Someone once criticized the Lutheran Church by saying,"We have all the right words to a party, but we haven't learned how to pull it off, yet." Seldom do our worship services feel like wedding celebrations where 180 gallons of wine would be served during a week-long celebration. Maybe all this talk about 180 gallons of wine can encourage us to be more celebrative and joyful in our receiving and sharing of God's grace. At the same time, I often wonder what Sunday services would be like if we put in as much time, effort, and money as we do for weddings.

The six stone water jars, each holding 20-30 gallons equals 120-180 gallons of wine! That's a lot of wine. The abundance of wine was an OT eschatological symbol.

The abundance of God's grace is a theme that can flow out of these huge jars.

Notice that these jars were empty. The servants have to fill them with water before the miracle occurs. Jesus is not transforming the purification water that was in the jars into the wine; but he is transforming new water that has been placed in the old containers. O'Day suggests: "New wine is created in the 'old' vessels of the Jewish purification rites, symbolizing that the old forms are given new content."