John 2 (Part 1) :1-11 • The Sign at Cana of Galilee

We're going to read the first 11 verses of John chapter two, and then we're going to pray. So follow along with me.

Stop there. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for the wonder and power and glory of Your Word. And we ask, LORD, that You would use that Word this morning to really speak to hearts. Help us, LORD, because we desire to know and to understand, and to put into practice Your Word. So use this, we pray, to fill our hearts, to encourage us, to strengthen us, to equip us. That's what you do best, LORD. We ask it in Jesus' Name, amen. Amen.

You know, the Gospel of John is different from the other gospel accounts in many ways, not the least of which is John actually records fewer miracles that Jesus did than any of the other gospel writers. I think the total number that he does is like eight or something like that. Whereas the other writers do more. And what's interesting too is that like six of the eight that John gives us are only given by John. So had we– you know, if we didn't have the gospel of John, there would be several miracles that we would never have read about. And this is one example of one that we would not know about had John not shared it. John likes to refer to miracles as signs; that's his favorite word. And a sign, as you know, has a very specific purpose, whether it's a road sign or whatever, a sign you might be looking at. Signs give direction and they give information. And that's what the signs that Jesus performed also do. They give direction and they give information. And we're going to see what this one's all about. Verse one tells us that there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. We believe that the ancient city of Cana was very close to Nazareth. In fact, there's a record somewhere where someone made a statement about the fact that you could see Cana from Nazareth. So there's nothing weird about the fact that Mary is invited to this wedding since these two towns are in such close proximity. Incidentally, Mary is never mentioned by name. She is simply referred to here as the ‘mother of Jesus,’ and that's all. There is no mention of Joseph. It is assumed by Bible scholars and students of the Word that Joseph had most likely passed away by this time. Verse two goes on to tell us that Jesus was also invited to this wedding. And of course, His disciples came along with Him. And wedding feasts, you know, could last for days. Depending on I guess, how long the food and drink held out, or something like that. But there were several traditions surrounding the Jewish wedding. It's not surprising necessarily that we read in verse three that there was a very– to them– a very serious oversight related to this wedding. And that is the fact that they ran out of wine. And for them that was a huge deal. The rabbis used to say that without wine, there's no joy. ---

Beyond that, it was just a real issue of shame, I suppose, for someone to run out of anything when you have people over. Because you have to understand that in the Far East there is a– there's a tradition. Well, it's more than a tradition; there's an attitude that goes along with hospitality. Hospitality was a sacred duty. Far more so than what we consider it here in the West. In fact, we probably have no concept of the– I guess the weight, of this kind of a miscalculation, and what it would project onto the family in terms of the humiliation that would be reflected on the bride and the groom, you know, for just not being able to take care of their guests in this way. And so somebody didn't plan good enough for all the people. It's funny, you know Sue and I are so different in the way we plan for things. She's a really, really good guesser. So she has this ability to kind of guess… and she's almost always right (which I hate) but I probably should take her to Las Vegas someday, she's such a good guesser. But that's a joke; don't write me notes. But she can usually guess how much food or whatever is needed for whatever group is coming. And I could not make a correct guess to save my soul. So I am one of those kind of people that always just gets way more than we need. And Sue always looking at me and just rolling her eyes, you know, “What are you getting all this stuff for?" “Well, we don't want to run out,” That's the deal, right? You don't want to run out when you've got guests. And so we're very different that way. I actually heard a pastor recently telling a story about his own wedding and he said a whole bunch of people came to the reception that hadn't been invited, and so they actually ran out of food. And I can only imagine. I mean, that's just like, yikes, especially for your invited guests. Well, Mary obviously felt the weight of this situation, and we're told in verse three that when the wine ran out, I'm reading here from verse three, “... the mother of Jesus said to Him…” and so this was directed— “They have no wine.” So she goes to Jesus; she doesn't just kind of say this in general company where Jesus overheard. She said it to Him, “They have no wine.” Now it sure seems from that, that she expected Jesus to intervene in some way. She doesn't say it, necessarily to Him, that way. Isn't the communication between a mother and a son kind of interesting in that way?

She doesn't have to ask. Mothers don't have to ask. They just say something and it's implied. All she has to say is, “They've run out of wine.” Right? That's what, see, that's what mothers do. They say things and then they give the look. Right? And you guys know what the– it's called the ‘mom look.’ Let me show you on the screen. The ‘mom look,’ this is it right here. So you know, every son knows that… when…. My mother used to do this too; she'd walk by my room and then she'd say, “Paul, your room is a pigsty.” She didn't have to go on and tell me what to do about it. She would just give me the ‘mom look,’ and I knew that what she meant was, “Get this cleaned up now.” Right? And that's kind of a little bit of what's kind of going on right here. So here's how Jesus responded. Jesus said to her, “Woman….” Now let's stop there for just a moment. (Laughter) Guys, I'm not sure if you could ever get away with calling your mom ‘Woman,’ but that's something I never would've tried. At least not twice. But Jesus isn't showing disrespect for His mother in this situation. What He's doing is, He's politely putting some distance between He and His mother, and this is not the only time He is going to refer to her as “Woman.” Hanging from the cross, doing the duty of the eldest son, which is to take care of your surviving parent, He spoke to her from the cross and said, “Woman, behold your son,” pointing to John, or referring to John. So this was a very polite way of making– creating that distance between Himself and this incredible woman.

--- Because you see, He had begun His public ministry and as such, the fundamental relationship between mother and Son has now shifted; and from this time forward, Jesus would only do as His Father in Heaven directs. That is where He gets his direction. In fact, His entire goal was– from this point forward and certainly always– but we're told, you know, there's all these silent years in the life of Jesus between 12 and 30. There's nothing written about Jesus. But we know that after that one event we hear about when He was 12 when they (His parents) you know, left him behind in the temple, and then came and found Him and took– and it says that after that, went home and He was obedient to His parents

. We know that He was obedient to His parents. But there's a fundamental shift that has taken place now in this relationship between mother and Son. And that is why Jesus said to His mother, “What does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” And that first statement is important to see: What does this have to do with Me? It's simply a way of saying, “This is not in keeping with the purpose [you know] that My heavenly Father sent Me to accomplish. This is not why I'm here. This is not why I'm here.” And you know, as you read through the gospel accounts, it's– you see that Jesus always expressed a very clear understanding of why He came. There was never any ambiguity on that score. He always knew His purpose. He knew His reason for being among mankind, and He always was true to that to that purpose. So what would you say if I told you that the attitude that Jesus expresses here– and the attitude is simply, “I know why I'm here and this isn't it.” What would you say if I told you that that's the birthright of every born again Christian? To know why you're here and to know why you're not here. Because it's just as important to know why you're not here as it is to know why you are here. You know, you look at the people of the world, you look at the people outside of Christ, they're desperately looking for their purpose. They want to know, “What am I here for?” And they're not coming up with a whole lot of answers. And so what the world does is they just kind of, they just say, “Well, you just gotta, you gotta live for yourself. You gotta live to be happy. You have to please Number One,” you know, and all these other statements that we get sick hearing about. But are just– it's all they've got. It's all the world has! This is it. It's just, live for yourself. Do what makes you happy, you know? And they make all kinds of dumb proverbs: You can't love others until you learn to love yourself and things like that, that have no foundation in Biblical wisdom or whatever. But it's just, it's all very self- serving. But you know, once you come to Jesus, once you give your life to the LORD and you surrender– not just to His Saviorhood but His Lordship, (which by the way, that's a different thing). Took me about– well I don’t know, 10 years. Seriously. Took me about 10 years in my life to go from embracing Jesus as my Savior to really, truly bowing before Him as LORD. And once that happens, there's a whole fundamental shift that takes place in our life in terms of ‘why I'm here.’ It's no longer just to please myself. It's no longer just to live for myself. It's no longer just to make me happy, you know? Priorities suddenly change. It's pretty cool too, to see that happen. And you know, it doesn't mean that as Christians– I'm not saying our priorities change instantly, overnight. We go through the rest of our Christian life wrestling with the old priorities, you know? Because the world gets in, don't they? The world seeps in and they kind of like try to nudge in, remind you, “Hey you know, it can still be about you, you know.” And we can get real weak about that and kind of back away from our convictions about living for the LORD and start to live for ourselves even as born again Christians. But you know, the Holy Spirit's very faithful to convict, right? Tap you on the shoulder. (Pastor wraps on podium) Doink, doink, doink. Sometimes it's a two by four across the head (in my case) because that's usually what's necessary to get my attention. But you know nonetheless, there's this need to kind of come back, you know? As a believer, I got to come back to the priorities that the LORD has birthed in my heart now through the Holy Spirit. And He reminded, “Hey Paul, this is not about you. You are here for My glory. You are here to live for Me.” You know? ---

This fundamental shift is expressed so beautifully in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. Let me put it on the screen from Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17.

It says, “... if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” And I love that verse for so many reasons, but not the least of which is this issue related to our priorities. The old priorities are gone now. The new priorities have now taken center stage and the new priorities are to live for the LORD. You know? To make my life pleasing to Him. So I, what I want to do is I want to share with you a few other passages that speaks– I believe powerfully about our new purpose, our new sense of priority. So that we can understand and like Jesus, be able to say to somebody, “That's not why I'm here. What does that have to do with me? What does that have to do with my life in Christ?”

Let me show you 1 Corinthians, chapter six. Paul writes, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” And I love these next words. “You are not your own. You are bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.” This passage of Scripture so flies in the face of worldly philosophies and attitudes that say, “It's my body. I'll do what I want. It’s my life. I'll do what I want with my life.” Well, as a Christian, we can't say that. I can't say, “It's my body and it's my life.” I have to say, “It's His body. He bought this body. For whatever temporal use it is given for me during these days, it belongs to Him. It is a temple, not the temple, a temple (just like you) of the Holy Spirit.” And so he (Paul) says, “You're not your own. Your priorities have shifted. This is not about you.” Right?

And then I love what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians. He says, “For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, Who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” So this is all part of your new set of priorities. The priority of your life is now to walk in a manner worthy of God. And so if somebody suggests something to you that isn't worthy, you know, in a way that's walking worthy of God, then you have to say, “What does that have to do with me? That's not what I'm called to. I'm not called to do that.” You know?

2 Corinthians chapter six; love this one too. “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership is righteousness with lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord,” or agreement, if you will, “has Christ with Belial?” Another name, you know, for the enemy. Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the Living God, as God said, “I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be My people.” [God says] “They're not going to be their own people. They're going to be My people.” We belong to Him. These passages just spill out and underscore this fundamental change; this shift of our understanding of who we are in Christ. And who you are in Christ is His. You're His. You belong to Him. Your life is

His. That doesn't mean you quit your job and you don't go to work on Monday because, “Well, I'm not going to do this anymore for me.” It's just everything you do, you do for the glory of God. Whatever you do, going to work, whatever you– in your marriage, in your home, it's all done for the LORD. 1 Corinthians 9:24 (ESV)

And then finally, 1 Corinthians nine, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?” So he– Paul's exhortation here is that we would run so that we might obtain it. So he not only tells us that there is a shift of our priorities, he tells us there's a prize at the end of the race. That's– isn’t that wild? So God has given you and me a set of priorities. He's literally changed the finish line. It's in the opposite direction that it was before you knew Jesus, now it's going this way (points to left) instead of that way (points to right). And He wants you to run toward the end of that race, like you're really mean it. And then He says this, “There's a reward at the end, but it's for running that way (pointing). And that is My way,” God says, “It's My will. It's My direction. It's My heart for your life.” So new priorities; new way of living. Now as we get back to the text (John 2) Mary, you can tell from reading this, understands that whatever is or isn't going to happen, it's not going to be public; whatever it is. And so we see in verse five that His (Jesus’) mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” And by the way, these are the last recorded words– it's not the last appearance of Mary in the gospel. So this is the last thing we hear her saying. Isn't that something? The last thing that Mary says in the gospels is, “Do whatever He tells you.” Mary was an incredible woman during her life on this earth. I'm sure she's still an incredible woman in the presence of the LORD, but we have to be careful not to exalt her too highly. Truly incredible. I mean, to be chosen to be the woman who gave birth to Jesus. What? Wow. But just don't ever forget her last words to you and me, “[You] do whatever He tells you.”

It's all about Jesus. It's all about pointing to Jesus. Right? The Word does not point us to Mary. She is not a co-redemptrix. She is not someone we pray to. We're never told in the Word to pray or to beseech her in any way. She says, if she says anything, she says, “[Hey you] do whatever He tells you.” I like that. Now John tells us that there were six stone water jars that were sitting nearby. They were the kind that were used for ceremonial washing. Were told that they held up somewhere between 20 or 30 gallons, depending. And verse seven, reading it here says,

Now what happens next is kind of interesting because it gives us a peek into what would happen sometimes in ancient Jewish wedding celebrations. Because we're told here that after the master of the feast sampled some of this wine, that was previously water, but now turned to wine… and by the way, the master of the feast is kind of like our modern wedding coordinator; he tastes this wine, and he reveals to us a common practice that happened at– during these wedding receptions. And it was essentially bringing out the best wine first when people could still taste, you know? And after their taste buds had been sufficiently dulled due to drinking, and the Jews diluted their wine, okay? And they did. It was like two parts water to one part wine. And so it was really hard to get inebriated on the wine the way they drank it. But – I mean, if you drink a lot, it's still possible and it's still possible to have it kind of singe the taste buds a little bit. And I know that there are some people who are so against the idea of alcoholic drink in any way, shape or form, that there are some people who refuse to believe that Jesus turned the water into anything but grape juice. And that's actually a fairly common belief among some people. I don't agree. It was wine. You know, the Bible doesn't forbid the drinking of wine. It forbids drunkenness. And again, it was hard to get drunk on wine the way the Jews drank it, but you could. But so we were, we are given this kind of, this little insight, you know, they would– that typically in a wedding, they'd bring out the wine that didn't taste all that great at the end when people really couldn't tell the difference. But I love his statement at the end of verse 10, he (the master of the feast) says, “But you have kept the good wine until now.” And this is something I just kind of like about Jesus; from the standpoint that, you know, I really like the fact that what He makes is excellent, you know? I think there's something for us to kind of lay hold of there. It wasn't just like, a cheap– you know, 7-11 bottle of wine, you know. This was good stuff. And it's the same thing that we see, you know, in the feeding of the multitude, you know. When Jesus took that small bit of bread and fish and turned it into enough for everybody to be full. And then there was an abundance left over. That just tells you something about the character of God, you know? Just this abundance and stuff like that. But of course, we're still left with the question: Why did Jesus do it? Why did Jesus do it? I mean, was the sole purpose of the turning water into wine just to kind of keep the party going? I don't think so. Well, thankfully John helps us have an answer to this, at least in part, because the last verse of what we're reading today, verse 11 tells us, “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And His disciples believed in Him.” This is where John tells us this was a sign. Right? Your Bible, if you have a different translation, it might be translated ‘miracle.’ But it is the Greek word for sign, and the Greek word actually means ‘a distinguishing mark.’ So he says, “This was the first distinguishing mark of His deity that Jesus performed in His public ministry.” And we're told that that first distinguishing mark is that He manifested His glory to His disciples. He demonstrated His authority, His authority over the material world, you know? I mean, to turn– to be able to turn water, you know, into wine. And what happened as a result of that is it helped this sign, this miracle helped to establish a foundation for the faith of His disciples. And that was a good thing. They knew what had happened. And so they recognized what had happened and it, you know, it was a starting point. It was a good start for them, in terms of understanding who He is and what He is able, you know, to do. But the question we're asking here this morning is, are there any other distinguishing marks that this sign is pointing to? Well you know, when it comes to Bible interpretation, you guys that have been around here any length of time, know that I'm not a real big fan of looking for symbolism where symbolism doesn't necessarily exist. In other words, I don't like finding metaphorical kind of explanations for things that aren't supported in the Word of God.

But there is something very interesting in this passage about the fact that the containers that He used to make this wine were containers that were normally used to hold the water of ceremonial washing. And that is interesting because of course, ceremonial washing was one of the many ways that the Jews would make themselves acceptable to God. It was a work that they had to do, and it was one of the many things they had to do, but it was one of them. And so this whole idea of cleansing and in order to be cleansed, to come into the presence of God and to be acceptable to God, you know, there's this cleansing that needs to take place. And so they would go through all these ceremonial washings and so forth. But Jesus came to reveal that the ceremonies and the commands of the law would never be enough to make a person right with God. It's one of the reasons He came. And He passed that message along to His apostles, and Paul spoke of it quite powerfully. Romans 3:20 (ESV) For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans chapter three, up on the screen. Paul writes, “For by works of the law,” and that would include ceremonial washing, food laws, keeping the Ten Commandments, whatever. He says, “For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” That's the one– of the biggest purposes of the law– is to simply make you and me aware of the presence of sin in our lives. But the law itself and the keeping of the law is never going to make you acceptable to God. And that's pretty interesting, isn't it? When you think about the fact that Jesus used these huge stone containers that were u– that were kept for ceremonial washing for that very purpose. And what did He do? He turned it into wine, and that's where this whole idea of the wine comes. And like I said, I'm not a big fan of finding symbolism where symbolism doesn't exist, but the symbolism does exist here. Because wine is a symbol in the Bible, and Jesus used it that way. Let me show you from Mark, on the screen, chapter 14.

--- Mark 14:23-25 (ESV)

“And He took a cup,” and we know what was in that cup, “and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them and they all drank of it. And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’” And then He went on to say, “Truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” So we see here in this passage recorded by Mark that wine is this symbolic picture of the cleansing work of the blood of Jesus Christ. It's what the law cannot do, what the law cannot do. And so we see this further picture here, this sign, this distinguishing mark of what Jesus did by turning the water into wine. He's making a statement here for those who are willing to put the pieces together and understand what's happening here. The law is not going to save you. You can wash and you can scrub, and you can work, and you can do all the hard stuff that you can possibly think to do, and it will not save you. Only through the blood of the Lamb can we be cleansed of our sin. One final thought, as horrible as it was, and we explained how horrible it was for a Jewish wedding host to run out of wine during the celebration, it was hardly a life or death situation. I mean, nobody was going to die, you know, nobody was in pain. Maybe emotional pain, I don't know. It– when we look at it, we kind of think, “Well what if, what if Jesus hadn't done anything?” The couple still would've been married. Everybody would've gone home and said, hey you know, “Mazel tov,” you know, “Glad you guys got married. Thanks for inviting us.” Yeah, it wasn't a life or death thing and yet the God of the universe through the person of His Son chose to intervene and solve this particular problem. That's pretty incredible and I want you to think about that a little bit as we close. I want you to think about the fact that God stooped down to take care of this sort of a problem. Listen, if the matter concerns you, it concerns God. He loves you that much. He cares about you that much.

I'm not saying He's always going to swoop in and do exactly what He did in this sort of a situation, but the message that we need to be careful and not to miss as we read through this particular passage of Scripture is that no matter should be considered too small, or too big, that it should keep us from going to the LORD about it. And I have to tell you that I hear from people quite often who feel that their situation is too small, or they're shamed into not going to the LORD because their situation was caused by their own miscalculation. Or stupidity. Or whatever; they caused it and they know it. And they need help, but they don't go to the LORD. I just want you to know that, you know, if the God of the universe would make some really good wine for a wedding celebration that really wasn't a life or death situation at all, He cares about you. He cares about the things that really do matter. And you know, Paul talks about this and the other biblical writers too. You know? It's like, good grief, He died on a cross for you. What won't He do? You know? But here's the point: having a relationship with God means talking to Him about everything. When you really have a relationship with someone, it means you can relate. You relate what's going on in your life. And we talk a lot in Christian circles about, “Do you have a relationship with Jesus?” And some of us would say yes, but we really don't. We may be saved– because we believe that what Jesus did on the cross was truly for us, but we really have a very distant relationship with Him, from the standpoint of just sharing what's going on in our lives, talking about things that ran out and we're bummed about it. The importance of understanding what a real relationship means is that you can go to Him for anything, for any reason and just talk. And you don't have to be anywhere. You don't have to go and find a little, you know, chapel or stained-glass windows or, you know…. You can be anywhere, anytime and just go and talk to the LORD, “This is what's going on. I just need to tell You what's happening, what's in my heart, and I need to talk this over with you.” And I love that. I do. I love that. I love that Mary had the wherewithal to go to Jesus, “Hey, they ran outta wine,” and then do the ‘mom look.’ ---

--- So go to the LORD with whatever it may be. He cares. Because He cares about you. Amen? Let's stand together. If you need prayer this morning, we invite you to come up and allow us to pray with you, for you, whatever. Jesus, we love You so much. We love Your Word. We love Your goodness. We love how You care. Even when the situations aren't life or death, and especially when they are, LORD, we know that You care. Father, help us to bring every single burden to You in prayer. I know I need to get better at doing that. I'm sure my brothers and sisters do too. Help us LORD, to draw close to You with our whole heart. We thank You and praise You for this new perspective on life that is now ours in Jesus; this new set of priorities to live not as the world lives, but to live for the glory of God. To please the LORD our God, to serve You with all of our lives, all of our hearts. Help us LORD, to walk that out every day, and we give You the permission to make us aware when the world has grabbed a hold of our attention and our priorities begin to shift away from You. LORD, please remind us and bring us back where we need to be. We thank You, LORD, for this time, we thank You. It's so good to gather with brothers and sisters in Christ. We just pray a blessing on all that we've heard. May it fill our hearts. In Jesus' Name. And all God's people said, amen. God bless you. Have a good rest of your Sunday. ---