By Still Waters: Finding Rest in His Presence

WEDNESDAY, 6 AUGUST 2025

TEXT: JOHN 2:1-11

1: On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,

2: and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

3: When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

4: “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

5: His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6: Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

7: Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

8: Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so,

9: and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside

10: and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

11: What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: DID JESUS MAKE INTOXICATING BEVERAGES?

In most African communities, clusters of drunken people staggering around aimlessly are a common sight.

Any attempt to dissuade them from drunkenness will be met with stiff resistance and a ready-made answer: "Jesus made wine in Galilee." This argument does not hold water because the wine Jesus made was not an alcoholic beverage that get's one drunk stupor. The Bible doesn't contradict itself.

Jesus cannot make an alcoholic intoxicant that has been forbidden by God. Grape juice has been referred to in the Bible as 'new wine' (Proverbs 20:1; 31:4-5; Ephesians 5:18).

The World Health Organization estimates that alcohol kills three million people throughout the world every year. In other words, alcohol is the cause of 5.3 percent of all human deaths annually. About one in every twenty deaths worldwide results from alcohol-related disease, injuries, accidents, murder, or suicide.

The rate of alcohol deaths is greater than that of HIV/AIDS, which causes less than 2 percent of deaths worldwide.

It is unthinkable that the wine Jesus made was an intoxicating alcoholic beverage. It was, in fact, fresh grape juice that is called new wine.

QUESTION: Are you a victim of alcoholism?

PRAYER: Help me, Lord, I don't want to be a slave to alcohol consumption. Please help me to be free from possible addiction.