Jesus says to them, Fill the water-vessels with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
Six stone jars stood in that house at Cana for the Jewish rites of washing, and they were empty when the wine ran out. His command is not for wine but for water. Everything He does next depends on servants who obey.
The jars belonged to Israel's washing rites. One writer weighs what those rites could and could not do.
The Jewish system was a witness of defilement, and its ordinances could do no more than make people clean on the outside. This was human. Jesus was here for divine purposes, then in testimony, by and by in power.
The wine was not the only thing missing in that house.
Six water jars were there, witnesses to an outward and unprofitable purifying. Yet the jars were as empty as the wine bottles. But He was there — the Creator, full of love and pity for His needy creatures, to supply the lack and more besides.
Christ supplies the power; He looks for obedience. The servants did what He said, and they did it gladly.
He only looked for a willing obedience to His word; then He would work... He said, "Fill the jars with water," and they filled them up to the brim. No doubts nor questions entered their minds. It was enough that He commanded, and they obeyed with enthusiasm. This willing and unquestioning obedience is essential for blessing. How often He would have filled us with all joy and peace in believing, but we did not trust Him enough to simply obey His word.
One writer works out how much these jars held, and why the brim matters.
John, who was present, tells us they were of stone. He also gives their size: two or three measures each when full. The whole has been reckoned at about one hundred and twenty-six gallons. The wine was used up, and the water jars partly if not entirely empty. That was the state of things when the Lord spoke to the servants... "And they filled them up to the brim." Clearly there was nothing in them now but water, and no room for anything else.
The full measure matches the One who set it. And obedience brought the servants into His confidence.
That was the measure, blessed word! It is often repeated in various connections. But no wonder, since it comes from One in whom the fullness itself was pleased to dwell (Col. 1). And who but Himself could give out that fullness? ... Those who do His will are let into the secret of their Lord's mind.
Several writers see meaning in the water itself, and in the number of the jars.
The number now may be that of discipline. We know God will in fact use it to bring His people under the power of His word. His word is His means of purification. "The washing of water" is "by the Word" (Eph. 5:26).
The sequence is not accidental.
Notice the order: the water first and then the wine — holiness and joy, separation to God, and then power in the Spirit. To think of wine first would be folly, a denial of the truth. "Fill the jars with water" was the word, and the servants showed their obedience by filling to the brim... The way to real joy, to what God calls joy, is through sanctification — the Lord Himself being their righteousness.
One writer turns the command on those who teach and serve others.
We shall not be able to fill them with water unless we are first filled with the water of the Word ourselves. If we read worthless books, we must not be surprised when our children turn to folly... Let us, then, be like the servants of John 2, who filled the pots to the brim and then brought them to Jesus. We cannot change the water into wine, nor could they. We must do what they did — we must bring them to Jesus; and that necessitates prayer.
- Empty — The washing jars stood there useless and empty. They picture a religion that could only clean the outside. That lack was where the miracle began.
- Fill — Christ asked for nothing clever, only water. The servants obeyed at once. Writers call such unquestioning obedience the condition for blessing.
- Brim — Filled to the top, the jars held water and nothing else. There was no room for a substitute, and no explanation left but the power of the One giving orders.
- Water then wine — The order is deliberate: cleansing before gladness. Writers link the water to the word of God that purifies, and warn that wanting the wine first is folly.
- Bring — We cannot turn water into wine, and neither could the servants. We can fill the vessel, bring it to Him, and pray.
And he says to them, Draw out now, and carry [it] to the feast-master. And they carried [it].
The servants filled stone jars with water, carried it out at His word, and what reached the table was wine. Who was this Guest at a village wedding, and why did He put the miracle in the hands of the lowest workers?
The whole event turns on two short orders. One writer follows what was in the jars at each step.
The wine was gone, and the water pots were partly if not completely empty. That was the state of things when the Lord spoke to the servants. He gave them just two commands. First, "Fill the jars with water." "And they filled them up to the brim." Clearly there was nothing in them now but water, and no room for anything else. The next command was, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." The servants obeyed. "So they took it," writes the Apostle. The miracle was done. The water had become wine... The Creator was present, and had made water become wine.
Carrying plain water to the man in charge of the feast could have looked absurd. Yet the record shows no hesitation.
He only looked for a willing obedience to His word; then He would work, and these servants... were most admirable in their obedience. No doubts or questions entered their minds. It was enough that He commanded, and they obeyed with enthusiasm. This willing and unquestioning obedience is an indispensable condition for blessing.
The verse ends with the servants carrying what they drew. The next verse says they knew where the wine came from. Commentators tie that knowledge to their obedience.
"Now draw some out and take it" — another word of power and grace. "The servants who had drawn the water knew." Those who do His will are let into the secret of their Lord's mind.
The guests with status missed what the working staff knew. One writer sees a pattern in that.
It is the servants, and only the servants, whom the Lord brings into connection with Himself. They are in His secrets, while even the master of the feast knows nothing about them... It was the servants whom He brought nearest to Him in the whole scene. And so with us. Jesus, the Lord of glory, the Heir of all things, was a Servant here. He came "not to be served but to serve," and those who are humblest in service are still cast nearest to Him. In the day when He gives the true wine of the kingdom, His servants who have served Him will, as here, hand out the joy under Him, and be marked out as in the secret of His glory.
The wine did not appear out of nowhere. It came from jars that stood there for the washings the Jewish people practised. One commentator finds meaning in that order.
The way the Lord takes to supply the good wine is surely significant. He causes the empty water pots of purification to be filled, and from these water pots the wine is drawn out. Does this not tell us, in a symbol, that the happiness of men will only be secured when holiness is maintained?
The Lord sent the drink to the man in charge of the feast. That put the result in front of a witness who had no idea what had happened.
The servants and the master of the feast became witnesses no one could refute about the work Christ did. So did the bridegroom. For the moment he got the credit for reversing man's way. Instead of serving the worse wine after people have drunk freely, he had kept the good wine till last.
One writer hears in this command a preview of the millennium, the coming age of unhindered joy on earth.
The marriage scene of Cana in Galilee also shows the way our Lord acts in millennial blessing. The water is turned into wine, and every water pot is filled to the brim. What a word that will be! Joy will be unhindered all around Him, He will know it in full, and He Himself will be its cause and source. Then He says, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast."
That reversal is offered as a test of where a person looks for happiness.
Worldly joy diminishes. The astonished master of the feast at the marriage of Cana had to admit: every man serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poorer wine. The quality of the wine gets worse. By contrast, the joy that the Lord Jesus gives increases more and more.
- Command. Two short orders — fill, then draw and carry — and between them the Creator turned the water into wine.
- Obedience. The servants carried water to the head table without objection. Commentators call such obedience a condition for blessing.
- Secret. Those who did His will knew where the wine came from. The master of the feast did not.
- Order. The servants filled the purification jars first, and the wine came out of them. Holiness comes before happiness.
- Proof. The people He sent the wine to became witnesses no one could contradict. His good wine is the wine kept till last.
But when the feast-master had tasted the water which had been made wine (and knew not whence it was, but the servants knew who drew the water), the feast-master calls the bridegroom,
The man in charge of the meal tastes the wine and cannot tell its source. John stops to tell us who knew and who did not, and that gap carries much of the meaning of the sign.
Very few people knew what had happened. Nobody with status at that wedding was among them.
He makes the water wine. He supplies the table as the divine Lord, or Creator, of the feast. But the governor of the feast knew nothing of this. The bridegroom knew nothing of it. The guests knew nothing of it. The mother was not in the secret, and did not see it. It was only the servants who had this secret among them, and the disciples who had this display of glory made to them.
Notice the order here. The servants obey first, and knowledge follows.
"Draw out now, and carry" — another word of power and grace. "The servants who had drawn the water knew." Those who do His will are let into the secret of their Lord's mind.
Another writer turns this into a lesson for us today.
The governor of the feast learns the value of the good wine before he understands where it came from. But the servants who drew the water knew... This has valuable lessons for us today. We are to be "servants" in actual practice, fully obeying the word of God, and so knowing in reality the power and grace of the Lord Jesus. The word becomes "wine," stimulating and gladdening the heart. Notice too that the wine is not merely called "the best wine" but "the good wine," for no other can compare with it in any degree.
The one man who had no idea where the wine came from is exactly the man whose verdict counts.
In the first miracle or sign that Jesus did in our Gospel, we see the power of the Creator at work on lifeless matter... The water is changed into wine so completely that colour, taste and smell announce the fact. The governor of the feast gives powerful testimony to the miracle without knowing what he is saying. Who but the Creator can change the nature of things?
Between them, the staff and the head steward close off every escape route for doubt.
He said, "Fill the pots with water." And this was done to the brim; then He told them, "Draw out now and carry it to the master of the feast." So the servants and the master of the feast became the witnesses who could not be refuted for the work Christ did.
The wording of the verse raises a question. Commentators answer it in different ways, and one writer sets out both options.
When was the miracle worked? Was it while the water was in the stone jars? Or was it worked between the servants drawing out the water and that water reaching the ruler of the feast?... The words in verse 9, "the servants who had drawn the water knew," seem to suggest this: they drew water out of the jars, and it became wine before it reached the ruler of the feast. Writers have put forward both opinions, so we mention them. Whichever it was, the miracle remains the same — water became wine. The jars were filled to the brim. And it was just before Passover, so there could have been no ripe grapes to squeeze into the vessels. Both facts rule out any thought or possibility of a trick. It was not even like multiplying something already there. It was producing what had not existed before.
The master of the feast turns to the bridegroom. By any normal reckoning, the host is responsible for the wine. But he is thanking the wrong man.
The governor sends to the bridegroom who had invited them, as though he were the one. But it was Jesus who provided the joy of the place. He is still keeping "the good wine" for His people until the last — until all other joy is over. Jesus was the true Bridegroom.
The wine came from water kept for washing, and that is part of what the sign means.
He turned the water of purification into the wine of rejoicing. This was the beginning of His miracles or signs, and as a sign it looked on to the final result of His work. There can be no lasting gladness except on the basis of a purification that He brings about. One day the marriage day will come for a cleansed Israel. The gladness then will be the best of all. The "good wine" is kept until that day.
- Hidden. The master of the feast tasted real wine but could not trace it. The source of the blessing stayed hidden from everyone at the top table.
- Known. The servants knew because they had obeyed — those who do His will are let into the secret of His mind.
- Proved. The man who did not know became the strongest witness. Without meaning to, he showed that only the Creator can change the nature of things.
- Misplaced. Thanks went to the bridegroom, but Jesus supplied the joy, and He is still keeping the good wine until the last.
- Purified. The wine came out of jars meant for washing. Lasting gladness rests on a purification He Himself brings about.
and says to him, Every man sets on first the good wine, and when [men] have well drunk, then the inferior; thou hast kept the good wine till now.
The master of the feast tastes what had been water and praises the wrong man for it. His remark exposes how the world runs its feasts — and, without his knowing it, how Christ runs His.
The steward states the ordinary rule of hosting: serve the best first, and bring out the cheaper wine later.
If this steward did not know where the good wine had come from, he knew the ways of men and the character of the world. "Everyone," he said, "serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine." And so it is — "the grass withers, the flower fades." Such is man: he begins in hope and ends in disappointment. How gloomy the words are: "then the poor wine." It is a sad thing for those who have no resources or hopes beyond their own plans and schemes. Those plans stop at the world and its desires, and they all pass away.
The steward can taste quality, but he cannot account for it.
There were two mysteries here for the master of the feast. He did not know where the wine came from. He did not know how the bridegroom had kept the good wine until now. The finger of God was there — no, God Himself. Who but He could have done this? And to keep the good wine until the last is not man's way at all; with him, everything ends when the wine runs out. Man's joy passes away very quickly.
The compliment goes to the bridegroom, who had nothing to do with it. Only the servants could explain it, and what gave them that knowledge was obedience.
The master of the feast learns the value of the good wine before he understands its origin; but the servants who drew the water knew... This has valuable lessons for us now. We are to be "servants" in actual practice, fully obeying the word of God. Then we know in reality the power and grace of the Lord Jesus. The word becomes "wine," stirring and gladdening the heart. Notice too that the wine is not merely called "the best wine," but "the good wine." No other can compare with it in any measure.
Jesus arrived as an invited guest. By the end He is supplying the table, so the steward's praise of the bridegroom lands on Him instead.
Jesus had been invited to this marriage in Cana as a guest; but by the end of it He becomes the host, providing and handing out the wine... The steward sends to the bridegroom who had invited them, as though he were the one. But it was Jesus who provided the joy of the place. And it is He who is still keeping "the good wine" for His people until the last — until all other joy is over. Jesus was the true Bridegroom.
The world's wine gets worse; what Christ gives moves the other way. Believers find this in their own experience of joy.
The joy we get from mere human things runs out. So does the joy we get from God's providential dealings in our favour. But He gives the true joy in fellowship with Himself. We misuse God's natural gifts, so the wine runs out. The Lord keeps the good wine, and He gives it at His own right time. In fellowship with Him we experience it. We often say, "You have kept the good wine until now." We keep finding it so, in practice, along our path here.
The reversal points beyond this wedding to a day still ahead.
So Jesus will do on the richest scale in the day that is coming. He will reverse the sorrowful history of man. The wine will not fail when He reigns. There will be joy for God and man in happy fellowship together... In that day, too, He will be the Bridegroom and the Master of the feast. The joy of that day will have its root in the glory of His Person. It will also have its root in the depth of that work of humiliation He already carried out on the cross. There will be no secrets then. It will not only be the servants who know, but everyone, from the least to the greatest.
- The rule — the world serves its best first and its worst last; man begins in hope and ends in disappointment.
- The reversal — keeping the good wine for last is not man's way. Christ overturns the order, and His joy grows instead of fading.
- The secret — the steward tasted the wine but never traced it. Only the servants who obeyed and drew the water knew its source.
- The Host — the bridegroom took the credit, but Jesus supplied the joy. He is still keeping the good wine for His people until all other joy is over.
- The day — a village wedding points on to a feast where the wine will not fail, and where everyone, from least to greatest, will know.
This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
Jesus was at a wedding in Cana when the wine ran out, and He turned water into wine. John says what it was for, and that raises three questions: what a sign is, whose glory it showed, and what it did to the disciples' faith.
John does not just record a wonder. He uses a word that points past the act to its meaning.
The whole incident is called a "sign" (verse 11), and a sign is a natural or material fact with a spiritual meaning.
That word is John's own, and it tells us what the miracles did for the faith of those who saw them.
"Signs" — John regularly uses this word in his own comments, while the records always show the Lord using "works"… Doesn't Luke 11:29 agree exactly with the way this Gospel usually presents miracles? They are worked to confirm the real faith, or to raise the shallow faith, of people who are already disciples, as in this passage.
The water did not just improve. Its nature changed, and only one Person can do that.
In the first miracle or sign that Jesus did in our Gospel, we see the power of the Creator at work on lifeless matter… The water changes so completely into wine that its colour, taste and smell prove it… Who but the Creator can change the nature of things? And John comments briefly and clearly: "This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory" — the glory or character of the Only Begotten of the Father (chapter 1:14).
That glory belongs to the Father's only Son. Others in Scripture worked miracles too, and the difference is the point of this verse.
Others, in ancient times, had worked miracles, and even raised the dead to life. But they said their power came from God being with them. They said they acted for His glory, to show that there was a God in Israel. Jesus, by His miracles, showed His own glory.
The water He used was water for purification. What He made of it shows where His whole work leads.
He turned the water of purification into the wine of rejoicing. This was the beginning of His miracles or signs, and as a sign it pointed on to the final result of His work. There can be no lasting gladness except on the basis of a purification that He brings about… This sign, showing His glory, confirmed the faith of His disciples, and may well confirm ours.
Another writer sees in the wine a picture of joy in a coming age, and finds a lesson in the order the wine was served.
On the occasion of the wedding in Cana, the Lord turns water into wine, a picture of the joy He will give in the Millennium. But the principle applies already: the joy that the world gives diminishes — the good wine is served first. But the joy that the Lord gives increases — the good wine is served last. On a practical note: which joy do you and I seek?
The couple were poor. His glory came out in kindness to people who had run short.
This couple who invited Jesus to their marriage were not great or rich. They had no wine, which suggests they were very poor. But Jesus was the Friend of the poor, as He is to this day. He showed His glory by caring for them in their need, and He raised the joy of their marriage day to a level they could not have known if He had not been there.
John calls them disciples before the miracle, and says they believed after it. That is not a contradiction.
Some use John 2:11 very foolishly, to prove that the disciples were disciples before they believed. Such a writer would do well to look at Hebrews 11:8-9, 17, and ask himself whether it is therefore true that Abraham had faith before he had faith. Disciples may have their faith exercised again and again. (See John 2:22.)
Real faith is exercised again and again, and each sight of His glory confirms it.
- Sign — The miracle is a real, physical fact with a spiritual meaning. John never lets the wonder stand alone.
- Glory — The sign shows Himself. Only the Creator can change the nature of a thing, and He showed His own glory, not power lent to a servant.
- Purification first — He turned the water of purification into the wine of joy. Lasting gladness rests on a cleansing He brings about.
- The best kept last — The world serves its good wine first, and that joy fades. The joy the Lord gives increases.
- Faith grows — They were disciples already, and they believed again. Each showing of His glory confirms real faith.