Running out of Wine?
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Have you ever experienced real joy? The Greek word is chara [5479] meaning to rejoice, joy, gladness. In it’s most general use it means a great joy. When is there a time when you experienced great joy? For me, when Lynnette said she would marry me (after the second time around), my four daughters were born, and getting to hold my first grandson, Henry, the first boy in the Whitehouse tribe.
The biggest joy though was Lynnette and I’s wedding day, with Taylor and Mikayla as my escourts down the isle. It’s not everyday that a dad gets to be walked down the isle by his daughters to get married. Probably the second biggest day of joy in my life was when Taylor and Mikayla said they would love to have Lynnette as their mom.
Being 2 and 4, they had lost their mom Jackie, and my first bride, to cancer. That was not a joyful day, it was not an understandable, nor an enjoyable period of time, for either the girls or myself. We were not sure we would ever experience joy ever again. Jackie was a wonderful mother and wife, that was called home to Jesus far to early in our opinion, but God’s will is not always a time of rejoicing in our experience of linear time. We have our limited view and understanding, and God has the whole view and understanding of what is happening and why.
It is a good thing that God has communicated with us for both the times of joy and the times of pain, sorrow, and affliction. As the Apostle John writes in his gospel John 16:20
“I assure you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.
Jesus was communicating to the disciples that He was going to be put to death for the unknown joy of the world, that still exists today; that a Savior, the Son of God, would die on a cross to save the world from sin and death, favoring those with the blessing of joy and eternal life who would believe in and follow Him (John 3:16-17).
Has there been a time when you have lacked joy in your life? Has joy run out? How did you get that joy back? Has it come back? Why? or why not? Have we lost hope?
When the girls and I were going through thr process of mourning for Jackie and then her final passing, a good pastor friend of mine quoted these words to me from the Psalms
For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime. Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.
You turned my lament into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
so that I can sing to You and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise You forever.
It was a time when we were living in the valley of death and feeling lost in the darkness. The question: would we ever be joyful again? How could we possibly? Life as we knew it was and would be forever changed.
Words of comfort would return to me from my childhood, as I was trying to deal with being seperated from my mom and living in a foster home. David my foster dad would say to me, “Shannon, it is always darkest before the dawn.” The saying is not Biblical scripture, but an ancient proverb, which brought me emense peace, even more so now as I know who rules both the dawn and the darkness, Jesus Christ.
Even the darkness is not dark to Thee, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee.
I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, Yahweh, do all these things.
The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.
Light shines in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious, compassionate, and righteous.
Has the Wine run out?
In the Book of John chapter 2 we meet up with Jesus at a wedding in the small Jewish village of Cana in Galilee. In John’s gospel it is the first story about the miracles of Jesus. None of the other gospel’s include it. So, why John? What is the point?
Listen to the account:
On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding as well.
When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother told Him, “They don’t have any wine.” “What has this concern of yours to do with Me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.”
“Do whatever He tells you,” His mother told the servants. Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained 20 or 30 gallons.
“Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. Then He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the chief servant.” And they did.
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
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.”
Jesus performed this first sign in Cana of Galilee. He displayed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
What’s the situation? Social embarrasement is about to be incurred. The wine has run out of what is to be an extremely joyful event. No big deal, just go down to the store and buy some more. For various reasons, that is not possible, but being that this is a Jewish wedding celebration, seven days of wine would be a tall order to supply. What is the solution?
Jesus’ mother, Mary, says to Jesus, “You solve the problem.” Jesus balks at his mother’s suggestion and says this concern of yours is not mine “For my hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). What hour is Jesus referring to? The hour of His death. The hour of His humiliation. The hour of His glorification. The hour of His redeeming work for humanity. Humanity has run out of joy. Humanity has run out of wine. Jesus is going to put joy back into our world, by dying on the cross.
This, the disciples did not know, Jesus’ mother, Mary, did not know, nobody knew but Jesus, the Father, and Holy Spirit; God Himself.
So getting back to the account, what does Mary do with Jesus’ answer? What any good mother would do, she vollen-tolds her child “Do whatever he tells you to do.” (v.5). Does Jesus protest, kick the dirt, look at his mom in annoyance? Nothing is recorded like that, but what is recorded, is that Jesus obeys His mother. Love God, love people, honor your Father and Mother. Jesus keeps the commandment, and honors the greatest commandment.
Jesus lovingly orders the wedding attendants to fill six stone jars with water and serve the water to the guests. Water, that was not typically consumed, because water was not cleanest and healthiest for you back then. That’s why wine was the drink of choice, it was safe and would not make you sick. The best wine had a higher grape content. The cheaper wine had more water added.
Question: Has your life become diluted with cheap wine? The central purpose that John writes his gospel account for is to point to the glory of Jesus, that He is the Messiah that brings joy into our world; and everyone who believes in and follows Him, will experience His joy.
Jesus performed this first sign in Cana of Galilee. He displayed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
The question asked throughout history, and will continue to be asked, until the end of the age is: Who do you say that Jesus is? Jesus is the joy-bringer. Jesus is joy. Jesus is the wine of life. The apostle John answers the question of who Jesus is,
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
Jesus can change what is mear water in our life, to wine, to joy. If Jesus cared about the social embarrasement and repercussions of a wedding celebration that was going to go bad, He cares about you and me too.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time,
1 Peter 5:7 (NASB)
casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.
I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit.
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
The central tennent of John’s prologue in Chapter 1 is not the incarnation, but rather our belief in Jesus. Our belief about Jesus is the wine in one’s life. We will either be filled with joy, or sorrow.
He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name,
who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
What must one believe in order to have real joy in their lives? To believe in Jesus, the One sent by God the Father. John 6:28-29
John 6:28–29 (ESV)
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Notice the only work that God requires of us is to believe in Jesus. That means trusting in Jesus, putting our lives in His hands. Some days that requires more work than other days. This is what Mary did, she placed her trust in Jesus, that He would take care of the shortage of wine, He would turn mourning into joy…and that is just what He did.
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
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.”
The joy that Jesus provides is not just adequate, it’s superior and lasting. Following Jesus is not just religious rites, rules, and rituals, but a living and loving relationship better than all the rest. See at a Jewish wedding, the guests were required to follow the ceremonial ritual of cleansing and purification, that is why the water pots are present. They are empty. There was between 120 to 180 gallons of rules and regulations in those pots that led to nowhere except further rules and regulations. Rites, rules, and rituals leave you empty, but a believing relationship with Christ fills you full with the wine of joy. How would you rather live: following rules, rites, and regulations or living with joy in a living relationship with Christ Jesus, the Creator and Ruler of life? Jesus is far superior to religious rules, rites, and regulations.
Jesus’ hour had not yet come, but yet Jesus still provided a solution. His interest, His purpose in coming to man, was to do His Father’s work in redeeming man. Man ran out of wine. The wedding incident is a parable of a deeper meaning: Israel had no real joy in religion. The wine ran out. The wine will always run out when we follow religion. There is no sustaining joy in religion. What provides real joy is a belieiving relationship in Christ.
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again.
The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”
Why did Jesus fill his mother’s request and do something about the wine that had run dry? Because He wanted His disciples to believe in Him and see His glory.
Jesus performed this first sign in Cana of Galilee. He displayed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
Do we see His glory? Will/do we believe in Him? Do we trust Him? Do we/will we follow Him? He is the only source of true joy in this life and the life to come.
The day that Jackie passed, was a dark day, but it also was a joyful day. Just before Jackie passed, she came out of her drug induced sleep, looked at me, to say good bye, and then looked up and was focusing on something. Her eyes were dancing as she saw something I could not, but it was bringing her joy and then she simply passed. No struggle, no cry, only peace and joy.
Has the wine run dry in your life? Are you living on mere water, when you could be living drinking the finest wine there ever will be? The world and man-made religion does not provide great wine, all it is is diluted water. It will run out, but with Jesus, joy will never end, even in the midst of affliction because we know that a better place is our final destination. It is always darkest before the dawn, but joy always comes in the morning.
See Jesus’ glory, believe in Him, and have eternal joy, in eternal life with Him. Amen.