Principles of Prayer at Cana (Gospel of John Part Seven)
Text: John 2:1 – 11
Imagine for a minute that you picked up the Woodward Newspaper and on the front page they had a story about a wedding that took place. And let’s say that the paper tells you where the wedding was, and about some of the events that took place at the wedding, but it never mentions the bride or groom… That would seem strange right? Well that’s what our text does this morning, but there’s a reason it does that, and I hope we all see that and understand it by the time we’re done today.
So let’s go ahead and open our Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter two (READ JOHN 2:1-11).
So; like I was saying, we don’t know whose wedding this was. And the reason we don’t know who it was that got married is because the Bible isn’t really about those people. John’s focus isn’t on the bride and groom here. His focus is on Jesus. I say it all the time, and it’s on our sign out front… IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS! So John’s not going to focus on the bride and groom. He’s not concerned with what the bride wore, or the songs that were played, or even the venue of the wedding. Because it’s Jesus that’s important here. And the way John writes this that’s exactly what he’s trying to get us to see and understand. He wants our thoughts to be on the Lord. Not the event. So let’s break this text down, bit by bit, and we’ll see what the Lord is saying to us.
The first thing we should notice is right there in verse 1. John starts out by writing, “On the third day…” but verse 2 also tells us that Jesus was there with His disciples. And I think John is referring to the disciples that he’s already introduced us to… So that would be Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathanael, and this un-named disciples (which is probably John himself). So the third day here, would be three days after Jesus has called Philip and Nathanael…
So let me just summarize for you what’s taken place. Jesus started out in a desolate, wilderness area on the Eastern Side of the Jordan River where John the Baptist was baptizing and calling people to repentance. He picks up Andrew, probably John, and Peter while He’s there. Then He travels to the Western Side of the Jordan River to Cana in Galilee, there He adds Philip and Nathanael to His disciples. And now He’s been invited to a wedding.
And again; we don’t know who was getting married but we DO KNOW that Jesus’ mother Mary was there, and that Jesus Himself had been invited to the wedding.
(It’s always good to invite Jesus to your wedding)
Now apparently, more people showed up to the wedding than was expected, or they were drinking a bit more heavily than was expected, because the wine runs out. To us, in our modern culture, this may not seem like a big deal… you’re throwing a party, you run out of booze, it’s not uncommon for folks to just jump in the car and make a beer run. At least that’s what we used to do back when I used to party… but in this setting it’s a HUGE deal. You see; a Jewish wedding ceremony in this time and in this culture was a very important ritual.
Here’s how it worked. On the day of the wedding, the Groom’s procession would start out from the Groom’s parents’ house and start making their way to the home of the Bride and her parents. Along the way they would pick up guests who were waiting and who were invited to the ceremony. As they drew near the Brides home, the Bride, her family, and her guests would go out and meet the Groom and His guests. Then the whole procession would return back to the Brides parents’ home where they would have the wedding and a big feast would follow. Then the Bride and Groom and all the guests would return to the Grooms home… not His parents’ home, but the Grooms home that He had made ready for His new Bride.
Now the Groom’s family was responsible for paying for the feast, and they were expected to meet a certain standard, and that would include having enough wine. The Bride’s father put the feast on, or we might say – he hosted it… and he was called the “master of the feast”. And if the standard wasn’t met, the Groom’s family could actually be held financially responsible for inadequately preparing an adequate feast. So if you screwed up, and didn’t have enough wine, this was a huge social faux paw.
Now when we look at our text here, we’re given the idea that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was somehow helping with the feast… in other words, she is somehow part of the Grooms family. So this might actually be one of Jesus’ brothers – maybe James’ whose getting married here. There’s no mention of Joseph in the text, so he’s probably passed away by now…
And this probably explains why they don’t have enough wine. Mary’s a widow… she doesn’t have the income she used to have… but still James – if this is James, is expected to display a certain standard at his wedding… and it explains why Mary goes to Jesus and does what she does. Because Jesus is the oldest of His siblings…
So Mary goes to Jesus and tells Him, “The wine has run out.” In other words, she’s going to Jesus and telling Him this, not just to give Him information, but this is actually written in a way where she’s coming to Jesus and saying, “Please do something.” And what Jesus says to her, just backs that up. It’s in verse 4: “Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
Now Church, let me just explain this… this term “woman” is the Greek word “gyne” it’s where we get our modern word “gynecology”. And it’s not a term of disrespect. So it’s not like Jesus is looking at His mom and saying, “WOMAN!” It’s actually a respectful and courteous term. BUT… it is an unusual way for a son to address his mother.
Basically the idea here is that Jesus’ relationship with His mother has changed… He’s an adult man… but even more than that, He’s begun His public ministry. So this is kind of a mild rebuke to Mary.
Basically what’s happening here is that Jesus is saying to Mary, in a respectful, but also correcting way, that His purpose is much greater than the temporary events of a wedding… And this goes back to why John doesn’t mention all those things that are commonly mentioned when we talk about weddings… it’s not about who got married, it’s not about what the Bride wore, it’s not about how the ceremony went or the dinner after… to John; it’s about Jesus and His mission.
Jesus doesn’t operate according to the agenda and values of the world.
And Church this is so true… there are so many things that we place value on, and that we think are important… but they really have absolutely no value in eternity. So Jesus is operating on His and God’s agenda… He knows why He has come into the world – to seek and save that which was lost. He’s come to die on the cross for our sin. So He looks at Mary and says, “This isn’t really why I came here. I came here for a specific purpose, to die… and it’s not quite time for that yet.”
We know that’s exactly what Jesus means because every time He uses that phrase, “My hour has not yet come.” He was talking about His death… We won’t go to them but I’ll mention them for you note takers… We see it in John 7:7-8, John 7:30, John 8:20, chapter 12:23, chapter 13:1, and John 17:1…
Now to the guests who were standing by – they would have heard this as Jesus saying, “It’s not my time to be married…” This is James’ wedding, (or whoever it was), not Jesus… and That would’ve been an accurate statement as well… because we know that there will be a day when Jesus is united to His Bride, and when He hosts us at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb… But more specifically; He’s talking about His time of dying for our sins…
So let me make sure everyone understands this before we move on. Jesus isn’t being disrespectful to His mom… but He is letting her know that she’s just a woman, and that He’s God… and so if it’s not His will, or in His time, He’s not going to do what she asks… And Jesus doesn’t tell her no. He doesn’t say, “I’m not doing it.” But He’s reminding her that He’s not obligated to do anything she asks Him, unless it’s God’s will. It’s the same thing with us. Church… we can pray and ask the Lord for anything, but He may answer with a resounding “NO.” The promise we have is that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and we have what we’ve asked for.
And if you look at the text here – Mary gets it. She’s not offended. She’s not upset. Instead she looks at the servants and says to them, “Whatever He tell you to do, do it.” In other words, she’s going to trust in the love and goodness of Jesus. He might not tell the servants to do anything, or He might. She’s made her request known, and now she’s leaving it in the hands of Jesus.
Now our text tells us that Jesus does solve the problem. He turns water into wine… six pots of water get turned into wine, and it’s even better than what was originally being served.
So let me ask you Church, what are we learning from this passage? How does it apply to you and me today?
Well what we’re seeing here are principles for prayer. Everything that happens here we see laid out for us in other parts of the New Testament.
First of all, 1st John 5:14 – 15, “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.”
When we go to the Lord in prayer, we have to understand God’s will. We can’t manipulate God to do our will. Our will and our desires have to line up with His. So if we’re praying, “Ok God, let me get away with sinning…” That’s not a prayer that’s going to get answered… God’s going to say “Nope, not going to happen.” And just for the record… if you do get away with sinning, you had better be afraid, because the Lord chastens those that He loves… if you’re not being chastened, there might be a chance that God doesn’t love you as one of His children. But if we ask ANYTHING that’s in accordance with HIS will… He’s going to give it to us. And the Bible tells us that there are certain things that we can know, without a shadow of a doubt, that are God’s will. It’s God’s will that we share the Gospel… so we can pray for opportunities to do that. We can pray for boldness to do that. We can pray that God will give us the love for our neighbors so that we have the urgency to do that. It’s God’s will that we gather with the Church, so we can pray that God will give us the strength and motivation and desire to do that faithfully. It’s God’s will that we forgive one another, so we can pray that God helps us to do that. But there’s also some things that the Bible is silent about… who should we marry? Well obviously we should marry a Christian, but who? We can pray that God will make that clear to us… but it would be foolish for us to pray that God would let us marry a non-Christian. That’s obviously not His will. And I see that all the time. People say, “But I love this girl, or this guy.” Are they a Christian? “No.” Then it’s obviously not God’s will that you marry them… And they go back to “But I love them.” Then pray that they get saved… “But what if they don’t get saved?” Then you don’t marry them. You don’t date them, and you sure as heck don’t sleep with them. “But I love them.” Are you telling me that you love a person who doesn’t love Jesus, and that you’re going to disobey God? Which means… you love that person more than you love God. And Christians do this all the time… because they don’t think deeply or don’t think it all the way through, and they don’t come to the logical conclusion. Just like Esau in the Book of Genesis… “I want a bowl of stew, and I want it now.” It’s going to cost you Esau… there’s going to be a consequence… “I don’t care. I want what I want, and I want it now.” That’s not wise, and it’s not obeying that first principle of prayer.
So what if we do ask according to God’s will? Philippians 4:19 answers that question. It says, “My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory, in Christ Jesus.” And Ephesians 3:20 says that God is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” That’s what happens in our text… Six pots of water get turned into wine. Each pot probably held between 20 and 30 gallons. So Jesus answered Mary’s request, far beyond what she probably imagined. God’s not in the business of short changing His children. He doesn’t say He’ll give you everything you want… but He does promise that He’ll supply your needs.
Now I know that inevitably someone’s going to say, “Well pastor Ken, there have been times when I prayed, and I knew what I was praying for was God’s will, and I still didn’t get my prayer answered.” That’s addressed in James 4:3… “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” It’s like the guy praying that God will let him win the lottery. “God let me win the lottery… I’ll use it for your glory. I’ll fund missionaries. I’ll tithe. Bless me and I’ll be a blessing to others.” And he doesn’t win the lottery and he gets upset at God. Here’s the thing Church, if he wasn’t doing those things in the first place, he’s not going to be doing them if he all of a sudden gets a lot of money.
So let me close with this… God is a good and loving Father… And because He’s a good and loving Father, He’s not going to answer prayers that are born out of sinful desires. He answers prayers that are in accordance with His will… because His will for us is good. And that doesn’t mean that what we think is good is always good… sometimes it’s good but not the greater good. Sometimes it’s more important that I be forced to cling to Him, and stay near to Him, and rely on Him for everything, than be blessed to the point, or healed to the point, where I feel that I don’t need Him. Sometimes it’s more important that we have to go to God and pray, “Give us this day, our daily bread” rather than Him blessing us to the point where we feel that we no longer need to ask Him for that. But part of what prayer is – is as we go to God and ask Him… He begins shaping our will and our desires to conform to His own, so that He can answer our prayers.
So keep praying, because in that process, God will conform your will to His. And sometimes, you’ll find that as you spend more and more time with the Lord, those things you used to pray for and ask Him for, just aren’t that important at all.
CLOSING.
