MSNBC reported on an archaeological dig in Cana, Israel in 2004. The article read: “Among the roots of ancient olive trees, archaeologists have found pieces of large stone jars of the type the Gospel says Jesus used when he turned water into wine at a Jewish wedding in the Galilee village of Cana. They believe these could have been the same kind of vessels the Bible says Jesus used in his first miracle, and that the site where they were found could be the location of biblical Cana. . . . Israeli archaeologist Yardena Alexander believes the Arab town was built near the ancient village. The jar pieces date to the Roman period, when Jesus traveled in the Galilee.”
I reference this archeological dig to say that the story of the first miracle of Jesus at the wedding in Cana is firmly rooted in the real world. It is grounded in history. History is “his story.” This wedding and miracle are inextricably connected to what God is doing in the world. It is linked to what God did in the beginning of world and what he will do at the end of the world, as we shall see.
It is interesting that Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding. And what is even more interesting is the nature of the miracle he performs. It raises puzzling questions. What would you do if you were Jesus and you were about to begin your ministry? What kind of miracle would you perform? The devil gave Jesus a few ideas during his temptation in the wilderness: “Hey Jesus, how about turning some rocks into bread? The crowds will love it. Or, how about this, throw yourself from the high point of the temple over the Kidron Valley. Let the people see the angels come to scoop you up just before you hit the rocks. That will get their attention!” Now there are some miracles for you! But Jesus begins his ministry with a miracle in a nondescript remote town of Galilee, and he performs the miracle in a way so as not to bring attention to himself. No one actually saw him do anything.
The miracle itself mystifies American Christians who have the prohibition movement as part of our history. Many Christians have very strong feelings about any use of alcohol whatsoever. So this passage is problematic for many American Christians — not so much with Christians elsewhere in the world. And the more you study this passage the more problematic it becomes. If a pastor brought a bottle of wine to a wedding it might cause a stir, but Jesus not only turns water into wine, he makes a lot of it, and after the guests have had too much to drink. As John tells the story, he says that there were six stone jars containing 20-30 gallons each. Average that out to 25 gallons, and multiply it by six, and you have 150 gallons of wine. That’s a lot of wine, and this is not some sort of grape juice, otherwise the master of the banquet would not have pronounced it the “best” wine.
In fact, it was not until 1869 that Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch, a physician and dentist by profession, successfully pasteurized Concord grape juice and made non-alcoholic wine possible. The company his son started is still called Welch’s grape juice. Dr. Welch was an ardent prohibitionist and the communion steward at his local Methodist Church. He wanted to have non-alcoholic communion wine available at his church.
Jesus’ miracle also raises other concerns. We think it is strange that he provided the wine after the people had already had too much to drink. They had drunk all the wine that was available. The master of the banquet said to the bridegroom, “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” (John 2:10). The word the NIV translates as saying, “had too much to drink,” is the Greek word methusko (meqskw), which literally means “to get drunk.” Most people served their best wine first and waited until the guests had become too inebriated to realize they were serving a cheaper wine, but the wine Jesus made was superior. It is the best wine, and it is served after everyone has had too much to drink already. It is not that Jesus is promoting drunkenness, but he is doing what he always does: giving his gifts extravagantly and in abundance.
But still, the questions remain, “Why did Jesus begin his ministry by turning water into wine at a wedding? Why did he not begin with a healing, raising someone from the dead, or even feeding the multitudes?” There must have been a reason. Then we remember that not only did Jesus’ ministry begin with a wedding, but human history began with a wedding. Adam had been created, but he is alone. He has nothing really in common with the animals who are in the garden. No one is like him, nor they can speak his language. God is there, but God is as different from Adam as Adam is from the animals. No one is “suitable” for him. The Bible says that he did not have a suitable “helper.” Augustine, one of the early fathers of the church, believed that this meant there was no one to help him bring forth children. The Bible says, “So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs [lit: “a part of his side”] and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib [lit: “the part”] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:21-22). The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (Genesis 2:23). Adam finally recognizes his likeness, as well as a wonderful difference, in the woman. The next verse in the Genesis account is one which Jesus quoted regarding marriage: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
Adam and Eve become one flesh and the family of humanity begins. God performed the first wedding in the garden. The Bible says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Genesis 1:27-28). Here is where humanity begins — with a wedding in a garden. It is certainly appropriate that Jesus would begin his ministry at a wedding where three would be a new chapter in human history. Through his ministry there would be new children born, children of God; “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:13). These children would be born of the wine of his blood. They would be filled with the Holy Spirit, and such joy and ecstacy would be within them that people would make fun of them and say, “They have had too much wine” (Acts 2:13).
This would also begin in a garden. The bride of Christ would come from his side. As Jesus Christ was crucified in the garden, he died for his bride, the church. You will remember that, after his death, a Roman soldier came to make sure he was dead. He thrust his spear in Jesus’ side, and out of his side flowed blood and water (John 19:34). As with Adam, Christ’s bride came from his side, as the blood of Jesus atoned for the sin of his people and the water washed them. The apostle Peter began his letter to the church saying, “To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood” (1 Peter 1:1-2). Jesus, in his parables, often compared the kingdom of God to a wedding (Matthew 22:2, Matthew 22:4, Matthew 22:8, Matthew 22:10-12, Matthew 25:10, Luke 12:36, Luke 14:8). This again is a great miracle in human history. God is making possible the plan which he set in place from the very beginning — for Christ to have a bride.
In the time of Christ, couples would be engaged and have an extended time of betrothal. But even though the wedding ceremony had not yet taken place, they were still considered married. All the laws of faithfulness and exclusive love applied during their time of waiting.
The story is not over. Another wedding, more glorious and more wonderful than anything we have ever known is coming. Jesus hinted at it at the Last Supper when he said, “I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). The fulfillment of Christ’s promises to marry his bride will take place not just in a garden paradise, but in the full paradise of God’s kingdom, at the fulfillment of all things, at the end of the age. The writer of Revelation puts it like this: “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”’” (Revelation 19:6-9).
Now it becomes clear why Jesus began his ministry with a miracle at a wedding. Human history began with a wedding. The bride of Christ, his people, the church, was made possible at the saving death of our Savior, as the wine of his blood was poured out for his people. And at the end of the age, this wedding will be consummated at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Here is the greatest of all miracles and mysteries. Here is the plan of God which he began in the Garden of Eden, a wedding made possible in the garden where Jesus was crucified and consummated in Paradise at the coming of Christ at the end of the age.
Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic who was paralyzed in a diving accident as a teenager, talks about her wedding day. She says, “I felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave me a perfect shape. The dress just didn’t fit well. Then, as I was wheeling into the church, I glanced down and noticed that I’d accidentally run over the hem of my dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn’t hold the bouquet of daisies that lay off-center on my lap. And my chair, though decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts, gears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn’t feel like the picture-perfect bride in a bridal magazine. I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My face flushed, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to be with him. I had seen my beloved. The love in Ken’s face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness. I was his pure and perfect bride. How easy it is for us to think that we’re utterly unlovely — especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But he loves us with the bright eyes of a Bridegroom’s love and cannot wait for the day we are united with him forever.”
And we, unattractive, frightened, paralyzed and imperfect, yet wild with hope, come to the wedding feast of the Lamb. We feel inadequate and unworthy, yet our eyes are fixed on Christ. We are overwhelmed with emotion as we know that we are loved and accepted just as we are, and that the wedding will bring about a transformation. The blood and water that flowed from his side has released us from our bondage, healed our brokenness and cleansed us from our sin. We become the Bride of Christ, not just in theory or potentially, but in reality. And there, together with him and all the redeemed, we will taste the new wine of the kingdom.
The writer of Revelation proclaimed: “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:2-5).
[I am indebted to Dr. Dennis F. Kinlaw for many of the insights in this message.]
Rodney J. Buchanan
June 3, 2007
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
