How Do You Restore Your Joy?

How do you restore your joy?

John 2:1-11

Story: Some years ago when Johnny Carson was the host of the The Tonight Show he interviewed an eight year old boy. The boy was asked to appear because he had rescued two friends in a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia.

As Carson questioned the boy, it became apparent to him and the audience that the young man was a Christian. So Carson asked him if he attended Sunday school.

When the boy said he did Johnny inquired, "What are you learning in Sunday school?"

"Last week," the boy replied, "our lesson was about when Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine." The audience roared with laughter but Carson tried to keep a straight face. Then he said, "And what did you learn from that story?"

The boy squirmed in his chair. It was apparent he hadn’t thought about this. But then he broke into a smile and said, "If you’re going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!"

Back Ground:Perhaps he was on to something because weddings are time of Joy.

A. The first miracle of our Lord took place in a town called,

Cana of Galilee.

1. The event was a wedding.

2. Cana was a inconspicuous little town that lay outside of Nazareth.

3.Cana had no social prominence in its day! In fact, biblical scholars took 1800 years before they could figure out just where this town was.

B. Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus and his disciples

had all been invited to the wedding.

1.It’s interesting to note: Jesus ministry, like his birth,

began in a small, unimportant town, to common every

day folks.

C. Weddings were, and are, a big deal in the Jewish

culture.

1.There is a certain protocol that was to be followed.

2.If the bride were a virgin, the wedding occurred on Wednesday.

3. If the bride a widow, the wedding came on Thursday.

C. The wedding ceremony would take place late in the

evening after a time of feasting.

1.The father of the bride would take his daughter on his arm, and with the wedding party in tow, would parade through the streets of the village so that

2.Everyone could come out and congratulate the bride.

3. Finally the wedding party would arrive at the home of the groom. The wedding actually took place in the front door of the grooms house.

a. It was no short ceremony….no the festivities usually lasted for days.

b. It was a time of great celebration.

c. After the wedding ceremony the bride and groom walked through the streets accompanied by flaming torches.

1.The wedding party always took the longest route through the village so that as many people as possible could wish them well.

F. The grooms family was expected to provide all the

refreshments for this week of festivities.

That’s where we pick up our scripture: Read John 2:1-11

A. The host discovers that they are running out of wine.

And you couldn’t just pop down to Wal-Mart’s or Brookshiress and get a few bottles more

1.They had more guest than they anticipated.

2. In the first century, running out of wine at a wedding was a social disgrace.

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

4.But the host could have actually been sued for a breach of hospitality to his guest.

5.And in those days a wedding went on for a good week with the couple keeping open house rather than going off on honeymoon

B. Mary comes to Jesus and says, “Son, we’ve got a

problem. The groom’s family is running out of wine.”

I.FIND THE SOURCE

1. Mary knew where to go.. knew what she had to

do....

2..She didn’t waste time fooling with everything

else...

3..She knew how to find the source...!

II. Likewise, we have to know how to find the source...!

1. We need to know how to go to God in our time of need...

2.How to go to Him when our wine runs out....

3. For indeed He is The Source... Just look at Gen 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth....” The fact that Mary came to Jesus with such a problem is a reminder that Jesus is concerned with the everyday things in life that we face.

1. Jesus answers his mother in what seems like a harsh way.

2.He was not being harsh,

Question: Those stone pots represented lots of wine

We are told that there are 16 glasses to a gallon

6 x 20 gallon pots = 1920 glasses

6 x 30 gallon pots = 2880 glasses

Answer= 2,400 glasses – 150 gallons of wine

A. John calls this first miracle a sign.

1.Signs give us information-- point us in the direction.