In the Gospel of John, chapter 2, one finds the famous story of Jesus changing water into wine. It was during a wedding in Cana of Galilee, when the original wine had run out, that Jesus performed this miracle. Interestingly, the Bible does not refer to this wondrous event as a miracle, but, rather, as a sign. Verse 11 says, “This beginning of signs Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee.” If it were just a miracle, then we could quickly dispense with that story and move on to the next chapter. But, because the Bible refers to this as a sign, we are compelled to slow down and consider. That one word causes us to linger and ponder over the SIGNificance of this event. And, in so doing, we come to realize that nearly every word or phrase in this story is full of meaning.

A very brief explanation of the significance of this story, found in the footnotes of the Recovery Version Bible, goes something like this:

Jesus comes in resurrection (the third day) to weak and fragile people (signified by the name Cana, which means a land of reeds and refers to a place of weak and fragile people). The people are in the enjoyment of their human life (wedding feast). Wine, signifying the human life (which is the source of man’s enjoyment), runs out. This means that human life comes to an end as man, signified by the number six (man being created on the 6^th day) and stone water pots (pointing to man being a vessel), gets filled up with death (filled to the brim with water—stagnant water in the Bible signifies death). Then Jesus changes the water (the death which fills man) into wine, the best wine, signifying the new life, the divine, eternal life.

Indeed, we discover that the life we receive through regeneration is much better than our natural life. Such is the man (or woman) who is born again!