Jesus Turns Water into Wine Bible story for kids

After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, he began to gather some friends.

Andrew, and his brother Simon Peter. Philip. And a man named Nathanael. These friends were called his disciples, and they went wherever Jesus went.

And not long after that, there was a wedding.

It was in a little village called Cana, in Galilee. Jesus was invited. His friends were invited too. And Mary, his mother, was there.

A wedding! Can you imagine it? Maybe there was music, a pipe and a drum. Maybe people danced in a big ring, round and round, holding hands. Maybe there were tables piled with bread and figs and olives, and children running about under everybody's elbows.

And here's a little thing I like. Nathanael came from Cana. The Bible tells us so, much later on. So this was his own home town. Maybe he was there at the wedding, too.

Now, at a wedding feast back then, the grown-ups drank wine. Wine is a drink made from grapes.

And right in the middle of all that happiness... the wine ran out.

All gone. Not a drop left for the guests.

Maybe the family would have been embarrassed. Maybe hardly anybody knew yet. But Mary knew.

She went to Jesus and told him. Just four words.

"They have no wine."

And Jesus answered that his time had not come yet. "My hour has not yet come," he said. A special time, still on its way.

Then Mary turned to the servants, the helpers who carried the food and filled the cups. And she said, "Whatever he says to you, do it."

She didn't tell Jesus what to do. She told the helpers to listen to him.

Now, standing nearby, there were some big stone jars. Six of them.

They were water jars, kept for washing. God's people liked to wash their hands before they ate, and jars like these held the water for it.

And they were big. People think each one held about as much water as a bathtub.

And Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the water pots with water."

Water. Just plain water.

So the servants got busy. I wonder how many buckets it took. Slosh, into the first jar. Slosh, slosh, into the second. Then the third. And the fourth. And the fifth. And the sixth!

And the Bible says, "They filled them up to the brim."

Up to the brim! Right to the very top. Not one more drop would fit.

Then Jesus said, "Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast."

The ruler of the feast was the man in charge of the whole party.

So the servants drew some out, and off they went. Maybe they walked very carefully. Maybe one of them was thinking, "I'm taking water from the washing jars... to the man in charge?"

And the man in charge took a sip.

It wasn't water anymore.

It was wine. Good wine.

The Bible never tells us when it changed. In the jars? On the way across the room? It doesn't say. All Jesus did, as far as we're told, was tell the servants what to do. And they did it.

Now, the man in charge didn't know where this wine had come from. "But the servants who had drawn the water knew."

They knew! The busy helpers, maybe with wet sleeves and tired arms, knew the secret. And the important man in charge didn't have a clue.

So he called the bridegroom over. That's the man who was getting married that day.

And he told him that usually people bring out the very best first, and the not-so-good later on. But then he said, "You have kept the good wine until now!"

And the bridegroom? He hadn't done a thing! I don't think he knew anything about it. The Bible doesn't tell us what he said back. Maybe he just stood there, wondering what everybody was talking about.

And maybe, over by the jars, a few servants were trying very hard not to smile.

This was the very first wonder Jesus did. The Bible calls it a sign. A sign points to something. And this one pointed to Jesus, and who he really is.

He didn't do it in a palace, or in front of a great big crowd. He did it at a village wedding, on a family's happy day. And maybe most of the guests never even knew.

I think Jesus cared about their party.

The Bible says that in Cana of Galilee, Jesus "revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him."

His friends were there that day. Six stone jars of plain water, filled right up to the brim... and then, good wine. And they believed in him.

And God was with him. God was with her. God is with you, too.

Happy and sleepy now, little one. May the same God who turned plain washing water into good wine at a little village wedding... care about all your happy days, the big ones and the small ones too.