2023.10.01 What Will It Take for You?
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What Will It Take for You?
What Will It Take for You?
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-17 • John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;
2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
4 And Jesus said to her, “What business do you have with Me, woman? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He tells you, do it.”
6 Now there were six stone waterpots standing there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing two or three measures each.
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim.
8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” And they took it to him.
9 Now when the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the groom,
10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the guests are drunk, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
Jesus called his first disciples at the end of Chapter 1. Here, they witness His first miracle. There are a lot of things happening in this passage.
John 2:1-3 The Situation
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;
2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
Jesus and his brand new band of disciples are at a wedding together.
Suddenly, Mary tells Jesus --- “There’s a problem”
John 2:3-5 Need for Intervention
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
4 And Jesus said to her, “What business do you have with Me, woman? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He tells you, do it.”
We need intervention
Mary requests Jesus’ intervention
Jesus says, “No” [pause]
Bill Cosby – Grandfather joke
Watching TV
Grandma starts calling
“Don’t you hear…”
“Of course I hear her, son!”
Turns the TV up.
Mary acts like she didn’t hear Jesus say anything.
She tells the servants to do whatever he tells them to do, and then steps back. I can imagine the folded arms waiting for her boy to get up and do something.
[pause] Water pots graphic
6 Now there were six stone waterpots standing there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing two or three measures each.
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim.
8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” And they took it to him.
The Reader’s Digest version:
‘Servants carry out Jesus’ instructions and a miracle happens - woohoo!’
Verses 9 and 10 tell us this is the best wine.
9 Now when the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the groom,
10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the guests are drunk, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
You see, Jewish wedding feasts weren’t a couple of hours like ours are. They weren’t even a day-long event. Jewish wedding feasts lasted for days and even weeks. The celebration would literally last as long as they had wine.
When the wine ran out, the host would turn off the boom box, flash the lights, and tell everybody, “You don’t gotta go home, but you gotta go. Party’s over.”
And since they lasted so long, it was customary for the host family to purchase multiple qualities of wine. They would serve the ‘good stuff’ first, so their guests would be impressed. As the party continued, the quality of wine would fall because … well … drunk people don’t notice poor quality wine.
But the headwaiter recognizes this wine is the ‘good stuff’.
So let’s look at what Jesus did in a little more detail. We talked a few weeks ago about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. But I think there’s a temptation in today’s passage that we usually miss.
I’m gonna look at some numbers, so stay with me.
The water jars for purification rituals held 20-30 gallons of water. They had 6 of them. So if we split the difference and say 25 gallons each, Jesus made 150 GALLONS of wine!!! Now THAT’s a party!
What was it worth?
Well, I’m not a wine person, so you may know these figures better than I do, but wine is measured in liters and milliliters today, so let’s start by converting: 150 gallons = 568 liters.
The best selling wine in the world today is Franzia, and it’s sold in a box.
Box wine is considered “cheap wine” from what I understand. These boxes hold 5 liters and sell for about $16, which is $3.20/liter.
So, if Jesus made cheap wine out of the water, it would be worth $1,817.60
That sounds pretty good for exactly zero work! However, the wine Jesus made was NOT cheap wine! Remember, it was ‘the good stuff’. In verse 10, the headwaiter indicates this is better than the good wine they served at the beginning.
The Good Stuff
In wine snob circles, you can easily get into $500-$1000/bottle range for specialty wines. But it’s not unusual in those circles to pay $200 for a bottle of good wine.
Jesus’ 568 Liters of wine would fill over 757 bottles
That’s worth $151, 400 … IF it’s just good wine and not specialty wine, which we probably agree that it would’ve been specialty wine, right?
So, with zero effort, Jesus made $151,400 worth of wine in a split second. Satan’s temptations in the wilderness were not the only temptations Jesus faced in his earthly lifetime. Do this miracle 4 or 5 times and sell the product … and you’re set! Money runs low … just make more.
Would that be tempting to you?
It would to me. And we usually miss the temptation in this story.
But the real surprise of this story is found in verse 11
11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
This was Jesus’ first sign … and his disciples believed in Him.
Wait! They didn’t already believe in him?
They had already accepted his call to be a disciple, but apparently they were shocked by this sign - and it made them believe.
And this event sets the stage for Jesus’ ultimate action to redeem God’s people!
Just like the wedding at Cana:
There is a problem …
Sin … separation from God
We need intervention
The Law didn’t work
Judges didn’t work
Kings didn’t work
Prophets didn’t work
We need God’s direct intervention - we need to ASK for God’s intervention
144 Your laws are always right; help me to understand them so I may live.
145 I pray with all my heart; answer me, Lord! I will obey your decrees.
146 I cry out to you; rescue me, that I may obey your laws.
“save me” appears in the OT 23 times
“save us” appears in the OT 17 times
Servants carry out God’s instructions and a miracle happens
28 “Be careful and listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that it may go well for you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may go well for you.’
On screen
14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
So, what brings about miraculous results?
OBEDIENCE brings about miraculous results!
You are my friends if you do what I command.
I appointed you that you would go and bear fruit.
What Will It Take for You?
What Will It Take for You?
And with Jesus, what comes after the problem is better than what was before the problem.
“The guests were getting parched and the host nervous, and there was no recourse but to shut the party down, it is at this point that Jesus quietly intervenes.” – Roy Harrisville – pastor in Wisconsin
the gift of wine instead of water was crucially important for the earliest readers of this Gospel. They must grasp the superiority of the Son of God and his gift to the mediator of the old covenant and its gifts (1:17)
As John wrote in the previous chapter:
17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Old Testament brought a shadow of good things…Law
New Testament brought unbelievably better…Grace
And after the sign, His disciples believed
Could it be their belief was the purpose of the sign?
The NT uses multiple words we translate as “miracle”.
The most often used word is δύναμις (dunamis) – demonstration of power
The word used here is σημεῖον (semeion) – a sign … Faussett’s Bible Dictionary “...views the miracle as evidence of a divine commission”
baseball signs – [describe the indicator - what comes after this sign is the real sign]
This miracle is an indicator that Jesus is really the one we’ve been waiting for.
Throughout John’s gospel, signs and wonders are used as proof of Jesus’ authority, his connection to the Father
What Will It Take for You?
What Will It Take for You?
What indicator are you waiting for to believe God and take the next step in being his disciple?