At a wedding in Cana, the wine ran out, and Mary told Jesus, They have no wine. Running out was a deep shame for the family. Jesus answered by turning water into wine. His first miracle in the Gospel of John was about joy and saving a family from shame.
The Gospel of John tells this in chapter 2. There was a wedding in Cana, a small town in Galilee. Jesus was there with his mother, Mary, and his friends.
A wedding in that time was not one evening. The party went on for days, and the whole village came. The family hosting it was expected to have food and wine for everyone the whole time.
The wine ran out
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
John 2:3 · King James Version
It is a short sentence, and it was a real emergency. Running out of wine at your own wedding was a shame people would remember for years. The family was about to be embarrassed in front of everyone they knew.
Mary did not ask Jesus for anything big. She just told him what was wrong. Then she told the servants to do whatever he said.
What Jesus did
Six big stone jars stood nearby. They held the water people used for washing themselves before meals, to be clean by the religious rules. Jesus told the servants to fill them to the top with water. When they poured some out, it was wine.
What it means
Of all the ways Jesus could have begun, this is the first miracle the Gospel of John tells. It is not a storm or a battle. It is a family in trouble at a party, and Jesus stepping in so the joy could go on. God cares about the small troubles too.
The full teaching on his first miracle is free to read in the Mercy app.
Read the whole chapter: John 2
1And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
2And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
3And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
4Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
5His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
6And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
7Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
8And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
9When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
10And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
11This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
12¶ After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.
13¶ And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
17And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
18¶ Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21But he spake of the temple of his body.
22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
23¶ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
24But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
King James Version