There was a popular religious movement around the time of the founding of our country called Deism. Deism was opposed to Christianity’s personal idea of God. They believed that God created the world, but that he wound it up like a clock and then left it to attend to other things. But that is a god who is too small to be God.
Our God lives and he reigns. He is so personal he promises to live within us if we only ask him. He is so great he is involved in every detail of the ongoing process of life upon the earth. He designs every snowflake. He calls for the storm and then commands it to be still. He whistles to the birds, calling them to their winter home. He holds the world together with his loving and powerful hands. He knows your name and he knows your need. This is the mighty God we serve.
The second point I would like to make about this story is that: Miracles happen when we understand that Jesus transforms our everyday experiences. Jesus did not come to give us information; he came to give us a transformation. He changes things. He has a way of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. He did not come to bring new ideas; he came to make new people. The water did not just appear to be wine; it was transformed into wine — the best of wine at that. Some people have trouble believing this kind of miracle, but it is only because they do not understand the kind of God we have.
Actually, turning water into wine is something that God does every day. As I was traveling in Minnesota recently, I passed several vineyards. I could literally look out the window and see God changing water into wine. The rain falls on the ground, and as the vine draws the water up to the branches, it is transformed into the juice of the grape. When that juice goes through the natural process of fermentation it will become some of the finest wine anyone ever tasted. All because of God’s great creation!
Our God is in the transformation business. The world wants us to get a new hairdo or a new wardrobe. Society wants us to get a better job or learn a new skill. People want to lose weight or get a face lift. But Jesus does not want to change your looks, he wants to change your heart. He doesn’t want to give you a new suit; he wants to make you a new person. He does not want to rearrange you; he wants to transform you. You may want to look better on the outside, and he wants to make you new on the inside. And when that transformation takes place, it will show on the outside.
When Jesus changed the water into wine, he did not just change the color and fool the people’s taste buds — he actually changed the water into wine. When the water was turned to wine, the shame of the bridal family was turned to joy. The mood of the party was transformed.
And Jesus’ disciples were transformed. The Bible says, “He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.”
Here is what Jesus really came to do. He came to transform people. Jewish custom was focused on the importance of being ceremonially clean. The water jars were mostly empty because each guest had been given water to wash their feet and hands as they arrived, but this was not so much for cleanliness as it was for ritual purity. The jars of water were there in order to fulfill the Old Testament requirements for ceremonial washing. In John’s way of mixing events with metaphor, the jars represented the Old Testament law and its inability to make a person truly clean. When Jesus came into contact with these jars used in ritual cleansing, he transformed their contents. He filled the jars with his new wine. The deadness of the Old Testament law was made alive with the wine of the new covenant that Jesus came to bring. Wine is the symbol of God’s grace that comes into our lives undeserved, and transforms us from the inside out. He says, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5).
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