And said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. John 2:10-11 ESV

I have sometimes wondered why the first miracle Jesus did was to fill wine cups by turning ordinary water into delicious wine. Why didn’t He cleanse a leper, give a blind man sight, or raise someone from the dead? But then I remember another cup and another dinner table, where Jesus sat down to eat with His disciples, He took a cup, but this time He didn’t change water into wine. Instead, He told them that the wine in His cup was His blood, and then He passed it to them to drink. Today we receive that cup when we take communion. Our communion cup is different from the ones the people drank from at the wedding because even though Jesus gave them miraculous wine, eventually their cups ran dry. Just like the blood of the Old Covenant never really worked, those people, just like us, have lied, stolen, lusted, or hated. But the good news for us today is that Jesus didn’t come to fill our cups with old wine. He came to miraculously transform the ordinary water of our old life into the wonderful wine of something new. The cup that Jesus offers us is filled with the new wine of His blood, and each time we receive communion we are reminded that His blood paid the price for our salvation and set us free from sin. And this cup is not reserved only for special guests but for anyone who comes and drinks and then follows the Lamb of God who came to take away our sin!

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Luke 22:20 ESV