"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
The wedding at Cana is the site of the very first miracle recorded in Jesus' ministry. I've often wondered why this was his first miracle. I mean, turning water into wine? Couldn't he have healed someone? What about driving out some demons? Why was this the way in which Christ decided to manifest his glory in order that his disciples would believe in him? What is Jesus saying to us through this story?
On the surface it's simple, Jesus is showing us that it's ok to drink wine. :)
I'm kidding.
Actually what I see in this passage is so comforting, so amazing, that it "puts more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound" (Ps 4:7)
Jesus is invited to a wedding. He's probably just hanging out, having a good time, enjoying his new disciples that he's just called. His family is there, or at least his mother is. There is wine, there is probably dancing.
In the middle of this wedding, something interesting happens.
Jesus' mother asks him to turn some water into wine. Up until this point, Jesus had not performed any miracles, so it's a little odd that Mary would ask her son to do such a thing, but he does it anyway.
So the servants do what Jesus tells them to do and they take the new wine to the master of the feast. He is astonished. Of course the wine was good, Jesus made it, but he doesn't know that. He gives credit to the bridegroom.
He calls the bridegroom and tells 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." The master of the feast means no slight toward Jesus, John even says he didn't know where the wine came from. But what the master says is true, just not of the bridegroom of that wedding. John includes this miracle because its really about another bridegroom. A bridegroom that was invited to the wedding (v. 1) but more deeply was the entire reason the wedding was taking place.
Jesus is the true bridegroom.
What a comforting thought that Jesus, the true bridegroom, is saving the best for last. The end of the party is better, far better, than the beginning. Jesus isn't calling us to have "Our Best Life Now," he's calling us to follow him. He's calling us to believe in him. He's calling us to trust him, to serve him, to obey him. He's calling us to join in the wedding feast of the lamb where there will be wine and where the best, the new heavens and the new earth, will be saved for last.
As our true bridegroom, Christ has done all that is needed for us to partake in his marriage. He made water into wine, sorrow into gladness, fear into hope, darkness into light, weeping into laughing, sadness into joy, death into life. It is our duty to look at him and behold his glory. He's the only bridegroom who can fully satisfy. He's the only one whose supply never depletes but ever increases.
And he's inviting us to the wedding supper of the lamb.
Look to Christ, see his glory manifested and like the disciples before you, believe in him.