RELIGION AND THEOLOGY

Jesus Christ: Miracle of Water into Wine

Jesus Christ: Miracle of Water into Wine

Introduction

To define miracle literally, it is a supernatural occurrence or event executed by a divine entity, saint, miracle worker or a religious leader. In terms of common language, any event that is highly improbable, that benefits someone but cannot be explained using non-supernatural methods is known as a miracle.

Setting

This miracle performed by Jesus Christ was set at a wedding. During the wedding taking place at Cana, Mary, mother of Jesus, was serving food and wine to guests when she realized that there was not enough wine remaining to run the course of the event. Citing fear of guests not having wine, she hurriedly came in and informed about the shortage. Jesus, as a child, was present at the wedding along with His disciples. Being His mother, Mary was aware of her child's supernatural ability to perform miracles. She asked Him if he could perform a miracle and eliminate the shortage of wine. To this, Jesus replied surprisingly as to why His mother was asking such a thing of him.

Jesus' Miracle: Water into Wine

During the time of his ministry, Jesus performed numerous miracles for the people. Wherever He went, people gathered around asking Him, and at times hoping He would perform a miracle. Over a period of time, it was these very miracles He performed that made people realize He was a Messiah for the people. However, even before he began performing miracles changing people's lives, He grew up under the watchful eyes of His mother. It was at a wedding in Cana where matters took a turn for the positive. It was at this wedding that Jesus performed his first miracle of transforming water into the finest wine in the land.

The story of this miracle of Jesus is present in John2:1-12. This miracle is not found in any of the other gospels in the bible. This must be kept in mind by the reader and should be considered to fully understand the story. Why would John include this story when the other writers did not? It's important to remember that John's gospel is much different than the others. He did not write his gospel to tell of what happened in Jesus' life, but so that readers would “believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31). Therefore, the reader should understand as they read this story that John included it not to explain what happened, but to explain who Jesus is.

John begins the story with the wedding, mentioning that Jesus' mother was present at the time of the miracle, along with Jesus and His disciples. Jesus' mother becomes worried after noticing the wine was gone and asks Jesus for help. This tells the reader a couple things. Although John does not specifically say who was getting married, it seems the couple were friends or maybe relatives of Mary and that Mary was lending a hand in the arrangement, serving wine and food to ...