A couple weeks ago, in my Sunday morning Bible fellowship, we had an interesting discussion on the first miracle performed by Jesus, the Wedding at Cana when He turned water into wine. Read about it in John 2:1-11 (ESV).

During the course of the discussion, the question was asked “When and where was the water turned into wine?” “Duh,” I thought, “the water was turned into wine in the stone jars.” It had never really occurred to me that there could be other opinions. Such is a problem with growing up in the church - I heard these stories all my life, drew a lot of assumptions that were never questions, and never critically thought about it myself. But I digress…

Before I go on, when/where do you think the water was turned into wine?

Here are some of the verses in question:

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” (John 2:6-8)

John does not explicitly say where the water was turned into wine, whether in the jars or elsewhere, thus leaving these verses open for debate and differing point of views. A couple opinions were brought up in class and I’ve done some brief research on the web since. These seem to be the main points of view - the water turned to wine:

• as soon as it was in the jars
• in the jars when Jesus says “Now draw some out”
• in the well when Jesus commanded “Fill the jars with water”
• when the servants were carrying it to the master
• when the water touched the master’s lips

I didn’t initially realize there were so many “theories” on this! This is some food for thought, though, so I dug a little deeper. Most of the debate stems from verse 8, when Jesus says “Now draw some out.” Out of where? The well? The jars?

Picture, if you will, yourself at this wedding celebration in Biblical times. You’re a servant, running back and forth from the well to the jars at Christ’s command, filling these six 20 to 30 gallon containers with water. It had to have taken quite some time to accomplish the task. Once the jars were full, Jesus approaches you and says “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” What do you do - do you draw some out of the jars you just filled or take a trip back to the well?

Here is verse 8 in Greek:

kai legei autois antlhsate nun kai ferete tw arcitriklinw oi de hnegkan

Those that think the water was drawn from the well point to the Greek word “antlhsate” which translates to “draw out.” As with translating most languages, something is lost in the translation. According to one website (I’m too lazy to cite inline, but all resources are listed at the end of the post) the word “antlhsate” is the Greek term used for drawing water from a well, and is used only 4 times in the New Testament, all in John. Some scholars, however, say that the word is used in the context of bailing a boat which would fit the normal interpretation of this verse - drawing water from the stone jars.

Others site verse 9 - “the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)” - to state the water was still water when it came out of the jars, but was changed to wine before reaching the guests. This verse could also lead one to conclude the water came from the well, since many guests could have seen the servants draw water from the jars, but it’s doubtful anyone would have seen the servants draw it from the well.

So what do you think - when and where was the water turned to wine?

I thoroughly enjoy picking apart and researching the Bible like this, but in the end, does this really matter? I would say no, it does not matter where or when the water was turned into wine. What matters is that the water *was* turned into wine, and more importantly, this set into motion the events that led to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection - and saving my life.

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