TRANSFORMED BY JESUS
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Loving Savior, you deserve more thanksgiving and praise than I could ever offer you.
Read JOHN 2:1–12
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jesus Changes Water Into Wine
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman,[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[b]
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
Footnotes
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Recall signposts—people, conversations, songs, sermons, situations—that marked the road that led you to faith in Jesus. In what ways are you a signpost in another’s journey?
Jesus’ first sign involved changing water into wine. The bride’s family was spared humiliation, and the wedding celebrations continued without disruption. However, this ‘first of the signs through which [Jesus] revealed his glory’ held far deeper significance, for it resulted in his disciples’ belief (v. 11)—a saving faith in a Savior who would bear their sin and shame, and also bless them with abundant life.
In the rich symbolism of the Bible, the number six represents imperfection and inadequacy, while seven signifies perfection and fullness. While it is a contested interpretation, the ‘six stone water jars’ (v. 6) could symbolize Judaism’s purification rites, rituals which pointed to important realities but were woefully inadequate fullyor permanently to cleanse people of their sin. Filled to the brim, these water jars represented the best that Judaism could offer. The banquet master’s remark, ‘you have saved the best till now’ (v. 10), finds an exciting echo in Hebrews— ‘in these last days [God] has spoken to us by his Son,’ the Son who alone ‘provided purification for sins.’1 Water cleanses and refreshes the body; Jesus purifies and renews the heart. Water is essential for human life; Jesus alone offers ‘living water’, indispensable for eternal life,2 and promises ‘rivers of living water’ flowing from within those who believe in him.3
‘On the third day’ (v. 1), Jesus transformed water into wine, a sign that inaugurated his ministry of transformation. On anotherunforgettable ‘third day,’4 Jesus rose from the dead; his resurrection power transforms not just substances but lives: ‘if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.’5
Apply
‘With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.’6
Closing prayer
Jesus, draw me into a deeper, stronger relationship with you. Let me never lose the joy that is found in you.
1 Heb 1:2,3 2 John 4:10,14 3 John 7:38 4 e.g., 1 Cor 15:4 5 2 Cor 5:17 6 Isa 12:3
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.