Seeking Jesus First Jan. 10, 2025
From Purification to Abundance
“Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews… Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water.’” (John 2:6–11, NKJV)
After honoring the covenant of marriage by His presence, Jesus now reveals the meaning of His first sign. John is careful to tell us that the waterpots at Cana were not random containers. They were stone waterpots, set there according to the manner of purification of the Jews. These vessels represented the old covenant system—external cleansing, repeated rituals, and human effort to maintain purity before God.
Each waterpot held twenty or thirty gallons. They were large, heavy, and empty. This detail matters. What the law provided was real, but it was limited. It could cleanse outwardly, but it could not transform inwardly. It could prepare, but it could not complete.
Jesus does not discard the waterpots. He uses them.
He tells the servants, “Fill the waterpots with water.” They obey—and John adds a quiet but important detail: “they filled them up to the brim.” Obedience here is thorough, not partial. Nothing is held back. This mirrors a recurring pattern in Scripture: when God works transformation, He invites full participation before full understanding.
Then Jesus says, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” Somewhere between filling and drawing, the miracle takes place. John does not explain the mechanics. He shows us the outcome. What was once water becomes wine—abundant, excellent, and unexpected.
The master of the feast tastes it and is astonished. “You have kept the good wine until now!” In the Kingdom of God, the best is not exhausted early and diminished over time. In Christ, the pattern is the opposite. What God saves for last is better than what came before.
John then gives us the meaning of the sign: “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” The miracle is not an end in itself. It reveals something about who Jesus is and what He has come to do.
This sign shows us the transition from law to grace. The vessels of purification are filled with new covenant life. What once served ritual cleansing now overflows with joy. Grace does not merely improve what the law started—it fulfills it. Jesus does not abolish what came before; He transforms it from the inside out.
This also speaks personally to us. Like those stone waterpots, we often come to Christ shaped by effort, habit, and external measures of righteousness. Jesus does not reject us. He fills us. And when He fills, He transforms. What we offer in obedience, He returns in abundance.
The servants knew where the wine came from. Others only tasted the result. There is a quiet blessing for those who obey without needing recognition. Faithful obedience often witnesses the miracle firsthand.
Today, rest in this truth: Jesus brings transformation where there was limitation. He brings fullness where there was lack. And in Him, the best is not behind you—it is ahead. As you obey His word and trust His work, expect grace upon grace. The glory He revealed at Cana is still revealing itself in lives made new.