The third day after John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, “there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee” (John 2:1). The miracle performed here revealed that true transformation of character and true religious liberty are found in union with Christ, not in rounds of religious ritual and ceremony.
The well-known story takes place in Cana, a small village about five miles from the town of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. The proximity of the wedding to Christ’s boyhood home explains why Jesus, as well as His mother, was invited to the feast. “And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine” (John 2:3). Jesus responded, perhaps unexpectedly, with the statement, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come” (John 2:4).
Christ’s reply served two purposes, both of them critically important for the realization and preservation of religious liberty. First, He clarified that Mary had no right to direct His ministry. As the Son of God, He was under the direct authority of His heavenly Father and would follow His direction and leading. The lesson should be remembered by every Christian today. Those who are called to preach and teach the Word of God should not allow any other human being to control, manipulate, or direct their work for God. The same heavenly Father who led Jesus Christ in His life on earth has promised to provide guidance and wisdom today. Religious liberty flows from recognition of, and obedience to, divine authority.
Second, Christ worked this miracle to help others, not for His own glory. Religious liberty always reaches outward. It never focuses inward. Sin began in heaven when Lucifer began to seek his honor. “I will ascend into heaven,” he said. “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13, 14). Instead of achieving freedom, the Bible says Lucifer will “be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:15). Self-seeking results in ruin. Selfless service to others and to God leads to liberty.
Jesus instructed the servants at the wedding feast to fill six water pots with water. These large stone jars, each holding about nine gallons or forty liters, were used in the Jews’ ritual purification services. Nearly fifteen hundred years before this story took place, God had directed the institution of the ceremonial services. Included in these rituals were detailed instructions about purification and washing. However, for many people, the true spiritual significance of these services had long since been forgotten. The rituals were considered walls of division between Jews and Gentiles rather than conduits of connection with a merciful and forgiving God.
The stone water pots represent the sinful heart of stone. God said through the prophet Ezekiel, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). The same divine power that turned water into wine can turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. But in order for this transformation to take place, they must first be washed with water. In Ezekiel 36:25 the prophet says, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.”
At the close of His earthly ministry, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet in a graphic representation of the spiritual cleansing that they needed to be freed from sin. After washing their feet, Jesus explained, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3). The stony heart is by nature a slave of sin. To be set free, it must be cleansed by the Word of God. Religious liberty comes not from ritualistic ceremonies conducted by stony hearts, but from hearts of flesh that have given birth to conversion and character transformation.
Jesus instructed that the waterpots be filled. “Jesus saith unto them, ‘Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim” (John 2:7). Freedom from sin comes only from complete and total surrender to the Holy Spirit. Christ, the Water of Life, must fill our stony hearts completely. Total surrender is the only surrender that brings freedom from sin. Even small fragments of the stony heart serve as a breeding ground for sin, like a petri dish where the malignant tumor continues to grow.
Christ did not perform His first miracle at a wedding by chance. Throughout the Bible, marriage serves as an illustration or type of the relationship that Jesus wants to have with His church and with each individual person. The intimacy of the marriage union represents the strength of affection that God has for us and that we, as Christians, should have for Him. The apostle Paul drew on this metaphor when he wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Religious liberty has very little to do with preserving or protecting the rituals, services, and ceremonies connected with religious expression. It’s not that the right to express these aspects of religion shouldn’t be protected. They should. But outward forms of religion can be, and often are, misunderstood, misused, and abused for selfish purposes. They are frequently manipulated to create systems of control over the actions, speech, and consciences of other human beings. The stone water pots of religious ritual too frequently become weapons used to crush those who disagree with us. At other times, they become precarious pedestals used to prop up the facade of religious liberty.
True religious liberty brings freedom from sin. It produces a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. It wraps the born-again sinner in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. The result is a spiritual marriage between the redeemed and the Redeemer. “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19:7, 8).
Christ’s first miracle represents the last miracle that He wants to perform in our lives today. Stony hearts must become flesh. Outward ceremonies must become inward reality. The water of truth must flow through the human vessel, producing a life transformed by the blood of the Lamb.