January 8
Bible Reading: John 2:1-12
John 2:6-11, “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.”
We have in this chapter the first of John’s recorded miracles. Recalling the gospel’s purpose statement (John 20:30-31), this miracle worked to unveil the truth about Jesus’ divinity! Jesus turned water to wine and did it all in an instant. There is an entire field of education, called “viticulture,” devoted to the study of how to prepare the best wine. Not long after this event, in about 65 A.D., the Roman writer Columella produced a detailed work (a twelve-volume text) on Roman viticulture called De Re Rustica. And even today, Viticulture is a field of study at major universities. It takes a lot to prepare excellent wine—study, time, energy, etc. Grape vines need approximately 1300–1500 hours of sunshine and about 27 inches of rainfall to develop. The process, from beginning to end, takes many months.
Jesus took ordinary water and made extraordinary wine out of it. He didn’t need soil, vines, grapes, rain, harvest, preparation, etc. He skipped all the steps and created superb wine instantaneously. The question of the propriety of Jesus turning water into wine sometimes clouds the issue when it comes to the miracle He performed. He was a man, but no ordinary man—He was and is “the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31)—the miracle of the wine revealed the truth about who He is!
The disciples witnessed the miracle and believed (John 2:11). He had transformed ordinary water into extraordinary wine. They were ordinary men, but He would work to transform them too. Jesus, who “does all things well” (Mark 7:37), has the power, through His creative and transforming influence, to take ordinary men and women and make something extraordinary of their lives (Ephesians 2:10). He can do the same in you! He has the power to transform!
If Jesus could transform ordinary water into extraordinary wine, imagine what He can do in you!
CHRIST, WHOSE GLORY FILLS THE SKIES
Christ, whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true and only Light,
Sun of righteousness, arise,
triumph o’er the shade of night;
Day-spring from on high, be near;
Day-star, in my heart appear.
Dark and cheerless is the morn
unaccompanied by Thee;
joyless is the day’s return,
till Thy mercy’s beams I see,
till they inward light impart,
glad my eyes, and warm my heart.
Visit then this soul of mine,
pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
fill me, radiancy divine,
scatter all my unbelief;
more and more Thyself display,
shining to the perfect day.
LookingtoJesus 