Slices
Prepare
Reflect on the transformation Jesus has brought to your life; give thanks and praise to God.
Bible passage
Jesus changes water into wine
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine.’
4 ‘Woman, why do you involve me?’ Jesus replied. ‘My hour has not yet come.’
5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from eighty to a hundred and twenty litres.
7 Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realise where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.’
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
Explore
In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ miracles are always ‘signs’ (v 11). That means they point beyond themselves to the central truth that Jesus is the Messiah (20:30,31), and that in him God is at work to bring about the renewal of his creation (1:1). Jesus’ changing of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana (vs 8,9) is therefore more than an act of compassion to save a family’s blushes. It is indicative of the transformation God is bringing to his creation through Jesus, and therefore of the honour due to Jesus as the Messiah.
That honour is expressed as obedience by the servants at the feast who, as Mary instructs them (v 5), do whatever Jesus tells them (vs 7,8). The blessing of the new wine flows from humble obedience to Jesus. The detail that the jars filled with water were those used by Jews for ceremonial washing (v 6) is significant. That washing was a sign pointing to the purification that would ultimately come through Jesus’ sacrificial death – his ‘hour’ (v 4). The transformation of the water in the jars into wine therefore ‘calls time’ on the need for ceremonial washing. Now that Jesus the Messiah is dwelling among his people, it is to him and not to established rituals that they must hold.
Respond
In what do you find obedience to Jesus most difficult? Ask for grace to do whatever he tells you in this matter.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 41,42; Acts 15
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks to God for his faithful provision, year after year, releasing the funds and raising up the volunteers that we need to run a full programme of holidays and missions. (This week's prayers relate to this story.)