Water to wine

Last week: Moses’ last hurrah

Barbara Sampson - Moses last speech

Promises of God:

Strength foryour days

shelter and refuge (shadow of protection, not abandonment)

Everlasting arms of God

Jesus is the fulfilment of these promises

The water - baptism

The wine - Communion & the cross

Right at the start of Jesus’ ministry in John’s Gospel

Cleansing of temple -> wedding feast

New year, New broom

What do you need to clear out in your life?

I want to focus on the wedding itself

In the background

with disciples & Mary

reluctant? (why do you want this?)

In the moment of need - wedding is about to hit an iceberg

New wine

Best wine

Communion wine

Water vs wine (covenant -> reign of God)

Baptism & Eucharist

Baptism - adopted into God’s family through the cleansing waters of baptism

Eucharist - renew and refreshes our faith

Are you running on empty?

We all have times when we hit icebergs in our life.

As strong as your faith is, as long as you have been a member of God’s household, you feel like you’ve run dry, and it’s just not enough to get you through.

That’s where I am right now. Maybe some of you are too.

I need that water to turn into wine.

So as we move into a new year, it’s not just about bringing a new broom, or making a list of the wonderful things that we will achieve in 2022. Instead, let’s open our heart to God. Place our hope in him. Trust the promises of Jesus, and let his new wine renew us and refresh our souls.

When water doesn’t seem enough, Jesus shows up with the wine.

Fill up on God’s abundance

John 10:10 NIV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Psalm 78:15 NIV

He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

Psalm 23:5 NIV

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Philippians 4:19 NIV

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 65:5–13 NIV

You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.

2 Corinthians 1:5 NIV

For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Psalm 36:5–9 NIV

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

Quietly

As we rest in God’s promises, often we look for the dramatic change, the sudden sign, the miracle, the evidence that God is definitely doing something here. But at that wedding, even with new disciples around him, even with his mother urging him on, Jesus did not take centre stage. The steqards didn’t know. Maybe even the bride and grom didn’t realise that new thing was beginning in their midst.

Maybe, even in the midst of the crises and the trials in our lives, Jesus is at work, taking our water - our commitment to him, and turning it into wine - that hopeful taste of God’s promises of love, and joy, and life in all its abundance.

Final word

If Moses promise was “God will be with you through it all”, then the promise of the wedding at Cana is “The best is yet to come!”

Benediction:

Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”