It Begins...

Intro

John 2:1-12

It begins… Jesus’ public ministry. He’s gathered some disciples, but that’s where things are at. Now we start to see some remarkable things. Some commentaries point out that the book of John is divided into two sections… the Book of Signs and the Book of Glory with the division occuring between chapters 12 & 13. Here we begin to see the signs that Jesus performs.

We had a hint at the nature of the book of signs in the first chapter when John the Baptist saw the sign of the Spirit of God descending from heaven and remaining with Jesus (see John 1:32-33). But now, Jesus will demonstrate the signs personally. Each sign brings along with it an incredible amount of depth as each can be seen as a commentary on the religious practices of the Jews at the time.

Verse 11 says that this was the first of the “signs” that Jesus did to reveal His glory and His disciples believed in Him. Depending on your translation, it might say “miracles,” but I feel that signs is more appropriate to what Jesus is beginning to do among the people. He is showing them something… revealing a coming kingdom. A miracle is a wonderous occurance that you can’t explain, but that’s kind of where it stops. A sign has ongoing significance in that there is a purpose behind the wonderous occrauce and that it is pointing to something down the road… the coming kingdom of God!

As we walk our way through the passage this morning, let’s try to look for what might be lying under the surface… a purpose for the miracle… a purpose for those involved… and the significance of what was produced.

Jesus is just getting started, and He is making the biggest difference in the world!

The Problem

John 2:1–5 NASB95

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

There is an interesting interaction here between Jesus and His mother that is worth focusing on a little, but not too much. To our English ears, it sounds like Jesus is being rude. But all commentaries seem to suggest that Jesus is in fact, simply being firm in His response.

I want to play with the wording of “the problem” in that the apparent rudeness is a problem, but the problem Mary points to is the lack of wine at the wedding.

John’s gospel is the only one to record this miracle and it might do us some good to ponder what else might be going on here. First of all, John’s gospel is likely the last to be written. It’s hard to tell if John knew about the other written gospels, but clearly John Himself has knowledge of the narrative of Jesus’ story and thus wants to share some of what he can while he can.

The fact that the first miracle Jesus performs has to do with wine should cause us to pause a moment. What else do we know about wine in the Bible? Beyond its use and abuse in scripture (plenty of stories of both), there is one instance that most readers should think about, namely the Last Supper. Mary tells Jesus that there is no wine at the party… a place where there should be plenty, but they have run out. Could this also be a commentary of sorts on how the Judaic practices of the day were lacking something significant and that Jesus is where we ought to turn for the solution? Jesus shared wine with His disciples in that upper room the night He was betrayed. Interestingly, John’s gospel doesn’t report about Communion as we will be practicing it today, but it might just be that he wants his readers to think about it as they continue through the story.

While we might wonder how a wedding party could run out of wine, we must be careful not to think about our current celebrations of such things when considering the ancient customs. Weddings of the time being a multi-day ordeal and there were cultural expectations on the bride and groom to provide such things lest they come under public shame. Running out of wine was a big deal as there was still much celebrating to do. It also helps to make sense of the fact that it appears the common practice was to set the good wine out first so the people got drunk off of that and then didn’t notice when the poorer quality stuff came out. More on this a little later in the message.

The interaction between Jesus and Mary is interesting, but again as stated previously, it is a firm response, not necessarily a disrespectful one. And yet even still, Mary demonstrates faith in verse 5 by instructing the servants to do whatever Jesus says to do. Does this indicate that Mary was familiar with Jesus’ miraculous powers, even though this is the first recorded public miracle? Could it be that Jesus performed private miracles for his family such that Mary knew she could turn to Jesus for such a problem?

The ultimate problem is that she needed Jesus… the wedding guests needed Jesus… that we need Jesus.

The Solution

John 2:6–8 NASB95

Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him.

I don’t want to spend too much time on these couple of verses as they simply describe what Jesus told the servants to do. Jesus performs a miracle… or a sign to demonstrate that He has come to bring something never before seen.

First of all, I want to draw attention to the waterpots Jesus uses for the miracle. They happen to be nearby and we are told that they are the kind used for the Jewish custom of purification. Again, John is quite intentional about how he is writting this story down and thus it might just be that he is trying to convey to his readers that Jesus came to fix some problems with the Jewish purification rituals. And let’s face it, much of what we do as a church is study what Jesus did on the cross… the very act that purifies us from our sins!

Jesus instructs the servants to fill the jars with water. Did you notice how much each of those jars contain? Twenty to Thirty gallons each is a lot of water… which becomes a lot of wine. But I want to save my comments about the wine for the next point of the message. At this point, I want to highlight the obedience of the servants. They did as Jesus asked, even though it requried a great deal of work to haul such a great volume of water in stone waterpots… which in and of themselves would have likely weighed a considerable amount.

Jesus gives a final instruction to the servants to draw some of the water fromt he pots and take it to the headwaiter, or hte master of the banquet. Again the servants obey the command of Jesus.

The Results

John 2:9–12 NASB95

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 bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.

Jesus breaks with customs and traditions and introduces something new… something better than anyone ever thought possible. This is just the beginning of Jesus’ signs and miracles that He would perform as He announced the Kingdom of God.

What was the result of Jesus’ miracle? He turned a significant amount of water into wine so that the wedding celebration could continue. But more than that, the wine Jesus miraculously produced was better than the “good” stuff served earlier in the party. One of the motifs that you could watch for throughout any study of the life and ministry of Jesus is how He subverts expectations and disregards cultural norms.

It is interesting to me that in John’s gospel, he takes time to say that this is the beginning of the signs Jesus did, and that His disciples believed in Him. We already know that Jesus started to gather disciples in the previous chapter, but I want to highlight this for a moment. Jesus has yet to begin His public miraculous ministry. It doesn’t even seem like He’s begun His significant teaching ministry yet, and still, disciples were alerady beginning to gather around Him.

The Son of God would obviously have something special about Him to set Him apart from the average person, but even before putting that power on display, people were gathering. What will it take for us to follow Jesus in the same way? Will we need to see His power first, or can we believe in Him on faith?

Conclusion

In trying to wrap things up for this morning, I want to encourage everyone to feel free to read on ahead and to familiarize yourselves with the greater text that we have before us. We can only cover so much on a Sunday morning, but know that this passage but part of a greater context that John is writing. He is telling us a story about Jesus Christ and he is doing it intentionally. This passage we looked at today specifically introduces us to the miraculous powers of Jesus that would quickly draw in large crowds to hear His message.

Ultimately, Jesus is the solution to our problems. The problem of sin is so much greater than running out of wine at a wedding celebration, but Jesus’ ministry had to start somewhere.

While Jesus’ words to His mother might seem rude, we need not read something into them that wasn’t there. He is firm in His resolve that His ministry had not yet begun. Even still, Mary’s faith that Jesus will do something is commendable and we can learn well from her obedience and her instruction about obedience… “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Anyone who mentors someone in the faith ought to be saying those same words to each of us daily!

It was no mistake that Jesus used waterpots commonly used for Jewish Purification rituals. Something to watch out for in the coming weeks is how Jesus systematically deals with various elements of Jewish religious practices. In a way, this miracle begins that motif. While the volume is impressive, in a way, Jesus is telling those who know that the water inside is not what cleanses the person, but God works the miracle. And remember that wine has other symbolism when it comes to Jesus as well that we would do well to keep in mind.

Notice that the miracle only happens because the servants are obedient to Jesus’ instructions. This is the end result of Mary’s faith and her instructions to the servants to be obedient. As they fulfilled thier obligations, the miracle occurs. Try to watch out for that motif in the coming weeks as well. Obedience is a key ingredient to true Christian faith and growth.

Finally, the quality of what Jesus produces is better than the best of what we could make. His wine is better than the “good” stuff served first at the wedding. Jesus is great and worthy of praise.