The Miraculous God

My grandmother meeting Shaquille O’Neal. How did she know who he was? There were certain “evidences” even though she wasn’t a basketball fan. Things that are only true of a handful of people in this world. But then something only true about him.

The miracles of Jesus are markers that point us to the most important truths (John 2:11)

As God comes and “dwells” among us. WE might question who He is. But we will see throughout the book that the miracles Jesus’ performs are so that we might accept them as proof of who He truly is. It should give us faith that He is who He says He is.

The miracles are never the point. The miracles point us to the more important truth, but do we perceive the more important truth. What we see, even in this passage. Is how some are “amazed” by what Jesus’ does, but they don’t believe in His “glory”. Meanwhile, it tells us that the disciples to. There are a lot of people who are “amazed” by the person of Jesus. Other religions who believe that Jesus was a great person, or even rose from the dead. But they don’t “believe” in Him.

We can’t separate the miracles of Jesus from the person of Jesus.

We can’t just believe what He says, we have to believe in what He does and believe that it should change how we live.

Don’t be afraid to ask

At this wedding feast they have run out of wine. That would be an embarrassment to the family of the groom.

So then Mary, the mother of Jesus, comes into the picture. We don’t know if she has a responsibility in this wedding. But the fact that Jesus and all of his disciples were there indicates this was someone close to the family of Jesus’.

Mary comes to Jesus and tells him that they have run out of wine. But Jesus uses some language that seems harsh to say “why should I be bothered with this?”

-First off, the language that comes out in English is more harsh than Jesus really is. But, he is still very blunt and direct with his mom. Why?

-This is a tactic we will see Jesus use in other places, he wants them to grapple with the purpose of coming to him.

Last week I used the illustration of a boy who asks a girl, but he isn’t direct. But girls, don’t you sometimes say “no” to a boy, but its because you want him to pursue you further. You want to see how much he really wants a relationship.

Mary doesn’t take no for an answer here. She isn’t afraid to ask again.

Sometimes God gives us a “no”, but don’t be afraid to ask again! If you think you are asking for something godly, continue to ask!

John 14:13–14 “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

-If what we are asking is for God’s glory, it will be done!

The words that Mary uses “do whatever he tells you” are similar to the words that Pharoah uses when Joseph tells him how to prepare for the famine.

-Both are a reflection that the works that come from them are the words of God and will provide an abundance where there is emptiness.

-Mary had a lot of reasons to be afraid. Afraid if her son really was the Messiah and how people would respond to that. Afraid of the embarrassment she might face from others.

Many people are afraid to follow Jesus because it feels dangerous. What if I follow Him but I’m let down? I think that is sometimes why people like to believe different things, they thing it is “safer”. To cover all the basis. But to believe is to have faith something is true and act in faith from what you believe. Faith is doing something that others look at as crazy but trusting the words of God. Faith is knowing God is greater than your fears.

Faith is seeing what Jesus has done in your life and choosing to follow and believe Him.

Don’t miss the celebration

After Mary’s insistence, Jesus does in fact choose to act.

Notice what Jesus uses to make the wine. He uses jars that were used for Jewish purification, it is for washing your hands in order to be clean in the temple. But also at weddings for the ritual washing of utensils as well. This is significant.

So they “draw” out water, and they are filled with water. Then Jesus tells them to go back to the well and draw again. Now this time when they draw it is filled with wine.

-Wine was a symbol of celebration and joy. So, we have this wedding feast that is supposed to be a celebration, but instead they are out of wine. Its barren of the joy its supposed to have.

Have you ever been to a wedding where no one wants to dance? Everyone is just sitting down. It’s boring!

This is symbolizing what is happening within Judaism. They are not living in hopeful expectation of the Messiah as they should be. The Jewish rituals were “barren”. They were sacrificing in the temple but there was no presence of God in the temple.

Something I feel very strongly about is that being a Christian is fun. In fact, I think it is more fun! While the world needs to use substances that numb them to have fun, to be a Christian means we can celebrate and enjoy life while being totally sober! We don’t need to do “bad” things. That doesn’t mean we don’t do ridiculous things. If any of you came to camp with us, you know that I am not above doing ridiculous things.

Jesus will often use the symbol of a wedding feast for the kingdom of heaven. A time of celebration. It’s used in the OT as well.

Isaiah 25:6 “On this mountain, the Lord of Armies will prepare for all the peoples a feast of choice meat, a feast with aged wine, prime cuts of choice meat, fine vintage wine.”

Amos 9:13–14 “Look, the days are coming— this is the Lord’s declaration— when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one who treads grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat their produce.”

The OT see’s being in heaven like a big party! Is that what heaven is actually like? IDK. But we can imagine that if it isn’t that, it is something amazing!

And not only do they fill them, but these large jars are “filled to the brim”.

-We will see that Jesus often will provide more than abundantly what is necessary rather than “just enough”. It reminds us of His generosity and the abundance of what we will have in the kingdom of God.

-We don’t have a God who does “just enough” to save us from our sins. A God who does “just enough” to care for our needs.

Ephesians 1:7–8 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

You don’t want to go to a party that has “just enough” food for everyone. What if you went to Thanksgiving and your grandmom was like…”only take 1 roll, a spoonful of mashed potatoes, one slice of turkey...That isn’t Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is that you leave the table and you are FULL from eating too much food. You were blessed upon blessed.

This is where Jesus shows us the difference between the Old and the New.

Don’t forget to replace the old with the new

The custom of a celebration was to bring out the best wine first, because once people have a few drinks in them...you care a lot less how the wine tastes.

But Jesus brings the superior wine last. Symbolizing how what Jesus brings is better than what was before it. God isn’t done performing great works, but in fact the best was yet to come for the world.

Have you ever just kept ignoring the updates on your phone. Honestly, its just because you don’t want to spend the 5 minutes letter it reboot. Then one day, you do and you realize something significant needed to be changed that you didn’t even realize!

In the OT, although God was gracious, the blood of goats and lambs could not cover all of their sins. Only partially cover them. But in the NT we have grace upon grace as John told us in John 1:16 “Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness,”

We can sometimes get stuck in the legalism of the OT. We can think being a Christian is about being perfect and doing all the right things. We can even look at the miracles of Jesus and say, “didn’t they have something so much better! But what Jesus tells us is that we have it better than they did!

John 16:7–8 “Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment:”

Jesus tells us, “get rid of the old Iphone!”