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!
“I stood, hand on hip, eyes wide open and prayed, “Well Lord, do something!!!”
One week went by, then two, then three, then four – the market prices got lower and lower. So I stood, hand on hip eyes wide open and prayed, “Well Lord do something.”
My estate agent advised me to drop my asking price – but I needed to get the asking price to satisfy the Canadian Immigration authorities that I could support myself. What could I do?? I was about to take the house of the market and forget all about coming to Canada when the Government decided to change the rate of property tax. This kick-started the market again and, to cut a long story short, I was able to sell my house for MORE than the asking price.
We can have a very strong faith and know that God can move in our life circumstances - I knew that God could get my house sold for me, but I wanted it on my terms. I wanted him to get it sold NOW. I KNEW it was His will for me to come to Canada, so why wouldn’t this house SELL!?!
Have you ever prayed a prayer and wondered why God didn’t seem to be answering? We need to realise that there are 3 answers God can give to our prayers. YES, NO or WAIT A WHILE!
The message of this sermon this morning is that his timescale supersedes ours. We need to learn to wait on the Lord time.
Page3 Grace/ Text
Going back into our text we can see that Jesus rebuke to his mother does not indicate his inability or unwillingness to help – He just wanted to help at a moment of his own choosing. His timescale superseded that of Mary.
Perhaps he wanted to act at a time that would cause the least amount of embarrassment? Perhaps he wanted to help when Mary wasn’t running around like a headless chicken causing such a scene?
The fact of the matter is that he was willing to act and he had the power to act – but he was only prepared to act at a time of his own choosing.
As for Mary, even though Jesus said, “No- Wait” to her – she still had faith in Him to resolve the issue. This is why she went straight to the servers and told them to carry out whatever instructions Jesus gave them.
Mary expectantly prepared for her sons intervention
Because of her faith and because of her willingness to trust HIM and HIS timing – Jesus not only met the need, but he met it in abundance!
Not only did Jesus provide wine, but he provided lots of it and it was of the best quality too.
Page 4 Grace/World
If we would just learn to wait on the Lord and trust his agenda for our lives, we would find that, “All things work together for good, to them that love God.”
We would find out that he will give us everything we need – and more!!
The old chorus goes,
“Much more has God in store,
Much more, much more.
Greater glories we may yet behold
Greater blessings as the days unfold
Greater triumphs than have yet been told
Much more! Much more has God in store.”
Because God made me wait before selling my house I ended up getting more for it than I anticipated. The extra money I got for it allowed me to buy a car. In turn, this allows me to travel easily up and down to my home corps in Winnipeg; this allowed me to travel from Winnipeg to London Citadel- It even allowed me to travel from London to St. Catherine’s for this weekend!
God had a reason for the delay! He worked everything out to my benefit.
The secret to getting God to act,
the secret to getting more from God is to learn to have patience.
Have you heard the prayer, “Give me patience and do it now God!”
Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. If we are to wait on the Lord we need the Spirit’s help to cultivate this patience in our hearts.
Conclusion
If we are to allow Christ to exercise his timetable and work in our lives in HIS time- we need to learn to wait on him to act.
To quote another little chorus to finish with:-
In his time, In his time
He makes all things beautiful In his time
Lord my life to you I bring
May each song I have to sing
Be to you a lovely thing
In your time.
