Redeeming PleasureSample

"Did Jesus Drink?"

Did you know Jesus’ first miracle happened at a party?

He was at a wedding reception with His disciples and his mother. At some point in the celebration they ran out of wine. Now it doesn’t matter if the year is 30 AD or 2000 AD; running out of drinks at a party is never a good thing. This spelled disaster for the newly united couple and their reputations among this close-knit community. But then an odd thing happened.

Jesus’ mother came to Him and pointed out there wasn’t any more wine. She was essentially prodding Him to bend the laws of nature. He didn’t bite. Instead, He responded by telling her His time hadn’t yet come. He hadn’t officially done a miracle yet and wasn’t sure this was the right time to begin. She ignored this and told the servants to do whatever her son told them.

Jesus knew the gravity of the moment. If He did something now, the expectations would begin: the crowds, the pressure, the persecution. All of it hung on this unusual moment. Around them were six jars able to hold twenty to thirty gallons of liquid each. Jesus instructed the servants to fill them with water. Then He told the servants to serve the liquid to one of the leaders of the party. After tasting the water that had now become wine, he pulled the groom aside and expressed his amazement that he would save the best wine for last!

That meant Jesus made a hundred and eighty gallons of wine for party-goers who had already drunk everything reserved for the party. On average, a gallon of wine equals five bottles. So Jesus made roughly nine hundred bottles of wine for the party! Not just that, but nine hundred bottles of unbelievably good wine.

Stop to think about the scene. The people at the party had already drunk all the planners thought was necessary. And then Jesus produced more alcohol. This produces some tricky questions to consider. Did people get drunk on the wine Jesus made? Was Jesus drinking His own wine?

Regardless of what you do with some of the bigger implications of this story, Jesus’ first miracle shows us He didn’t have the aversion to alcohol many people assume He did.