“Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.” – John 2:6
Did you catch that? “Six stone water jars… each holding from twenty to thirty gallons… and they filled them up to the brim”! This of course is the amount of water that Jesus would turn into wine… but not just any wine… really good wine… the kind of wine that you can tell the quality of with one small sip! So, quality stuff, but also a crazy quantity!!
Have you ever really considered how much wine Jesus makes? Well, if not, you are going to today… If we take the average capacity of these six stone water pots to be 25 gallons each. That means that Jesus made about 150 gallons of wine! To put that into perspective, that would be more than 62 cases of wine, 750 individual bottles, or 3,750 glasses by today’s standards. Now, we don’t know how big this wedding was, but even if it was 300 people (which would be HUGE even by today’s standards), that means that Jesus made at least half a gallon of wine for every man, woman, and child in attendance. Two and a half bottles each! And this is after they had already finished the original batch of wine!
So, why did Jesus make this much wine? Certainly, it was not to encourage over-drinking. It must have been a sign pointing to something else. And sure enough, it was a sign… in fact, John 2:11 tells us: “This, the first of his signs…” So, the appropriate quest is, what was this sign pointing to?
As it turns out, if we dig a bit, the Scriptures answer that question. What we find is that the abundance of wine was used throughout the Old Testament as a sign of God’s blessing and the restoration of Israel! Take a look at Amos 9:13-14. That passage suggests that there will be a day when “the hills shall flow” with “sweet wine.” Jesus was ushering in those days! This first “sign” was telling the world that He is the one who will bring about restoration and blessing! And the truth is Jesus came to give us more than we could possibly hope or imagine or dream or even need. The crazy amount of wine is a sign pointing us to the lavish and abundant grace, goodness, joy, and love that Jesus wants to pour out on us.
Consider today how you have enjoyed Jesus’ abundance in your life
Josh Rose
Discipleship Pastor