Throughout our life we rely a lot on signs
Signs play an essential role in our life
They always point to something
They point to something far more important than themselves
For instance as we drive down the freeway we will see a sign pointing to Launceston
The sign is not Launceston….but it tells us which way to Launceston
When we feel our head hurts or our tummy rumbles this is often a sign something is wrong
When our belt buckle moves to the next spot,
this maybe a sign we need to do something about our weight
When a family member or friend won’t talk to us, this is a sign that reveals something is wrong
We need to explore what is wrong
When the fire alarm makes that piercing noise,
it could mean we need to get out of the house or that dad has burnt the toast again
In all aspects of our lives
We rely on signs to reveal something to us
Often we need to check out what the signs mean
Sometimes we notice the signs and sometimes we don’t
And in the gospel reading from John today we hear
11What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples put their faith in him.
The turning of water into wine was not a magic trick to entertain audiences at the wedding or church members for years to come
But this event was a sign revealling the glory of God
And within this reading there are also a number of signs that reveal more about Jesus and about us
Something we will not pick up unless we delve deeper into scripture is the timing of the event
In verse the first verse we are told that on the third day…
Jesus was at a wedding with his disciples and his mother
When we dive deeper into scripture we discover that the third day is mentioned no less than 40 times in the old and new testament
On many occasions the third day
highlights that God’s presence becomes clearer,
in other words God’s presence becomes clearer not straight away but after a passage of time
From
Hosea 6:2 we hear “After two days he will revive us and on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence.”
Esther chapters 4 through to 8 we are told that Esther fasted for three days…then went to the king seeking to rescue the Jewish people
In the book of Jonah, Jonah is in the belly of the fish for three days before he is spat out
And in the New Testament we constantly here that the resurrection of Jesus took place after 3 days…
Listen to 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance a: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Every Easter we highlight the importance of the third day….when we attend both the Good Friday and Easter Sunday service
Also in our lives we can not always see God at work in our lives until a passage of time has passed
Often God is at work, however it takes time for us to see Him at work
Three days indicates God’s presence is about to be seen by some one or some people
Another sign we will miss unless we delve deeper into scripture is the importance of wine in the lives of people of Jesus time and culture
Like today, scripture indicates good and bad uses of wine
Using wine at celebrations is one of the good uses
An abundant supply of wine indicated a blessing from God
From Genesis 27, verse 28
28 May God give you of heaven’s dew
and of earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
And when used with God’s favour wine also points to joy,
From Ecclesiastes 9, verse 7
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favours what you do.
With these to things in mind…
So running out of wine is a problem for the wedding family.
In fact, it is an embarrassment for the family hosting the wedding.
Now we are not told why the wine ran out
And it is not important
It could have been the fault of the family organising the wine through bad planning or being misers..
thinking that each person should drink half a glass of wine only
The fault of the guests in being wine gluttons
Maybe there were unexpected guests, gatecrashers
Perhaps those serving the wine had decided to tak some of the wine for their own personal use
The reality is we don’t know why it ran out
But we do know that it was gone
And that this is a problem
And we do know that only Jesus intervened to address the problem
Now think about your life
Particularly when problems occur
The problems in our lives…are the result of sin
Sin that we have committed or sin others have committed that affects us
And often one of the consequences of sin,
whether we have committed it or someone else has is that we are embarrassed or feel ashamed
because it highlights our weaknesses, our inadequacies
Sin often shows the areas in our life where we are inadequate
But like the gospel reading of the wine running out
when we put God in the picture a solution is revealed
Without Jesus the family and their friends at the wedding would have been stuck with the problem of no wine, and their joy would have been short lived
Likewise in our lives without Jesus life, death and resurrection
We would be stuck in this life, with no possibility of a future joy in heaven
And we would be without the Holy Spirit giving us gifts as we heard about in 1 Corinthians 12 and guiding us through God’s Word and God’s community commonly called the church,
we would have no hope of discovering what gives us true and long lasting joy now and in the future
Interestingly Jesus also reveals something more about the way God works
A sign of the way God works
Jesus doesn’t just give the wedding party any old wine
Because they had run out the wedding party probably would have been satisfied with some wine,
even if it was a bit ordinary,
But that is not God’s way
Jesus gives them the best wine of the event, from verse 10 we hear
Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.
Many people are looking to God to help them today
They want instant help from God
God does help us deal with our everyday issues,
Sometimes in the way we like…sometimes in ways we have never thought of
But we need to remember that the joy he brings to our life now
is only a small reflection of the joy he will bring to our lives in the future
it is there to help us see the future
As God reminds us through St Paul’s letter to the Colossians in chapter 2, and as he reminds us in the final chapters of Revelations
The joy and the good we experience now is only a minute reflection of our life to come
Jesus has prepared something a lot better for us than this earth
Its God’s way to save the best to last
Think about the best time you have ever had a times it by 1000 and that is still only a small reflection of the time to come
Whatever you experience now….
God promises eternal life will be far superior
A final sign we can see from today’s reading is that of Mary
Mary is portrayed as many things in scripture
A faithful servant willing to whatever God asks
In today’s gospel reading we can pick up two signs from Mary that help us as we live our lives
The first comes from verse 3
When the wine was gone,
Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
Now there is much debate amongst scholars about this comment from Mary and Jesus’ reaction
But what can’t be debated is that Mary brought the problems of someone else to Jesus attention
And you to can do the exactly the same thing, in your prayers
Often we pray only for those things that directly concern us
But each one of us is called also to pray for others….
In Romans 8, Paul reminds us that we are constantly to remember others in our prayers
When you notice someone in trouble, experiencing difficulties
Be like Mary and bring this trouble to Jesus
The other thing Mary does is that she points people to Jesus for advice and help
Listen again to verse 5
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Many people are either keen to give advice or to say nothing
But when was the last time you said to someone
Let’s go to Jesus and see what he says
When was the last time you listened to Jesus
To get God’s perspective on the way life should be
The way you should approach issues and problems in your life
Mary understood that only Jesus can provide the solution
So she directed people to Jesus
And we can do the same…
Through how we live
and by helping our friends and family explore the pages of scripture
We help them gain Jesus’ insight for our life now and in the future
And in doing so we become like Mary
Signs pointing to God’s generosity, God’s way of life, God’s forgiveness and who God is
Today’s reading from John has many signs about who Jesus is and who we are
It highlights that Jesus is God, the Messiah, the chosen one
That God is about bringing long lasting joy to people’s lives
That God deals with our problems, even smallish problems like running out of wine
And that God is focussed on our future
But it also suggests there is a time of waiting for us to see God’s work fully in our lives
Amen
