The lack of wine at the Cana wedding feast (John 2) pictures the spiritual state of Israel. The guests had only six stone waterpots of water for manmade purification rituals. Six is the number of man, and stone symbolizes a hardened, impenetrable heart. Mary's remark that they had no wine therefore aptly described the nation, which had traditions but lacked the spiritually enhanced life that a New Covenant would bring. Wine in Scripture brings gladness (Psalm 104:15; Judges 9:13), and Zechariah 10:6-7 ties true rejoicing "as if with wine" to a restored relationship with God, which enhances life far beyond what the fruit of the vine can. Although His time had not yet come, Jesus turned the water into wine, foreshadowing the covenant that would cause true rejoicing. The Passover wine then symbolizes Christ's blood of the New Covenant, which supplies what Israel was missing: forgiveness, knowing God personally, and the pledge that God will perfect those within the covenant.

At the wedding in Cana, the first sign begins with a condition of lack: Mary says, "They have no wine." Such a shortage would embarrass a wedding feast, and Jesus mercifully intervened so the joy could continue. John's gospel is highly symbolic, however, and Mary described more than the feast. The physical nation of Israel likewise had no symbolic wine. In its place the wedding party, and the nation, had only water, which John says was "for purification according to the manner of the Jews." Those purification rituals came from the minds of men rather than from Scripture, and the Oral Law and the rabbis' opinions pushed God's pure Word into the background. This helps explain why the people could not recognize their King standing among them. The six stone waterpots, six being the number of man, may stand for hearts of stone that could not change and so could not sustain a meaningful relationship with the Creator. The Jews had their own tradition of ceremonial cleanliness in abundance, with 120 to 180 gallons of water on hand, but what they lacked and needed was wine.