ and the disciples had been invited to a wedding.  Weddings are important in the 21st century, but they were even more important to the ancients.  They were village-wide events that were often seen as pinnacle experiences.  Each family wanted to put their best foot forward.

                Upon arriving at the party in Cana, something every embarrassing happened – the host ran out of wine.  I’m sure Mary didn’t want her friend to be embarrassed, so she confronted Jesus with the problem and instructed the servants to do whatever Christ told them.  He commanded them to fill 6 larger water pots, each one with a capacity of 20-30 gallons, meaning that they probably retrieved about 150 gallons of water!  Seemed like a crazy idea, but God loves to do miracles in the midst of crazy.

                Miraculously, the water was transformed from water to wine, and the master of ceremonies confirmed it himself, supposing that the groom had saved the best wine for last!  What are we to make of the miracle?  That Jesus likes for people to get drunk and use alcohol?  Clearly not!  The point of the miracle is that Jesus is the new and living wine.  All who came before Him were inferior, but He is the One sent by God to make a new and living way of salvation.