Christ Church - the best is yet to come!
John’s gospel focuses upon signs that pointed to, and revealed the identity and glory of Jesus (2:11); and towards the end of his gospel John states why he wrote his book: ‘Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name’ (20:30-31).
The gospel of John is written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that through believing in him we may have life in abundance.
I believe that God alone is the giver of life. We are made in his image (Genesis 1:26-27) as described in the book of Genesis; and yet there is so much more to life than simply existing. In Jesus we have life in all its fullness, and the gospel writer John shows us how.
John’s gospel has important similarities to the start of Genesis. (John 1:1-3): ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made’. Genesis 1:1, ‘In the beginning God created’.
He goes on to say that although ‘the world was made through [Jesus] the world did not recognise him’ (1:10). He says ‘the Word [that’s Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ (1:14); and he then writes about John the baptiser who preached about the coming Messiah by saying, “No-one has ever seen God, but the only begotten Son who is at the Father’s side has made him known” (1:18).
John the baptiser also said, “I baptise you with water but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” (1:26-27).
And in the gospel something then happens that is so very easy to miss. John writes, ‘The next day’ (1:29); and if you’ll bear with me for a moment, just imagine that everything from John 1:1 through to John 1:28 has all been squeezed into one day in the way that the gospel writer is presenting the case for Christ. Day one includes the existence of Christ with God the Father in the beginning, the creation of the world, the birth of Christ, and the preaching of John the baptiser.
‘The next day’ (1:29) John sees Jesus and proclaims that he is ‘the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (1:29) and this section ends with the baptiser pointing at Jesus and saying, “I testify that this is the Son of God” (1:34); and it seems as if this is day two of John’s account.
‘The next day’ (1:35), in other words day three, John again points to Jesus as the Lamb of God and two of John’s disciples leave to go with Jesus (1:39).
But it was already late. It was about the tenth hour (near the end of the day) and we are told that they spent that day with him. This strongly suggests that they were with Jesus for a full day which takes us in to day four and during that time Andrew goes off to find his brother Simon Peter to introduce him to Jesus (1:41) – and I still haven’t even reached John 2 which is our Bible text this morning.
(1:43) ‘The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee’; so on day five Jesus heads off for Galilee and has an encounter with a man called Nathanael – the encounter that we studied last Sunday.
But the best is yet to come!
And at the start of chapter two John writes, ‘On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee’ (2:1). The wedding does not take place on day six, because John doesn’t say the next day. He says ‘on the third day’ which means ‘the day after the next day’; so we have to count from day 5 up to day 7.
In other words in John’s gospel which seeks to bring us into a relationship where we believe in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might have life; day seven is the day when Jesus turns water into wine. In the Book of Genesis God rested on the seventh day but in the gospel of John Jesus is at work on day seven. The number seven in scripture is also used to represent completeness and fullness, so in this sign when Jesus takes ordinary water and produces the very best of wine (2:10) John is strongly alluding to fullness, completeness, God’s kingdom, and life in abundance; the New wine of the kingdom of God.
But none of that was clear to those who were at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. We can study the scriptures to dig for treasure, but the people at the wedding had nothing more and nothing less than ordinary water turned into quality wine; and even then only Jesus’s disciples grasped what had happened. Only they realised that something miraculous had happened; only they put their faith in Jesus (2:11).
As we study the scriptures and the way in which the gospel writer has constructed his testimony about Jesus, we can see parallels with the story of creation; and so this miracle, or more accurately this sign of the kingdom where Jesus turns water into wine; it is a sign of re-creation, renewal, God doing something new, God once again breaking into the ordinary and doing something deep, rich and extra-ordinary; and I find that exciting! The best is yet to come!
If you are someone that prays for the Jewish people as scripture encourages us to (e.g. Romans 10:1 and Psalm 122:6) then pray that they will come to know and experience the full-bodied, deep, new wine that Jesus brought into the world, first for the Jews (Romans 1:16) because he was and is their Messiah, and second for us, people who have been grafted in (Romans 11) to God’s kingdom through faith in Jesus.
How can we apply ‘water into wine’ to ourselves?
Jesus instructed the banquet servants to fill six huge stone water jars to the brim. “Fill the jars with water”, he said (2:7). They carried out his instructions, drew some out and took it to the Master of ceremonies (2:8) and when he tasted it he had no idea where this amazing wine had come from; but verse 9 says, ‘the servants who had drawn the water knew’.
Jesus does not often ask us to do wild, wacky, far-out things for him. As servants of Jesus his instructions to us are very often simple, plain and straight-forward. “Fill the jars with water …draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet” (2:7-8). Do we sometimes overcomplicate what we believe God is asking of us? Do we need to remind ourselves of the simple, plain and straight-forward things we’re called to do; trusting that in his hands he will take our ordinary offering and turn it into something amazing? Love God. Love your neighbour. Love your enemies. Forgive as God forgives you. Care for orphans and widows.
The master of the banquet calls the bridegroom aside: “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine but you’ve saved the best till now”.
Some people look back on an earlier phase in their life and think of it as the best part of their life, and understandably so, especially if that involved a husband or wife or relative who has since died. They were great times - like a fine wine perhaps. But everything that’s happened since might seem watery or of less quality in comparison; yet Jesus turned water into wine towards the end of the banquet: “You have saved the best till now.” Could it be that for you and me the best is yet to come, that in God’s hands if we’re open to his change and transformation there’s a fullness, a quality, and a depth of life still yet to come. This sign encourages us to believe that Jesus has saved the best till now; that the banquet in heaven promises the very best at the very end.
Christ Church – the best is yet to come!
So let’s pray.
