The new wine is better than the old
This week's study is on John 2:1-11
These verses are a cool link both to the Old Testament and the New. A lot of the Bible foreshadows Jesus' death and resurrection, like one of those cool movies with a twist ending where you have to go back and watch it again to find out all of the hidden clues you missed the first time around. That's actually a large part of why we have the Old Testament as part of the Bible. Christians aren't really still commanded to stone adulterers or drown witches or any of the other things people bring up when they try to paint Christianity as a religion of hatred instead of love. (Usually followed by a smug look that says that in one semester of undergraduate philosophy they've managed to unravel two thousand years of theology and the very work of God himself.) The Old Testament is the setup for the punchline, the backstory that makes the New Testament meaningful.
So we start off on the third day. Hmm. What else happened on the third day? Jonah emerged from the giant fish, in the book of Jonah, to fulfil his purpose. And here Jesus is emerging from relative obscurity to perform his first miracle. Later, on another "third day" Jesus emerges from the grave as a conqueror and the savior of mankind. But here he's just being asked to do a drink run for his mom, because someone seems to have failed at the logistics portion of wedding planning.
Then we have six stone jars. Where else do we see six? Mankind was created on the sixth day, and like those six jars, was useless for the problem at hand. So Jesus fills them with water, and then it turns into wine. To give you an idea of capacity, each of these jars were about the size of two modern kegs, a measurement known as a "barrel" nowadays. It's funny how some things never change, even two thousand years later. Next time you're at a party with a full sized keg, picture twelve of those things lined up like disciples to guide you through a weekend of partying. And then picture it at over twice the strength, as wine is stronger than beer. That's a serious party!
The steward's statement about the wine sums up the relation of the Old Testament to the New. "Usually the best stuff is served first, but this time it's last!" The Old Testament, from Eve's first bite to the prophets before the Roman invasion all points to death. If you could sum up the Old Testament it would be "You messed up and you're going to die, unless you take the following measures and execute them perfectly, and even then you might still do something to ruin it." The New Testament could be similarly restated as "You're cured, and nothing that happened up until this point will be counted against you because God picked up the bill himself. Come and join the family; we have twelve kegs already for the party."
Most people read these verses and just see the water turning into wine. "Hey cool, Jesus makes good wine!" But in actuality it's kind of like a cannon shot announcing what is to follow. Jesus reveals his glory in that miracle and tells us a little bit about himself and what he's about to do. In the same way that he turned useless water into delicious wine, he can renew us and change us into something amazing that glorifies him and meets the needs of others. It doesn't matter what those jars were used for before they encountered Jesus. We only remember them now as containing his perfect wine.
Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine left.” Jesus replied, “Woman, why are you saying this to me? My time has not yet come.” His mother told the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washing, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the water jars with water.” So they filled them up to the very top. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the head steward,” and they did. When the head steward tasted the water that had been turned to wine, not knowing where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper wine when the guests are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!” Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, in Cana of Galilee. In this way he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
These verses are a cool link both to the Old Testament and the New. A lot of the Bible foreshadows Jesus' death and resurrection, like one of those cool movies with a twist ending where you have to go back and watch it again to find out all of the hidden clues you missed the first time around. That's actually a large part of why we have the Old Testament as part of the Bible. Christians aren't really still commanded to stone adulterers or drown witches or any of the other things people bring up when they try to paint Christianity as a religion of hatred instead of love. (Usually followed by a smug look that says that in one semester of undergraduate philosophy they've managed to unravel two thousand years of theology and the very work of God himself.) The Old Testament is the setup for the punchline, the backstory that makes the New Testament meaningful.
So we start off on the third day. Hmm. What else happened on the third day? Jonah emerged from the giant fish, in the book of Jonah, to fulfil his purpose. And here Jesus is emerging from relative obscurity to perform his first miracle. Later, on another "third day" Jesus emerges from the grave as a conqueror and the savior of mankind. But here he's just being asked to do a drink run for his mom, because someone seems to have failed at the logistics portion of wedding planning.
Then we have six stone jars. Where else do we see six? Mankind was created on the sixth day, and like those six jars, was useless for the problem at hand. So Jesus fills them with water, and then it turns into wine. To give you an idea of capacity, each of these jars were about the size of two modern kegs, a measurement known as a "barrel" nowadays. It's funny how some things never change, even two thousand years later. Next time you're at a party with a full sized keg, picture twelve of those things lined up like disciples to guide you through a weekend of partying. And then picture it at over twice the strength, as wine is stronger than beer. That's a serious party!
The steward's statement about the wine sums up the relation of the Old Testament to the New. "Usually the best stuff is served first, but this time it's last!" The Old Testament, from Eve's first bite to the prophets before the Roman invasion all points to death. If you could sum up the Old Testament it would be "You messed up and you're going to die, unless you take the following measures and execute them perfectly, and even then you might still do something to ruin it." The New Testament could be similarly restated as "You're cured, and nothing that happened up until this point will be counted against you because God picked up the bill himself. Come and join the family; we have twelve kegs already for the party."
Most people read these verses and just see the water turning into wine. "Hey cool, Jesus makes good wine!" But in actuality it's kind of like a cannon shot announcing what is to follow. Jesus reveals his glory in that miracle and tells us a little bit about himself and what he's about to do. In the same way that he turned useless water into delicious wine, he can renew us and change us into something amazing that glorifies him and meets the needs of others. It doesn't matter what those jars were used for before they encountered Jesus. We only remember them now as containing his perfect wine.
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