Why would Jesus turn water into wine at a wedding if it helped people to get drunk?
Question:
So many people in the OT times needed salvation, the same way we need it today. We have the privilege of salvation. But why do we have it, and they didn’t have it? I have heard that question several times but couldn’t really answer people except for “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son…” (Gal 4:4) Any thoughts?
2nd question: This has been bugging me a while. Why did Jesus make wine out of water? People had already drunk their full. It’s not like they were thirsty. There was water. The master of the feast said “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” (John 2:10) So Jesus actually helped bring more wine to the drunks? Why? It’s not Jesus-like. If one see a bunch of drunken people, one as Christian would rebuke them or tell them to stop drinking or give them water; not more wine. Please help me out with this.
Answer:
On the first question, you have answered it for yourself. God waited for the opportune time to send his Son. If Jesus had come 3000 BC, there would have been no way to write down what he said and did. It would have been possible for is story to be spread around the world. Jesus came at what was, arguably, the earliest possible moment in history when there was a nearly universal written language (Greek), when there was the great Pax Romana, allowing the gospel to spread. There was no previous time in history in which Jesus could have come, his message been recorded, and his teaching passed around the world
Also, there is the question of God preparing a people through and to whom to send the Savior. The Bible is the story of mankind’s fall (Genesis 2-4) and God’s plan to repair the damage caused by sin. God chose a man of fairh (Abraham), created a people through him, sent his Law through Moses to prepare the way. God chose a man, a people, a place, a Covenant, prophets and much more to prepare the way so that the Messiah could come to save sinners at the perfect time. Again, if you look at human history and try to imagine how God could have sent a Saviour whose message could spread throughout the world, I claim that there was no point earlier that this could have happened. Add to that the fact that God had a plan to choose a man, and a people to whom and through home to prepare the way for the Messiah, and you can see why God chose to send his Son when he did.
I think Galatians 4:4 describes this very well. You chose the perfect passage, except you need some flesh to put on the bones of Galatians 4:4 in order to explain this to your friends. I believe that God chose the time, the place and the people very carefully so that his message of salvation could be given to every man.
Your second question is a good one. I suggest you get a copy of my book “That You May Believe” (www.ipibooks.com) as it addresses this question in more detail. Let me give you the short version. I believe the reason Jesus performed this miracle was, at least in part, because his mother asked him to. He did it out of love and respect for his mother. I do not believe that this is the only reason Jesus performed the miracle, but it is the single biggest reason he did it. I suppose it is possible that some at the wedding were drunk. I do not know this for sure, but it is likely. However, probably the majority were not. Jesus certainly was not drunk! You should understand that in the ancient world, because they did not have access to clean drinking water, most people regularly drank diluted wine rather than water, especially in public settings. People could have drunk a fair amount of this diluted wine without becoming drunk. Also, it is good to bear in mind that it is not sinful to drink wine. Jesus even advised Timothy to drink wine for health resons. He also had wine at the Lord’s Supper. Wine was a normal part of the Passover ceremony, as ordained by God. Drinking wine is not sinful, but drunkenness is sinful, of course. At a wedding people would not drink unpurified water for health reasons, so to run out of wine was a major problem. In submission to his mother, Jesus responded to her request to turn water into wine. I can see why to you, from a modern Christian perspective, it might seem surprising that Jesus made wine at a wedding, but you should understand that:
1. Probably few if any people became drunk from drinking the wine. and
2. Jesus did this because of the need (because people would not drink water at a wedding) and because his mother asked him to.
John Oakes
