On the third day

Over this next week in these Barking Dog-Collar devotions, we will be exploring the story of when Jesus turned water into wine. The account comes from John’s gospel:

READING

John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."

And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come."

His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it.

When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

REFLECTION

Notice that the passage begins with the words, ‘On the third day.’ Now in John’s gospel, the times and sequences of events are often used and even rearranged to serve the broader theological purpose of the gospel. For example, immediately after this passage in chapter 2 Jesus goes to Jerusalem to clear the temple at the start of his ministry, whereas in the other gospels of Matthew, Mark & Luke, the clearing of the temple happens at the very end of Jesus’ ministry, in the final week before his crucifixion. John’s sense of time is not bound by a literal chronology. And so when we read the words ‘On the third day’ it’s not just a literal reference to a particular day of the week when this incident took place. It’s pointing to something more.

For believers the words, ‘On the third day’ has a strong and immediate association with the resurrection of Christ. For it was on the third day that he rose again. Maybe John intends this story of water being turned into wine to be heard with the resurrection in mind. To hear it as a kind of resurrection story - which he places at the very start of the gospel as a foretaste of what will happen at the end.

If we hear this story as a resurrection story, it means that the miracle of water being turned into wine is not just something that happened once as an isolated incident in the ministry of Jesus long ago, but that the miracle of water being turned into wine is something that continues to happen over and over again for those who believe, because Jesus is alive.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, you are alive. You are risen from the dead – alive and active in our midst. Thank you that the good news of resurrection means that your transforming love and power are present with us and available to us here and now. Come, and turn water into wine in our lives. Amen