New Wine (John 2)

We’re continuing our series in the book of John this morning, so if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to chapter 2 with me where we see Jesus miraculously turn water into wine.¹  

Toward the end of the gospel, John tells us that Jesus did even more miracles than he had to space to write down—so many that the world couldn’t contain all the books it would take to record them. But here in chapter 2, we see Jesus’s first sign was turning water into wine.  

Then near the end of the book, in [John 20:31], John tells us he didn’t record all of them, but he recorded these signs: “…so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Which is really interesting if you think about it. Like, what would Jesus have to do to prove to you that he was really God in the flesh, come to save you? I’m not sure what the best answer would be, but TBH, I don’t think I would’ve said turning water into wine. 

Again, this is the first time Jesus is publicly showing people who he is and what he came to do and he doesn’t call down the host of angel armies. He doesn’t raise anyone from the dead. He doesn’t even heal someone from years of suffering.  

Instead, he turns a bunch of water into some of the best wine to keep a party going, and that’s your sign. What’s that suppose to say about Jesus and his mission? We’ll come to find out; a whole lot! Let’s read the story together: 

[v. 1] – On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  

[6] Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.  

[9] When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”  

11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

If you’ve ever been involved in planning a wedding, you know there are a few things you can count on every time:  

• First, weddings are never simple—not even small ones. No matter the size of the guest list you’ll probably spend more time planning than you want to.  
• Second, weddings are expensive. I know that’s on a spectrum, but between venues and catering and flowers and cake and everything else, the cost adds up fast.  
• And third, something will go wrong. It happens at every wedding. Maybe the bride’s dress gets stained or the caterer runs out of food—it seems like there’s always at least one surprise you didn’t plan for.  

Because these things are at play, every time I go to a wedding, it feels like there are two different experiences happening at once. There’s the guests, who get to relax, enjoy the ceremony, and have a good time at the party afterward. Then there are the people behind the scenes—the wedding party and the families—who are dealing with all the stress and details to make sure everything goes smoothly. 

I still remember being the best man at my brother’s wedding, and my one job during the ceremony was to hand him the bride’s wedding band. 

So much tension—people were so fearful that I’d lose the ring that they never gave it to me. When it was time to go up on stage they asked me if I had the ring. I’d been asking for the ring for the last four hours and no one would give it to me, so I stopped asking. So the wedding planner panics. She’s scrambling down the hallway trying to track down the ring and somehow I still got blamed for that one. Still a little bitter about that. 

In John chapter 2, Jesus comes to a wedding as a dinner guest, which is a fun reminder that Jesus wasn’t against having fun. He enjoyed wedding feasts and dinner parties. He knew how to have a good time and he enjoyed being where the people are. Even more, people enjoyed being around him.  

But then, as it can go with weddings, some problem comes up and Jesus gets thrown into the stress of what’s happening behind the scenes. See, weddings in any culture are a big deal, but Jewish weddings especially were these big parties that could last a whole week. That’s a crazy kinda party. But that’s also how you might run out of wine. 

Now, we’re not told why they ran out of wine. Did more people come than expected? Was it a miscalculation? Was it just a catering blunder? We don’t know.  

What we do know is that running out of wine in a shame-based culture would have been a huge embarrassment to the family. So what do you do when you’re facing guilt and shame like that? You go to Jesus. 

Let’s come back to this conversation between Jesus and his mom. In [v. 3] it says: When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”  

It’s interesting that the story never even mentions Mary by name. She’s either the mother of Jesus or woman. Which, to be honest, makes me a little uncomfortable. 

When a Westerner reads this story, we get offended by Jesus because he sounds harsh with Mary. He calls her “woman,” which maybe this is just a product of how I was raised, but I can’t imagine saying that to my mom or any mom ever. It reminds me of the time when a Canaanite woman came asking Jesus to show her mercy and Jesus says to her: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” [Matt. 15:26] 

Every commentator will try to make soften Jesus’s words, but no matter how you spin it, calling a woman a dog in Jewish culture is never a compliment. And while we’re at it, neither is calling your mother “woman.”  

BTW – just as a quick aside, I want to say Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms. And for everyone else, let’s be clear: Only Jesus could say something like this to his mom and get away with it. That’s because he’s speaking on a deeper level, which happens often in the Gospels. People talk to Jesus one way, and he responds on an entirely different level. And they just miss each other.  

Even here, Mary may not fully understand what Jesus is doing, she knows him well enough to trust him.  

And so while Americans get offended at the way Jesus addresses his mother, more family-oriented cultures will take offense that Jesus doesn’t listen to her. He doesn’t seem to show any concern for his mother’s request. Jesus is like: “What’s that got to do with me? I didn’t come here to make more wine.”  

Now, a couple of things to note here:  

FIRST – The fact that Mary’s in the know on the wine problem means she’s in the inner circle. Whether it’s a family member or a close friend, we don’t know. But she’s close enough to know about it, which means it’s personal for her. And as the matriarch, if it matters to her it should matter to the whole family. So Jesus is going against the norm here.  

SECOND – We don’t know a whole lot about what happens to Joseph (Jesus’s earthly father). The only other time he shows up in the gospels outside of Jesus’s birth story is when Jesus was 12, Mary and Joseph lose him on the way home from Jersualem. And they show us there’s levels to this whole parenting thing. Like, when your own kid goes missing it’s a terrifying experience. When you lose the Son of God, I feel like that’s a whole ‘nother level of concern.  

Most commentators think Joseph must have died at some point between Jesus at 12 and 30, which means Mary comes to Jesus because she’s probably learned to rely on him like a mother would her firstborn son.  

THIRD – and this is very important; this unlocks the whole conversation for us – as his public ministry begins, Jesus prioritizes his heavenly Father’s will above his earthly mother’s wishes. And what gives that away is what Jesus says in [v. 4]. See, Mary asks Jesus to prioritize her requests, but Jesus is thinking about his mission to die to save sinners. That’s why he talks about his “hour.”  

See, Jesus would teach us to honor our parents, but his highest priority was always to obey his heavenly Father—and sometimes that caused tension, even with his own family. Sometimes he had to intentionally distance himself from them, and I’m sure that was hard. Some of you know that feeling all too well: I want to follow God, but will it hurt my relationship with my family? How do I handle that?  

That can be painful, but following Jesus doesn’t mean you stop loving your family. In fact, loving Jesus can help you love your family even more—and you never know how God might be working in their lives as they see what he’s doing in yours. 

[v. 5] – His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

As hard as this must have been for Mary, there’s a lot we can learn from her. She doesn’t argue with Jesus, she doesn’t get angry with him, and she’s not wrong for making a request. Big or small, she brings it to him—and that’s what we’re invited to do. When we’re in need, where else would we turn? God wants us to bring our requests to him.  

Sometimes when my kids ask me for something, it’s like they won’t take no for an answer. They won’t stop asking until they get it. And it’s not my favorite thing in the world because it wears me out, but I admit it’s not a bad strategy. And there are some things God wants us to pray for with that kind of persistence. 

But other times, they’ll ask for something and immediately get angry if they don’t get it. And that’s different. That’s not trust—it’s a demand disguised as a request. 

How often do we come to God with this mindset that says: “God, prove yourself by giving me what I want”? I’ve heard so many people say, “I can’t believe in God because he didn’t answer my prayer.” But the real issue—even for religious people—is that we often want God’s gifts more than we want him. 

And Jesus came to change that. 

The wedding at Cana shows us a new way to come to God. Mary’s response points us there. She brings her request, then turns to the servants and says, “Do whatever he tells you.”That’s real faith. 

Real faith will ask for anything but yield everything to Jesus.  Real faith says, “I know Jesus can do a miracle here, but I trust him even when he doesn’t because I know his ways are better.” When Mary says do whatever he says, it doesn’t mean she expected Jesus to fix it. She was content with whatever he decided to do.  

That’s what we call faith. I bring my request. God knows my heart. And then I rest in whatever he decides.  

Honestly, that’s one of the big differences between the prosperity gospel and the true gospel. The prosperity gospel says God’s only good if he gives me earthly blessings now. The true gospel says God’s good even when I walk through suffering.  

See, it’d be so easy to turn the point of a story like this into, Jesus, here’s my need, now give me a miracle.  

Here’s my broken marriage, fix it. Here’s my reckless addiction, fix it. Here’s my money problems, fix it. Save me from the embarrassment and shame. Save me from the sorrow and pain.  

But that’s not the point of the story. That’s not what Jesus came to do. And there are times when we bring our requests to him and he is totally justified to say, “What does this have to do with me?” 

And when he says it, it’s not that he doesn’t care about our concerns. It’s because he won’t let temporary worries distract from giving us what we need most. Sometimes what we need most is to have our lives disrupted so we’ll turn our attention back to the One who came to save us.  

The whole point of turning water into wine is so that we would believe. Jesus didn’t come to make everything easy right now or for you to understand everything he’s doing at this moment in your life. He came to give you eternal life and he wants you to trust him to do it even when you don’t get it.  

That’s why John calls this a sign instead of a miracle. Signs point us to something else. Nobody mistakes the sign with the destination. There’s a billboard outside with a picture of steak and lobster. Not once have I looked at that sign and thought, I’m satisfied. But I have thought, I want to experience that. A sign attracts you to the real thing, but the real thing fills you up.  

And Mary knows this. That’s why she makes the request and then says, “Whatever he tells you to do, do it.”  

Let’s keep going…[v. 6] – Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.  

This is interesting…Jesus tells them to get out water jars used for ritual purification, which is pointing to the Jewish religious system. It’s talking about the Law, and the Law had all kinds of stipulations for ceremonial cleansing.  

The Law said that whenever you were at a meal, you had to provide water jars so that the people could wash their hands. If there were multiple courses in the meal, the Law stipulated, you had to wash your hands between courses. You did this to maintain your purity before the Lord. 

Ritual purity was important for being able to enter the courts of the Lord.  

For example, you see this principle played out in Psalm 24:  

• “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

    And who shall stand in his holy place?

• He who has clean hands and a pure heart…”

I think we can all agree that washing your hands is a good idea, please keep doing that. But Jesus’s problem is that people focused on having clean hands but they didn’t care enough about having a pure heart. And man, if that’s not a lesson for us. 

By his grace, Jesus came to give us a pure heart.  

I think it’s human nature—when we’re given a task we can’t do, we focus on what we can do and minimize or ignore what we can’t. Clean hands? I can manage that. Ritual purity? I can do that. But a pure heart? That’s an even bigger problem than running out of wine at a wedding. 

And this was the game that Jesus kept playing with the Pharisees. They come at him like, “Why don’t you and your disciples wash your hands? Why don’t you honor our traditions? Why don’t you keep yourself clean?”  And Jesus is like, “Why do you only ever focus on external cleanliness but never address the sin in your heart? You only care about the outside, but inwardly your life is a mess.”  

And just like those water jars, that way of doing things always ends up empty. In the old system, you always end up running out of wine. You can never do enough to work your way to God. You can’t ascend the hill. You’re attempts at following religion is never enough.  

Now, Jesus doesn’t tell us to throw out the old system—that’s an important distinction—he just says you can’t do it. You need a new way to be made clean. And that’s what he came to do.  

Now watch this: [v. 6] says there were 6 stone water jars for ritual purification, and Jesus is trying to make a point here. But it’s a little hard for us to follow because we think of wine in terms of bottles—not large jars used for ritual washing. So I was trying to wrap my head around this, and I think this comparison might help you too. 

We’re told that each jar could hold somewhere between 20 to 30 gallons. So, let’s just split the difference. Let’s put it somewhere in the middle around 25 gallons. A standard case of wine today is 12 bottles. With a standard bottle at 750mL that gets you 2.3 gallons per case. So 11 cases gets you enough bottles of wine to fill up one jar; that’s 132 bottles. Multiply that by 6and we’re looking at 66 cases; that’s just shy of 800 bottles of wine or about 150 gallons. Now, I’m not a wine-drinker, but I’m pretty sure that’s a lot of wine. Is that fair to say?  

Like, I’m gonna wager that they’re good. Problem solved. They’re not gonna run out of wine anymore.  

But Jesus didn’t come just to satisfy our social problems. He came to satisfy our sin problems. That’s why, in this moment, he talks about his “hour,” which in the Gospel of John always refers to his death and resurrection. 

He’s saying this is not that moment, but this sign—turning water into wine—is ultimately pointing us to that. Even if Jesus never answered another request, his death and resurrection would still be enough to bring us fully into God’s presence. That alone is everything we need. 

And nothing would distract him from that mission. Not family ties, not social pressures, not earthly threats. Nothing. The new way to come to God is not by doing enough good to outweigh the bad or by following a better religious system. It’s by putting your faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s how we find new life with God.  

I love that the jars were filled to the brim because it’s a reminder that our best efforts always run dry, but that Jesus’s saving work is overflowing and endless.  

In one sense, wine’s supposed to be a picture of God’s abundant grace. 

So when we take the Lord’s Supper, the cup is a reminder that Jesus poured out his blood at the Cross to forgive your sins. You think the 800 bottles of wine is excessive. Just think about the grace Jesus poured out on the Cross to cover your sins – past, present, and future. Endless, abundant. 

If you’re thinking, but I’ve really made a mess of my life this week, you have no idea. Well, guess what? Jesus came to offer you a new one. The brim-filled jars is a reminder that your sin can’t outpace God’s forgiveness. You can keep going back for more and more and his grace never runs out.  

But in another sense, wine’s a picture of joy. Jesus came so that we might have life with God in his kingdom, and the way into that life is by learning to abide in him. Jesus says in [John 15]:  

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Do you know what brought Jesus joy? It was knowing that through the anguish of the Cross, he could bring you into eternal life. That’s what brought him joy.  

And that joy is complete when you actually experience it. When you actually turn away from your sins and receive his forgiveness. When you actually treasure God in your heart and walk in the power of the Spirit. When you actually pour yourself out in service to others and are being transformed from one degree of glory to the next. Like, that’s what Jesus came to give you.  

If you follow along with the story, Jesus is pointing us to three ways we receive the sign of the water-to-wine. Following along with this marriage language:  

1. We need to leave our former life of sin. We need to abandon any traditions or systems we’ve used to make ourselves right with God. Because they just don’t work. They don’t produce a life of joy and peace with God. And Jesus is patient to walk you through that.  

• We need to cleave to Jesus. We need to come to him. We need to rely completely on him. We need to trust him to give us a pure heart through the forgiveness of our sins. 

• We need to walk with Jesus. We need to yoke ourselves to him. We need to learn to depend on him and trust him for the victories he still has ahead of us.  

We’ll close with this: [v. 11] – this is how we know the sign wasn’t the final destination. Because the end of the story isn’t, about saving face, it’s about belief in Jesus. [11] – This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

The intended outcome of Jesus’s first sign wasn’t even for the whole wedding party to believe. It was to give his disciples a deeper and abiding faith in him so that they would go with him wherever he called them to go.  

And I think, man, what a gift to us! That Jesus doesn’t expect us to get everything all at once. He guides us along the way like a good shepherd does. But when you’re filled with the abundance of his joy you don’t go into the world with a scarcity mindset. You go in ready to give yourself away in service to God. You have the joy of the Son living inside you. And so his joy becomes your joy and what does Jesus desire most? That more people would come to believe in him and enjoy life with the Father.  

And so now we say, Jesus, lead me to do the same so that our joy may be complete.  

[At this time, I want to invite the band back up//invite you to bow your heads]: Where are you looking for God to do a miracle in your life right now? What’s your wine problem? Where are you feeling dry and empty?  

What if, instead of looking for the miracle, you turned and looked to Jesus? You made your request known and then you trusted in him to do what he knows his best?  

¹ Works Consulted: 

• The Gospel According to John – Carson 
• “Jesus at His Friend’s Feast” – Keller 
• “Life of the Party” – Chappell 
• “New Wine” – Chandler