Encountering Jesus – The First Miracle: The Wedding at Cana

The sermon opens with the story of President Thomas Jefferson, who removed all miracles from the New Testament to create his own version of Scripture. The preacher argues that denying miracles makes it impossible to genuinely believe in God, since throughout both the Old and New Testaments, miracles are tied to God's redemptive purposes and the revelation of His glory. First miracles are especially significant in their context and purpose, as illustrated by Moses turning the Nile into blood to free God's people from Egypt.

Jesus' first miracle took place at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, where the celebration ran out of wine. Mary informed Jesus of the problem, and though He replied that His hour had not yet come, He instructed the servants to fill six stone water jars used for Jewish purification rites with water, which He then turned into wine — not ordinary wine, but the finest, the kind typically served at the beginning of a feast. Jesus' presence at the wedding reveals that God blesses marriage and rejoices with people in the meaningful celebrations of life.

This miracle carries deep theological significance. The stone jars used for ceremonial washing represented the Old Covenant rituals, and the transformation of their water into wine signified the transition from the old covenant to the new covenant in Christ. Scripture repeatedly uses the image of a wedding to describe the relationship between God and His people (Isaiah 54:5), between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:25-27), and the final day when the Lamb receives His bride (Revelation 19:7-9). The prophet Isaiah had foretold this great banquet over 700 years before Christ's birth.

The sermon also emphasizes that even amid the joy of the wedding feast, Jesus was aware of the hour of suffering He would face on the cross. For water to become wine, His body had to be nailed to the cross and His blood shed on Calvary. He drank the bitter cup on the cross so that those who believe in Him might one day drink the sweet new wine at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

The sermon concludes with an invitation to the congregation to reflect on the meaning of Communion — when drinking the cup, believers taste the new covenant and the joy of the coming wedding feast. The magnificent promise of God from the Old Testament to the New is encapsulated in this first miracle: Christ will make all things new, transforming sorrow into joy and water into the finest wine.