‘And he says to them, “Draw out now and carry it to the ruler of the feast”. And they carried it. And when the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from, (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom and says to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now”.'
Jesus then tells them to draw out some water and carry it to the governor of the feast. The poor man was probably in quite a state. He might well have felt that the situation reflected on him. ‘Draw out now'. ‘Antlesate'. The verb was used of drawing water out of a well or the baling out of a ship, but could be used more generally to signify drawing out by means of some vessel, (thus the noun for ‘bucket' (antlema) is etymologically similar).
It should be noted that the water was not there for drinking. It was for washing in order to remove ritual uncleanness. But now it would appear to them that Jesus was telling them that the water was to be drunk instead of wine. They probably did not at first realise that that was because it had become wine. They may well have thought that Jesus was saying, ‘here is your solution'. But Jesus' purpose was to bring out that the emphasis was no longer to be on such things as outward ritual washing but was to be on inward sustenance and blessing. The whole symbolism of the water has been altered.
When the water was drawn and taken to the master of ceremonies, the master of ceremonies, who is not aware of what was happening, drinks it and is impressed. Indeed he calls the bridegroom and says, ‘Most people serve the best wine first, and then when people are a little merry give them cheaper wine. But you have saved the best till last'. There is not only overabundance but exquisiteness of taste. Jesus is bringing the very best. It is a true Messianic feast. Abundance of wine is a symbol of the coming age in Isaiah 25:6; Amos 9:14; Hosea 14:6-7; Jeremiah 31:5; Jeremiah 31:12, and it will be without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1). ‘The best wine' emphasises change for the better, a new beginning.
The point is being made that in the coming of Jesus the world will be offered new and better ‘wine', replacing the old religious ideas. This will shortly be illustrated in the cleansing of the Temple, His words to Nicodemus and His words to the woman of Samaria. Compare how elsewhere new wine symbolises Jesus' teaching (Mark 2:22).
There may also be in mind a previous time when water had been changed into something else, when Moses had turned water into blood (Exodus 7:14-24). It may indicate that while Moses worked miracles of destruction, the new greater than Moses works miracles of joy and blessing (compare John 1:17), both at the hand of God. Indeed the idea of red wine as symbolising blood would certainly have been in John's mind when he wrote