The first miracle of Jesus was the famous water into wine. It was in Cana, just outside His boyhood home of Nazareth in John 2. Weddings in those days were multi-day celebrations and this would have been quite embarrassing for the groom. Mary prods Jesus to do something and the rest is history.

Let's talk about the 120-180 gallons of top-quality wine Jesus created from water. We don't know when during the wedding the wine ran out. You'd have to think it was some time into the event. Cana was a tiny town, most commentaries peg the attendance at about 100 at most. Were there two days to go in the festivities? Was that a gallon a day each for all the attendees? This is all speculation but every way I look at it, this much wine was excessive. This seems to be a miracle of luxury, similar to the loaves, and fishes, excessive, or the oil for the widow by Elijah, all over the top creative miracles.

Why did this have the be "the best wine? The master of ceremonies is shocked by the quality. "Hey, groom, what are you doing serving the best, most expensive wine at the end of the feast?" It's not enough for Jesus to create something out of nothing, He has to go over the top. Apparently cheap wine is not in the cellar.

I recently learned wine is 85+% water, the rest is alcohol and sugar from the grape fermentation, and a few compounds that give you the flavor. The pots were filled to the brim with water and in the time He says, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies,” the water was transformed. What took years, planting a vineyard, growing grapes, and making wine were done in a moment by His word.

There is a beautiful hidden allegory in the vessels used. The primary purpose of these large stone waterpots was for washing rituals, to become spiritually clean or holy, rather than physically clean. Jesus took a manmade tradition of using water to wash away inward sin and replaced it with His blood, depicted as wine at the Last Supper.

There's more, Jesus describes Himself as living water to the woman at the well. On the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7, thousands of gallons of water were poured out which prompts Jesus to speak of rivers of living waters by the Spirit flowing out of the believer. Man-made purification vessels are no match for the abundant supply of grace that flows like a river from the Master of joy.