Have you ever been in a relationship–like a marriage, for instance, when at some point the sweetness of the relationship had disappeared? Let’s look at the story of the wedding in Cana in John 2 in this light.
My marriage took place near Houston in the state of Texas. This one took place at Cana in Galilee. My mother was there and my wife’s mother was there just as Jesus’ mother was there at this wedding. It was a grand affair with cake, ice cream and wine.
My family had driven down from Nebraska and was excited about the marriage of their son to the daughter of a Baptist preacher. My wife’s father performed the wedding, and Jesus and his disciples appeared in the form of the people that attended the wedding.
When you make wine you have to have the wine plants and those plants have to grow and be able to produce grapes. This does not happen overnight. There is a lot of wind, rain, sun and care that needs to happen to produce a crop of grapes suitable for making wine.
Not just one grape makes wine either. A lot of grapes are needed. That means you need more than one plant, but many plants. That means that there has to be many hands picking the grapes that are needed to make the wine.
Then the grapes have to be pressed to get the juice out of them. This takes time and care. You don’t want to get dirt in with the juice. That means you use the right kind of process to extract the juice. You then want it to age with the proper ingredients to get the right flavor. That means time, materials, ingredients and some skill involved.
An earthly marriage is like making wine. It needs the plants that produce the grapes. This is like the people in the relationship–the grapes that produce the juice.
Even more, this is like the mix of people, ideas and experiences of the people involved in the marriage–the juice that is extracted from the grapes.
Furthermore, this is like the love that flows between the people that are involved in the marriage. That love is developed over what I call the “pressing period” of the dating process. Finally, the juice is fermented with ingredients and aged. That aging is like the engagement period.
Finally, the wedding takes place, and the wine that has been made over the past months or years is brought out for all to experience. This is the work of MAN”S hands.
Then we see that at some point the wine is gone. That could be where the marriage relationship is running dry. In the case of the story of the wedding in Cana, it took three days. Sometimes it takes three weeks, or three months, or three years that the couple sees that the wine they made during their dating and engagement period has run out.
It’s a time in the marriage when the couple has come to the end of themselves and they have no “sweet juices” between them. It’s a time when it’s evident to everyone that was at the initial party that something isn’t working. The “sweetness” has gone and there has been a turn in the relationship. We see that, even the mothers, as Mary noted to Jesus, that the wine was gone.
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” (John 2:3)
This happened in our marriage too. There was the sweetness of our love in the beginning, and it lasted many years, and then it was gone. We both could tell something had changed, and our mothers too could tell something had changed. The wine was gone and no one could produce any more. We had used up our reserve.
Our friends didn’t want to share what they had because that would use up part of their reserve. We would go to visit our friends and it was like going to wine tasting. We would taste the wine of their marriage. Sometimes they would give us a bottle of recommendations or a bottle of love to take home but at some point that bottle would run out and we would be in the same place, without wine.
Some friends didn’t want to give us of their private stock of wine since they were almost empty too. They wanted to savor that which was left before they too found themselves in the position we were in, without wine and living day to day.
Here we see in scripture something amazing once again. We see a mother come to the savior and act as an intercessor and ask for more wine for the gathering.
It’s such a beautiful display of love that Mary had for this family. She wanted the party to continue and the experience to last and the memory to be a good one and not one that showed lack.
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” (John 2:3)
Here we see the words of God being spoken by Jesus to this intercessor about her request. Note the tone, the feelings, and the question that Jesus asks Mary his mother. Then His response to the question.
Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” (John 2:4)
When our marriage was without any more wine, our mothers prayed a very similar prayer, “They have no more wine.” In looking back over this time in our lives their prayer went up, but God did not intervene because He said in his own quiet way, “My time has not yet come.”
As I look over this time in our lives, I have tears as I write this. My mother-in-law brought the prayer request to other servants of God, her small group, and told them what Mary told the servants that were at the party. “Do whatever he tells you.”
I don’t know what they prayed or how often they prayed or how they prayed. I don’t know the words they used or the slang they used or the format they used to call out to God on our behalf. I just know they prayed. They did just what Jesus told them to do.
Once again we see Jesus working. Actually its God working through Jesus to produce what is to glorify the God of the universe. He takes the simple things that the people have in their homes and something they can’t live without, water. ” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. ” (John 2:6)
Do you feel the excitement grow in your heart my friends? Do you experience the excitement of the Spirit within you as you see the hand of the living God revealing it’s self in the lives of these people and the servants? I certainly do. I see Jesus telling the servants back there in my mother-in-law’s small group what to pray and how to pray. I see Him teaching them through the experience like He taught those servants back in Cana that obedience brings about new wine for the party. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water” ; so they filled them to the brim. (John 2:7)
These servants were obedient. They acted when told what to do, and did just what Jesus told them to do. He said to fill up the jars, and that is just what they did, to the brim. Then note the next verse if you will. So much excitement my friends, swells in my heart for this truth. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so . (John 2:8)
Have you ever filled a glass full of liquid, to the brim? What happens if you put something into the glass? Since you had filled the glass up, when you put something else into the container the liquid over flows the brim of the glass and runs down the container. I would expect the liquid overflowed the brims of these jars and unto the floor. The vision of oil flowing down the beards of the Jewish men comes to mind as the liquid flows over the brim and down the sides of the jars.
The next thing we read about is the response of the master. It’s so exciting to read this. The intervention of the savior in our lives brings about the new wine in our relationships.
“They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 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.” This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” (John 2:8-11)
These verses touch me. In the beginning of our relationship, my wife and I tended to the plants and then harvested the grapes and then crushed the grapes and made the wine ourselves. When the wine was ready, or so we thought, we got married and that was the choice wine that I associate with in John 2:10.
As time went on the good wine ran out and we then purchased cheaper wine. As we settled for the cheap wine our marriage started to go downhill. At some point, we started realizing that the cheap wine is not what we wanted but we didn’t know how to make the wine that is talked about in the Bible. Not wine made from man’s hands but wine made from God’s hands.
This is where we pick up the story of the intercession that took place through my mother-in-law’s small group. It says that the servants who had drawn the water knew. I would expect that when the message got back to my mother-in-law about the change in our relationship, she took it back to her small group, the group of intercessors that prayed for us. They knew who turned the water into wine. No one had to tell them, for the Spirit of the Lord revealed it to them.
As I read John 2:10, I have to look back and say that in our lives we thought the choice wine, our marriage relationship, was of our making and it could only get better with age, but we were wrong. Yes, we knew that God was working, and yes we acknowledged Him most every day. We were young, 22 – 24, and our marriage was a new adventure and we were going to do it; meet life head on and blase our own trail.
With God for us, who can be against us, was our cry I would expect. But this pride that we both had lead to its own destruction. We are told that the work of man is like rags, filthy rags. Its God’s work in our lives and through other believers that produces the wine that we so desire.
Most everyone I know had the choice wine of their relationship when they first got married. Over time they experienced the cheaper wine where it’s a relationship that has the feeling but not the emotion.
Yes God intervened in our marriage–in His time, and in His way. We were blessed.
Have you ever gone to a wine tasting before? Maybe you have purchased several types of wines and brought them home and had your own wine tasting experience. I’ve been to one wine tasting that I remember. If I remember correctly it was in Santa Clara California, in all places.
After the tour of how wine is made, we go into this big room with a long curved counter and we are given the opportunity to taste many different wines. We tasted them in a little glass but after the experience, we would discuss the things we liked about the wines. We would then make decisions on the different wines based on how we felt that day.
In this story we read about in John I don’t see this happening. Jesus doesn’t ask the master if this is the right wine for the occasion or if another is better. We don’t see Jesus tasking the wine either before He gives it to the party. We do know that God did the miracle and that it was God’s choice of the character of the wine.
I would like to say that the new wine of our marriage tastes as we like, but I can’t. It tastes as God wants it to taste because He is the one that made the wine that we drink. We are now discovering the character of the wine we drink. We savor the experience of the wine and explore its rich character.
This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. (John 2:11)
I encourage you to read these verses in John once again in the quiet time of your day. Ask the Lord of all there is to lead you to the meaning of the wine you are now experiencing. Ask him to teach you of the character of the wine you are now experiencing.
Scripture references taken from the New International Version. Copyright 1973,1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.