John 2:7-8

"Them" (NASB) is the servants to whom Mary had previously spoken (John 2:5). Their obedience is admirable and accounts in part for the full provision of the need. Normally people did not drink the water in those pots, but the headwaiter or toastmaster did not know that what the servant handed him came from there. Probably the pots were outside the house and he was inside.

Most commentators assumed that when the servants had filled the pots to the brim the water in them became wine. The servants then drew the wine out of the pots and served it to the headwaiter. A few writers noted that the verb "draw" (Gr. antleo, John 2:8) usually describes drawing water from a well. [Note: E.g., B. F. Westcott, The Gospel According to St. John: The Greek Text with Introduction and Notes, 1:84; and Carson, p. 174.] This led some of them to envisage a different scenario. Perhaps the servants filled the pots from a well and then continued drawing water out of the well that they served to the headwaiter. This explanation seems unnatural to me.

Many commentators saw the significance of what they understood to have happened as follows. Jesus’ disciples as well as the servants, and presumably Mary, knew that water had gone into the pots but that wine had come out. The only thing that accounted for the change was Jesus’ instructions. They realized that Jesus had the supernatural power to change water into wine. This miracle thus fortified their faith in Him (John 2:11).

Advocates of the view that the water the servants presented to the headwaiter came from the well see the same significance and more.

"Up to this time the servants had drawn water to fill the vessels used for ceremonial washing; now they are to draw for the feast that symbolizes the messianic banquet. Filling jars with such large capacity to the brim then indicates that the time for ceremonial purification is completely fulfilled; the new order, symbolized by the wine, could not be drawn from jars so intimately connected with merely ceremonial purification." [Note: Ibid. See also Tasker, pp. 55-57.]

I believe it is somewhat tenuous to build this interpretation on the usual meaning of antleo. Its essential meaning is "to draw" even though this word usually refers to drawing water from a well or spring (Genesis 24:13; Genesis 24:20; Exodus 2:16; Exodus 2:19; Isaiah 12:3; John 4:7; John 4:15). In classical Greek it describes drawing water out of a ship’s bilge. [Note: A Greek-English . . ., s.v. antleo, pp. 51-52.] Furthermore the symbolic interpretation that accompanies this view is questionable. There is nothing in the text that indicates that John intended his readers to see this miracle as teaching the termination of the old Mosaic order and the commencement of a new order. Jesus’ ministry certainly accomplished that, but there is no other evidence that this was a lesson that John was communicating to his readers here. Perhaps Jesus ordered the pots filled to the brim simply so there would be enough wine for everyone.