JOHN 2:1-11
11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
If you were writing trying to convince someone that Jesus was the Son of God and wanted to tell them about some of His miracles, which one would you start with?
1) Lazarus being raised from the dead 2) Demon possessed boy
3) Man at the tombs 4) Blind Bartimaus
Water into Wine? – A Miracle at a wedding ? Why
Rarest bottle of wine ever sold. Purchased by Christopher Forbes for &160,000 and had on it the inscription, 1787 Lafitte TH. J(assumed to be owned by Thomas Jefferson. Not near as good as the wine we will discuss this morning
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
Unusual weddings. I read about a couple from Little Rock, Arkansas. Ann Smith and Jim Garner were married atop a telephone pole. They were both telephone linemen. The wedding took place on a gravel road with about 40 people present. The couple, wearing jeans, instead of the customary wedding dress, hitched on climbing gear and ascended to a gaily decorated cross bar where a bucket of champagne and glasses awaited. The Justice of the Peace stood on the ground and shouted out to them their wedding vows.
Mary Campbell of Elgin, Illinois that had to say "I do" three times at three different weddings before she finally became Mrs. Randy Peterson. The couple took out their wedding license in Kane County and made all the arrangements for their wedding at a Church in Ontarioville. It was a beautiful wedding but the Church was in Du Page County, not Kane County and they were told the ceremony didn't count.
They packed up their wedding party and moved on to a park on the edge of Elgin. They were married the second time in the shaded park with its quaint bridge over a quiet lagoon. However, an editor at the Elgin Daily Courier-News reading a report on the wedding noticed that the park they were married in the second time was in Cook County, about 200 feet from the Kane County line.
The third ceremony took place in the newsroom of the Courier-News, a good mile inside the Kane county line. They were finally married in the eyes of the law. Problems with Wedding are not NEW.
Kidnapped groom.
• It probably doesn’t refer to the third day of the week (Tuesday) because virgins were always married on Wednesday, and widows were married on Thursday. Possibly the third day of the wedding of which many lasted 7 days.
• The walk from Bethany to Galilee is 60 miles, and another 15 miles up into the hills to Cana. That’s a LOT of hard walking
• Three days after Jesus meets Nathanial He is invited to a wedding. Relative? Went to many celebrations.
Jesus takes spirituality to the place where it is needed most{ everyday life!
This drove the religious leaders of his day – crazy! ..they called him a glutton and a drunkard - friend of tax collectors and sinners
Last week I probably did one of the most important funerals I have ever done:
Step-niece who was gay….family…sensitive issue…honored her life but also clearly communicated the gospel and that Jesus says He is the only way to this place He has prepared for us.
Received many positive responses from those you would be surprised by.
Even her PARTNER came to thank me and just held onto my hand in silence.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." 4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."
6 Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.
7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." So they filled them up to the brim.
8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him.
9 When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10 and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
MIRACLES BEGIN WITH TAKING THE THINGS OF THIS LIFE TO JESUS: 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."
A Jewish wedding was a huge ordeal, people would come from miles around, they would bring their whole clans, & so when they came, they stayed.
The average wedding feast lasted about 7 days officially and more often people hung around unofficially even longer.
And of course the host of the wedding, the bridegrooms father, had to provide everything for all who came. {Today 25-30 thousand – 3 day events
Hospitality was a huge thing in this culture, but beyond that, a family could actually be fined for inviting guests to come to a wedding feast and then not taking care of them.
4 And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come."
Sounds harsh/ disrespectful – WOMAN ……… It wasn’t… the word used here in Respect and tenderness
Same word Jesus used at the Cross – Woman behold your son
It was almost as if he was saying” Mother – you know my hour hasn’t come yet? Not time for me to be glorified
Text supports that she understood what He was saying.
5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."
INPIRATIONAL MOMENT: Wine in scripture is symbolic of Joy { Lose our Joy
Joyless walk / Joyless friendship / Marriage
Sometimes our walks and our lives become like those stone water pots dry and lifeless – Sterile We need the Joy of the Lord to fill us again.
Billy Sunday said, “If you have no joy in your religion, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere.”
“Joy is the echo of God's life within us!”
“Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God!”
Romans 14:17 says “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
One of the fruit of the spirit is JOY!
Psalm 16.11 “In Your presence is fullness of joy;”
John 15:11 “"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Nehemiah 8:10 The Joy of the Lord is your strength.
• Whatever the need is in your life the solution begins with the invitation for God to become involved.
THE PATH A MIRACLE TAKES DOES NOT ALWAYS MAKE HUMAN SENSE: 6 Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.
7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." So they filled them up to the brim.
In the entrance-hall six stone waterpots were standing, "after the manner of the purifying of the Jews." Their dread of uncleanness made it necessary to have large supplies of water ever at hand. Without washing no one ate. The feet of each guest were washed on arrival. The washing of cups and jugs and bottles went on all day.
These pots were huge: held – 20-30 gallons – like a big trash can.
No faucets – They had to go to the well.
150 gallons together: At 1 cup each they would provide 2400 servings.
• The miracle God wanted had to be carried out by obedient people. God save our community…transform our church…starts with your obedience.
• Notice they did not stop at just filling but filling to the BRIM. They did the maximum and not the minimum. What is the least I can do around here? Sets the stage for the miracles of God.
FATHER DAUGHTER opportunity that turned into a MOTHER SON opportunity. TULSA RUN: 3500 runners packed into a city block to start. Over 3 miles through the downtown streets of Tulsa. My Mom has a disease that causes inflammation to attack the veins of her legs in the nighttime. Takes most of morning after she wakes up before she can walk. Assumed she could not go to a race in the early morning but after Hannah and I left and were waiting to start the race Lynne arrived with my mom. I found out that because she wanted to go that morning and see us run that she got up throughout the night and moved around to try and keep the inflammation to setting in her legs to the point where it would take her hours to be able to walk in the morning.
• The miracle you want in your life or that we seek in this Church will not happen with faithless casual efforts but demand a total response from each one of us.
Have you made the effort to seek the heart of God regarding His expectations of your life today? Have you asked Him what your involvement is to be?
MIRACLES ALWAYS INVOLVE AN ACT OF FAITH: 8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him.
• HOW STRESSES MUST HE HAVE BEEN? Can you imagine taking a cup from a pot full a water to somebody very important and saying HERE DRINK THIS. Apart from the Miracle of God they would hand him something very bland and distasteful but what he received was the best wine he had tasted.
We hand our lives to the world and say TASTE THIS and they say, ‘What is different here from everything else I have tasted?’ They should say, ‘This is the best I have found’.
• The reason the world does not taste from our lives what they should is because we are not taking the time and living with the kind of obedience that allows God to put into our lives what is better than the world can offer.
9 When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, 10 and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
• The world should see something from our lives that marvels them with the difference from what they see anywhere else around them. The reason they don’t is because most people in church live RELIGIOUS lives that have nothing to do with true FAITH. Very little true EFFORT
11 This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
THIS MORNING COULD BE AN AMAZING BEGINNING TO THE NEXT THING GOD WANTS TO DO HERE AT HOLLY BROOK BAPTIST CHURCH.
NEEDS TO BE:
1. A SIGN to the world around us that points to the difference Jesus makes in our lives.
2. A MANIFESTATION of His GLORY to leads to greater faith in ourselves and those who witness it.
IS YOUR ACTION THIS MORNING?
1. A RESULT OF YOUR TAKING THIS DECISION TO JESUS FOR GUIDANCE?
2. A RESULT OF YOUR OBEDIENCE TO WHAT HE HAS ASKED YOU TO DO?
3. A RESULT OF A STEP OF GREAT FAITH?
4. A DEMONSTRATION TO THE WORLD OF HOW GREAT AN IMPACT GOD HAS HAD UPON YOUR LIFE AND THE DIFFERENCE HE HAS MADE?
