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John 2:9-11 (ANIV)
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realise where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

DRAWING NOTES:

TIME OF DAY:
Unspecified by the Bible narrative. I have set this scene in the mid afternoon (a few moments after the previous scene).

LIGHTING NOTES:
The sun (unseen & on the right) is high in the sky, casting shadows to the left of figures & objects.

CHARACTERS PRESENT:
From left to right, the master of the banquet, groom, servant, Jesus, bride, young servant.

RESEARCH/ADDITIONAL NOTES:
As verse 9 points out, the master of the banquet did not realise the miraculous origin of the wine. I like the fact that the servants did know who had turned the water into wine. It seems like Jesus was happy for the servants (i.e. those of lowly social position) to know about his miracle but not the master of the banquet, nor the bride or groom (i.e. those of higher social standing), which seems to be a frequent occurrence in the activities of Jesus on earth! I have heard it said that the kingdom of heaven is topsy-turvy, in that the principles & values of heaven are opposite to those on earth. I prefer to think of God’s values as being the right way round, & our earthly values are the ones that are upside down (not in alignment with God’s own values).

I have put Jesus in the right background, with a young servant looking at him in amazement!

Notice that I have used the background from Scene 01in this picture, except that the 6 stone jars are missing in this illustration… put to more important use by Jesus & the servants!

“Soon after the grape vintage, all wine would contain some alcohol (neither refrigeration nor hermetic sealing existed). But the alcohol level of the wine was not increased artificially (distillation was not in use); rather, the wine was watered down, with two to three parts water to one part wine. Sometimes at Greek parties drunkenness was induced through less dilution or the addition of herbal toxins, but Jewish teachers disapproved of such practices; that drunkenness is part of the celebration at Cana is unlikely. Yet one would normally serve the better wine first because, drunk or not, guests’ senses would become more dulled as the seven days of banqueting proceeded.”
[Source: Bible Background Commentary]

“God had often manifested his glory by doing signs (Exodus 16:7; for glory, cf. comment on John 1:14). Moses’ first sign was turning water into blood (Exodus 7:20; cf. Rev. 8:8); Jesus’ first sign is turning water into wine.”
[Source: Bible Background Commentary]

Here is the scene without the figures in the foreground.

John 02 – Wedding at Cana – Scene 04 – Banquet master impressed – Background