Better Than the First

Better Than the First

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there.  ² Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. ³ And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “whatever He says to you, do it.”  ⁶ Now there were there six water posts of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  ⁷ Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water,” And they filled to up to the brim. ⁸ And he said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. ⁹ When the master of the feast had tasted the water that is made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feat called the bridegroom, ¹⁰ And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!” ¹¹ This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believe in Him. ¹² After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

In our living parable, we are exploring the wedding at Cana and have come to the following conclusions or understandings.  First, God is asking us to separate ourselves as Jesus separated himself from his mother.  This is not to say that we should not love our family, for family is vitally important, but that our love for them should be less than our love for God.  Nothing should come between our relationship with Christ.

Second, we have discovered that Christ is represented by the pots made of stone, hewn out of solid rock and then filled to the very brim with water. We also discovered that because 120 gallons is a multiple of 12 it represents an unlimited or infinite number meaning that the water or wine supplied by Christ would be unlimited, never running out.

The third thing we have learned is that God does not perform miracles until we have first done everything that is humanly possible.  We quickly referenced texts from Exodus 4:2; II Kings 4:2; and Matthew 15:34 to illustrate the point Jesus was making by having the servants (deacons) fill the water pots to the brim with clean, clear water.

First, let me start off this post, by stating I certainly do not want this to turn into a debate about alcoholic wine verses pure grape juice (non-alcoholic wine).  The Bible is clear regarding this teaching and Christ would certainly live his life and perform miracles in accordance with the teachings given in the scriptures of His time.  (see Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 23:29-32; confer I Corinthians 3:16, 17; I Corinthians 6:19; for further study). It is important to note that in scripture fermentation and the process of fermentation is synonymous with sin. Therefore, if the pots represented Christ, and the original water was pure and clean, it would naturally be that only non-fermented wine be given to the guests from the one that performed the miracle who knew no sin.

Christ performs a miracle at this wedding feast in which, He turned the water, that had been obtained by the servants in the stoneware into wine.

It appears according to the eye witness account given by John, that the water remained water as long as it was in the stoneware jars. After all, it was water when the servants drew it so it is upon them drawing water out of the jars that it was then turned from water into wine. 

The governor of the feast was surprised to find that they had run out of wine and was embarrassed.  For you see it was the bridegrooms or the family of the groom’s responsibility to supply all that was needed for the marriage celebration.

This is why, at Christ second coming, the redeemed upon entering heaven will celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb which will be furnished by God for the redeemed, (The Church which is the bride of Christ) to partake.

Up to this point the Israelites or Jews were the people responsible for sharing the Good News of the Gospel Message, but that message had become bogged down by man-made traditions (represented by Ceremonial waterpots).  The wine supplied to them had run out, the power of their message to the rest of the world had run dry, because they had allowed themselves to become contaminated by the things which were common or unclean. 

By Christ coming and beginning to unfold the truth of the gospel message to them the Jewish leaders were embarrassed. They could see that their teachings were inferior to the pure wine of the gospel message which came in an unlimited supply through Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit upon the minds and hearts of the people.  To the people, this message was sweet and pure and clean, uncontaminated by the thought of man and their misrepresentation of God and His Character.  This pure, sweet message was desirable to the people and they thirsted for more. 

To the steward of the feast it was the best wine he had ever tasted, and the guests also noted the quality. 

This all happened about one week after the calling of the first disciples.  This was the beginning of signs and wonders Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee that manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  Then the question is, do we believe in him?  Are we willing to separate ourselves from others, by loving them less than we love God, willing to work to the best of our ability, then allowing Christ, the Rock to perform the miracle by finishing the work that is humanly not possible, that His name may be glorified throughout the entire earth!  These miracles are a sign unto the disciples and unto us that God desires to pour out the pure Gospel truth upon all the earth through the power of the Holy Spirit and will do this when his disciples do all the work they can humanly accomplish. Then Christ, as he did for Moses, the Woman where oil was multiplied and his disciples at the feeding of the 5000 and the turning of water into wine are all proof that heaven will do that work for us that is not humanly possible to accomplish and all heavens blessings are available to those who are willing to do all they can do to hasten the spreading of the gospel message.