Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / John

John 2:1-11 04/17/05

Message: ‘The Wedding Feast’                                                                                                                                                           Main Text: John 2:1-11
 

Introduction:  Sue Monk Kidd in ‘Today's Christian Woman’ tells this story: One August night, my children dragged me to the backyard to watch a meteor shower. I reluctantly joined them thinking, I have so many details to tend to before we leave on vacation. I don't have time for idleness. Suddenly, golden fire balls streaked across the blackness. "God made this," one of her children whispered. It was a rare moment. Not because of the sight, but because I stepped beyond my familiar world into one of wonder and discovered the Creator in the midst. Could it be God filled the world with such beauty to lift people like me away from our obsession with details--to touch our lives with a magnificent awareness of himself?

Too many times we miss so much because we live on the low level of the natural, the ordinary, the explainable.  We leave no room for God to do the exceeding abundant thing above all that we can ask or think.

I am so guilty here. I schedule my life so rigidly, that often I don’t leave room for God to do the unexpected. How about you?
Transition: Open your Bibles to John 2:1 (pg. 810 in the church bible) Where we will see Jesus’ first miracle and what so many people at the wedding missed because they failed to take the time to notice.

 
John 2:1-2        Invited Guests
 
Read: John 2:1-2

Weddings are fun, aren’t they? Joy, happiness, excitement… lots to eat and drink, with plenty of dancing. But weddings in Jesus’ day were a bit different than today. You see, they would often last 4-7 days. That’s a party.

Today on many wedding cards we find the romantic line ‘This is the first day of the rest of your life’. Interesting, isn’t it, that this is the place (a wedding) Jesus would decide to begin his public ministry?

‘The first day of the rest of your life’…Notice that the chapter begins with ‘On the third day’…Just before that in chapter 1 Jesus tells Nathanael ‘You shall see greater things than this’. ‘The third day’ in the NT is a figure of speech referring to Jesus being killed and raised from the dead on the third day. 

‘The third day’ is a message of hope…of life after death, not just for Jesus, but for all who believe.

Notice also that after ‘the third day’ comes the mention of a marriage. Remember nothing in Scripture is there by coincidence.

After ‘your third day’ your resurrection from death, where will you be going? To a wedding feast…yours! It is being prepared right now for all those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the one who forgives sin. It is called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9)

Read: Rev. 19:7-9

Who is the Bridegroom here? Jesus. Who is his bride? The church…Christians…you and me. A banquet will be set before us, just like this one in Cana but this wedding reception will last all eternity. Man, I hope they have cheese steak hoagies on the buffet table.

Transition: OK, Jesus and his disciples along with Jesus’ mother were invited to this wedding. Let’s see what happens next.

 
John 2:3-5        No Wine
 
Read: John 2:3-5

Have you seen the commercial where everyone is dancing and partying and when they run out of Pringles…everything stops and the people go home. Or the commercial where the dinner party runs out of cheese and the hosts are devastated and the guests go home, very unhappy. What is it that our society thinks we get joy in life from potato chips or cheese…well maybe cheese. But we are not alone.

In Jesus’ day, wine was what brought joy to the Jews, I suppose it still does today to many people. But they had biblical texts to back it up. Scripture often relates wine to joy, and in a good way. Wine represented joy in life to those first century Jews.

So what do you think would happen if the people knew the wine had run out at the wedding feast? It wouldn’t be worth staying, they would all leave. To them, the joy would have gone from their lives.

Lets look at some symbolism here. Jesus, the long awaited Messiah had come and the people didn’t recognize him. They had waited so long and had been so negatively influenced by prideful and legalistic religious leaders that they had lost their joy in life. How would it be restored? Hold on to that thought.

Mary finds out that the wine is gone and tells Jesus about it. Did Mary expect a miracle? We are not told. Certainly Jesus birth and life were a miracle to her. It seems she expected Jesus to do something.

Jesus responds to her is an odd way for a son to talk to his mother. ‘Dear woman, why do you involve me?’ Are not words of disrespect, but an indication of transformation. Jesus had begun his public ministry and Mary, although his mother, must now become his disciple. Jesus is no longer just her son, but the ‘Son of Man’, the Messiah. Jesus ministry was one of transformation and it still is today.

ILL: In the 70’s and early 80’s, Orson Wells was in a series of TVcommercials. Anyone remember what he was selling? Paul Masson Wine. Remember his line? ‘Paul Masson will sell no wine before it’s time.’

Jesus was saying the same thing..kind of. Jesus does what the Father tells him to do. We will see that over and over again in the Book of John. Jesus’ obedience to the Father. So, Jesus can’t be forced to do something if it is not the will of God. He would do no miracle before it’s time.

Mary seems not to be offended in any way. She tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. Mary gives advice that everyone needs to hear…Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.

Transition: As it should the focus is now turned to Jesus. The one whose ministry it is to transform.

 
John 2:6-10        Water Into Wine
 
Read: John 2:6-10

There are five significant things to notice here in this text.

1. The Water Pots: These 20-30 gal stone pots were used for ceremonial washing. This being a Jewish wedding feast, the guests were required to go through many washings before they could eat. It was a big crowd and the water pots would have been empty by now.

2. The Water: The stone pots held water that was used to ceremonially clean the people so they could eat. (Mk. 7:1-5) The water symbolized the washing away of the sin of the people so they could eat with joy and thanksgiving.  But understand that the cleansing involved only the hands and feet. Jesus used this same water to show that it is not the hands and feet that need cleansing in order to enter heaven, it is the heart, the inside. When the people drank the new wine it represented the need for internal cleansing.

3. The Wine: Just a brief note here. This was real wine…not grape juice. Jews of that or any day would not serve grape juice at a wedding or any other feast.
No one, except Jesus’ mother and disciples, and perhaps the servants who did as Jesus told them to do, knew where the new wine had come from. They alone saw the miracle. The rest of the people went on as if nothing happened. 

Jesus does miracles everyday
•    each Christian saved by the grace of God is a miracle,
•    each breath we take is a miracle,
•    each new born baby is a miracle…from God
 and so many people are too busy with the details of their life to see it.

4. The Abundance of Wine: The 6 stone water pots held about 20-30 gallons each. That’s 120-180 gals of wine. That’s abundance, it’s more than they desire or even need. Jesus does the same today. He gives us exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask for. Am I right?

5 The Quality of the Wine: The Matre ‘d  sampled the wine and went to the groom and congratulated him on his love and blessing on his guests. The wine they are now serving is so much better than what they had been drinking.

Let’s talk symbolism again. The wine of the Law had run out and was now replaced by the new wine of Jesus… and it is far better than the old wine, the burden of the law. Jesus’ new wine is the fruit of the vine of grace. This sweet nectar surpasses everything before it.

Remember Moses turned the water of the Nile into blood showing God’s judgment on sin. Jesus turned water into wine showing God’s grace on sinners.

Transition: Jesus performed a miracle and very few noticed…but, a few did notice!

 
John 2:11        Signs and Belief
 
Read: John 2:11

Jesus’ miracles or signs as they are sometimes called always point to a greater reality. Jesus’ miracles were not done to draw attention to the miracle, but to God, whose greatness and compassion provided the miracle. While the text says that the signs Jesus did was to reveal his glory, we must remember his glory, is a reflection of God the Father. Thru the miracle of turning water into wine, the glory of God the Father was reflected in Jesus and his disciples believed in him
 
Conclusion
Christian singer and comedian Mark Lowrey said ‘I think it is great that Jesus’ first miracle wasn’t raising the dead or giving sight to the blind. But his first miracle was one ‘just to keep the party going’.

That is what many people see when they read this text. But they miss what really took place. They are right however that the key to this whole event is the transformation of the water into wine by Jesus. What they fail to see is that was Jesus’ ministry…transformation.

When we read
•    ‘On the third day’: We see Jesus transforming death into life.

When we read
•    ‘Dear woman’: We see Jesus transforming relationships, we were once enemies of God, thru Christ we are now children of God.

When we read
•    ‘Water into wine’: We see Jesus transforming us from the inside out.

When we read
•    ‘Abundant wine’: We see Jesus giving us a joy full life. He provided more then we desire or even need.

When we read
•    ‘Best wine’: We see Jesus transforming something ordinary into something wonderful. Think about you life before Christ and now…isn’t it much better?

Jesus transforms: water into wine, fear into hope, sorrow into joy, sin into grace, death into life.

•    We want a new hairdo or a new wardrobe.
•    We want to lose weight or get liposuction.
•    We want to change our appearance but Jesus wants to transform our life.

Read: 2 Cor. 5:17

Has Jesus done a miracle in you? Has he begun to transform you by his new wine of grace?