Jesus First Miracle: A Hind Thought in My Eyes

Jesus First Miracle: Water into Wine:

This article was written in tribute to Lord Jesus Christ, the Giver of Life. It was penned in remembrance of His birth. Almost all celebrate Christmas by assuming it was Christ's date of birth, but I prefer to honour and worship Him differently.

Jesus performed His first awesome miracle over 2,000 years ago by converting six stone waterpots of water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2: 1-11).

This miracle itself has already far surpassed our ability to understand how He was able to do it using our knowledge in Science and Technology in this 21st Century.

Please allow me to try to explain step-by-step starting with water. I would need His guidance on how to write and explain.

 

First of all, water is the most important precursor of life. In the human body of an adult there are about 6 litres of vital blood flowing like wine through our body. Wine has a very close chemical composition to that of human blood.

 

My feelings about this are even more uncanny when I started to compare the chemical composition of a human body from one of my textbooks on Human Nutrition with another book on Food Analysis - in areas I was trained among others. I then lumped up all the fine details together, and grouped them under water, organic matter and minerals. 

 

Below was what I found about the chemical composition of wine and that of the human body. 

 

Composition: Man, and Wine respectively:

Water (percent): 62, 73
Organic matter (percent): 12, 26
Minerals (percent): 06, 01

Water & Life:

Obviously the most compound associated with life is water. Water is a simple inorganic chemical compound consisting of 2 hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom in its molecule. It is the most important and the most abundant substance covering 3/4 of the Earth's surface. Without water, no life can exist. It is the most abundant composition in the make-up of any living organism for it to support life.

From the analysis of a human body, water makes up 62 % of our body composition. Even in wine, a fermentation product of grapes, its minimum composition of water is 70 percent, and may be up to 90 percent in some poorer grades of wine.

 

However, in the first miracle of Jesus at the wedding in Cana in Galilee the wine was the best ever but was kept last.

"And saith unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now" (John 2:10). KJV.

However, water does not contain any carbon atom in which all living things must share this second most important denominator. It is the carbon atoms that make their organic constituents. Carbon compounds are the second most important substances for which life is made up of. Neither water alone without the carbon (organic) constituents, can life come into existence. Similarly, nether carbon compounds alone without water, can bring forth the existence of life on Earth as we know it. Both are important with water coming first, then the carbon or organic compounds coming second place.

It is not surprising to my mind that Jesus needed six "very large stone water-jars" of water to be filled to the brim to change them into a mixture of inorganic water (73 %) and organic matter (26 %) to make up wine which was a product of two living things (grapes and yeast). It suggests to me the abundance of life would require such vast amounts of water. 

"His mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

And there were six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim".

(John 2: 5 -7)

 

According to the account in the Gospel of John, Jesus turned the six stone water jars of water, each holding between twenty to thirty gallons into wine (two or three firkins apiece). This roughly translates to about 757 to 1,136 litres of water being transformed into wine. I believe Jesus wanted these 6 stone jars to be filled with water to the brim and the servants did fill them to the brim.

Six jars of water amounting to 757 to 1,136 litres of water into wine is not a small amount. But Jesus did it as His first miracle. Most people would have missed the interpretation of verse. It means not just His prowess to give just a bit of life, but an abundance of life like oceans of life for everyone.

 

Unprecedented:

I wonder too if alchemists ever thought about these themselves when they tried so very hard to change ‘base metals’ into gold with “philosopher’s stone”. If they have not, I don’t blame them, because I wonder even our own scientists in this 21st Century with all their immense knowledge in Nuclear Science and Nuclear Technology, some of them Christians too, who may have preached this miracle over and over again, have ever thought about this linking of His first miracle with life itself? If they have not, I have now lit up this first torch for them to relay this profound scientific significance of this miracle to others if they wish.

Composition of wine and life:

Wine is a mixture of an inorganic lifeless compound called water which is made of two molecules of hydrogen, and a molecule of oxygen. Hydrogen is the most common and most abundant element in the entire Universe, while oxygen is absolutely essential for all aerobic (air breathing) organisms like Man on Earth. Wine contains around 70 % water, and the rest ethyl alcohol, an organic compound for which all life on Earth as we know it is made up of. The ethyl alcohol (ethanol) in wine comes entirely from grapes, a living fruit called grapes through fermentation by another living organism called yeast.

In the process of changing grapes into ethanol, many other organic compounds like ethyl acids, organic acids like tartaric acid, and 20 other organic acids, proline, one of the α-amino acids (one of the twenty DNA-encoded amino acids). It also contains polyols like glycols which gives wine a sweet taste. All these life-giving substances are found in wine and are being transmuted from a compound to another compound; all of them were from living sources.

As already mentioned, water is an inorganic compound that is the most important ingredient for the existence of life on earth, and that all life are made of organic molecules containing carbon atoms such as alcohol (ethanol) in wine. In other words, Jesus changed water from inorganic into an organic compound – wine, containing ethanol (ethyl alcohol) with a chemical formula CH3CH2OH. 

Water together with an organic compound is synonymous with life. It symbolizes the creation of life. 

 

Minerals of electricity:

Wine also contains special minerals; the most important are potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, sulphates, phosphorus, all of which are necessary to cover our daily nutritional and electrolytes needs of human beings for electrical conduction in the body. Life energy is somewhat like electricity. It may be described as some kind of transmittable energy that can flow through the body and passed on to the next living body.

All living things, including humans, yeast or grapes need at least another 1 % of minerals for electrical energy to be conducted, and chemical reactions to come into order for its cellular activities.

 

Vitamins and antioxidants:

Wine also contains vitamins of the group B, and, above all vitamin P which reinforces the cell-wall of capillary vessels, lessening the risks of haemorrhage and oedema, as well as free radical quenchers and antioxidants called resveratrol which we know to be cardio-protective, health-giving, and prolongs life. It also contains phenolic compounds, phenolic acids that give wine the fragrance and aroma, besides anthocyanins and tannins all of which are health-protective and prolongs life span.

Organic compounds too:

Wine also contains a small number of azoted substances as well as 20 animated acids among which is proline as already mentioned. What was surprising to me was that the concentration of aminated acid in wine is very close to that of human blood!

Aminated acids are organic compounds that have undergone amination, a chemical reaction where an amino group (NH2) is added to a molecule. This process typically occurs with carboxylic acids, resulting in the formation of amino acids.

 

I felt very weird and uneasy when I thought of the chemical composition of wine similar to human blood. I felt uneasy to think how Jesus Christ waited for the right moment to convert 6 jars of inorganic water to a mixture of inorganic and organic compounds as in wine almost similar to the blood of humans. 

The chemical differences between something which was non-living into something which originally was living (grapes and yeast) until they were sacrificed to turn into wine is something very uncanny about it. I have never even thought of this chemical and biological relationship when I started writing this article. It is an uncanny food for thought for me. It's interesting how this simple act carries such profound spiritual and biological meaning.

 

Yes, that was quite a remarkable transformation, both physically and symbolically. The conversion of water into wine is often seen as a significant miracle in Christian theology, symbolizing the transformative power of Jesus and the beginning of his public ministry. 

 

Link between life, water and organic wine:

Why of all substances, Jesus chose water into wine? Was He trying to tell us future scientists something our blinded and clouded eyes could not see? Satan has kept us all in the dark, including the intellectual and learned scientists. We are all blind folded in darkness. I strongly need to express this out now even though I kept this thought for myself in weird and fear many decades ago as a young man then. This was only Jesus' first miracle and I thought I should speak this out when the time has come. It is very spine chilling even though it was His first and very ‘simple’ miracle.

I wonder if the Jews during Jesus' time realized the paramount scientific meaning of Jesus' first miracle when John recorded this event.

 The wine later symbolized the human blood of Jesus and the bread of His broken body in His last supper with His disciples. It means the change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of the Blood and Body (respectively).

"For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

(1 Corinthians 11:23-26. New International Version)

Giver of Life:

Jesus, to the Christians is the Author of Life who came from Heaven. He has already told Pilate this very clearly: ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (John 18:36), meaning to me, He came from another world in the Universe which is called heaven by the Jews. The miracles He performed on our Earth indicated He must have come from a world where Science and Technology even over 2000 years ago must have far, far, far, exceeded ours in the 21st Century.

Why, why?

Why did Jesus wait for this moment to perform His first miracle to mimic the composition of blood and life - from an inorganic compound (water), the most important compound which is the precursor to life and for the continued existence of all life on Earth? Next, He changed those water of life into wine, which contains organic substances which are what all life is made of as we know it. 

Why did Jesus choose water, and why did He convert it into organic compounds (wine) with water in it, that bears almost exactly the composition of a human body, especially human blood?

This seems very weird, supernatural and frightening to me to have all this done at the right moment in a wedding feast in Cana over 2000 years ago. Even today no scientist can do this transmutation of elements from one form to another without a powerful nuclear reactor, and even then, only in very small amounts can be transmuted at a very, very high price using horrendously large amounts of energy from a nuclear reactor to do this. But Jesus transmuted all those waters free for the wedding guests then and for us to ponder over deeply spiritually and scientifically now. 

What kind of Divine intervention and Power was that I failed to understand even for research scientists in the 21st Century.  It is frightening and spine chilling for me to think of this even now. Weird, weird, and very weird, indeed! Only a Divine Being can pump and bestow all those horrendous powers into Jesus. Glory! Glory! to Him.

Wine and the Blood of Jesus:

I have already written elsewhere about the chemical composition of bread and the biology of life.

But during the last days of Jesus' life during the Passover supper, Jesus took the bread, which took on a symbolic meaning, representing His body and how it will be broken. He took the wine, which also took on a symbolic meaning, representing His blood that would be shed for the remission of sins. For without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Heb 9:22).

"And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God". (Mk 14:22-25)

Much More complex miracles:

Later, He performed much more complex miracles like instantaneously healing the sick, blind and lame on the spot, and plumped the ‘force of life’ back into the dead like in Lazarus (John 11:1-45), then in the only son of a widow from Nain (Luke 7:11-14), and the daughter of the religious leader Jairus (Mark 5:22-43).

We need to define and explain exactly what is this entity called ‘life’ that can only exist when we are alive, and ‘disappear’ when we are physically dead?

Until now we can only describe the characteristics of living things that display certain characteristics and features namely, Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion and Nutrition using the acronym MRS GREN. But we have yet to define what exactly is life, let alone how life was created.  

Scientists have published volumes of books and research papers and literature on taxonomy, DNA, molecular biology, chemistry of nucleic acids, proteins, amino acids. They have done all that. They have even synthesized amino acids in the laboratory as Stanley Miller and Harold Urev did in their laboratory at the University of Chicago in 1952, and published their results in 1953, and even on synthetic life.

 

Miller’s experiment in creating amino acids does not mean he has created life. He only created a very small part of the chemical composition that made up what life was. But synthesizing amino acids or even DNA does not mean we have created life. These chemicals are still dead.  We might as well buy a piece of beef from the local market and call it ‘life’ . That piece of lifeless beef would have far better life chemicals inside it. It would have the entire profile of DNA, the correct composition of amino acids, well designed muscle protein structures, sugars, biological fluids, electrolytes, vitamins, minerals than what Miller was able to demonstrate to us. His was just a flask of amino-acids and other lifeless organic substances, and nothing more. That’s not life. That’s not the music of life? They are just a collection of non-living things. Where has life in that piece of beef originally from a living cow gone?   Where has ‘life’ or ‘vital force’ that once dwelled in it vanished when the butcher slaughtered that cow?

Molecular biology and Biotechnology:

We can even make use of our understanding of DNA to branch out into molecular biology, molecular medicine, biotechnology, recombinant DNA technology, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing and genome identification to build up a database, and yet we are unable to create something living that can be defined under the acronym MRS GREN. 

Where did life come from, and where did it go when it ends. All our textbooks' knowledge on biochemistries (of life) and other life sciences tells us nothing about this.

Synthetic Life:

They have even created synthetic life or artificial life from abiotic (non-living) substances in a laboratory, but those synthetic cell-like substances are still not living that can fall under the definition of MRS GREN. They are not the same as those creatures that crept over the surface of Earth that God created as described in Genesis

Gift of Life:

Scientists and nutritionists call this ‘essential daily nutrition’ . I thank God for this daily Gift of Life. Without food we will all surely die. This is what Christians call ‘giving thanks and grace’ at all meals. The sacrifice of a life (food) in order to pass this vital force to another to keep him alive is a free Gift from God. It cannot be bought with money, wealth and any power on Earth. Only God can give us this very vital provision. So, we need to thank God (give grace) for every meal we get daily.