John 2:10, commentary and pictures

At the beginning of his public ministry Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding gathering in Cana of Galilee attended with his newly made disciples. It was the custom to serve the good wine first and the inferior afterward, but after tasting the water made wine the ruler of the feast expressed glad surprise that the best had been kept until last. The drink thus provided was the pure unfermented juice of the grape, wholesome and refreshing, and gives no sanction for the use of fermented wine or intoxicating liquor. By gracing the feast with his presence he affirmed marriage as a divine and sacred institution to be restored and exalted, and sanctioned innocent social fellowship and happiness. The contrast teaches that the world offers its best first which then becomes bitter and disappointing, while the gifts of Jesus remain fresh and satisfying and his grace supplies beyond what is asked or thought.

Wedding Setting and Occasion

The saying belongs to the first miracle, performed at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee at the beginning of the public ministry. It was a family gathering among relatives of Joseph and Mary, where friends and kindred rejoiced together. Jesus attended in company with His newly made disciples.

He went there because many influential persons would be brought together. When His coming was known He was specially invited, and He graced the feast with His presence.

He had been separated from His mother through His baptism by John and His temptations in the wilderness. She now met Him as the same tender, dutiful son, yet changed, bearing marks of fierce conflict and evidence of His high mission in holy expression and gentle dignity. His companions addressed Him with reverence as Master and told her of wonderful things witnessed at His baptism and on other occasions, declaring Him the one Moses in the law and the prophets wrote of, Jesus of Nazareth the long-looked-for Messiah, to her great gladness.

Christ did not touch the water or approach the jars, but only told the servants to draw out and carry it to the governor of the feast. The miracle was not performed to satisfy His appetite or to answer a challenge.

Ruler's Remark Explained

The custom at feasts was to set forth the good wine at the beginning and then the inferior, worse wine after men had well drunk. Against that usual order, at Cana the best wine was kept until then, until last.

The ruler, or governor, of the feast tasted the water made wine and spoke to the bridegroom with glad surprise. He praised it as superior to the wine served first and remarked that the good, best wine had been kept until then, until late in the celebration. The wine he so praised was the pure, unfermented juice of the grape, fresh from the cluster, clarified and refined.

The bridegroom made no reply because he did not know where this wine had come from, and the ruler himself did not know its origin. The servants who had drawn it knew it was water changed by miracle into wine of the purest flavor.

The guests recognized the quality of the wine as better than what had been served earlier, and their remarks and inquiries about its quality prompted the servants to explain how it had been provided. This drew attention to Jesus and gave reason to ask how the water had been changed.

The miracle supplied enough for everyone at the feast, for the waterpots held more than the feast required. That abundance teaches that the provision of the Saviour's grace and righteousness is full, so that those who come to Him for heaven's bread, salvation's water, and salvation are supplied beyond what they ask or think.

Pure Unfermented Wine

The good wine kept until now was superior to the wine served first, and it was the pure, unfermented juice of the grape, fresh from the cluster, clarified and refined. It was a wholesome and refreshing drink, not wine made intoxicating by fermentation or adulteration, with not one particle of fermentation in it. Fresh unfermented grape juice is the safe way to use the fruit, and only such wine is good, for fermentation makes it harmful.

Christ did not make or endorse fermented drink, and the verse gives no sanction for the use of fermented wine or intoxicating liquor. He never by word or act sanctioned fermented wine, and to have provided what could tempt people, cloud reason, confuse the mind, becloud reason, benumb spiritual perception, and weaken the powers for God would have contradicted his teachings and example of self-denial and temperance. His miracle set an example of temperance by providing pure grape juice as a safe drink.

It was the same kind of wine he gave his disciples as a symbol of his own blood at the first Communion and that should be used there. As there was to be no leaven in the bread, there was to be no fermentation in the wine. The sacramental drink was designed to refresh the soul and give life, with nothing connected to it that ministers to evil or serves evil, for Christ never puts before anyone what would tempt to evil.

His provision was consistent with his use of unleavened bread and unfermented wine at the sacramental service. It was consistent with his instruction to the wife of Manoah to drink no wine nor strong drink and eat no unclean thing. It was consistent with his warning in the Old Testament that wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging, so he himself provided no such beverage.

Provided just after his long fast in the wilderness to break the power of appetite over man, which had led among other evils to the free use of intoxicating liquor, the miracle brought the taste into harmony with a healthful appetite. It aimed to restore perverted taste to health by leading those who tasted to recognize its superior quality. Only such unfermented wine has a place in the home, and all wine and liquor that can confuse the mind, cloud reason, benumb spiritual perception, and weaken the powers for God are to be refused by bringing the lower nature into subjection, as Christ by his self-denial and suffering breaks the power of appetite.

Approval of Marriage and Fellowship

By attending the wedding at Cana at the beginning of His public ministry, where friends and kindred rejoiced together, Jesus affirmed marriage as a divine and sacred institution He Himself had established when He gave Eve to Adam as a helpmeet and had blessed. Marriage joined with purity, holiness, truth and righteousness is a great blessing to the human family, and its covenant later served Him to illustrate important truths. By His presence and power He honored the marriage relation and ordained that men and women should be united in holy wedlock to rear families whose members, crowned with honor, shall be recognized as members of the family above. His presence there was a high endorsement of marriage as a sacred institution.

He did not come to forbid marriage or destroy family relationships and does not enforce celibacy on any class, but to restore, elevate, purify, ennoble and exalt it to its original sanctity. The miracle was not performed to satisfy His appetite or to answer a challenge, but to show that marriage is not forbidden by God. He looks with pleasure on the family relationship where sacred and unselfish love rules, and the family on earth is to be a symbol of the family in heaven, with God's grace in a Christian home transforming character so the church becomes active and living.

The sign shows His sympathy for people and His desire to minister to their happiness and bless the relationships of human life. He met the wedding party's need with generous provision and honored the joy of the marriage feast, for a solemn, joyful marriage feast was not displeasing to Him and innocent happiness pleased Him. The miracle helped break down Jewish prejudice and taught the disciples sympathy and humanity. His presence showed that it is right to gather for pleasant occasions, and by joining the mixed festal gathering without any shadow of worldly levity He thereby sanctioned the social gathering and innocent social fellowship and happiness. He gives His sanction to every gathering that is pure and lovely and of good report.

He used such occasions to meet people and open a way for His influence to reach all classes, not shunning ordinary social life. His attendance was a step in bringing people together across social divisions and treating them as members of one family. He welcomed people's happiness and often visited homes to help them set aside their cares and remember God's goodness and love, and wherever people were open to His message He taught them the way of salvation. His generous conduct and teaching gave people opportunity to know Him and to see the contrast between His life and the Pharisees' narrow, censorious, self-righteous bigotry, winning the hearts of those who met Him, though critics would accuse Him of worldly conformity. Yet His conduct gave no license to dissipation or worldly levity, and ministers err in invoking His attendance to justify theaters, parties and dancing, which are not thereby approved.

Symbolic Spiritual Meaning

The ruler's remark that the best had been kept until last sets forth the difference between what the world gives and what Christ gives, for the world puts forward its best pleasures and gifts at the first and then they decline and turn bitter and unsatisfying and disappointing. The gifts of Jesus, by contrast, remain fresh and satisfying to the end and increase the receiver's capacity for joy. In this sign the wine stands for the blood of Christ shed to cleanse and purify from sin, while the water stands for baptism into His death, and the ample quantity provided points to the ample means of salvation.

The abundance, more than the feast required, teaches that the provision of the Saviour's grace and righteousness is full and abundant. Those who come to Him for heaven's bread and for salvation and salvation's water are supplied beyond what they ask or think. Those who receive Christ's righteousness find an abundant supply of grace, and the receiving of more grace deepens their desire for it. The superior wine kept until last represents the marriage supper of the Lamb, with the objectionable features of the earthly feast removed.

The changing of ordinary water into the wine of heaven images Christ working through a mother's loving ministry to transform the common life and the common waters of life in the home into a heavenly blessing. By her ministry of love in close connection with Christ the home becomes a Bethel and a source of happiness, like an Eden of bliss. Her children may thus become a blessing and honor to her in this life and in the life to come. The same image of the good wine kept until the end describes a meeting whose later experience of joy and spiritual light surpasses the beginning.

Witness and Practical Guidance

The surprise over the quality of the wine kept until last made the miracle known, and the news spread through all that region even to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem it caused priests and elders to search with new interest the prophecies pointing to Christ, with intense anxiety to know the aim and mission of this unassuming Teacher who did what no other man had done. For the disciples it gave the first opportunity to acknowledge faith in Jesus and confirmed their faith as convincing testimony that He was the world's Redeemer. In many others it kindled hope that God had raised up a deliverer for Israel, and the display of His power encouraged the nobleman to seek His help for his sick son.

Reports of the miracle, carried by people returning from the Passover, prepared the way for His cordial reception and welcome in Galilee. That earlier work helped the people there receive Him and His work when He came among them.

The chapter teaches true health reform and temperance, to be learned and taught by precept and by quiet, consistent example, with instruction that arouses the intellect and conscience. Duty requires living in harmony with the laws of health and teaching others the better way by line upon line education. That education keeps health and temperance fresh before professed believers, stirs up nearly every family, and arouses conscience to practice the principles of true reform. God requires temperance in all things, and without practicing true temperance no one can be susceptible to the sanctifying influence of the truth.

The miracle shows Him as the heavenly Provider of all foods who provides for human needs and supplies what is needed for a particular occasion. He will not leave His people in ignorance but will teach and guide them in preparing the best foods and the best provision for different times and occasions. The keeping of the best provision until it is needed illustrates that the Lord can reserve what is needed until the time of need. He makes the food business one of His own instrumentalities to supply human necessity.

His presence at the marriage feast honors the marriage ceremony and shows His full sympathy with pure family joy. He is in harmony with marriage as a blessed institution and gives His sanction to every gathering that is pure and lovely and of good report. He did not come to forbid marriage or destroy family relationships, but to restore, elevate, purify, ennoble, and exalt it to its original sanctity. He enforces celibacy on no class, but looks with pleasure on the family relationship where sacred and unselfish love rules. The family on earth is to be a symbol of the family in heaven, and God's grace in a Christian home transforms character so that the church becomes active and living.