A Beginning Or An End Series

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On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

WE really don’t know what to do with Jesus...

A Jesus that Chose to Do his 1st miracle at a Wedding that Was the Turning WATER into WINE

We either water down the miracle into grape juice...Unfermented...

We struggle with the fact that Jesus would show up at a Party – LOUD...FESTIVE...

"Wohoo"...Free Bird...

We Struggle with the STUFF & We almost Miss the Miracle!

Swiss German theologian, Karl Barth, draws attention to what he calls the "strangeness" of biblical text. Rather than seek to make the text reasonable, we should, according to Barth, allow its peculiarity to challenge and change us. As Christians, we often feel an obligation to make the Bible intelligible, or to present it in such a way that it makes perfect sense. I am not so sure that this is always desirable. I am not even sure that the Bible always makes sense or that it can always be understood. Often we need to subject ourselves to the mystery of the word of God and if need be, let the Word speak strangely. The words of Stephen Neil made some thirty years ago about Jesus, are still applicable today: "The danger for the interpreter lies always in his tendency to domesticate Jesus Christ, to make him out to be less dangerous than he really is, to rob him of his mystery, and to offer solutions of the gospel problems which are no real solutions."

In 2002 – We really find it hard to:

Accept Ourselves AS WE ARE...

Believe that Jesus would show up at a Party...

Accept that He wants to Step into our needs & meet them...

Believe that He wants to be a part of our lives EVERYDAY...

Sell out to Him...

NOTE – the Miracle is Definitely NOT about Permission to DRINK! THE Story is MUCH BIGGER than That!

Today I want to Speak to you about –

"AN END or a BEGINNING"

Truth – You Can’t Have 1 Without the OTHER!

Whether in a Book...A Quarter in Football...The 2nd ½ in Basketball...The next Inning in Baseball...

TODAY Is about:

EMPTINESS...LACK...INABILITY (I Can’t – HE Can)

AN END of SELF & ALL OUR ABILITIES/RESOURCES...

AND THE BEGINNING of GOD...JC...

The WILLINGNESS of JC to STEP into Our POINT of NEED

& TURN THINGS AROUND

I. SCRIPTURE

This is the 1st Miracle by Jesus Christ

It’s Interesting that HE would Perform his 1st Miracle at a Wedding - The Result of a FLAW...MISTAKE...

Ø NO WINE

Here - Talk About WEDDINGS

I’ve Never Seen a Perfect Wedding – Have You?

Some of my Memories...

Ours – Unity Candle...

Dalziels – 45 minutes late...

Rings not fitting...

Wrong words – sung & spoken...

People passing out...Tripping...Laughing...

Here we are – in the Bible – OUT of WINE

Cana of Galilee. Weddings were a Big deal. Protocol was to be followed. Ceremony @ evening after a time of feasting. Home of the groom. No short ceremony...

Lasted for days. Great celebration.

Host discovers – no wine. Improper to not have wine.

Jews did not get drunk at these celebrations—drunkenness was considered a disgrace.

Water pots that were for hand washing. Guest had someone pour some water over their hands. To eat with unwashed hands would have been a defilement.

180 gallons of wine.

Jesus did not just make some ordinary wine. No, the wine was better than that which they had started the celebration with.