My wife and I have been working our way through John’s Gospel of late and when we came to the wedding of Cana, the question arose: ‘Why wine?’ That got me thinking, which led to research, and in my search I have discovered some remarkable insights that I had never seen before, and I would like to share them with you.

I am sure we all know the passage well but here it is:

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So, they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (John 2:1-11)

As John’s Gospel tells us, this was Jesus’ first miracle, in which Jesus had stone jars filled with water which he then transforms into wine. So many questions then filled my head: Of all the wonders that the Messiah could have wrought, why begin with wine? Why, having come as fully human at this one point in human history, was it important that the first sign involve wine? Where is the doing good in this, where is the fulfilment of Isaiah 61 and 58 that comprised Jesus’ Messianic Manifesto? Why, if this is the first sign, has Christianity been so linked with the temperance movement?

The biblical significance of wine

Of course, there is great biblical significance in wine, a significance that we seem to have lost touch with, so much so that a large number of fellowships substitute grape juice for wine in the communion. Yes, we explain it was really more like grape juice in the time of Jesus, with a lower alcohol content, but wine is wine. (There are understandable reasons for this, as abuse of alcohol can be very harmful, and for some, abstaining can be necessary – I am not advocating that we must all drink wine, rather I am just focusing on the symbolism.) So, have we lost anything in this substitutionary process?

Grapes take time to grow – I know, I have a vine that graces my garden. I watch the vine burst into leaf and the tiny sweet grapes form; and as I watch, I think of the spies carrying that cluster of grapes back with them from the Promised Land to the people. Grapes, and wine, encapsulate a sense of place in them – just see how wine connoisseurs focus so much on where their wines come from, bringing out flavours of the earth and the environment of the vineyard.

The reality is that there is great spiritual significance in wine: a representation of abundance, of shalom in the fullest meaning of that word, of hope, of new creation.

Joy is another inherent element of wine, the toasts at weddings, engagements and other celebrations. It is almost as if the wine is an indicator of God’s presence, in that there is joy in his presence.

The reality is that there is great spiritual significance in wine: a representation of abundance (e.g. Gen 27:28), of shalom in the fullest meaning of that word, of hope, of new creation – wine literally embodies God’s blessing dripping down on us like dew from heaven. Song of Songs talks about love being extolled more than wine. The Hebrew Scriptures are rich in allusion to wine; Rabbi Akiva said that if Scripture is Holy then the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies in its illustration of God’s love for his people and 1:14 is particularly telling where it says “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for your love is more delightful than wine”.

Wine in the New Testament

But it is the New Testament where wine takes on its greatest significance, beginning with this miracle, and leading onto communion.

And so here we are at Cana, where the bridegroom is present in both senses of the word (the man marrying his bride that week, and also Jesus himself, our heavenly bridegroom). It was important for Jesus’ first sign to validate his own messianic identity. So how does changing water into wine do that?

The elements of communion point to the cross, but when we partake of those elements we are foreshadowing the great agape feast of the lamb, the wedding feast where the cup of blessing is drunk.

Wine, of course, was later drank as part of the inauguration of communion (during the Passover meal), which is also the advance celebration of the wine that we will drink in the Kingdom, as well as the commemoration of Jesus’ blood being shed for our forgiveness. It was in blessing God for the provision of wine that Jesus was recognised by his fellow travellers on the road to Emmaus. The sharing of bread and wine was how the early believers illustrated their walk (Acts 2:42). Communion was, and is, central to our Christian walk, the elements of communion point to the cross, but when we partake of those elements we are foreshadowing the great agape feast of the lamb, the wedding feast where the cup of blessing is drunk. And is it significant that on the day of Pentecost it is wine that the disciples are accused of being drunk on, a matter that Paul cross-references in Ephesians 5:18 with his “be filled with the spirit, rather than be drunk on wine.” Where the worldly mind saw exuberance as the product of wine, Paul saw that had to be the Spirit for the disciples to believe in Jesus, and that it was the pattern for believers’ going forward.

Water and wine flowing in abundance

So, here we have the significance of wine; but this first sign of Jesus combines both water and wine. So are there prophetic visions that combine the blessings of water and wine flowing in abundance?

Indeed, there are. Joel’s prophecy details an abundance of purifying water and wine in the messianic age, specifically Chapter 3: “In that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.” (Joel 3:18)

‘Asis’ - עסיס; is the Hebrew for wine and ‘mayim’ מים is water (cross-referenced in Hebrews 4:18 and Amos 9:13). My reading of this tells me that John’s interest in, or focus on, Jesus’ offer of life-giving water is a key sign that the report of his first miracle is written as a direct allusion to the prophetic words of Joel, and a theme that is returned in John 3:23, 4:1-15; 4:46; 5:7 and 7:38. Now it wasn’t just any water that Jesus used, but water that had been used to fill these six special stone jars. And so my understanding is that Jesus turning water into wine points, or alludes, to divine cleansing for Israel. Six stone jars of water for the Jewish purification rites can signify nothing else.

In addition, we are told that each jar held either two or three ‘metretas’, this was a measure of approximately 10 gallons. So here we have some 120-180 gallons of waters. That is a lot, and – once it is turned into wine – an awful lot! But I suggest that John, who is usually very precise, has a purpose in this description of ‘two or three’. Six jars multiplied by two ‘metretas’ comes to twelve, which is the number of tribes of Israel, as referenced in Matthew 19:20 and Revelation 21:12. Equally, six jars multiplied by three ‘metretas’ comes to eighteen: a very direct allusion to God’s gift of life or renewal, as referenced in Luke 13:11-16. Numbers held huge significance in 2nd Temple Judaism, as they do in Rabbinic Judaism today. The Hebrew word for life ‘chai’ – חי, – has the numeric value of 18.

So, Jesus’ use of (purification) water to produce wine signifies that he came to purify all of Israel and offer the gift of eternal life to the whole world. And that eternal life is one of abundance, of shalom peace, and one of joy, and is in fulfilment of the prophetic words given by God in the Scriptures.