John 2:6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
Why did Jesus choose stone water jars used for Jewish rights of purification for His first miracle?
There would have been many empty wine amphorae available at the wedding, as these clay vessels were the standard means of storing and transporting liquids in Jesus day.
The stone jars chosen by Jesus were vessels set aside for sacred purpose (ceremonial washing) according to the traditions of the Jewish elders. To use them to hold wine at a wedding feast would have been the height of sacrilege to any pharisee attending, or later hearing of the miracle.
Was this part of Jesus’ intention, to offend the pharisees and openly defy the traditions of the elders with his first miracle?
Is there hidden symbolism in purposefully using vessels related to the ceremonial law?
Consider that following this miracle Jesus and his disciples made a practice of opposing the traditions of the elders (that is the Rabbinical traditions of the Talmud) regarding ceremonial washings.
He purposefully used opportunities around food to provoke the religious sensibilities of the pharisees so as to rebuke them about their own lack of inner purity.
Luk 11:37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also.”
Mat 15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
Mar 7:1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders…) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands? 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
Remarkably He even went a step further in not only apposing the food laws of the Rabbinical tradition, but apposing the very food laws of Moses.
Mar 7:15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean)
Paul echoes Jesus words in Romans;
Rom 14:20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.
We can see that not only was Jesus starting His ministry with a display of the superiority of the Spirit over the law (the new wine created in ceremonial washing jars), He was apposing and showing the inferiority of both the rabbinical law and the ceremonial law of Moses.
The author of Hebrews shows us that the law was an attempt to ‘perfect the conscience of the worshiper’ through ‘the purification of the flesh’ (dead works).
As Jesus came to be the final sacrifice who through His blood would ‘purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God’, He used every opportunity to display this purpose and appose the works of the law.
Heb 9:8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section [the Holy place of the tabernacle] is still standing 9….. According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
Heb 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent [tabernacle]… 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Just as the Jews assumed natural water could sanctify them before God, Jesus was also displaying in this moment that His blood was the only true force that could cleanse man.
Thus the wine can also be seen as a picture of His blood, contained in and fulfilling the law of Moses.
Mat 26:27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Mat 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to destroy them but to fulfill them..
We can see then that Jesus’ miracle of the water turned to wine is symbolic for reasons around the law’s impotence, but there is a clear case to be made that Jesus was also presenting Himself as a stumbling block to the Jews who sought a righteousness by the outward works of the law.
Rom 9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone..
Glenn Tungay 