The First of His Signs! Water into Wine!

Meditation on John 2: 1-11

Pastor Karen Crawford

First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown, NY

Jan. 19, 2025

Have you been to any weddings lately?

The story of the wedding at Cana always makes me remember the little things that go wrong at weddings. One time, when I was presiding over a wedding in Ohio, the best man dropped the rings. They rolled across the wooden chancel floor and dropped down into the congregation. There was an audible gasp in the room; 200 people or more waited while one of the bridesmaids found the rings and handed them back up to us.

This was right after I had jokingly said to the best man before the wedding, “Don’t drop the rings.” I had never said that before. I’ve never said it since.

 I always assure the bride and groom during the pre-marital counseling sessions that even if something unexpected happens, everything will be alright. They will still be married. The bride and their wedding will still be beautiful. I encourage them to keep going, as if nothing happened, and more often than not, no one else notices something has gone wrong.

Running out of wine at a wedding reception in biblical times would be pretty difficult to conceal. An abundance of wine was especially important at weddings in Jesus’ time. Everyone drank wine. Wedding parties went on for days and nights, sometimes as long as a week.

Jesus, his mother, and the disciples were invited to this wedding, so they must have known the families involved. The reality is that we don’t know anything about the wedding itself, even though the story is always talked about as “The Wedding in Cana.” We don’t know who presided over the service or where it took place. We never actually meet the bride and groom. (The groom is mentioned near the end of the passage, but he doesn’t have a speaking part, and he never finds out what really happened, not that we know of.)

I’ve always thought the problem was that the bride and groom and their parents would have been embarrassed if they ran out of wine and the party ended prematurely. But I never thought about who would be persecuted if that happened—the servants, some that might have been hired expressly for helping at the big event.

Mary’s relationship with the servants, the bride and groom, and the families is something of a mystery here. Why was she helping behind the scenes and, in fact, in charge of the servants of someone else’s household? This passage presents her as a take-charge kind of individual and compassionate—not only for the bride and groom and their families, but for the servants.

Her behavior and attitude remind me a little of Jesus. But that shouldn’t surprise us, since she is his mother! What a treasure this passage is for us; it acts as a window into their relationship. He is ALWAYS Mary’s son, just like our children will always be our children, no matter how old they are or the importance of their jobs and callings. Mary appears to be unafraid to speak her mind to Jesus and tell him what to do, when he needs it, even if he is the Son of God, Messiah, and Savior of the World.

There’s been a lot of talk about Jesus refraining from calling Mary “Mother” in this passage. He calls her, “Woman.” Right? We don’t know what he is thinking or feeling at the time, just that he disagrees with her, at first. Maybe he’s saying “Woman,” with a smile teasing at his lips and a gentle tone. We can’t tell from the text. Scholars assure us that Jesus calling her “Woman” was a term of respect and not uncommon. That Mary is called “the mother of Jesus” and not “Mary” in this passage was also a sign of respect, affirming her relationship with the Son of God.

Reading the passage this week, I began to think that Jesus and Mary seem to know each other’s minds, which is more evidence of their close relationship. She doesn’t tell him to do anything about the wine problem. She doesn’t tell him what to do, at all. She says, “They have no wine.” I am imagining she’s using a certain tone to her voice and maybe a raised eyebrow, as she looks intently at him.

Jesus knows his mother wants him to fix the problem. But he tries to tell her that it isn’t his problem. Or her problem, either, for that matter. It makes you wonder if they have had these kinds of conversations before. He asks her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?” Maybe he wasn’t in the mood for miracles. Maybe he didn’t think a wedding reception was the time and place. Maybe he was just messing with her and knew that he was going to do a miracle, all along.

He says, “My hour has not yet come,” foreshadowing when he will tell his disciples in John 12:23, after some Greeks come looking for him at the Festival of the Passover, “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified.” And there’s another foreshadowing in this passage—at the very beginning, when we learn that the wedding in Cana of Galilee happens “on the third day.” What else happens on the third day in Christ’s story? Yes, he will rise from the dead!

Mary doesn’t answer her son’s protest, that this isn’t the time or place for miracles. She just ignores him and tells the servants to do whatever he asks of them. The wedding at Cana reveals the faith of Mary, faith in his power and willingness to help, even if it seemed like his answer was no. She doesn’t know how he will do it, but she is sure that a miracle will happen. And for this, she is a model for us—to believe in Christ’s power and willingness to help us in our time of need. And to be surprised by the abundance of our blessings!

There’s no trumpet fanfare. No attention drawn to Jesus, his mother, and the disciples. This isn’t like the feeding of the multitude, where everyone experiences the miracle together. This is a quiet, behind the scenes miracle, a story unknown to the bridal party and guests, but shared with Christ’s followers with joy, over and over again, for generations to come.

Jesus, the one who will say in John 15, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing,” tells the servants to fill six stone jars with water, then draw some out and take it to the chief steward. The steward, not let in on the secret, confirms that the wine that was just water tastes better than the wine served at the beginning. “Everyone serves the good wine first, and the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk,” the chief steward says to the bridegroom, maybe with a wink. “But you have kept the good wine until now.”

So, my friends, now that you have considered the first of Jesus’ signs, the wedding in Cana of Galilee—when Jesus turned water into wine—I ask you, what signs have you seen that have revealed the presence of God to you, the ONE who is living and active in your life? When have you felt your abiding in the vine? When have you and others seen you bearing much fruit because of your abiding?

When have you realized your need for Jesus –and that apart from him, you can do nothing? And that with God, nothing is impossible.

As we continue in the season of Epiphany, a season of revelation, a time to recognize the arrival of God’s plan in Jesus and to look forward to God’s ongoing action through Christ….

Are you ready to be surprised by joy as you encounter the Lord’s goodness and mercy, abundant blessings that overflow from your cup, like David’s cup in Psalm 23, all the days of your life?

Are you ready like Mary for the power of God to be made known in Christ’s everyday miracles, maybe behind the scenes, quietly, but miracles, nonetheless, that signal the pouring out of God’s love, like water into wine, a love that never runs dry.

Are you ready, like his first disciples, to be strengthened in your faith when you see more signs that reveal Christ’s glory?

Let us pray.

Holy One, thank you for calling us to be your branches in the vine of Jesus Christ. And the assurance that if we remain in Christ, we will bear much fruit, but apart from Him, we can do nothing. Thank you for the example of Mary, who trusted in her son, Your Son, and the power of his miracles, such as the turning of water into wine at the wedding at Cana, the first of His signs, a revelation of his identity. Thank you for your willingness to help us in our time of need. Open our eyes, Lord, so that we recognize your goodness and mercy and abundant blessings that overflow daily from our cups, like David’s in Psalm 23. May we see Christ’s glory through everyday happenings and be strengthened in our faith. Amen.