John 2:1-12
Turning one thing into another
Toilet Paper Skit. (To see the skit you'll need to watch the video. I've posted it at the end of the notes.)
Well, Ok. I hope you got a little chuckle out of that. A merry heart does good like medicine. We’ve all tried turning one thing into another depending on our circumstances. Tonight, we look at how Jesus does it.
2 On the
third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother
of Jesus was there. 2 Now both
Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3 And when they ran out of
wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
We now start chapter 2 of John’s Gospel. Chapter 1 was largely the
prologue. It gave verbal testimony to Christ. Setting the tone, the scene and
some of the main characters. Now we transition from verbal testimony of Jesus
to the works of Jesus. John is going to alternate as we go through the gospel,
between the words of Christ and the works of Christ. He’s going to have us look
at the statements Jesus made that indicate His deity and the works He did that
demonstrate and prove His deity. He will do what no one but God can do.
In seminary the teach you that John’s
Gospel give us eight signs/miracles that Jesus did that point specifically to
his deity. He turns water into wine in chapter 2. He heals a dying man in
chapter 4. He cures a paralyzed man in chapter 5. He creates food for thousands
of people in chapter 6. He walks on water at the end of chapter 6. He gives
sight to the blind in chapter 9. He raises a man dead for days in chapter 11.
He creates a meal in chapter 21, breakfast for His disciples.
And then the grand finale beyond the
eight, is his death, burial and resurrection. John writes in chapter 20, verse
30,: “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the
disciples which are not written in this book.” That’s a fascinating concept
isn’t it? These aren’t the only miracles Jesus did, this might not have been
the first one, in fact it’s likely that it isn’t. There are many others. It’s
entirely possible that miracles became commonplace to the disciples. I know
some of you think that’s ridiculous but think of all the commonplace things you
took for granted on March 1st compared to now. However, that’s a
sermon for later in John.
So what’s going on here? On the third
day? Third day of what? Third day of the week? Third day of the wedding? Maybe
both! There’s a wedding going on in Cana of Galilee! Jesus, His mom and his
disciples were all there. Let me clear up some erroneous things first. This is
not Jesus wedding, nor is this John the Gospel Writers wedding as some will go
way out of the way to say. This is likely a close friend or family member. Which
is why Mary is there helping with the wedding.
Jesus grew up in the small town of
Nazareth, this wedding was in Cana an even smaller town a little way down the
road. If Nazareth is Roxboro, then Cana is Timberlake. Now one of the mistakes
we make is when we overlay life in 2020 with life 2000 years ago. Yes, the
general concept of the wedding was the same. A man and woman united before God
in Holy matrimony. Yet, instead of a grand one day production this was more
along the lines of a week long feast. Engagements during this time was for
wedding planning and married life preparing. The groom spent the year long
engagement building a house and saving for the wedding feast. It was to show
that he had the maturity and work ethic required to provide for a family.
To run out of something at a wedding was
a grievous issue! It ultimately reflected upon the groom and his inability to
properly plan and provide for his guests and implied that maybe he wasn’t fit
to be a husband after all. The groom would never hear the end of this! The rest
of his life he’s the guy that ran out of wine halfway through the wedding
feast! We had to drink water the rest of the week. I was on the toilet for a
week after that! Remember, it wasn’t safe to drink water back then.
When I’ve been overseas on mission trips
I’ve been warned repeatedly “Don’t drink the water”. It’s the same here. They
made wine, a fermented drink. Again, some people go out of there way to say it
was grape juice, it wasn’t. I’ll address that a bit later. They often diluted
it though with 2 to 10 parts water.
This is a weeklong feast. It’s been
getting planned for 1 year minimum. Then they run out of something midway
through it. Did they underestimate the number of guests? We’ve had that happen
with kids’ birthday parties. Did they underestimate the amount each guest would
consume? We’ve had that happen with cookouts. However, in both instances we
just went to Food Lion and were back in roughly 30 minutes tops. You can’t do that
here. It’s not an option. There’s no wine dealer down the road. Even if they
did everyone would know. They have a major problem. What do they do? What all
of us should do. They go to Jesus.
4 Jesus
said to her, “Woman, what does your concern
have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His
mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
Why does Mary to go to Jesus? I’m not
even going to get into some of the far out there responses here. Let’s just
think about this for a moment. Joseph, Mary’s husband, passed away sometime
before now. Jesus is now roughly 30 and has been the head of the household
since his father’s passing. He’s been in charge, He’s made the decisions, He’s
given the advice, He’s ran the family business and taking care of everyone. He
never gave bad advice, He never made a bad business decision, He’s always been
patient, levelheaded and calm. He’s had a solution to every problem they have faced,
and I assure they faced just as many, if not more than us. Has He done private
miracles before this? My personal opinion? I don’t know. If He did though it
wasn’t for selfish gain, it was to glorify God.
He addresses her as “woman.” Nowhere in
the gospels does He ever call her “mother”; only “woman.” The expression
conveys no disrespect. But it does underscore the fact that Christ was much
more to Mary than a Son. He was her Savior, too (cf. Luke 1:47). Mary was no sinless co-redemptrix. She
was as dependent on divine grace as the lowliest of sinners, and after Christ
reached adulthood, her relationship to Him was the same as that of any obedient
believer to the Lord. She was a disciple; He was the Master.
Woman, what does your concern have to do
with me? I realize your own personal life story greatly changes how you view
this. One of the problems with text is that there’s no tone, no body language,
no volume.
I submit to you that this is a joke. God
invented Jokes. God invented Irony. Jesus has a sense of humor. I realize most
of the pictures/paintings you’ve ever seen of Jesus he looks serious, but He
also smiled. I’m willing to bet he had a contagious laugh as well. He’s at a
wedding feast. Everyone is having a good time. He knew all this was going to
happen. He takes a moment to pick at his mom. If He was serious and/or Mary
took Him seriously she wouldn’t have given the servants the following command “Whatever
He says to you, do it.”
That’s also the best advice anyone ever
gave anyone. Whatever Jesus says to you, do it! Are you wondering what Jesus
says to you? Open this book and read! You’ve got the time.
6 Now there
were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of
purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the
waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the
brim. 8 And He
said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to
the master of the feast.” And they took it. 9 When the master of the
feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it
came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the
feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he
said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when
the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept
the good wine until now!”
11 This beginning
of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and [a]manifested
His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
12 After
this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His
disciples; and they did not stay there many days.
At a gathering like this there would have been
purification water pots. Now I realize most of you just thought “purification
water pot? That’s weird.” Modern day that would be, There were 6 handwashing
stations. You read Leviticus and see all this ceremonial washing stuff and
think it’s weird. It was the ancient version of washing your hands. A lot of
the Levitical law was very practical concerning hygiene, hand washing and
proper food preparation. An ancient CDC/FDA.
He tells the servants fill those pots to the
brim! 6 pots 20-30 gallons per pot somewhere around 120-180 gallons of water. That’s
roughly 4 bathtubs full of water. Jesus then tells them, ok draw some out and
take it to the master of the feast. Who was the master of the feast? He was the
person in charge of making sure everyone had a good time. He was also likely
one of the highest-ranking guests. The master of the feast tastes the water
that had been turned into wine and goes Wow! That’s some good wine. Of course
it is! It’s the best wine he ever had. Jesus made it! Note he didn’t say “Hey
that’s water! Or Hey that’s some good grape juice.” I assure you they knew the
difference between grape juice and wine.
Question? When did the water turn into wine? The
servant drew water and brought water to the master of the feast. However, when
he drinks it, it is wine. Kudos to the servant for following orders. It’s not
like Jesus told him “Hey, I’m going to turn that water into wine.” He just told
him take that the Master of the Feast some water.” The servant obeyed, everyone
rejoiced. It’s telling that His first public ministry is for family. A reminder
that our first and most important ministry will always be family.
How did Jesus actually do miracles? He did them in many different
ways. Here, Jesus did not say a word or blink an eye. He merely exercised His
will and the miracle was done.
Moses, giver of the law, turned water into blood. We know that the Law
results in death (Exodus 7:17-21). But Jesus’ first miracle turned water into
wine, showing the gladness and joy of His new work. This acts out what John
said in John 1:17: For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ. Grace and Truth to us all, place your faith in the
one that will turn bad things into blessings.