How God Saves The Best Till Last

Outline:

WHAT’S THE POINT? What Jesus does here is a sign, which is initially fulfilled in the disciples’ amazed response to the miracle.

- John 2:11.

DAWNING AWARENESS: Beyond the initial “wow” factor, there is a lot here to show that God has “saved the best till now.”

- John 2:10.

a. This is good news for the least and the lowest.

- John 2:9-10.

b. This is permanent purity.

- John 2:6.

c. This is partnering with God, not running through ritual.

- John 2:5.

d. This is a forever family.

- John 2:4.

e. This is becoming God’s beloved.

- John 2:1.

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Full Manuscript:

WHAT'S THE POINT? What Jesus does here is a sign, which is initially fulfilled in the disciples’ What’s The Pointamazed response to the miracle.

- John 2:11.

- Why is this occasion worth a miracle?

- Jesus arrives at this wedding along with His disciples. There are only 5 or 6 disciples at this point.

- Wedding feasts were the huge parties that went for days (anywhere from 2-14 days, depending on the wealth of the family.) It was a huge shame to not have sufficient wine for the party.

- Because Cana was relatively near to Nazareth and because Mary seems to have some behind-the-scenes role (shown by her knowledge of the impending crisis), there is a strong indication that there may have been some distant family connection.

- But there’s something larger at work.

- “Sign.”

- It’s easy to overlook the idea that this is a sign, but it’s important to pause there. This is not important for the miracle itself inasmuch as something that points to higher and greater truths. Being a sign means that it’s a signpost toward something else. What is that thing?

- I think initially for the disciples the sign is just “Wow, this guy is a miracle worker!” Being able to do something extraordinary like this leads them to think that that something special is going on here. They’ve already been pointed to Jesus by John the Baptist. They’ve heard John call Him the Lamb of God. They’ve already seen Jesus amaze Nathanael with insider secrets. And, now, they see the water turned to wine.

- This leads us to two of the immediate consequences of Jesus’ miracle.

a. “Revealed His glory”

- The idea of “glory” brings us back to who Jesus really is. Jesus really is God Incarnate. Jesus really is the Son of God. This miracle definitively speaks to the reality of who this man from Nazareth really is. He always possessed that glory, but in this moment, He revealed His glory to Him.

- I believe that Jesus generally hid His glory for good reason. In the Old Testament, the revealing of the glory of God tended to make the Israelites (a) fear and (b) overwhelmed. Part of the Jesus coming in human flesh is to be able to share the message of God’s love in a way that did not create fear or leave folks overwhelmed.

- Jesus chooses relatively few moments to reveal His glory.

b. “and His disciples put their faith in Him.”

- This miracle creates a moment when the disciples cross a line.

- I think one way to say it would be that up to this point they had put their hope in Him. There were lots of hopeful things happening. John’s words. The insider knowledge with Nathanael. There were reasons to be hopeful that they were on the right path in finding the Messiah.

- Then Jesus turns the water into wine. They are all there to see it. They know the pots had water in them – they watched the servants bring bucket after bucket to fill them up. Then, somehow, inexplicably, at Jesus’ command, the servants dip their cups and there is wine. It is in that moment that the disciples no longer merely hope that Jesus is the Messiah, they put their faith in Him that He is the Messiah.

DAWNING AWARENESS: Beyond the initial “wow” factor, there is a lot here to show that God has “saved the best till now.”

- John 2:10.

- Echoing the theme early in chapter 1, the idea comes out again here of Christ as Creator. But beyond the initial amazement that He is able to transform something from one condition to another, we come to the question of what exactly He has created.

- Rather than a “take it if you have to” situation, what Jesus is opening up here is a “wow – this is incredible” situation.

- It echoes the later words of Christ about seeing the opportunity to enter the Kingdom as a chance of a lifetime (Matthew 13:44-46).

- This story is overflowing with allusions and references to deeper truths that are signs too.