Seven Miracles - Pt 3

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine. (John 2:1-5 ESV).

Jesus also shows the glory of an “Ultimate Purifier.” This is easily seen in that Jesus chooses to use water jars that were appointed for “purification,” not for drinking, when he performs his miracle and fills them with wine. And the reason is that he means to point to his own death as the ultimate purification for sins that would nullify and replace the Jewish purification rituals. Also, when Jesus tells his mother that “my hour has not yet come,” he is pointing to his death. This is the time that sin would ultimately be forgiven and sinners redeemed. This is the time of true purification. His hour is the hour of his death when he will die for sinners and make purification for sins. John explains this later in his first letter (cf. 1 John 1:7). Here John says, “the blood of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin.” The verb is katharizei which corresponds to the word katharismon in John 2:6). Jesus goes ahead with the miracle as a means of giving them a “sign” of things to come. It is as if he is saying, “No, the climactic hour of my death is not yet here, but I will give you a sign of my death. I will give you an acted out parable of my death and what it will mean.” He then tells the servants to fill the purification jars with water. These were not used for drinking. They were used for bathing—for purifying. So it seems that Jesus wants to say that this is what “my hour” will be like: “I will take the purification rituals of Israel and replace them with a decisively new way of purification, namely, with my blood.” And keep in mind that Jesus said, “My blood is true drink” (John 6:55). So the second way that Jesus manifests his glory in this story is by giving a sign, an acted out parable of how his own death, his own blood, his hour will be the final, decisive, ultimate purification for sins. There is no ritual any more for cleansing. There is one way to be clean before God. John says it plainly in Revelation 7:14: “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The glory of Jesus is that he alone, once and for all, made purification for sins. You don’t turn to ritual. You turn to Jesus. This is the wonder of the work of God in Jesus. What we could never do, Jesus did… what we could never deserve, Jesus gave freely to us. The Law was never intended to redeem. That was always the work of Jesus. And, it has now been accomplished!