In this unprepossessing, out-of-the-way place, this ‘first of his signs’ was witnessed by the servants at the feast – we’re specifically told that the chief steward ‘Did not know where [the wine] came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)’ [Jn 2:9]. It was to the least and the last that Jesus so often came, and he often revealed himself to the most unexpected of people.
Now my miracle-making powers haven’t quite stretched to transforming water into wine – yet! That was, of course, an illusion, a trick – which is precisely what the narrative we have just heard is not saying. People have tried to explain it in various ways – including as a joke: the wine ran out, Jesus pretended that the water was wine to save embarrassment, everyone went along with it to spare the feelings of the Wedding Couple on their special day, and someone even said it was the best wine they’d ever tasted.
Any sort of reductionist interpretation of the event destroys the significance of these verses in the arc of St John’s narrative of the life and ministry of Jesus, the ‘Word made flesh’, who ‘lived among us’, and ‘we have seen his glory’ [Jn 1:14], as he puts it at the end of his Prologue to the Gospel.
You will probably know that, in contrast to the other three Gospels, the Synoptic Gospels, the story of John the Baptist’s ministry is differently recorded in the Fourth Gospel. The Baptism of Christ is not specifically described. Rather, John points to Jesus and says, ‘Here is the Lamb of God…’ [Jn 1:29], and he testifies that he has seen the Spirit descend on Jesus, and that he is the Son of God [Jn 1:33f.]. The first Disciples are called, ending with Nathanael, and ‘On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee’ [Jn 2:1] – ‘On the third day’, another intimation that something significant is about to be told. It’s often presumed to be a family wedding, as Jesus’ mother was there – she’s never named as Mary in John’s Gospel – and Jesus and the newly-called Disciples were also invited, or called, to attend.
The Greek, ἐκλήθη (eklēthē), has a range of meanings – ‘bidden’, or ‘invited’, or ‘called’ – and is linked to the New Testament word for the Church, ἐκκλησία (ekklesia), those who are called out for a certain purpose – from which we get our word ‘Ecclesiastical’. I wonder whether there are echoes of that sense of calling in John’s use of the word here – the Disciples were called, Jesus was called, we are called.
And you’ve probably wondered before amount the sheer amount of water which was turned into wine. This is not the odd glass or two, not even the odd magnum or two, this is ‘six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons’ [Jn 2:5], so, something like 120 to 150 gallons of wine, which is about 500 litres, for the metric amongst us.
Weddings a still often very large occasions in the Middle East, in Asia and in Africa, so hundreds of guests may well have been present – after all, there was room for Jesus and all his Disciples to tag along with Jesus’ mother, presumably at the last moment.
Nevertheless, after all the wine which had already been ordered had run out, another 120 gallons or still seems quite a lot.
This is surely an eschatological sign, a sign of the breaking in of the Kingdom of God, an indication of God’s plans for the creation which he made and loved and which was to be redeemed through this God and Man, Jesus Christ. It doesn’t always feel like it, but I think that deep down in each of us, there is an inkling of the outpouring of the love and the generosity of God, which has brought us into being, which has been with us through life, which has brought us to this day and to this place, whether physically here in the Cathedral, or worshipping with us on-line.
This is not just enough wine to keep the feast ticking along. This is enough wine to make it a feast which will be remembered for ever. This is a sign to the early Christians that the best is yet to come – unknowingly, the Chief Steward hits the nail on the head when he says to the Bridegroom, ‘You have kept the good wine until now’ [Jn 2:10].
I think that that joy and abundance are wonderfully shown in this image of the Wedding Feast, by John August Swanson, an American artist, born in 1938 of a Mexican mother and Swedish father [Swanson, John August. Wedding Feast, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58581 [retrieved February 1, 2023]. Original source: Estate of John August Swanson, https://www.johnaugustswanson.com/]
And after re-telling the story, the Evangelist, St John, adds his own comment: ‘Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him’ [Jn 2:11].
People have sometimes commented that it seems such an odd first miracle – at what looks like a slightly random wedding, after the strange-sounding conversation with his mother, with the servants being the ones to witness what was happening, and so on.
But that’s clearly not John the Evangelist’s view of the matter. This is the first of the signs which Jesus does, all of which show who he really is. They all point to Jesus’ own death and resurrection, the last of the Seven Signs being the Raising of Lazarus in John 11.
And just returning to the Greek text, very briefly, once again, the word used for ‘revealed’, in ‘revealed his glory’, is ἐφανέρωσεν (ephanerōsen), the Greek word from which we get the name of this Season of Epiphany, this Season of the Revelation of Jesus as the Christ for the world.
Three words for us to ponder on:
Calling – Jesus and his Disciples were ‘called’ to the Wedding. How are we being called onwards in our journey in this new year, in this Season of Epiphany.
Abundance – How do we give thanks for, and live the abundance of God’s love in our lives and in our world? Are we modelling abundance, or the minginess of God’s love and life?
And Epiphany, Revelation – God reveals himself through Jesus, as the life of the world. Can we also be agents of revelation, or Epiphany, to those we come across day by day.
And a final thought: ‘If Jesus turned water into wine, imagine what he could do with you’.
AMEN.
