More Than Enough!

More Than Enough!

John 2:3-4 KJV "And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. [4] Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come."

The Gospel of John includes 7 of Jesus' 35 recorded miracles, less than any other Gospel, yet this miracle is not recorded in any of the Synoptic gospels. Why? The fact that John included it in his seven makes it seem important, but the fact that the other three gospel writers overlooked it makes it seem less significant.

John's gospel is different. The other three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called "synoptics" because you can lay them down beside one another and you basically have the same material. Sure, each has its distinguishing characteristics and is written from a definite point of view, but by and large each are substantially the same or at least similar to the others. Not so with John's gospel. It has a different agenda that John identifies in the book's conclusion. He wrote: "but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31 NASB) This gospel is written with a significant purpose. That the reader may believe and continue to believe (the verb tense indicates the continuous action) that Jesus is the Christ, God's son and that believing will result in new life.

Everything in the Gospel of John is there for that purpose: to encourage belief. The gospel writers used two different words for miracle. The most common word is dunamis, (doo'-nam-is;). Our word dynamite derives from this Greek word. It is a word that puts the emphasis on the power that brings the miracle. It is a word that connotes force or power it took to perform the miracle. The other word is semeion, (say-mi'-on;). Unlike dunamis, it places the emphasis on what the miracle means. It is best translated as "sign." This is the word John uses.

The reason John includes a miracle, excuse me a sign in his book, is not to draw attention to Jesus' miraculous power, but to serve as a signpost to point the reader in the direction of believing that Jesus is the Christ.

Driving southbound on Interstate 5 in Valencia, CA, the home of Six Flags Magic Mountain, is a large Disneyland billboard with a single word dominating 75% of the space. The word? Believe. That's the simple message of the Gospel of John: Believe. It is the same word, but with different meanings. Disney is asking the public to suspend their disbelief for a time and enter into their enchanted Kingdom for a day of recreation. They want us to pretend, for a time, that "make believe" is worth believing in. (Fresh Illustrations http://www.freshministry.org/illustrations.html) That is not John's message. John doesn't call on his readers to believe what isn't true, rather, he wants us to believe what he's come to know as truth. And he wrote about the miracles that give the reasons why we should believe.

Our text today is one of them. The day Jesus turned water into wine. The hosts of the wedding party ran out of wine-a major embarrassment. Mary, Jesus' mother turned to Him for help. Let's look at our text again: "And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. [4] Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." (John 2:3-4 KJV)

Most scholars believe Mary acted in an official capacity when she tried to solve the problem of too little wine. An extra Biblical source identifies Mary as the groom's aunt. The fact that the servants obeyed her command shows she had a perceived authority. She said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." (John 2:5 NASB)

Jesus told the servants to fill the six stone waterpots with water. These weren't ordinary water pots. The scripture said they were used for the Jewish custom of purification. When the guests arrived, they used this water source to clean the dirt and road grime off of their feet and to cleanse their dirty hands. These waterpots were tools of hospitality and good hygiene, but they were much more, they served a religious purpose. A few years later, Pilate, familiar with the custom of the Jews, would ceremonially wash his hands proclaiming his innocence of the blood of Jesus. After the ceremonial washing, the Jew considered himself clean.

Notice that there were six waterpots. Seven symbolized completeness, six incompleteness. Even the best efforts of the ceremonial law were incomplete. Participants would never be totally cleansed. Jesus is sending a message by selecting these six waterpots as the source of water. What is it? Let me give you a hint. When we take the Lord's Supper, the fruit of the vine is symbolic of what? Listen to the words of Jesus: "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." 1 Cor. 11:25 NLT