Sunday, September 16, 2012

Jesus turns water to wine (John 2)


Jesus is now in Galilee and goes to a wedding with his mother.  They run out of wine and Mary relays this news to Jesus.  Jesus is at first reluctant to do anything because "my hour has not yet come".  Mary's response seem to put Jesus on the spot and she says to the others to do whatever he suggests.

He requests several stone water jars to be filled with water.  They draw from it and the water has now been turned to wine.  The banquet master then makes a comment that the better wine is being served second and not first, unlike the usual custom.

There are various statements and passages in the Bible that suggest that all alcohol is un-Christian.  There are many examples in the Bible where alcohol was used improperly and led to problems.  I have even heard that people say that when the Bible refers to wine, it is actually "grape-juice".  I think neither view can be supported based on a reasonable reading of this passage.  If the wine being served second was better than the first, this strongly implies that the wine contained alcohol since alcohol dulls one's ability to taste.  Thus, Jesus made alcoholic wine.

Temperance aside, this story at the beginning of Jesus' ministry parallels another important story at the end where Jesus proclaims that the bread and wine at the Last Supper represent his body and blood.

We can also speculate about Mary's prompting of Jesus.  Perhaps Jesus needed a little pushing to begin the public phase of the ministry.  Or perhaps, Mary was in a jam and knew that Jesus would not disobey his mother.

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