Sermon Tone Analysis

日期：2008年9月21日

地點：CACC English Sunday Service

信息：The First Miraculous Sign

經文：John 2:1-11

 

*2:1* On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.

Jesus' mother was there,

*2:2* and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

*2:3* When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."

*2:4* "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."

*2:5* His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

*2:6* Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

*2:7* Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.

*2:8* Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

They did so,

*2:9* and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

Then he called the bridegroom aside

*2:10* and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

*2:11* This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee.

He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

我們若對耶穌生平有一些了解，對這個水變成酒的神蹟應該不陌生。在第 11 節，約翰解釋了他記載這個神蹟的目的，第一， 這是耶穌所行的頭一件神蹟。第二，這個神蹟顯出了耶穌的榮耀。第三，這個神蹟使門徒信了耶穌。由於耶穌將水變成酒，使得不少愛喝酒的人，喜歡採用這個故事來支持他們喝酒的習慣。

 

If you are familiar with the life of Jesus, then you probably have heard this story about Jesus changes water to wine.

This story is popular among the people who love drinking alcohol.

They like to use it to justify their drinking habit.

However, in 2:11, John explained his reasons of recoding this miracle in his book.

Firstly, this was the first miraculous sign Jesus performed.

Secondly, this act revealed the glory of Jesus.

Thirdly, this miracle caused the disciples to put their faith in Jesus.

As you can see, John did not record this miracle to support any drinking habit.

撇開耶穌到底將什麼變成什麼，這一段經文倒是一個很精采的故事。這是個婚宴，喜氣洋洋的日子，慶祝得正高興的時候，卻發現酒喝完了。我們當中大多數的人都參加過婚禮，也或多或少見過婚禮當中的突發狀況。我因為從小在教會的詩班長大，參加無數次的婚禮，就見過許多各式各樣的突發狀況，比如結婚典禮剛剛結束，新娘的戒指就不見了，找了半個小時，結果在裙子的摺縫裏找到，或是在喜酒開始，要做謝飯禱告的時候時，發現主婚牧師全家都沒有出現，原來是沒有發晚宴的請帖給牧師。

 

Actually, this is a great wedding story.

Personally, I think a perfect wedding is the one that no one remembers.

And an unforgettable wedding is usually the one with some “incidents”.

If you ever watch “America’s Funniest Home Videos”, then you know what I mean.

在今天這段經文裏，這對新人所面對的突發狀況是沒有足夠的酒可以供應大家。猶太人的婚禮可以長達一週之久，並且和華人的習俗一樣，喜酒是由男方負責。我們不知道到底是預備的酒不夠多，或是客人來的比預期的多，但是沒有供應足夠的酒，在當時的文化習俗是一件很失禮的狀況，新娘的家庭甚至可以將新郎告上法庭，那個年代也沒有像現在，走到哪裡都有 Supermarket 可以買酒。這時，耶穌大顯身手，將情勢扭轉，使得這個婚禮有個美滿的結局。從此王子公主就過著幸福快樂的日子。

 

In John 2, the unexpected incident of this wedding that they ran out wine.

A traditional Jewish wedding could be one week long.

And similar to Chinese, the wedding banquet is prepared by the bridegroom.

However, according to their culture, running out of wine is really an embarrassing situation.

The bride’s family could even sue the bridegroom.

In those days, there were no supermarkets where they could buy wine.

Then a miracle happened.

Jesus rolled up his sleeves and turned the situation around.

He saved their face and gave this wedding a perfect ending.

And then the prince and princess live happily ever after.

沒這麼簡單，這故事最奇怪的地方就是第4和第5 節。當馬利亞告訴耶穌「他們沒有酒了」之後，耶穌給了一個很奇怪的回答，而馬利亞的反應也一樣很特別，如果把這兩節經文刪掉，整個故事豈不是更流暢嗎？但是這兩句奇怪的話，卻在這個故事中佔有很重要的地位，因為它顯出這個神蹟是因著信心而產生的。

 

However, if you read this story carefully, you will notice that there are two verses seem to be out of place.

They are verse 4 and 5.

When Mary told Jesus, “they have no more wine”, Jesus gave her a strange answer.

Mary’s reaction was also quite strange.

In fact, if you delete these two verses, the whole story goes even more smoothly.

However, we know that this conversation between Mary and Jesus must be really important; otherwise John wouldn’t write them down in this Gospel.

What is the significance of this conversation?

It shows that this miracle was happened because of faith.

這個神蹟是因著信心而產生的，首先讓我們看看馬利亞的信心。2:1告訴我們，「耶穌的母親在那裡」，這表示馬利亞當時可能居住在迦拿，(迦拿離拿撒勒並不遠，大約等於從這裡到St Luke Shopping Mall的距離。)至少她在這場婚禮中的身分，在某個程度上包括了對宴會的安排，因為她會知道沒有酒了，，又能指揮佣人聽從耶穌，而且聖經只有形容耶穌和門徒是被邀請去作客的。耶穌的出席，也表示祂不是一個憤世嫉俗或不食人間煙火的人。

 

This miracle was happened because of faith, especially the faith of Mary.

John 2:1 tells us “Jesus' mother was there”.This could mean that Mary was probably living in Cana during that time.

Cana is not far away from Nazareth, roughly about the distance from here to Manukau shopping centre.

Mary seem to involved in the planning of this wedding, because she knows that there was no more wine, and she was able to order the servants to follow the instructions of Jesus.

And the Bible also only describes that Jesus and his disciples were “invited” to the wedding.

Jesus showed up in the wedding, proved that he is not a hermit or a boring person who does not know how to enjoy life.

酒喝完了，可是馬利亞沒有通知管筵席的，卻是去找耶穌，為什麼呢？有一點我們要記得，當時耶穌還沒有行過神蹟，所以我們不能假定馬利亞期待耶穌行神蹟，不過，根據聖經學者的研究，馬利亞的丈夫約瑟多半已經去世了好幾年，所以最合理的解釋應該是，身為寡婦，馬利亞已經養成了依賴長子的習慣。

 

When the win ran out, it is pretty strange that Mary did not inform the master of the banquet, instead she went to see Jesus.

One thing we need to remember that Jesus has not performed any miracle by that time, therefore we cannot say that Mary was expecting Jesus to perform a miracle.

However, according to Bible scholars, Mary’s husband could have passed away for a few years.

As a widow, Mary might have become used to rely on her first born son to make decisions.

讓我們再看一次第4節。

耶穌說：「母親（原文是婦人），我與你有甚麼相干？我的時候還沒有到。」

 

Let us look at v.4 again.

"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."

耶穌這一句話，表面上聽起來似乎相當無理，但卻帶出了一個很重要的神學觀念。首先，「婦人」這個稱呼並非不敬，但是當耶穌稱祂的母親為「婦人」時，就刻劃出耶穌與馬利亞之間關係的改變。馬利亞必須學習不再看耶穌為她的兒子，而是要視祂為彌賽亞，這其實是很不容易的功課，作父母的就知道，當自己的兒女長大成人，甚至結婚生子，有時仍不免將他們當作小孩子看待。因此，馬利亞需要額外的信心來接納她與耶穌之間關係的改變。

 

Jesus’ words sound a little rude, but it brings out a very important theological concept.

Firstly, calling Mary “dear woman” is actually a polite form of address and is not disrespectful.

However, when Jesus calls Mary “dear woman” instead of “mother”, this shows that the relationship between them has changed.

Mary no longer should view Jesus as her son.

Rather, she needs to treat Jesus as her Messiah.

Parents know how difficult it is to cope with that transition.

Sometimes they still treat their children as little kids even when they have grown up, married, and have their own children.

Therefore, we know that Mary really needs extra faith and strength to cope and accept this relational change between her and Jesus.

「我與你有甚麼相干」這一句話並不是很明確，聖經學者一般上認為這可能是一句希伯來俚語，意思是「我與你所等待的都不相同」，換句話說，馬利亞所關心的是酒不夠喝怎麼辦，耶穌所關心的則是祂來到這世界的使命。

 

The meaning of “why do you involve me” this phrase is unclear.

It can be translated as “What do we have in common” or “How can this matter that concerns you be of mutual interest to us?”

In other word, Mary was concern about the wine, and Jesus was concern about his mission in this world.

「我的時候」這句話在約翰福音中出現很多次，是指耶穌受苦與受死的時候，是約翰福音的一個重要的主題，因此，從這裡一直到11章，都是說耶穌的時候還沒有到，從12章到17章則說耶穌的時候到了。

 

The phrase “my time” has appeared many times in the gospel of John.

It points to the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, which is one of the key themes of this book.

If you study all the “my time” passages, you would notice that from chapter 2 to 11, Jesus’ time “has not yet come”, and from chapter 12 to 17, Jesus’ time “has come”.

這裡的疑問是，馬利亞說「他們沒有酒了。」耶穌說：「我的時候還沒有到。」這豈不是答非所問嗎？但是當我們仔細閱讀約翰福音時，就會發現耶穌時常如此說話，例如祂與尼哥底母夜間的對話，直接從耶穌所行的神蹟的正統性，跳到重生的必要性，或是在井邊與撒馬利亞婦人的對話，從喝水這件事，直接轉到耶穌的身分，又轉到敬拜神的地點和方法。耶穌這些看起來似乎答非所問的對話，其實是將生活上的事情，連到屬靈的教導。

 

When Mary said, “They have no more wine”, why did Jesus reply with “my time has not yet come”?

That’s weird isn’t it?

However, if we read the Gospel of John carefully, we find that Jesus actually often speaks like this.

For example, when Nicodemus went to see Jesus, he was checking out the authenticity of the miracles that Jesus performed.

But Jesus jumped the subject to the necessity of second birth.

When Jesus met a Samaritan woman by the well, their conversation jump from drinking water to who Jesus is, and then jump to where and how to worship God.

From these conversations, we realize that Jesus connects ordinary daily events into spiritual teachings.

從馬利亞的反應，我們可以看出她真是一個大有信心的女子，也是個具有敏銳的屬靈眼光的人。她不因耶穌的責備而退縮或起反感，反而吩咐佣人們聽從耶穌的指示。她雖然不知道耶穌會做什麼，但她知道她能夠完全信賴耶穌。因此，當她以母親的身分要求時，遭到耶穌的拒絕，但當她以信徒的身分要求時，她的信心就蒙悅納了。

 

Mary’s reaction to Jesus’ strange reply shows that she really is a woman of faith and a person who is sensitive towards spiritual things.

She did not withdraw or became defensive when Jesus rejected her request.

Rather, she ordered the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.

Although she had no idea what Jesus would do, but she knows that she can totally trust Jesus.

Therefore, when she requested Jesus as a mother requests her son, she was rejected.

But when she asked Jesus as a disciple asks her Lord, her faith was accepted and her request was answered.

當我們向主禱告祈求時，不論是為自己的事，或是為別人的事，我們有沒有像馬利亞那樣堅定的倚靠耶穌，相信祂必定會成就呢？

 

Today we already know that Jesus can perform miracles and that He still performs miracles.

But when we pray to Jesus, whether for ourselves or for others, do we have a faith like Mary, trusting Jesus without a doubt and believe that He will accomplish?

讓我們一起讀 2:5-8

 

Let us read 2:5-8 together (perhaps that will wake you up)

 

在這幾節經文中，我們可以清楚看見馬利亞堅定的信心，加上佣人的順服，神蹟就產生了，我很好奇這些佣人到底知不知道這些水是做什麼用途的，如果不知道，至少也會奇怪為什麼要將潔淨用的石缸裝滿水，裝滿之後，為何又要把水端給管筵席的人。無論如何，如果這些佣人沒有順服耶穌的指示，這個神蹟就不會產生了。因此我們可以學習到，如果我們想要看見神的作為，就必須先順服祂。

 

In these verses we clearly see that the miracle came because of Mary’s faith and the servants’ obedience.

I wonder whether the servants knew what the water is for.

If not, would they be curious about why they need to pull the water into those jars or why they need to bring the water to the master of the banquet?

Would they have discussed these questions among themselves?

Nevertheless, if these servants did not obey the instruction of Jesus, this miracle wouldn’t have happened.

Therefore we can learn a lesson from them.

If we want to see the mighty work of God, we need to obey Him first.