Gods Time

Introduction

Weddings are happy and joyful occasions!

When we think of weddings we think of bright, happy music, the church and a banquet hall nicely decorated with flowers, streamers, balloons and colour-coordinated linens and so on.

We think of family and friends, all dressed in their best clothes coming together to wish the happy couple every joy for the future.

When we think of weddings we think of the reception, the finest of food, the cake, and the photographs and, of course, the obligatory jokes – like when you tell the bride to put her hand on the table and then ask the groom to place his hand on top. You subsequently tell him to enjoy the moment - because this will be the last time he has the upper hand in the relationship!

In our text today we read how Jesus, his disciples and his mother (Mary) had all been invited to a wedding in a small town called Cana, just up in the western hills of Galilee.

We can guess, perhaps, that it was a family wedding – both Jesus and his mother were present – and also because Mary seems to be doing a bit of fussing around.

Some scholars have said that this was the 1st recorded Christian wedding – simply because Jesus was present there. When you think about it, this is true! Many people today marry in Church because they want the blessing of Christ on their marriage. They want Jesus there to honour their union.

Many Christian couples want Christ to be right at the very heart of their marriage and so they make Christ the honoured guest at their ceremony.

As we read our text, this morning, we can see, however, that this 1st Christian wedding did not run smoothly!

The wine runs out!! What a catastrophe!!! The bride and groom were in the middle of the festivities, they couldn’t nip out to the nearest liquor store to get more!

To understand just how great a catastrophe this was, we need to understand a little about the Jewish customs that prevailed at the time. If a person could not entertain his/her guests in an appropriate fashion, it brought deep social shame not only to them – but the entire town or village. Weddings were also very reciprocal in nature, a guest could actually sue the bride and groom if they felt that they had been dishonoured in some way.

So the wine runs out - dishonouring the guests, leaving the hosts open to ridicule, shame and legal action

Page1 Judgement/Text

Poor Mary seems to be beside herself – What are they going to do???

It is hard to say if Mary already knew, at this point, that her Son could perform miracles.

John, the writer of this Gospel, tells us that this is Jesus first miracle – but we can imagine that Jesus might have performed miracles in the privacy of his own home on previous occasions.

On the other hand, maybe not!

Either way Mary knew that her Son was special!!! She remembered his conception; she remembered the shepherds and the wise men. She remembered the star and the angels – She knew that there was more to him than met the eye. She knew he was the Messiah.

Can you imagine her – in her frustration and desperation, purposefully stomping up to Jesus, hand on hip, eyes wide open declaring, “They have no wine!!”

Can you almost sense the impatience in her statement?? “They have no wine!!”

Jesus reacted in the same way as I would react to an impatient, demanding mother, who is standing in my face, in this kind of situation – “It’s got nothing to do with me, woman dear. Leave me out of it”

Jesus was not being harsh or rude to his mother, he was gently indicating that he was no longer her little toddler under foot – He was indicating that there had been a change in their relationship. He was a grown man now who could think and act for himself!

I think I’ve lost count of the times when I’ve had to tell my own mother that I am a grown 39 year old man, and that I’m not her little baby any more.

Jesus tells his mother that his time has not yet come! He’s not ready yet! I’ll act in my own time!

Page2 Judgement/World

Just like Mary we too can try to rush Jesus into acting when we run into trouble or crisis. We see the problem. We see the consequences. We know that Jesus has the power to do something about it all so - we stand, hand on hip, eyes wide open and say, “Well Jesus do something!!!”

When I was preparing to come here to Canada, I needed to sell my house. I needed to get a certain amount of money for it and I needed it to sell quickly. Over the past few years the property market Northern Ireland had been booming but, unfortunately, just as I put my house on the market – there was a slump. The market slowed down and houses stopped selling!