For Our Good

Hello! I’m prerecording this message, but by the time you’ll be watching it I’ll (hopefully) be in Porto, Portugal (amazing - very excited), and where I’m traveling for the honor of conducting the wedding of Matt Anderson (son of John & Marcia) and his fiance, Alex.

So I thought it would be fun - and appropriate - to tell a story about Jesus at a wedding.

Last Sunday we started a new sermon series, “We Would See Jesus”. Idea behind the series is to look at different Gospel stories to get a better look at who Jesus is. We want to see Jesus.

Because the more we see Jesus, more we’ll come to appreciate who he is, more we’ll be enthralled with him - more we’ll willingly surrender ourselves to following him. That’s the hope.

Last week we looked at the story in Matthew 14 of Jesus - and then Peter, at least for a brief time, walking on water. Revealed to us how Jesus’ presence with us is enough in any situation, no matter fear we’re facing. “It’s me,” Jesus tells us.

This morning, we’re going to be in the Gospel of John, chapter 2. But before we read the text, I want to pray for our time together and then offer a few thoughts about weddings.

Prayer

One of things in life that we typically just take as a given - don’t often think about -is why that’s so. Why is is that weddings are a celebration? That’s been true of weddings across cultures and across the centuries.

Friends and family gather together to rejoice with the couple as they commit themselves to loving and honoring one another “until death do us part.”

There’s the ceremony part, and that tends to be somber, serious - and appropriately so - the marriage vows are unlike any other commitment we make in life - they’re huge. To commit to loving another, being faithful to your spouse for the entirety of your life.

After that very serious making of vows - there’s a party! A celebration. Food, drinking, dancing, laughter. Weddings are great.

The reason we celebrate is because we recognize (consciously or not) that this is a good - God’s good to us. His good gift for us.

God designed ordered marriage to give us gift of family (command to go forth and multiply), gift of companionship, intimacy, and the gift of forming, shaping us through marriage to become like him. These are all wonderful gifts God blesses us with through the marriage relationship - one man, one woman, united, for a lifetime.

This goodness of God we experience through marriage, we also see reflected in Jesus in this story.

A few words about Jewish weddings, to help you appreciate what’s happening

First, Jewish weddings were big affairs - community affairs. You would invite as many friends and family as you could. And it went on for a while - a wedding celebration could last a week.

Which meant you’d need a lot of food and a lot of wine. Which was the bridegroom’s responsibility to provide - and it was a big deal, a huge social faux pas if you didn’t provide properly, if you ran out.

Now, bridegroom didn’t bear the entire financial responsibility for that - in fact, people would give gifts to help provide for that - so in that sense, there was somewhat of an agreement there - we’ll help fund it, you have all materials ready.

Finally, one last aspect, there would be somebody appointed as the steward, master of the banquet. Their role would be to manage the distribution of food and especially the wine. If too much drinking was happening, steward would slow down the serving of it, maybe even dilute the wine with water.

So, on to the story: John 2:1-12...

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 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 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.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

So, here’s the situation. There’s a wedding happening in Cana, a city in the Sea of Galilee region. We don’t know the connection, but Mary, Jesus’ mother was there, as were Jesus and his disciples.

So, everyone is having a great time, eating, drinking. Somewhere along the line - assume it must have been a few days into the celebration, the wine runs out. Now we don’t learn how, but Mary finds out about this dilemma.

Mary brings this to Jesus, and tells him the problem, “They have no more wine.” Now, she doesn’t say anything more than that, but Jesus is a smart man, he picks up on what she’s saying - this is more than “I just wanted to let you know”, this is a “I’d like for you to help do something here.”

Now, pay attention to Jesus’ response here: “Woman, (which, by the way, this was an ordinary address, Jesus wasn’t being disrespectful here), why do you involve me?” And pay particular attention to this, “My hour has not yet come.” What does that mean? What is Jesus talking about, my hour has not yet come? Hang on to that, we’ll come back to it.

So, then Mary leaves it in Jesus’ hands. She doesn’t press him or chide him, guilt him into it. She turns to the servants and says, “Do whatever he tells you.” She trusts that Jesus will honor her and do what’s best.

And Jesus does exactly that

He turns to the servants and instructs them to fill the water jars that were used for ceremonial washing that are sitting there. Now, a note about these jars - there were six of them, and they were big. Trash can size big (think the old round metal ones). They held between 20-30 gallons of water.

Jesus instructs them to fill these six jars with water to the brim. After they do so, Jesus tells them to draw out some of the water and take it to the master of the banquet, the steward who is managing the banquet.

And so they do. Bring it to the master of the banquet, who has no idea where it comes from - he tastes the water. Except it’s no longer water. It’s wine. And it’s not just wine, it’s really good wine. Top notch wine.

I enjoy a glass of wine from time to time. But I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to wine and what makes for good wine. I’m the guy if I order it at a restaurant - they pour a little for you to taste, of course I’m going to nod my head and say, that’s good. I would never reject it. But I think even I would recognize the difference here.

And isn’t that just fun to think about Jesus, how unnecessarily and wonderfully generous he is here. They’re here at this wedding, this wine dilemma comes up - it’s not a life-or-death situation, or an issue of great suffering - it would be, at worst, a huge social embarrassment. And Jesus miraculously provides more wine - and it’s not like he produced just enough to get them through - he provides an overabundance of wine!

Remember, there were six of these water jars, they each held 20-30 gallons of wine - Jesus made 120-180 gallons of wine. To try to visualize it - let’s take the average, 150 gallons of wine. The normal size bottle of wine - it would take five of those to make a gallon. So Jesus made 750 bottles worth of wine for this wedding party. 750! That’s a lot of wine. They could be taking wine baths!

Not only did he make a lot of wine, he made premium wine, the good stuff - gold medallion winning wine. Wine good enough the steward is amazed - praising the bridegroom for its quality - “most of the folks bring the good stuff out first, then, after folks have been drinking a while, they bring out the low quality stuff. Not you, you saved the best for last.”

Think about what this says about Jesus, and his goodness. Honestly, this feels like a miracle that’s unnecessary, more important things to be focused on. Almost beneath Jesus.

And yet he did it. He made wine to save face for this bridegroom - his wedding and the celebration wouldn’t turn out terribly for him. But also for the sake of a celebration. A party. So it would continue. People would be able to continue to enjoy themselves, eating food, laughing, dancing - and drinking really, really good wine.

This series is that we might see Jesus better. My hope is that you see Jesus and his goodness, his grace poured out, the generosity of his gifts to us, the thousands of delights we get to experience day in and day out because our God is so, so good.

Interesting to note that vast majority of people at that wedding have no idea of what Jesus did (really, just servants, Mary and the disciples, that’s about it - bridegroom doesn’t know, master of banquet, the rest of the guests - as far as we know, they never find out).

Reflects what’s so often the case, that here God is, pouring out his good gifts without any recognition on our part, without recognizing and acknowledging and praising him.

I was listening to an interview with Sean McDowell and an atheist - who was talking about the sense of wonder he had when he saw some of the images coming from the new James Webb Space Telescope - which has greatly enhanced the images of space we can see now. It’s produced absolutely stunning pictures of space. Here this guy is experiencing the wonder and beauty and goodness of God’s good gifts - without recognizing it.

Let’s be honest, people were likely going to be over indulging in that delicious wine (if they hadn’t been already). God knows we overindulge. He knows we become preoccupied and even gain a sense of entitlement about the good things in life. That we take his gifts and his goodness for granted. He knows it all.

Yet he continues to pour it out, grace upon grace upon grace. His good gifts, lavishly poured out for us.

One last thought here - thing that makes it even more remarkable, even more amazing - I hope and pray you’re being enthralled with Jesus.

Remember that comment when Jesus first turns his mother down, “my hour has not yet come”? That’s very specific language - every time we see Jesus use that phrase - particularly in the Gospel of John (where we find this story) - phrase of “his hour”, it’s in reference to his going to the cross, his dying on the cross. The moment of his glory.

Though she may not have realized it, Jesus knew. He knew that in doing this miracle that his journey to the cross would begin. This would mark the first time he began to publicly reveal that he is the Messiah by performing a miracle, a sign. Verse 11 again, “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of his signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

Once Jesus begins to perform these signs, he begins the road to the cross. There’s no turning back now. The clock starts ticking. The hour has come.

So, it’s not just that Jesus does this wonderfully delight-filled miracle for this bridegroom and all of his wedding guests, he does it at great cost to himself - a cost nobody recognizes.

Which is always what Jesus has been about, speaks to depths of his goodness to us, cost he’s willing to bear so that we might experience the good he desires for us. His death that we might have life. His pain and suffering that we might have peace and healing and wholeness. Jesus drinks the cup of wrath so that we might drink from the cup of joy.

More than anything else this morning, I want you to see Jesus’ goodness toward you. Which is very definition of love, to be for the good of the other. Jesus loves you. And his constant pouring out his good toward is evidence of that - whether it’s gift of great wine or his willingness to lay down his life for our sake.

As always, I want to offer some ways that you can put this into practice, receiving goodness of Jesus, being more enthralled with the goodness of God towards you.

First thought: Read and reflect on this passage (Lord, I would see Jesus), John 2:1-12…Read it as God’s word to you, slowly, meditatively. Imagine the scene, the interaction between Jesus and his mother. Jesus instructing the servants. The response of the banquet master as he tastes the wine.

Second exercise: As I mentioned at the beginning of this message, I’ll be in Portugal for Matt & Alex’s wedding while this is being shared with you. The wedding is actually happening Sunday, today as you watch this. Portugal is five hours ahead of WV time, it’s probably 11:00 a.m. or a little thereafter for you here, which means it’s about 4:00 p.m. in Porto. Wedding started at 3:00 p.m., so we’ll just be wrapping up the ceremony and moving toward the wedding reception. We’ll be partying! Celebrating! My intention is to do that with a heart of delight, rejoicing in God’s goodness as we celebrate the marriage of Matt and Alex and eat what I trust will be great food - maybe even a little wine. Dancing, who knows?!

Mentioned this before, but I hope you will, too this week, will rejoice in God’s goodness. That you’ll engage in the Spiritual Discipline of Celebration. God is God of joy. He is the most joyous being in the universe. And he wants to share that joy with you.

So take some time this week to do something you delight in. An activity you particular enjoy. Or get together with a friend you really enjoy. Or simply take time to recognize and enjoy the good gifts God is giving you this day (whatever food you’re eating, beauty that surrounds you, people you’re with right now). Celebrate to the glory of God.

One last word - one of the most common images in the Bible for Kingdom of God is a wedding feast. A huge celebration, a big ol’ party.

Image intended to capture that life in the Kingdom of God is a celebration. It is to move us into greater joy and peace as we delight in the goodness of our God, who is so lavish in his giving, grace after grace after grace.

This story is such a great example of that - Jesus - God himself - making gallons and gallons of top notch wine for a wedding celebration. Great example of God delighting to pour out his goodness upon us. Let’s delight in our good, good God.