A Friend Like That

A friend like that, John 2:1-11, Series: the Jesus stories

Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ

January 26, 2002

I recently did a wedding. During the wedding rehearsal, the groom pulled me aside and made me an offer

He said "Look, I’ll give you $100 if you’ll change the wedding vows. When you get to me and the part where I’m to promise to ’love, honor and obey’ and,’ I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave that part out." He gave me a $100 bill and walked away.

The day of the wedding the bride and groom were in front of me and we were to that part of the ceremony where the vows are exchanged. When it came time for the groom’s vows, I looked the young man and said

"Will you promise to bow down before her, obey her every command and wish, serve her breakfast in bed every morning of your life and swear eternally before God and your lovely wife that you will not ever even look at another woman, as long as you both shall

live?"

The groom gulped and looked around, and said in a tiny voice, "Yes." Then He leaned in and asked “what happened I thought we had a deal."

So I gave him his $100 dollars back and told him that she had made a better offer

Weddings are fun, they are times of celebration. They are times when we celebrate and rejoice. We enjoy to company of those we love and we rejoice at the new bond of unity and commitment between two people.

But anybody that has planned a wedding knows about all the work involved. Everything has to be done and as it is a memorable day we want everything to go just right. The bride spends the whole day getting ready the groom spends just 10 minutes. which is actually longer than it takes him to get ready for anything else. The meal is set the minister is in place. The rehearsal has helped everyone know exactly where to stand. The cake is in the right place. and through all of the practices. Through all of the preparation. Through all of the planning, most weddings will have one glitch, one or two things that were not perfect.

We work so hard to make our wedding day a very special time. Yet life rarely works as smoothly or goes as well as we want it to and that is especially true on your wedding day!

Over the years of my ministry I’ve seen a lot of mistakes at weddings.

I’ve seen bride’s giggle uncontrollably. The groom show up late, the groom shows up with alcohol on his breath. I have seen the minister fall down stairs, Fortunately the bride broke my fall.

When Tammie and I got married we went to light the unity candle and it just would not light. Now that does not mean that we are not married it just means that there is no flame in our lives.

When these kind of disasters happen we are a little embarrassed but we usually just laugh a bit and move on - because the really important part of a wedding - the love and the promise that make the covenant - is in the hearts of the bride and groom. Still we want this day to be so special...

Jesus first miracle happened because Jesus’ mother Mary was concerned about a large potential embarrassment at a wedding. The wine had run out. There was about to be a lot of embarrassment because of it. You can find that story in John 2:1-11

What Jesus did in response signifies some very important things to us about Jesus and his compassion for people. He cares about even about our embarrassing shortcomings and he wants to help us find the joy in our life.

John 2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9 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 10 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." 11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.