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It Begins - John 2:1-11
Weddings are fun times, times of celebration.
Times when we enjoy the company of those we love and rejoice at the new
bond of commitment between the bride and groom.
But anybody that has planned a wedding knows that there’s a lot of work
involved in pulling it off. A lot of stuff has to be done and we want
everything to go just right. The bride spends the whole day getting
ready. The groom spends about 10 minutes getting ready, which is
actually longer than it takes him to get ready for anything else. The
minister is in place. The rehearsal has helped everyone know exactly
where to stand. The cake is prepared and all the refreshments are ready.
But even with all the thorough planning, most weddings will have at
least one glitch – at least one thing that didn’t go quite right.
In our text this morning we are going to see a wedding where something
didn’t go quite right. It was a wedding that Jesus, his mother, and his
disciples attended. This story is recorded only in John’s gospel. But it
is especially significant because it is on this occasion that Jesus
performed his first miracle.
John 2:1-2
Middle Eastern weddings are very much different from weddings in our
part of the world. In our culture, the bride is the prominent figure.
When she enters, clad in all her glory, the whole congregation stands,
the music thunders out and every eye is focused on her. But in Middle
Eastern weddings, it is the groom that is prominent. He is the one who
leads the procession
The bridegroom and his friends would make their way in a procession to
the bride’s house. This was often done at night, when there could be a
spectacular torchlight parade down the street. The actual wedding
ceremony then took place in the bride’s home, after which everyone made
their way in a procession back to the bridegroom’s house where the feast
was held.
This marriage feast was a very important part of the proceedings. Some
wedding feasts went on for two or three days -- some for as long as a
week -- with all the friends and the relatives of both sides of the
family joining together for a big celebration. It was a joyous occasion!
Incidentally, guess who picked up the tab for all these expenses? It’s
was the groom’s family.
II. The Problem - John 2:3-5
This new couple is about to experience the ultimate embarrassment of not
being able to provide enough for their friends. They would be forever
remembered in this small village as the family who failed to take care
of the needs of their guests. And lawsuits could be brought against
families who didn’t provide adequately in a wedding feast (Can you
imagine being sued for not having enough cake and punch at a wedding
reception?).
It appears that this family was rather poor. Getting married on a
limited budget isn’t easy. And it doesn’t seem to have been easy for
this young couple. They had to make the minimum preparation for the
wedding, hoping that everything would work out all right. But it didn’t.
They either miscalculated the amount of wine needed or perhaps they
couldn’t afford more, but the bottom line is that there wasn’t enough.
And to the Jewish people, wine symbolized joy. In fact, the Jewish
rabbis had a saying, ‘Without wine there is no joy.” Every society has
its own idea of what symbolizes joy. For the Jews, wine symbolized joy,
and they were running out.
So Mary comes to Jesus and says, “They have no wine.” Many commentators
believe that one of ones getting married that day may have been a
relative of Jesus, maybe this was even the wedding of one of his younger
sisters. We don’t know for sure, but we do know that Jesus’ mother has a
particular concern about the situation and so she comes to Jesus.
But the response Jesus gave her was hardly what she expected, nor what
we might expect. In fact, the language sounds a bit unkind, a bit on the
harsh side. We would never speak to our parents in this way. But the
phrase is not as harsh in Greek as it is in English. In fact, it’s a
term that Jesus used on numerous occasions, including his crucifixion.
Remember, he said, “Woman, behold your son.” There’s no harshness in the
term, though it may sound that way to us.
Mary simply turned to the servants and said to them, “Whatever He tells
you, do it.” She doesn’t argue with him, she doesn’t plead with him. She
simply leaves her request in his hands to deal with as he sees fit. And
he tells the servants that if Jesus tells them to do something —anything
— they should obey.
III. The Miracle - John 2:6-10
There were six waterpots. Each of those jars held between 20 and 30
gallons of water. If that seems like a lot, but remember the continual
need for ceremonial purification. The Pharisees rebuked Jesus’ disciples
in Mark 7 because they didn’t wash thoroughly enough. According to the
Jewish leaders, virtually everything had to be washed continually.
Before eating, each guest would have water poured over his hands. If the
feast went on for a number of days, the process would have to be
repeated every time a guest ate, so with any sizable number of guests,
there would have been a need for a fair amount of water.
Jesus instructed the servants to fill each of the six waterpots to the
brim. And when the six stone pots were filled, Jesus instructed the
servants to draw out some of the water from one of the pots and serve it
to the master of the feast. And here is where Mary’s words to the
servants are really put to the test.
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about just how difficult an
assignment this was for these servants. It was one thing to fill the
jars, which was probably a part of their regular responsibilities. But
who would have ever thought of drinking this water? You would have
washed your hands in it, but not drunk it. In fact, this ceremonial
cleansing water was not suitable for drinking.
Try to imagine what it must have been like for the servants when Jesus
said, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” They
must have thought, “I know Mary said to do whatever Jesus said, but
surely he can’t be serious! We’re supposed to serve this water to the
master of the feast? Are you kidding? When he finds out we’re giving him
water and not wine he’s not going to be a happy camper. And then when he
finds out where the water he just drank came from — it’s gonna be
unemployment time!”
But the servants obeyed Jesus. They drew out of the pots and begin to
serve the wine to the master of the feast. The master of the feast had
no idea where it came from. Then with a smile, and perhaps a pat on the
bridegroom’s back, the master of the feast proclaimed this wine to be
great — the best yet. The timing was a little unorthodox, but the wine
was great. The bridegroom has outdone himself, saving the very best
until last. So what looked like certain shame turned to sudden fame for
the bridegroom and his family.
We’re not told what the bridegroom said in response. He probably didn’t
say anything; he must have been somewhat bewildered at what was going
on. In fact, most of the people at that wedding never knew a miracle had
taken place. It seems that only Mary, the servants, and the disciples
were aware of what happened that day
I think the reason this was done so quietly is that, as Jesus said, he
knew that it was not yet time for him to make a public display of his
power and glory, by which he publicly presented himself as the promised
Messiah. So this miracle was accomplished in a way that was not apparent
to everyone. This miracle was not done to get personal recognition. It
was not done to get a following. It was done to meet a need.
Lessons to be learned:
1. First of all, John tells us this miracle was a sign.
The first time Trista and I came to visit you we went to the Rainbow Inn
and asked for directions. We were told to follow 78 until you see the
signs. They would take us right here. That’s what signs are for: to tell
you something that you would not otherwise know. That’s what John means
when he says that this miracle was a sign. It tells us something about
Jesus that we would not otherwise know. Men can fill jars with water,
but only God can turn water into wine! Jesus was indeed the Son of God.
2. Second -- and this is important -- this miracle was not a response to
a “critical” need.
Stop and consider this fact for a moment. This miracle was not like some
of the other miracles Jesus performed, where an individual had suffered
for years, or a child’s life hung in the balance. This was not an
emergency situation which demanded immediate and dramatic action on our
Lord’s part.
This miracle teaches us that God is concerned with our “non-critical”
problems. Prayer is not like calling 911. Some people have the idea that
God is like the President of the United States — he is a person with far
too many demands on his time, so much so that he cannot possibly respond
to them all. Maybe they think of God as sitting at a large heavenly desk
with thousands of telephones in front of him which are all ringing with
“prayer requests,” and he is busy answering them all. Who are we to
“bother” God with our problems?
But if that’s our idea of God, then we’ve got it all wrong. I Peter 5:7
says to “cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you.” God is
never annoyed when we come to him with our small problems. In fact, he
takes great pleasure in our willingness to come to him.
And it’s significant to me that this was an ordinary wedding amongst
common, ordinary people. The bride and groom are not named because
nobody John was writing to would have known them anyway. They were
nobodies. Jesus’ first miracle didn’t occur at the wedding of a king’s
daughter. It didn’t occur in Rome or even Jerusalem. It occurred in a
small insignificant village named Cana.
I am reminded of the story of the “lost ax head” in 2 Kings 6, where
Elisha retrieves an ax head for one of the sons of the prophets. God
cares about lost ax heads, and lost car keys and flat tires.
He takes care of our needs both great and small. There is nothing too
ordinary to pray about. God is just as concerned about the little
problems of your life as he is the big problems, and we should feel free
to share those needs with him.
3. Third, Jesus transforms something ordinary into something very
wonderful.
Jewish custom was focused on the importance of being ceremonially clean.
The water jars were there because each guest needed water to wash their
feet and hands, but it was not so much for cleanliness as it was for
ritual purity. The jars of water were there in order to fulfill the Old
Testament requirements for ceremonial washing. But when Jesus came into
contact with those jars, he transformed their contents. As he says in
Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I make all things new."
Jesus didn’t just come to give us information; he came to give us
transformation. He changes things. He has a way of taking the ordinary
and making it extraordinary. He takes something that is less than
desirable (for drinking, at least) and makes it into a sweet wine. He
takes something that was viewed as a drudgery and makes it the source of
great joy.
You’re missing the whole point of this miracle if you think it’s all
about water and wine. Our God is in the transformation business. What
Jesus really came to do, and what he has the ability to do, is to
transform people.
Jesus wasn’t just able to change water to wine. He was able to take
fallible men like Peter, James and John, and transform them into
apostles. And he is able to take the “weak and foolish things of this
world” — people like us — and transform us so that people marvel at
God’s grace and power. This miracle shows us that Jesus has the power to
change.
In I Corinthians 6, Paul lists a long list of people who will not
inherit the kingdom – fornicators, idolators, and so on. Then he says,
“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were
sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of our God.” (I Corinthians 6:11).
What’s he saying? He’s saying that they had experienced the transforming
grace of Jesus Christ, and he makes the point in I Timothy that if Jesus
Christ can transform my life, then he can do the same thing for you,
too.
4. Fourth, we need to do whatever Jesus tells us to do.
Mary said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you to do.” At that
moment, Jesus ceased to be a guest and began to be the one who was in
control of everything..
It seems to me that most people are perfectly willing to let Jesus be a
guest in their lives. But they are not willing to turn over control and
“do whatever he tells” them to do, and so they never see the joy that
Jesus wants to bring into their lives.
When Jesus spoke, the servants responded in obedience. They began the
process of filling the stone jars with water. That’s between 120 and 180
gallons of water. It would have taken a lot of time and energy to
accomplish this task. Trip after trip to the well to draw water and pour
it into the jars. And we don’t know how far it was to the well. It would
have been tempting for the servants to do a half-hearted and
half-completed job. But those men did exactly what Jesus told them to do
without knowing why they were doing it, and Jesus rewarded them for it.
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