Water to Wine
John 2:1-11 January 20, 2019
[Please contact me at kerry.n.haynes@gmail.com for sermon outline in Word.]
I love the fact that Jesus did his first miracle at a wedding in a small Galilee town called Cana. Verse 1 introduces the story by stating, “On the third day a wedding took place...” A couple of weeks ago I officiated the wedding of one of our soloists. The setting was a bed and breakfast out in the middle of nowhere! Driving there on the back roads toward Dripping Springs, we were sure somehow the navigator had led us astray. After crossing two creek beds still running with enough water to concern us, we arrived. This old B&B had several very interesting rooms and a nice area out back where 50 white folding chairs gleamed in the bright sun. And there, in front of friends and family, ___ and ___ vowed to each other their love. Even though the setting was unusual, and very special for the couple, a wedding is a somewhat normal event. A lot of people get married. Couples become parents, and later grandparents. Sometimes they divorce. Sometimes spouses die. And throughout the everyday events of life, even on your wedding day, God is there. So, #1 on your outlines,
1. Watch for God in the ordinary.
God wants to come into your daily routine. God wants an invitation to your wedding. And on a smaller scale, he also wants one for lunch today, and to a card game later, maybe to that pool game Saturday, and to go with you on your cruise. God wants in on your relationships with your spouse, with friends and family. Our God is not a Sunday only God, one you can worship one day of the week, and then put on the shelf for the next six days. No, he wants to be involved in all of your life. The famous missionary, Hudson Taylor, once said, “Christ is either Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all.”
So watch for God to show up. Today, tomorrow, or the next day. He is there. He is right there in the everyday events of life. Watch for God in the ordinary. And yet, #2,
2. Expect God to do the extraordinary.
I love Mary, who is not mentioned by name in all of the gospel of John. John simply refers to her as the “mother of Jesus.” Can you imagine being this young Jewish mom? You’ve loved the one true God all of your life, and then you find you are going to carry his only begotten son? You’re going to be the mother of God? And then you get to raise him, this one that never sinned. At some point, Jesus’ step-father Joseph is no longer around, almost certainly dead by today’s story. Jesus is 30 years old; Mary around 45 or 50. She knows he is the Messiah. Like any good Jewish mom, she might be a little pushy, strong-willed, wanting the best for her son, especially since she knows what big plans God has for him. And so she drops the comment, “The bride and groom are about to run out of wine.”
Now running out of wine would have been a big deal. It is the staple drink of Jesus’ day, when you couldn’t exactly trust water. These people likely are relatives of Mary. The wedding feast would last for about a week. So to run out of food or wine could have scandalized you for life. People would never stop talking about it: “Hey, do you remember when Tom and Judy ran out of wine at their wedding? Talk about poor planning!” It would be a lifelong embarrassment. Mary knew her son could do something about it. So she raised the issue with him. She didn’t tell him what to do; she just told him about the problem.
Jesus’ response in verse 4 might sound a little harsh: “Woman!” However, in Jewish society at the time, the term “woman” was a very respectful term. It would be like the word “lady” today. At one of my prior churches, the youth minister and his wife were shopping at Walmart at Christmas time. His wife was waiting in the layaway line to pick up some items for their kids. And he walked up and said, loud enough for everybody in line to hear, “Woman, I’ll be over in Sporting Goods.” He liked to call her “Woman” because he thought it was biblical. Well, you can imagine all the glaring looks he got from the other women in line. Something is lost in translation to our day.
Yet in first century Israel, “woman” is a term of respect. Then Jesus uses a common euphemism of the time, one that appears several times in both the Old and New Testaments. It basically means, “What do you have to do with me?” Or, “What does that have to do with me.” And then he tells her, “My hour has not yet come” (v. 4). Jesus is speaking of God’s timing vs. human timing. Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus is acutely aware of God’s timetable for events, and he will not rush it. It will be several months before Jesus offers a public sign of the kind of Messiah he is.
And here’s the point I want you to catch: Even though God will show up in the ordinary (he’s here right now), expect God to do the extraordinary. Don’t be surprised when you experience a miracle. Look what Mary says next, in verse 5: “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” Mary has no doubt that Jesus will come through. She has no doubt that God will do the right thing through him. She doesn’t have to worry about how it will work out. She voices her faith in telling the servants, “Obey him,” and leaves it in the Lord’s hands.
What great advice for us today: “Do whatever the Lord tells you.” You don’t have to do what I tell you. In fact, you better check my words against scripture routinely, to make sure it’s God’s word. We’re all fallible. We can all be deceived by Satan. We can all sin, and we do. Yet, God will never mislead us. If we listen for God’s voice, he will direct our steps. Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path.”
And sometimes, he will do something so crazy, so unexpected, so impossible, we will just have to label it a miracle. Here, Jesus turned water into wine. As someone put it poetically, “The unconscious waters saw their God and blushed.” And when you realize you have experienced a miracle, well, that will challenge you to part 3, which is to...
3. Put your faith in the God behind the signs.
Listen to verse 11: “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” In his gospel, John never uses the word “miracle” or “great work” like the other gospel writers use. He always uses the word “sign.” A sign doesn’t draw attention to itself. It draws attention to something greater than itself. If you drive downtown (which I don’t recommend), and you want to go to Hemisfair Park to have a nice dinner at the top of the Tower of the Americas, you’re going to need to watch for signs to take the correct exit, to get on the right street. The signs are not that important in themselves. No one has ever said, “I really want to go look at this sign; it’s on my bucket list.” No, the sign only exists to point to something greater than itself. And so it is with the miracles John organizes his gospel around. He gives us seven primary ones, and a bonus in the epilogue. And these seven all point to something greater than the sign.
The very first sign, Jesus’ first miracle, is at an ordinary event where God moves in an extraordinary way. And the sign points to lots of things: It shows us God believes in marriage. It also shows us we have a God of joy. Many of Jesus’ miracles reduced human suffering, but this one is just about giving joy. The host of the party is amazed that the best wine is saved for last. Jesus gives us the very best, and he gives generously. In the story, he produces over 120 gallons of wine, which equates to over 50 bottles. It reminds me of a God who will give us “more than we could ever ask for or even imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). The sign reminds us to trust in the Heavenly Father’s timing. And the sign points to a Savior all about conversion: water to wine, and sinners to saints. And it contrasts the emptiness of religion without relationship (i.e., empty ceremonial water pots) vs. the fullness of relationship with the one true God, through his son Jesus Christ.
Verse 11 spells out what the sign did for those there that day. It says, “His disciples believed in him.” The word “belief” in the Greek is the same root for the word “faith.” So belief is not just a head knowledge: “Oh yeah, this guy really is the Son of God; I believe that to be true.” No, it’s much more. It’s a call to loyalty, to allegiance: they placed their faith in him. They followed him. They pledged their lives, their careers, their futures to him.
And that’s what God calls us to do today. As you see God move in the ordinary, and you suddenly realize, “That word from a friend was actually from God,” or “That sermon, that song was just for me,” or “God really came through in a way I never expected,” THAT is your invitation to join God, to follow God, to give your allegiance to the one who died for you. That is Christ revealing his glory to you, so that you can walk in relationship with him. Let’s pray about it:
Thank you, Father, that you moved your son to honor his earthly mother and move in an unexpected way at a wedding in Cana. Thank you that we can find you in every crevasse of our lives, always at work behind the scenes, and sometimes at work in supernatural ways that, if we’re paying attention, we must truly label a miracle. Help us to build our faith as we see your hand at work in the patchwork of our lives. And help us to share that faith with those around us, so that others will be strengthened in their faith as well. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Lord, amen.
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For welcome time:
Hey, with the Championship games today, I need to ask a favor: A friend of mine has two tickets for the Super Bowl, 50-yard line box seats. He paid $2,500 each but he didn't realize last year when he bought them, it was going to be on the same day as his wedding! If you are interested, he is looking for someone to take his place.
So here’s the details: It's at St. Joseph’s at 3pm. The bride's name is Nicole; She'll be the one in the white dress.
