Turning water into wine
Jesus, his mother and his disciples were invited to a wedding. Wedding feasts lasted 7 days, and everyone in the village was invited. No wonder the wine ran out.
Jesus asked for 6 large vessels of water. As the guests drank, the water became wine.
The symbolism of the miracle would have astounded first century Jews. The Jewish scriptures described the Kingdom of God – the new age the Messiah would usher in - as a wedding banquet, in which God would shower his people with a super abundance of wine!
The 6 vessels would have contained 150 gallons, and therefore the miracle created one and a half thousand bottles of wine!! All that wine in Canaa seemed to imply that the rule of God was already here. But how could that be, with the Romans still in power?
Furthermore, it wasn’t God who was supplying the plentiful wine. By turning water into wine, Jesus seemed to be making the extraordinary claim that he was God. Could he really have thought that he was divine?
End of Part 1
More resources:
Downloadable resource for episode 1
http://www.bibleresources.org.uk/9780564038466/
Station Road, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands B93 0HN
Turning water into wine
Miracles of Jesus
Part 1 Jesus, the Political Threat 6
