The wedding at Cana is the first of eight signs in John's gospel, each pointing to Jesus as Israel's Messiah, and it corresponds chiastically to the eighth sign, the catch of 153 fish. It occurs against the backdrop of John 1, where the Word came to His own and they did not receive Him, for the physical nation was spiritually blind. The scene begins with lack: Mary says, "They have no wine." Jesus mercifully keeps the feast going, but the circumstance is highly symbolic, describing the nation itself, which had no symbolic wine. In its place the wedding party had only water, kept in six stone waterpots for purification according to the manner of the Jews. These rituals sprang from men's minds rather than Scripture; God's law specified ceremonial washing only for priests serving in the Tabernacle or Temple. Tradition and the Oral Law pushed God's pure Word into the background and trained minds to focus on the wrong things. Six is the number of man, so the pots reflect carnal additions to worship, and since vessels often represent people, stone pots may symbolize hearts of stone that cannot change and need replacing with hearts of flesh. The Jews had purification tradition in abundance, 120 to 180 gallons of it, but lacked the wine they truly needed.

At the wedding in Cana, Jesus turned water into wine in the first of John's eight signs. The party had water in six waterpots for man-devised purification rites, but it lacked wine, just as the physical nation had its traditions yet lacked the covenantal relationship with God. In the New Testament, wine represents that relationship. At the Passover on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus called the cup the New Covenant in His blood. Because His hour to seal that covenant with His blood had not yet come (John 2:4), He met the immediate physical need and pointed to the greater spiritual need He would fill later. The New Covenant brings forgiveness, a personal relationship with the Father and the Son, and the law written on the heart. Its blood, symbolized by the wine, flows into a person rather than merely being sprinkled on the outside, as with the Old Covenant. Wine also gladdens the heart (Psalm 104:15; Judges 9:13), so the wine of the covenant cheers those who receive it. Mary's words, "They have no wine," describe the nation's need. The abundant wine echoes Zechariah 10, which foretells the regathering of Israel and Judah, their freedom from Judaism's and Babylonish Christianity's enslaving traditions, and their rejoicing as if with wine. Christ commanded the servants to fill the waterpots, so His servants also had work to do. This first sign corresponds to the eighth, the catch of 153 fish, whose lessons it helps explain.