The King's Wine

John 2:1–11 HCSB

1 On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and 2 Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding as well. 3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother told Him, “They don’t have any wine.” 4 “What has this concern of yours to do with Me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.” 5 “Do whatever He tells you,” His mother told the servants. 6 Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained 20 or 30 gallons. 7 “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. 8 Then He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the chief servant.” And they did. 9 When the chief servant tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom 10 and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people have drunk freely, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.” 11 Jesus performed this first sign in Cana of Galilee. He displayed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

Feasts leading us to the cross and resurrection

Between now and Easter we will be spending some time in the gospel of John.

The goal of this is to put us in a position where the cross and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is actually astonishing to us again.

We speak of these events so much that we can gain “singed hands”.

But they are white hot with power.

We regain a sense of wonderment at these events when we see them as the apex of history that they are.

When we consider everything Jesus claimed to be, and everything he claimed to be ushering into history,

It all becomes so much more real to us when we get to the cross and the resurrection.

The cross and the resurrection of Jesus didn’t happen in a vacuum.

God didn’t drop out of the sky and onto the cross

like a seal team rescue mission.

He actually lived.

He moved among us for awhile.

30some years in fact.

And for roughly 3 of those years he was living very publicly,

and doing what?

Announcing the arrival of the kingdom of heaven and proving it with signs.

4 different eye witness accounts

The apostle John arranged his gospel in a masterful way.

He uses two series of images to tell the story of Jesus.

7 I AM Statements

I am the bread of life" 6:35

"I am the light of the world"[8:12

"I am the gate for the sheep"[10:7]

"I am the good shepherd"[10:11]

"I am the resurrection and the life"[11:25]

"I am the way and the truth and the life"[14:6]

"I am the true vine"[15:1].

Culminating in the Apostle Thomas acknowledging Jesus as “My Lord and my God” after the resurrection.

7 Signs

Turning Water Into Wine (John 2:1-12)

...Healing the Nobleman's Son (John 4:46-54) ...Healing the Man at the Pool (John 5:1-11) ...Feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-15)

...Walking on Water (John 6:16-21)

...Healing a Man Born Blind (John 9:1-12) ...Resurrecting Lazarus (John 11)

Culminating in the resurrection of Jesus

A lesser focused on narrative thread in the gospel of John is feasts.

The Israelite people had national feast days, and Jesus even adds a few of his own.

I believe we find Jesus eating over 30 times in the gospels.

The man likes to eat.

It’s at these Jewish feasts that Jesus frequently says and does surprising things about who he is and what he has come to do.

Over this roughly 3 year span of time that Jesus is publicly attending these feasts and periodically interrupting them to teach,

if you were a Jew in Israel at that time, you would have to be weighing Jesus’ claims against the claims of the teachers of the law.

Is he who he says he is?

He’s got signs.

But here’s our warning,

if all you are ever looking for in Jesus is proof that He is who he says he is, then you will have spent all of your time looking at his hands and not his face.

Jesus’ signs are not simply for proving he is who he says he is.

Jesus is not waiting for us to validate him.

John’s Signs

Everything Jesus does is about the inbreaking of the kingdom of heaven

Every single one of these signs is to show that God’s kingdom is disrupting and overthrowing the kingdom of darkness.

The head crusher is here.

In vs 11 John calls it “the beginning of the signs.”

Signs of what?

“We observed his glory.”

Signs like flashlights.

What do we see when all the lights are turned on?

We see God.

Reversing the curse.

Restoring rest.

Jubilee of Jubilees

Do you know about Jubilee?

Jubilee is the best part of God’s law.

Leviticus 25:8–12 HCSB

8 “You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to 49. 9 Then you are to sound a trumpet loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement. 10 You are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants. It will be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan. 11 The fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you are not to sow, reap what grows by itself, or harvest its untended vines. 12 It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee; you may only eat its produce directly from the field.

Their entire economy was supposed to revolve around this.

A year when the people rest, the land rests, debts are released, and those who have lost freedom are set free.

This Jubilee is announced on the Day of Atonement.

Luke 4:16–21 LEB

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and according to his custom he entered into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath and stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll he found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of which he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send out in freedom those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were looking intently at him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jubilee is announced when Jesus begins his ministry.

Jubilee begins when he dies on the cross.

Jubilee is realized when he strides out of the grave.

Jubilee in Old Testament Israel would have been this unbelievable witness to all of the watching world that YAHWEH is the one true God, and he is restoring rest to His world.

It never happened.

New Covenant Jubilee will set people free from all sorts of bondage.

That’s what Jesus is doing as he’s healing people that are bound up by paralysis.

As he’s setting people free from the bondage of demons.

As he’s forgiving sin.

This is the promise that we hold out to our neighbor.

This is why we strive to provide restoration wherever we go.

This is why Christians start hospitals.

This is why Christians fight for those who have been enslaved to all sorts of things.

In so doing, we are acting like signposts,

we are turning on the flashlights to illuminate Christ for people.

Our world desperately needs this.

Jen, in bondage to her own mind. STORY

My friends in bondage to addiction. STORY

Those who’s families have been destroyed

Those in bondage to sin.

We point to these things so that others might have life.

“God doesn’t need your good works but your neighbor does.”

John 20:30–31 LEB

30 Now Jesus also performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not recorded in this book, 31 but these things are recorded in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Water to wine?

The ultimate wedding crasher.

Wedding Crasher story

But reverse wedding crasher.

He doesn’t just make wine.

He makes 150 gallons of it.

And he doesn’t just make some Barefoot or Yellowtail bottom shelf stuff.

Given to master of ceremonies (OLD IDEA)

The master of ceremonies tastes it and remarks that it is the BEST wine.

This is also a signpost to the kingdom of heaven.

The goodness of a renewed creation will be abundant, and really good.

Woman: The concerns of needing wine ARE concerns that Jesus arrival and inauguration must meet because the arrival of a liberating king IS to be celebrated.

Cleansing waters. Uses:

No longer needed in the kingdom.

Significant coming after Jesus baptism.

Cleanse for day of atonement.

Invitation to the Wedding

This sign is a signpost pointing towards the next age.

It’s pointing towards a time when ALL things will be made new.

When we skip to the end of the story,

when read about the end of the age,

we see there’s another wedding.

It is a joining of of Christ, and His bride the church.

If that’s a difficult concept to understand that’s ok.

The marriages that people enter into here on earth are only a picture of what this union between Christ and the church is.

It is on that wedding day, that this same Jesus,

the same Jesus that stood in the middle of history at wedding supper in Cana, and made new wine

that same Jesus, from His throne where he reigns eternal,

is going to say, “Look! I am making ALL things new.”

Not just the wine. Although there will be wine there.

But the people.

The creation.

The universe.

And notice he doesn’t say, “I am making all new things.”

He says, “I am making all things new.”

Just as that water in Cana was renewed into delicious wine,

the entire creation will be renewed.

And it will be delicious.

It will be good.

It will be real.

It will be bountiful.

God’s rest will be restored to the creation.

And all who have placed their faith in Christ will enjoy it.

THAT is why Jesus turned water into wine in Cana.

So that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.

The Gospel of John is an eyewitness account of the Christ event.

The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

It is also your official invitation to the wedding supper of the Lamb.

Believe in Christ, and come to Him so that you may be washed clean.