Being Transformed
John 2:1-11
The Reverend Alex Thomas

I remember hearing of a man who had a heart attack in the middle of the night and was rushed to the hospital. His heart and breathing stopped on the way but he was revived in the ambulance. After this near death experience he found that life appeared quite differently. He was actually excited by awakening to each new day. Sunrises and sunsets were more wondrous. The colours of nature appeared brighter. People who he thought were dull suddenly became interesting and joy to be with. Life itself was a gift. Each moment was to be enjoyed and lived to the fullest. In describing this experience he said that it was like a rebirth with everything fresh and new. He said that his life could never be the same. It was completely transformed.

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I believe that this kind of renewal and transformation is behind the Gospel today - the story of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Every time I read stories like this in John's Gospel I am aware of a deeper meaning behind the actual events described. This to me is not just a story of providing more wine at a wedding when the supply provided by the host had run out. This act is saying something about the meaning of Jesus' life to all of humanity. This event was described as the first sign that revealed his glory. It happened on the "third day"(vs 1).

I consider it to be a foretaste of the resurrection which was to be revealed on the "third day" after his death . He came to bring new life to people. His life was like new wine. The kind of life that a lot of people were living and are living today is like water kept in huge jugs allowed to go stale. To taste the new life of Jesus is to be transformed.

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A number years ago Keith Miller wrote a book about his new life in Christ and gave it the title, A Taste of New Wine . He wrote about how experiencing the reality of Christ in his life transformed it. It is an experience that many have when they come to know Christ as a living reality rather than the Christ that someone has told them about - when the experience is first hand rather than second hand.

I was interested in the contents of a book by H.A. Williams, former Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge entitled True Resurrection (Holt, Rinehart & Winston). In it he gives examples of renewal and transformation in the lives of a variety of people. He refers to them as instances of resurrection. I would add that the before and after examples he gives is like the difference between water and wine.

He tells of an artist, at first only painfully aware of an utter emptiness and impotence . He finds his imagination gradually stirred into life, and discovers a vision which takes control of him and which he feels not only able but compelled to express. That is the taste of new wine. His life has changed from water into wine.

He mentions a scholar or scientist with a favorite theory breaking up in his hands as he pursues his research finding . He is left with no home in which to house the quantities of evidence he has collected. His life has become dull and lifeless. Then a new, more adequate theory gradually takes shape in his mind which makes him even more at home with his material than he was before. It is transformation from water into wine

His next example is of a married couple finding their old relationship, once rich and fulfilling, slowly drying up into no more than an external observance to the point where it seemed impossible that these dry bones should ever live again. Then a new relationship emerges, one that is deeper, more stable, more satisfying than the old one, with a new quality of life which is inexhaustible because it does not depend on the constant recharging of emotional batteries. Their marriage has turned from water into wine.

Williams goes on to speak of an individual who finds life less and less rewarding. He seems to be in this state because he is compelled by an attitude to always play it safe, even though playing it safe takes away from his life of any real content or fulfillment. In the midst of his despair, however, he finds the ability to take risks and in spite of threatening danger builds into his life a broader base of experience. In dealing with this experience his real person is brought into being. He discovers a richer, more satisfying life. He finds the taste of new wine.

Finally Williams comments about people who are never the same again after a severe illness or the premature death of someone deeply loved. Sometimes they shrivel up and atrophy. But appearances here can be deceptive. For many of them under the devastation of their ordeal, which leaves its deep and permanent traces, one can be aware that they are in touch with a new dimension of reality. They are transformed. They are greater people.

I'm sure you have seen these kind of things in the lives of people.

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This is the work of Christ, the changing of water into wine. It is an experience of mine. Sometimes I have thought that a door has been closed only to realize that another door has been opened, or at least a window has been opened which has allowed me to see a new opportunity. It happened when the funding of my job dried up on two or three occasions, when a marriage failed, when relationship ended, when on occasion life became a grind with little substance to it. I call it "life" but in a sense there was no life. When those doors closed it was devastating. But I found in the midst of my despair, that I never lost the sense of Christ's presence and that Christ himself was bringing about something new in my life. A new reality, a new vision, a new opportunity was breaking in, and my life became much richer than it was before. I drank deep and found it to be not water but the taste of the new wine of gladness.

What about you? When you think back on your life where have you had that experience of transformation or that taste of new wine.

And what about today? Where are you finding that life is being drained away? What's doing it?

In the movie Castaway the main character played by Tom Hanks was alone on an island trying to survive. When he same upon an obstacle which almost led him to despair, he would sit for a long time as if he were listening for an answer, or looking for inspiration. There was noone to talk to but a volleyball washed up on the island with him that he had named "Wilson". He was sitting there silently digging deep within himself and eventually there would be a thought, a vision, a way through the difficulty. It was almost as if he was in touch with an inner source of strength and inspiration that led him from situation to situation. .

When life has lost it's meaning and obstacles have conspired to drain life from us we need to sit quietly for a long time and listen the source of spiritual strength and inspiration that is available to us. There is always an answer to our situation. It may not come as we expect or when or where we expect but that is the exciting part of it. We can be certain that it will come.

Look deep into yourself! Where is your new zest for life to be found?

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Mary Anne is a very talented artist.  She has a new web site called Faerie Artist where she displays her Art.   You can access her site at:


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