A wedding in Jesus time was different from today's. Weddings are still a big deal, but in Jesus time a wedding was an event in which the whole town participated. The ceremony would take place late in the evening after a time of great feasting. The father of the bride would take his daughter on his arm, and with the wedding party following behind, they would parade through the streets of the village, everyone would come out to congratulate the bride. When they finally arrived at the home of the groom the ceremony was held in the front door of the groom’s house. The party then lasted for a week.

There was no such thing as a honeymoon! The couple kept open house for a week, with the groom’s family expected to provide all the refreshments for the celebration. To run out of provisions for wedding guests was a social nightmare. The wedding would be the talk of the town for years to come. The one Jesus attended with his family, is still being talked about 2000 years later.

Running out of wine at the party in on a par today with the best man losing the rings. But at the wedding Jesus attended with his family….they ran out of wine! Mary (his mother) came to Jesus, with faith her son could fix it and he did. Jesus turned 180 gallons of water into the finest of wines, a miracle of abundance and extravagance. Think about that amount 180 gallons – that’s a lot of wine! The wedding was almost half over, the guests could not have consumed all of that wine in the remaining days of the wedding! This abundance is symbolic of God’s love and grace. There is always enough for everyone and some left over. Only the servants knew Jesus was responsible – but servants talk and that sort of news spreads like wildfire – Jesus is a great guy to invite to a party!

I am not meaning to be flippant, just accepting the gospel as a child. On an old TV show once Art Linkletter was asking the kids to tell about their favourite Bible story. This one little girl said her favourite story in the Bible was when Jesus turned the water into wine at the Wedding at Cana. Art said, “Yes, that is a wonderful miracle, isn’t it!” He then asked the little girl what that miracle tells us. The little girl said, “When you’re out of wine, all you have to do is get down on your knees and pray." So now we all know what to do, if we ever run out of anything we need!