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Water is life

Jesus turns water to wine — John 2 

At first glance, it seems that Jesus’ first recorded miracle was frivolous. Turning water into wine? At a party where the guests may have had enough to drink already (2:10)? 

Initially, Jesus seemed to feel the same way. He appeared to dismiss His own mother’s request, saying, “My hour has not yet come” (2:4). The foreboding reference to His own death was lost on those within earshot. 

Perhaps out of deference to His mother, Jesus intervened after all. He instructed the servants to fill six stone jars. These weren’t just any jars. They were ritual purification jars; the water they normally held was used to wash away impurity. In Jesus’ hands, they served an altogether different purpose: bringing new life to the party. 

Jesus’ miracle made no more sense to the master of ceremonies than it does to us. It was extravagant. Gratuitous. Excessive. And that’s the point. The jars of choice wine became a picture of God’s abundant grace, illustrating that Jesus did not come just to meet our spiritual needs. He came that we might flourish in every way. He came to offer hope and joy, for this life and the next. 

At Cana, Jesus transformed a symbol of spiritual purification into an even more powerful symbol of new life — abundant, overflowing, and all-encompassing. The God who took on flesh to save us from sin and death wants us to experience life right here, in the flesh. 

But this hope, joy, and abundant life are badly needed by people around the world who suffer without access to the basic physical essential of clean water. 

Globally, more than 30 children under 5 — the number in an average classroom — die every hour from diarrhea caused by contaminated water, poor sanitation, and unsafe hygiene practices. Women and children (mainly girls) have to walk long distances to get water that might kill them — if the journey doesn’t. These effects of dirty water, and more, are all too familiar to the people in Zambia, Honduras, and Kenya who we’ll meet in Days 3 through 7.