Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.07UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.06UNLIKELY
Joy
0.71LIKELY
Sadness
0.17UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.5LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.3UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.91LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.82LIKELY
Extraversion
0.42UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.66LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.8LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Introduction
That was a promo video for the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, OH.
It is one of the coolest museums I’ve ever been to.
40,000 square feet of signs from all across the United States, in every shape and color imaginable.
Signs are important.
They tell us important things.
This morning, we’re going to look at the first of Jesus’ signs recorded by John in his gospel.
So, you can turn to John chapter 2 in your Bibles, which starts on page 603 of the pew Bible.
If you remember John’s purpose in writing this gospel, from chapter 20:
The Book of John is organized essentially into two halves.
We call them the Book of Signs — chapters 1-11 — and the Book of Glory — chapters 12-21.
And in the first half of the Book, John records seven signs which are meant to prove that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God and to call his readers to believe in him.
The first of these signs takes place at a wedding in a little town called Cana.
Let’s read, starting in John 2:1
PRAY
Father, your Word is perfect, renewing the soul; it is a sure testimony that enlightens the eyes and gives wisdom to the unlearned.
By your grace, humble us to see that our souls need renewal, our eyes enlightening, and our spirits learning.
Renew, enlighten, and teach us by your Holy Spirit that we might understand and believe the testimony of your Son, Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
What are Signs?
Before we look at this story in earnest, I want to take just a moment to talk about signs — specifically, signs in the Bible.
A sign, of course, is a thing that points to something else and that something else is usually grander than the sign.
Signs can be really cool, like the ones in the American Sign Museum, but generally speaking, we are more excited about the thing the sign points to than the sign itself.
On a trip out West, nobody stops and marvels at the sign that says: “Grand Canyon 60 miles.”
It’s pointing to the grander thing.
No different in the Bible.
Generally speaking, signs in the Bible are objects or acts that point to a grander spiritual reality.
In the Old Testament, there were all sorts of signs.
Some showed God’s power — in Nehemiah, he refers to God’s plagues against Egypt as signs of his magnificence.
There were also signs of God’s promises — think of the rainbow in Genesis, it was given to Noah as a sign of the covenant to never flood the whole earth again.
But mostly in the Old Testament, signs are given by God to confirm that someone is a prophet.
Sometimes they were miraculous — Elijah making the woman’s oil never run out during the famine in 1 Kings 17.
Sometimes they were mundane — Isaiah walking around barefoot for 3 years to announce God’s coming judgment on Israel in Isaiah 20.
These signs served to authenticate the divine messengers so that people would believe the message they brought.
Now we come to the Book of John, and he uses signs as an authenticator of Jesus’ message.
What Jesus says about the kingdom arriving with him is true.
But, they also point to a grander reality: Jesus is the message.
Jesus is the kingdom.
These signs are showing that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, and the Son of God himself.
And revealing that, the signs call us to believe.
So, bearing that in mind about what the signs are meant to do, let’s look more closely at this first sign recorded by John:
The Wedding
Jesus and his disciples go to a wedding in Cana.
Cana was a small town in Galilee, which was in the northern part of the region which buts up against the Sea of Galilee, hence the name.
It was the hometown of Nathanael, and very close to Nazareth, where Jesus grew up.
Jesus goes to this wedding and his mother is also there, which indicates that these were probably relatives, even if distant relatives.
Now, weddings in Jesus’ time were a big deal.
They were major social events, often with entire villages — hundreds, even thousands of people — invited.
And sometimes they lasted up to a week.
But, not only were they major social events, they were also major hospitality events.
A family’s reputation in the community could be seriously harmed if something went wrong at a wedding…something like, say, running out of wine, just as a random example.
In fact, in Jesus’ day a groom could actually get sued if there wasn’t enough wine for everyone.
And so, there is some dramatic tension here when Jesus’ mother comes to him and says, “They don’t have any wine.”
Like, a first century reader of the Book of John would have heard the record scratch and everybody get silent — Oh, no.
This is bad.
What’s gonna happen now?
So Mary comes to Jesus, her eldest son, and tells him that there isn’t any wine.
And to get the full grasp of this sign, we need to look at Jesus’ odd response to his mother in verse 4:
Now, if you talk to your mamma like that in the South, you know, at the very least you get The Look.
You know The Look.
It indicates a greater wrath upon return to the home.
That’s not what;s going on here.
Jesus wasn’t being disrespectful to his mom.
Gynai, the word for woman, was a common way to refer to a…well, a woman in your presence.
So, not disrespectful, but definitely not warm and familiar.
It was an odd way for a son to refer to his mother.
And then he says, “What does this concern of yours have to do with me…my hour has not yet come.”
And that’s key, “my hour is not yet come.”
Jesus is reminding Mary that he has a mission and all of his focus is meant to be there.
And he is also defining their relationship, in a way.
Yes, Jesus is Mary’s son, but he is also her Lord.
They are on completely different levels.
Even though she is his mother, she is also a sinner in need of a Savior.
She needed Jesus’ ultimate hour, his crucifixion and resurrection, just as much as anyone else.
And so, while Jesus does do what she has asked, he has now tweaked the focus.
I’m going to do this, he says, but it’s not so that our relative will save face in the community.
Rather, I will do this so I can show truth and point to a greater spiritual reality.
Now we see the purpose of this sign.
It is not just to show his power, although it does.
It is not just to show his control his command over the natural world, although it does.
The purpose of the sign is to show a greater spiritual reality: A new day had come.
The New Has Come
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul describes the new birth into Christ:
In changing the water to wine at the wedding in Cana, Jesus is declaring that he was bringing about a radical change in how people relate to God.
The old was passing away and a new day had come.
Let’s look at some details that John includes to make this point:
First, I’ve been telling you to pay attention to the progression of days in this part of John’s narrative, you remember that?
Day 1, verses 19-28: The priests and Levites ask John the Baptizer bunch of questions
Day 2, verses 29-34: “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away this sin of the world!”
Day 3, verses 35-42: Andrew and another disciple leave the Baptizer and follow Jesus.
Andrew gets his brother Simon.
Day 4, verses 43-51: Philip and Nathanael join Jesus
Now, 2:1: On the third day (meaning, three days later) a wedding took place.
We’re on Day 7- the Sabbath.
John has already drawn our attention back to Creation once in 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word.”
John’s gospel is proclaiming the good news that a new creation is here.
And by performing this sign on the 7th day, Jesus is proclaiming that a new Sabbath is here, a day of rest.
But, rather than a day of rest from physical labor, Jesus is calling us to a life where mankind rests from their work in trying to earn favor with God by the law and trusts fully in the completed work of God in Jesus.
The new has come.
Secondly, the vessels that Jesus uses to perform the sign.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9