A Mother's Request

OPEN WITH MOTHER’S DAY VIDEO, “BEING MOM”

MENTION MEN’S SHOOTING NIGHT THIS MONDAY EVENING AT OUTDOOR JUNCTION, FROM 6-8:30.

ALSO, ACKNOWLEDGE CRAIG AND ANDREW (THEIR FAMILIES) AND TREVOR AND WARREN, FOR THEIR WORK IN BUILDING AND HANGING THE SIGN!

This morning, I would like to formally acknowledge and give honor and recognition to all of the mothers who are with us in the house, as well as those who couldn’t be with us and who are possibly watching live, online. (HAVE ALL MOTHERS STAND UP!)

READ “25 THINGS THAT MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME”

You know, in honoring our mothers this morning all across this nation, I wanted to share something with you. This past Friday, my wife and I and our two daughters, went out to a farm that belongs to a friend of Desirae’s.

We went out, primarily, to see her sheep, who had recently had quite a few new lambs.

It was amazing, just watching those little things, running and jumping all over the place!

And let me say this to you, they may be little and newly born, but MAN can they run!

The lady told us that if they don’t trust you and don’t want you touching them, then, GOOD LUCK getting a hold one one of them!

But the thing that I found so amazing, was that a few of the lambs had been running and playing and didn’t come back into the feeding area, when the lady dropped some feed for them, and thus they were still a good ways out in the field from us and their mothers.

All of a sudden, they started calling out and then their mothers starting calling out to them.

The lady instructed us, that even with all of the commotion of a large number of sheep and lambs calling out and people talking and all of the other sounds of the barn area, the mother instantly knows the sound of her lamb’s voice and they know hers!

I was floored, because all of the sheep sounded the same and all of the lambs sounded the same; yet there is something unique in the sound of their call, that both mother sheep and lamb can uniquely pick up on and recognize from each other!

And I mean I’m sitting on the ground (per her recommendation for trying to pet any of them) and making my best sheep calls and they are looking at me like I am some kind of raging lunatic!

And when she brought out the feed bucket and yelled at them, they instantly recognize her and her voice and came running! (with the exception of the few rebellious lambs!)

I say all of this, because I was amazed and so touched by the way that the recently newborn lambs, knew the sound of their mother’s call and the mother knew theirs, even in the midst of all of the commotion going on!

This was a testimony to the great gift that God gave creation, with that of the mother and her child and the bond that is formed between them!

And this is also a remembrance of the word of Jesus, Himself in , were He said to us, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

This morning, would you turn with me in your Bibles to the gospel of John chapter 2. I am going to talk with you briefly about something that was stuck in my head after, reading over this passage this past week.

This is a very familiar passage in the Bible and it is one that has been preached on and discussed over, for years and years!

We will be reading ,

John 2:1–12 NLT

1 The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” 5 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, 8 he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. 9 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. 10 “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!” 11 This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 12 After the wedding he went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples.

I want to just mention some main points and thoughts about this passage and get to the central theme that I was drawn to for this morning.

There has been a lot of discussion over the years about the interaction between Jesus and His mother in the opening of this passage. Why did she ask Jesus to do something about the wine shortage at the wedding and why did He respond to her in a type of rebuke?

As I have mentioned so many times before, when it comes to things that pertain to Israel and the Jewish customs in the day and times of Jesus, it is important to look at and try to understand what was being said and what was taking place through the lens of the Jewish people and their culture!

And in this particular account in John’s gospel message, it is equally important to do this very thing.

First of all, a wedding celebration in ancient Israel and in the day and times of Jesus Christ, was nothing like what we do today!

We have the wedding ceremony and then the reception and off the newlyweds go, for their honeymoon, usually all in the same day.

Although the cost that some people pay for that one day, could fund a small country’s own military!

But in ancient Jewish customs, in the days of Jesus, the bride and groom and their family and friends would have a celebration that would go on for a week!

Every day, throughout this week, new family and friends could show up and engage in the celebration of the new couples ceremony!

That is so far removed from our culture and our society today.

We live in a day and time, where many people move on and become ultra-removed from their family and relatives.

Can you imagine knowing that for a solid week, family (near and distant) and friends of the family, are going to be pouring into your home and space for a continual celebration?!

To many people, that sounds like great scenario for a Prozac commercial!

So, here is how this account unfolds in John’s gospel.

There is a wedding celebration and Mary, the mother of Jesus, as well as Jesus and His disciples, (or at least some of them, as John has not yet made the twelve accounted for at this point), are at this wedding.

What we think that we know, is that this wedding is either for a family member, or someone pretty close to the family of Jesus; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been invited for the celebration.

The wine of the wedding celebration has now ran out in the passage, and the celebration is still, very much going on.

Mary comes to Jesus and announces to Him, “They have no wine.”

To which, Jesus replies to His mother, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Ahhhhhhhh, now it is getting interesting!

You can just see this little middle eastern woman snapping her fingers at her son and saying, “Come here, get over here right now young man!”

“What mom? Me and the guys are busy talking!”

She says, “Did you know that these poor people are completely out of wine already during there own wedding celebration? I mean, who has ever heard of such?”

And then Jesus fires back, “WOMAN”!

I can’t for the life of me, in this day and age, especially in the south, imagine firing that statement back to my mother, “WOMAN, what do you want from me?”

Now, evidently, in their time and culture, the way that this expression is used, it has a more reverential and endearing meaning than it does in our day and age, because, if you will remember, Jesus says the same thing to her again, while He is hanging on the cross, where He says, “Woman, behold, your son!” (speaking of the John the beloved.

This is also an amazing testimony to the role and the relevance and importance of the MOTHER unit in the family!

Especially on a day, like today, in which we set aside to remember and bless and honor our MOTHER’S. (I’ll come back to this thought again in a few minutes!)

And right in front of Him, is none other, than His mother!

Where else would a true and loving mother be.

You know, when we were looking at the lambs this past Friday, there was one, that set aside, with its mother, because he was literally, not even one full day old yet.

When the owner of the farm reached into the pen and took him out so that we could see him, the mother went NUTS!

She started running back and forth and jumping into the sides of the pen and trying to get her head out of the gate and making all sorts of sounds; because someone had her first born son and she couldn’t get to him to protect and comfort him!

As soon as he was put back in with her, she ran to him, sniffed him and made some little gestures and sound, to which the lamb responded and then they stayed right beside each other!

Well, there on the cross, was Mary’s firstborn son (the lamb of God), in horrible pain and suffering and shame with strangers hurting Him and mocking Him for fun, and she couldn’t get to Him and help him!

And at this very intense moment, when the exchange of the blood of the lamb of God was being made, for the sins of the world, and Jesus was completely engrossed and focused on making sure that the payment was made in full measure, HE STOPPED EVERYTHING!

He stopped everything, just long enough to use some of the very costly and excruciatingly painful breath that was needed to talk, to show His love and His respect for His mother and to make sure that she was going to be taken care of!

WHAT AN AMAZING TESTIMONY TO THE BEAUTY AND THE POWER AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT VERY SPECIAL GIFT THAT GOD THE FATHER GAVE TO WORLD AT CREATION; THE MOTHER!

That when the mission to, literally, save the world, was put on hold for that brief moment, so that the mother of Christ could be comforted and recognized and taken care of, YOU KNOW THAT GOD EXTREMELY VALUES MOTHERS!

And so should we!

Back to our account in John. So, what Jesus said to His mother, was a slight rebuke, as He was literally saying to her, “Woman, what does any of this have to do with you or I?”

Because, this was not Jesus’ wedding ceremony and thus, He and Mary were not responsible for the provisions!

It was Jewish custom that the groom would provide the food and wine for the entire and lengthy wedding celebration! ( A WEEK LONG CELEBRATION WITH ALL OF THE FOOD AND WINE THAT YOUR GUEST WANTED!)

I don’t think that I could scream, “YOU TWO ELOPE”, fast enough!

The last part of what Jesus responded back to Mary is very intriguing and difficult for some to understand. After Jesus said to His mother, Woman, what does any of this have to do with you or I”, He finished that verse with the phrase, “My time/hour has not yet come.”

Now why would He go there? How do you go from, “They are out of wine”, to, “My hour has not yet come”?

And in John’s gospel, the referencing to the “hour” of Jesus, was an allusion to the cross, as in John, 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1. These are all references to His hour and a direct reference to His going to the cross for our redemption!

So, why would Jesus take the conversation from, “there’s no wine”, to, “I am not ready for the cross yet”?

Do you see what I am asking? How do you get from A to Z in that statement?

And in order to try and make some sense in what Jesus said to Mary, we need to consider, that possibly, Mary was making a reference to an Old Testament understanding of what the Jews referred to as the “messianic banquet”, as we find mention of in passages such as, ,

Jeremiah 31:12 NLT

12 They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem. They will be radiant because of the Lord’s good gifts— the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life will be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows will be gone.

,

Joel 3:18 NLT

18 In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. Water will fill the streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the Lord’s Temple, watering the arid valley of acacias.

Hosea 14:7 NLT

7 My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.

,

,

Amos 9:13–14 NLT

13 “The time will come,” says the Lord, “when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine! 14 I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again. They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.

And ,

Isaiah 25:6–8 NLT

6 In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. 7 There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. 8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken!

In all of these passages, the understanding was that, at the coming of the Lord, when the messiah was come, there would be a banquet, that when the people came and partook of, it would signify and hallmark to the all nations of the world, that death was swallowed up in victory and the Lord was pouring out His lavish blessing upon all nations.

And this banquet was always portrayed with a super abundance of wine!

In the Bible, wine was associated with joy and celebration and blessings.

,

Proverbs 3:10 NLT

10 Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.

,

Psalm 104:15 NLT

15 wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength.

,

Judges 9:13 NLT

13 But the grapevine also refused, saying, ‘Should I quit producing the wine that cheers both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?’

Joel 2:24 NLT

24 The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain, and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil.

So, it is quite possible, that Mary, knowing full well, who her Son really was, could have been using this instance of running out of wine, to prompt Jesus to initiate the messianic banquet, since she knew that He was, “Yeshua haMashiach hu Adonai” (Jesus the Messiah is Lord!)

She may have been

And in this context, it would make sense that Jesus would make a slight rebuke to her, to remind Mary that His hour, His purpose for coming, had not yet come and that it was not time yet for THAT BANQUET.

Jesus knew fully of the prophets and their mentioning of the messianic age, the messianic banquet and the blessings that would come with it. And here, at this wedding feast, Mary is wanting to spare the host the embarrassment and even legal repercussions of running out of provisions for the guests, that would come.

Jesus, Himself, would later use the analogy of the wedding feast, treating the developing circumstances as an acted parable, Jesus was entirely correct to say that the hour of great wine, the hour of his glorification, had not yet come.

And as soon as Jesus makes the declaration to Mary, what does the Bible say that she does?

She turns to the servants and says, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Mary approached Jesus, as His mother and was slightly rebuked for her request. Then, she turns and responds as a believer and steps out in faith, and her faith is honoured and rewarded!

She didn’t know what He would do, but she turned it over to Him in faith and trusted it in His hands!

Mary knew that action was needed, even if it was not what she was asking for, she still acted in faith and believed that something was going to happen!

This reminds me of the woman going to the doctor.

A woman went to the doctors office, where she was seen by one of the new doctors, but after about 4 minutes in the examination room, she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she told him her story. After listening, he had her sit down and told her to go relax in another room. The older doctor marched down hallway to the back where the first doctor was and demanded,"What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?" The new doctor continued to write on his clipboard and without looking up said, "Does she still have the hiccups?"

A woman went to the doctors office, where she was seen by one of the new doctors, but after about 4 minutes in the examination room, she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped her and asked what the problem was, and she told him her story. After listening, he had her sit down and told her to go relax in another room. The older doctor marched down hallway to the back where the first doctor was and demanded,"What’s the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 yearsold, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was pregnant?" The new doctor continued to write on his clipboard and without looking up said, "Does she still have the hiccups?"

This woman, just like Mary, got results; just maybe not in the way that she thought they would come!

So, John next mentions that there were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing, nearby. (Explain about the stone jars, possibly signifying, “NOT PERFECT” since there were only six, but also that the time of old covenant and the law and it inability to cleanse, was about to come to an end, as Jesus was about to give a clue, a hint through this miracle as to the fact that the new covenant was coming and that it would be able to cleanse people completely!)

Elaborate on the story as to Jesus using the servants to deliver the news of the NEW WINE.

Jesus didn’t just create wine, but He created a super- abundant amount of wine, (like 150-180 gallons!) Indicative of the age of the messianic banquet, but also and more importantly, indicative of the super abundance and the superior quality of the new covenant that was coming through His shed blood!

The wedding master of ceremonies tasted the wine and went immediately to the bridegroom and praised him for serving that best wine at the last. (Of course the bridegroom in this account, didn’t have a clue as to what the guys was talking about, because he had nothing to do with it.

What had happened, was that Jesus, through His mother’s request, had interceded and became a substitutionary bridegroom and made new wine, the best wine for all; exceedingly and abundantly above all that they could know or ask for!

And in doing this, Jesus was revealing something to us: He showed us that He wasn’t just the savior, the Messiah, the anointed Son of God, the healer, the good teacher, the lamb of God (yes, He was all of those things), but at the very heart of His mission and His reason for coming to the earth, something else was there. This miracle, His first miracle, was inaugurating His role and title as being, THE BRIDEGROOM, for His people, for His bride, the church.

Just as God was likened to and called the bridegroom in the Old Testament and the one who would provide the feast/banquet for Israel, Jesus would validate, through this miracle, as He stepped in as the substitutionary bridegroom in this account, that He was in fact the true bridegroom, come down from heaven, and that just as this miracle would serve to validate His messianic identity, even more so, His coming to the earth served to identify Him with His heavenly deity and His role as the Lord God. His coming to the earth was to inaugurate the wedding feast of the Lamb that would come after His return for His bride!

Jesus was showing that He was to become the messianic bridegroom, who would supply all of the “wine” for wedding banquet!

And this wine was an indicator of the lavish provisions that He was bringing, just as the miracles of the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000, served to show the super abundance of His kingdom, so the super abundance of the wine was saying to everyone who would hunger and thirst for TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS, that they would be filled, as He stated in ,

Matthew 5:6 ESV

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

I mentioned a few minutes ago, that Jesus’ addressing His mother as, “woman”, was done here and then again, at the cross. And I said that the account at the cross served as an amazing testimony to that of gift of God, of the MOTHER!

This is what I mean, in , we find Jesus hanging on the cross; the Messiah, the Son of God, is dying a horrible and excruciating and humiliating death for the sin of all creation.

And right in front of Him, is none other, than His mother!

Where else would a true and loving mother be.

You know, when we were looking at the lambs this past Friday, there was one, that was set aside with its mother, because he was literally, not even one full day old yet.

When the owner of the farm reached into the pen and took him out so that we could see him, the mother went NUTS!

She started running back and forth and jumping into the sides of the pen and trying to get her head out of the gate and making all sorts of sounds; because someone had her first born son and she couldn’t get to him to protect and comfort him!

As soon as he was put back in with her, she ran to him, sniffed him and made some little gestures and sound, to which the lamb responded and then they stayed right beside each other!

Well, there on the cross, was Mary’s firstborn son (the lamb of God), in horrible pain and suffering and shame with strangers hurting Him and mocking Him for fun, and she couldn’t get to Him and help him!

And at this very intense moment, when the exchange of the blood of the lamb of God was being made, for the sins of the world, and Jesus was completely engrossed and focused on making sure that the payment was made in full measure, HE STOPPED EVERYTHING!

He stopped everything, just long enough to use some of the very costly and excruciatingly painful breath that was needed to talk, to show His love and His respect for His mother and to make sure that she was going to be taken care of!

WHAT AN AMAZING TESTIMONY TO THE BEAUTY AND THE POWER AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT VERY SPECIAL GIFT THAT GOD THE FATHER GAVE TO WORLD AT CREATION; THE MOTHER!

That when the mission to, literally, save the world, was put on hold for that brief moment, so that the mother of Christ could be comforted and recognized and taken care of, YOU KNOW THAT GOD EXTREMELY VALUES MOTHERS!

AND SO SHOULD WE!

It was in the hands and the care of a human MOTHER, that God entrusted the Messiah. The messianic bridegroom of the church and the one who would lavishly pour abundant spiritual provisions out for us (exceedingly and abundantly above all that we could hope or ask for), this anointed one of God, was sent to the earth, not in the care of kings and armies, or a host of the angelic warriors of heaven for protection, but rather, God placed Him in the care of something that rivaled the most valiant warrior, or the noble of nobility and the most courageous of all of creation!

God sent His son, our Lord and Savior, to be placed in the hands of and the care of a human MOTHER! PRAISE GOD FOR OUR MOTHERS!