Empty Jars And Restless Hearts

Title: Empty Jars and Restless Hearts

Text: John 2:1-11

D.T.: Our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee, O God.

- Can you think of your most memorable wedding besides your own? I can. I remember when I was a child, the girl next door got married. You know, I can’t even remember her name, much less the groom’s name. But to be honest I didn’t really care about the whole thing anyway. I just remember that when the wedding time rolled around, my mother forced me to change my play clothes and where some dress clothes that I despised. This was going to be the first wedding I had ever attended, so I didn’t know quite what to expect. I remember we all piled into the old green Buick Century, and drove on down to the Base Church. I also remember that it was a Catholic Wedding, which really didn’t mean anything to me, but it would. You see I don’t really remember any of the details of the wedding, except that I had no idea what was going on. But looking back, the one thing that sticks out is that it took forever. It had to be the longest most boring event of my life. Please no offense, to you who have Catholic backgrounds, but my goodness do Catholics have long weddings.

- Do you have any memorable weddings that come to mind? Why I remember another wedding I went to. It was my half-aunt’s. She was getting married to a rich lawyer in New York City. I remember that the wedding was one of those outdoor weddings. But not just any outdoor wedding, it was at a beautiful mansion in the rich parts of Long Island. All I could think while I was there is, Wow, I wonder how much this cost?

- And then there was the wedding that Stacey and I attended, it was for a couple named Jenny and Art. Jenny and Art are hard to explain, I guess you could say they are both on the bubbly, eccentric side. Well, after the official kiss, as the bride and groom were walking down the aisle, all of sudden the groom and his groomsmen put on some dark sunglasses and ZZ Top, "Everyones Crazy About a Sharped Dress Man." It was quite a memory!

- Weddings are a special time. They are a time of commitment, of celebration. I guess you can say that weddings symbolize an ushering in, to use a Bible word, an ushering in of a new covenant. The two shall become one.

- Perhaps the most memorable wedding in the Bible takes place in John 2.

- But before I read to you John 2, you need to erase all of your memories of weddings. You need to place them in a jar and put it on a shelf, because, if this was a typical Jewish wedding, which everything in the text indicates that it was, then it was much different than our idea of a wedding. It all started about 12 months before the occassion when the man and woman made the commitment to be betrothed. You’ll remember that that is the stage that Joseph and Mary were in when their journey began. It is during this time that the two are to fall deeper in love and a time for the families to learn more and more about each other. It is intended to be a glorious and innocent time.

- And when the day of the wedding arrives, the man and woman come together and walk through the streets of the city in a grand processional. And along each side of the road are the towns people singing, dancing, cheering, throwing flowers and celebrating with the couple. When the processional arrives at the towncourt, the man and woman drink from the cup and purify themselves. And then the party begins. It doesn’t just last for one night, but it lasts for seven days. Family and friends gathering together to celebrate the union of these two people. Jewish weddings were a grand and exciting event!

- Now listen to the wedding that Jesus attended, Read 2:1-11.

- Here we read that Jesus and a few of his disciples were invited to this wedding gala, where it seems that Mary his some what of a hostess. And midway through the celebration, the unthinkable happens, they run out of wine. It would be like running out of food at your wedding reception when only half the people have been fed. What a disgrace! So Mary goes to her son and asks if there is something, anything that he can do about it.

- Jesus gives a some what surprising response. He says, "Ma’am, what concern is this to me. It is not quite time to show the world who I am." Nevertheless, Jesus gives some sort of indication to his mother that he will take care of the situation. Maybe it was a wink or a smile, but Mary gives some pretty good advice, Do what he tells you to do.