“Transformed!”
John 2:1-11
Please open your Bibles to the gospel of John, chapter 2. Today we are beginning a new sermon series I have titled, Jesus the miracle worker. Read John 2:1-11.
It’s good when you start, to start at the beginning. Before Jesus made his official entrance into public ministry, Jesus performed one miracle. He would then go on to perform nearly 40. Most seem to agree on about 38 that we have record of. It is important to stop and remember what John said: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” I’m sure there were many other signs and miracles we are simply not aware of.
But this was the first and it is interesting that he chose to perform this miracle at a wedding. Less than a week has now gone by since Jesus had appeared in the desert. John had prophesied that Jesus was coming and when he arrived, John said, “Behold the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world. “There was a system taught in the OT for hundreds of years that on particular days man should bring a sacrifice-often a lamb. The lamb was to be without blemish. The lamb would then be sacrificed on the altar, blood would be shed and man would receive forgiveness. This completed the Scripture that says without shedding of blood there is no remission/forgiveness of sins. Now this lamb has arrived and that system from the OT is about to change completely.
Then in just a few days a wedding takes place in Cana. We don’t know how many guests there were but the Scripture does tell us that Jesus and his mother were there and also his disciples. The Scripture gets right to the point-there was a problem-they had run out of wine and so Mary took the need to Jesus. She made him aware. I suppose that it is difficult to know exactly why she told Jesus--after all we have no record of any previous miracle Jesus had performed and later in verse 11 we learn in fact that this was his first. But certainly by this time Mary was fully aware that her son, Jesus was the very Son of God himself. So she says, ”hey, Jesus, they don’t have any wine.” His response captures our attention because it sounds so abrupt. Look at it. “What has this concern of yours to do with me, woman?”
Things are now beginning to change. Their relationship is beginning to change. This is likely the first time Mary had asked Jesus for help in a public setting. And what Jesus has to say here in the 2nd part….when He says what does this have to do with me? Seems to be explained in the last part. My hour has not yet come.
So Mary who is apparently expecting this need to be taken care of then speaks to the servants and said, “Do whatever he tells you.” There’s a principle found here that God’s people have attempted to live by for 2000 years and here it is:
• Do whatever he tells you.
Mary knew that Jesus could do whatever was necessary as long as the servants obeyed. And the same is true today.
• Jesus is more than able to do whatever was necessary/needed in your family
• Jesus is more than able to do whatever is necessary in your personal life.
• Jesus is more than able to do whatever is necessary to heal relationships, to heal people, to heal circumstances.
You see for the very first time the public is about to see that in any situation, Jesus the miracle worker can take something that is broken and fix it. He can take something that is old and make it new. Look at what he does. Verse six. There are six of the stone jars and each one will hold about 20 gallons. Possibly 30. So we have over 120 gallons of water available here. They are told to take them and fill them to the brim. These pots were used for washing. The Jews had practiced for years that they should not eat until they had washed their hands carefully. We still practice this. “Hey kids wash up it’s time to eat.” These large pots were used because they had to wash cooking utensils as well; pots and pans.
So Mary tells them to fill them and John reports that they filled them up to the brim. Now not sure why we have that particular detail except that it does point out that nothing else was added. No wine was added. No Kool-Aid was added. No food coloring was added. Just water-filled to the top. So now Jesus chooses some of the servants to help again and he tells them to draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. Not to the waiters, not to the maître d’... Take it to the master. The main guy. Now these would be very heavy. A gallon of water weighs just over 8 pounds so each container could’ve weighed in excess of 200 pounds and there are six of them. So there were more than just a few men carrying these. Because this is over 1000 pounds.
So the host asked for wine and they bring water. It happens sometimes. Hey, I ordered sweet tea you know the stuff dripping with sugar. This is unsweetened tea. This is terrible. Or I ordered Coke, not Diet Coke. The host ordered wine--- they were bringing out water course they were just doing what Mary had told them to do-Jesus had told him as well and so they were just following orders. We know it was water when they left the kitchen with it so we kind of have to conclude that the water became wine somewhere between the kitchen and the head table at the banquet.
It’s like the waiters walking out of the kitchen carrying a whole side of beef and he says I need you to become a nice ribeye, medium well by the time we get to the table. That takes faith and obedience. It’s difficult to do what God tells us to do when we look at the situation. The circumstances. It often looks virtually impossible. But as much as we desire to ask so many questions, to dot every “I” and cross every “t” and know every single detail. God says just do what I told you to do. And that is what Mary had said and what Jesus had requested. This is what the master of the banquet, not Jesus, I’m speaking of the master of ceremonies— and told them to do.
So they discussed it with no one and they marched out with it. They took it over to the master of ceremonies. Since he was responsible-he had to make sure all the food and drink was acceptable. So, when he tasted the wine the Scripture says he did not know where it had come from. The master is obviously surprised because this wine actually taste better than the wine they had earlier. You see was customary to serve the best wine first-then when people didn’t care is much what it tastes like you would bring the lesser wine-the one that was not so good.
Just as there is grape juice and wine today there was intoxicating wine and non-intoxicating wine in that day. The word here in the Greek is oinos and it refers to both so that doesn’t help us know which one it was.
For me I stay away from alcohol in any form. Champagne, wine, beer, liquor-I drink none of it and have not for well over 40 years. I do not know what you choose to do... That is between you and God but if you have problems in this area, if you drink and don’t know when to stop; if there is a history of alcoholism in your family or you have a personal history then I encourage you to completely abstain. It’s simply not worth it. I cannot count the number of homes including the one I grew up in that were destroyed by alcohol.
Again, that is between you and God but I will say this—I have never seen one good thing that has come from alcohol use. But I have seen many a life destroyed. If you believe you are having difficulty, get into our celebrate recovery program immediately.
Look at verse 11. This is an important verse because it reminds us that every miracle Jesus performed had a purpose. It was never simply a display of power. John said Jesus performed this first sign in Cana. What is a sign? When you’re traveling down the highway and you see a road sign, that sign is always pointing you towards something is about to occur. Ridge road. Uneven lines. School zone. Slow down. Curve in the road. Get prepared. Ice on the roads. Slow down. Trouble is ahead. But signs are not always negative. If you’re traveling down the highway there also positive signs. Cracker Barrel ahead. Rest stop ahead.
Several things happen as a result of this miracle.
(1) Jesus revealed his glory. The glory of God was revealed that day.
(2) His disciples put their faith in him; apparently for the first time. Remember, his brother James did not believe until the resurrection. Their faith was solidified at this moment and now they were ready to follow him anywhere
(3) The law was exchanged for grace. This ceremony washing hands—that’s what these jars had been used for. Now all of this was replaced with something new.
(4) The law of Moses was exchanged for the law of grace. Now we would be cleansed by the blood of the cross. You know if you have to keep going back and completing this ceremonial washing of hands you are constantly reminded that it is not enough. You just get unclean again. One more animal sacrifice. Again and again. But now we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. And this same Jesus continues to change lives today.
