John 2:6. Six stone water jars stood there, in keeping with the Jewish custom of purification; each of these jars held two to three measures.
After Mary had said to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you,’ I too told them to fill the six stone water jars completely with water. These jars were intended for the purification of the Jews; however, the Nazarenes and the people of Cana no longer attached much importance to it. The jars therefore stood there more for show than for their intended use, and held two to three measures.
John 2:7. Jesus says, ‘Fill the jars with water!’ And they filled them to the brim.
The servants did so immediately, though rather in the belief that the newly arrived guest might wish to wash and purify himself according to the old custom. The guest entered and was seated at the table without first having washed his hands. This strikes the servants, and they asked one another, ‘Why did we have to fill these heavy jars with water? This guest makes no use of it, and it has caused us unnecessary work!’ I then say to them, ‘Why did you not ask beforehand, since you now grumble about this work? Did you not hear what Mary said to Me, namely, that the guests have no more wine? Although My time has not yet fully come, either according to the customary order or spiritually, I have nevertheless transformed the water in the jars into wine, not by some magic, but solely by the power of God that is in Me, in order to reveal the glory of Him whom they say is their God, yet whom they have never recognized.’
John 2:8. Jesus says further to the servants, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast!’ The servants did so immediately.
‘Now take a full cup and bring it first to the steward of the feast (the cook) to taste; he is to give his judgment on it.’ The servants, utterly astonished at this transformation of the water, immediately bring the wine to the cook to taste.
John 2:9. When the steward of the feast tasted the wine that had been water, and, unlike the servants, did not know where it came from, he calls the bridegroom.
The cook opens his eyes wide, immediately has the bridegroom come to him, and says, ‘You evidently know nothing of the customary order yet!
John 2:10. And he says to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and only the poorer wine once the guests have become drunk; but you have kept the good wine until now!’
‘Does not everyone serve the guests the good wine first, and only a poorer wine once they have become somewhat drunk and their palates are less sensitive? But you do just the opposite!’
The bridegroom replied, ‘You speak like a blind man about color! Look, this wine was never pressed anywhere on earth, but came to our table from the heavens, as manna once did. That is why it must of course be better than any wine found anywhere on earth!’
The cook says, ‘Do you take me for a fool, or are you one yourself? How can wine come to your table from the heavens? Jehovah Himself, or at least His servant Moses, would have to be sitting at the table!’
But the bridegroom answered, ‘Come and see it all for yourself!’
The cook immediately goes with the bridegroom into the dining hall and looks at the six jars, which were full of the finest wine. When he had thus convinced himself of the miracle, he says, ‘Lord, forgive me my sins! Only God can do such a thing, and God must be here among us! For such a thing is impossible for any human being.’
The wine was now served to the guests. When they tasted it, they all said, ‘Such wine is not pressed in our lands! This is truly wine from heaven. Honor to Him to whom God has given such power!’
They then drank a toast of good fortune and welcome to Me and to the newly arrived guest, Thomas.
All who were present at this wedding now fully believed that I was without any doubt the promised Messiah.
But Peter said to Me in secret, ‘Lord, let me go away again! For You are Jehovah Himself, as Your servant David prophesied of You in his psalms; but I am a poor sinner and utterly unworthy of You!’
I say to him, ‘If you consider yourself unworthy to walk at My side, whom do you consider worthy? Look, I have not come to the strong, if there are any anywhere, but only to the weak and the sick. Whoever is healthy has no need of the physician; only the sick and the weak need him. So remain with Me in good heart, for I have long since forgiven you your sins. And even if you sin at My side, I will forgive you that as well. For you are to be perfected, not in your strength, but in your weakness, through which you have recognized Me and are already a rock in faith, by grace from above alone!’
At this teaching of Mine, tears come to Peter’s eyes, and he says with great fervor, ‘Lord, even if everyone should forsake You, I will still not forsake You; for Your holy words are truth and life!’
Peter takes the cup and says, ‘Hail to you, Israel, and threefold hail to us! For we are witnesses to the fulfilled promise: God has visited His people. What was hard to believe has now been fulfilled before our senses! We no longer need to cry from the depths to the heights, for the height of heights has come down to us into the depth of depths of our misery! Therefore all honor to Him who is among us and has given us this wine through His power and grace, so that we may believe in Him and from now on give glory to God in Him!’ Then Peter drinks, and they all drink to him and say, ‘This is a true man.’
But I say rather privately to Peter, ‘Your flesh has not given you this; the Father who is in Me has revealed it to your spirit. But from now on, still hold back your voice; a time will come when you are to cry out so that the whole world may hear you.’ Quiet then returned among the guests. Through this deed they now all believed in Me and saw in Me the true Messiah, who had come to free them from all their enemies.
John 2:11. This is the first sign that Jesus performed; it happened in Cana in Galilee, and He revealed His glory. His disciples now believed firmly in Him.
This was also the first extraordinary sign that I had performed before the eyes of many at the beginning of the great work of redemption. In this sign I showed, though in a veiled way, the great work that was to follow; yet not one person in the entire company understood it. For just as My fasting in the wilderness foreshadowed the persecution that I suffered in Jerusalem at the hands of the temple, and John’s baptism My death on the cross, so this wedding foreshadowed My resurrection. The sign became a prefiguration of the rebirth of the spirit into eternal life.
For just as I transformed the water into wine, so too will the naturally sensory aspect of a human being be transformed into spirit through the word from My mouth, if he lives according to it.
Everyone should also follow precisely in his heart the advice Mary gave the servants when she said, ‘Do whatever He tells you!’ Then I will also do for everyone what I did in Cana in Galilee, namely, a true sign by and from which everyone who lives according to My word will now easily recognize within himself the rebirth of the spirit.