In Jesus Holy Name January 19, 2025
Text: John 2:1-3 Redeemer
“Heaven Meets Earth at the Wedding in Cana”
With the waters of the Jordan dripping from His clothes Jesus hears the voice of John proclaim: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”.
The Kingdom of God, the “rule of God” in Jesus will now be on display for all to see. He is about to physically enter into the Cosmic battle against Satan just as God had promised Adam and Eve. The time has arrived
Jesus has returned to Galilee, about a two-day walk. The setting in John chapter 2 is a wedding in Cana, located four miles northeast of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. John writes: “On the third day a wedding took place in Cana. Jesus and His disciples had been invited.
How did we get from divinity at the Jordan River to a line dance at a wedding in Cana? Jesus and His disciples are not out healing the sick or raising the dead. They are at a party. Food is on the table. Wine is flowing. Everyone is dancing. We do not know who was getting married. The fact that Jesus’ mother, Mary, is concerned with the lack of wine (John 2:3) suggests that she was involved in the planning and organization of the wedding.
The fact that after the wedding Jesus’ brothers travel with Him to Capernaum (John 2:13) indicates that Jesus’ whole family was present for the wedding. It could have been one of the brothers of Jesus but we do not know. During the wedding, Mary comes to Him and says: “They are out of wine.” Is that really a life threatening situation?
This is an Eastern wedding. Eastern weddings are very different from Western affairs. In Western weddings the bride is the prominent figure. When she enters, clad in all her glory, the whole congregation stands and the organ thunders, "Here comes the bride; in Eastern weddings it is the groom that is prominent. He is the featured one; the bride merely shows up for the wedding. weddings went on for two or three days -- some for as long as a week -- with all the relatives of both sides of the family joining together for a big celebration. This is the kind of wedding John is talking about here. Food and wine are constantly filling the tables.
Wine at a wedding is about joy and celebration. Running out of wine would cause the family to carry a stigma of shame. The memory of the happy couple would be marred by the event that ran out of food or wine. Jesus tells the servants to fill the stone jars with water. These stone jars contain water for the Jewish rites of purification. That is all they can be used for. Each stone jar holds 20 to 30 gallons, when full to the brim. When the head waiter tasted the water now become wine he gave it 10 points.
The Wedding at Cana is only recorded in the Gospel of John. This is the first miracle John records in his gospel. In Chapter 3 John records a nice interview with Nicodemus, an important Pharisee. Again, only in John. John chapter 4 tells us that Jesus visited the well in Samaria and talks to a woman there. Again, only in John. There are only 7 miracles recorded in the Gospel of John. John does not even call them miracles. He calls them “signs”.
So, What’s going on? Why signs instead of miracles? A “sign” provides a message. “Stop”, “Right turn only” and so on. When we began the month of January I encouraged myself and all of us to read more in the bible this year than last. In January we are reading Proverbs, 31 chapters, one chapter a day. In February we will be reading the Gospel of John. 21 chapters. That will give you 6 extra days to finish Proverbs in case you fell behind.
Each of the “signs” in the gospel of John point to His identity. In one form of another the sign proclaims that heaven, the divine, has come to earth in the person of Jesus. Water is simply H20. Wine is a complicated mixtures of various compounds that changes grape juice into wine. When Jesus changes water into wine it is a statement about “who He is.” Only God has that power. That’s why John calls this the first “sign” pointing to true identity of Jesus.
Jesus has come to replace the temple with Himself. This is critical to understand when we begin to read the Gospel of John next month. The Temple is where people received forgiveness of sins. The Temple was the dwelling place of God. Jesus is where Heaven and earth meet. “He was in the world, and though the world was made by Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own (people) but they did not receive Him. (John1:10-11)
There’s a wonderful story in John 5 that brings this issue of replacement to the surface. Jesus had come to Jerusalem during one of the yearly feasts. Thousands of pilgrims were there from throughout Israel. While he was there, he paid a visit to a place called Bethesda, “the house of mercy.”
It was a pool near the Sheep Gate in the northeastern section of the city. Five colonnades (or porches) were built by the pool. The Jews believed that an angel would come and periodically stir the waters. The first person to enter the water after it had been stirred would be healed of their disease.
So hundreds of sick and infirm people gathered around the pool, waiting and hoping for the water to be stirred. On the day that Jesus passed by, he saw a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. When he found out how long the man had been paralyzed, he asked only one question, “Do you want to be well?”
On the surface it seems to be a bizarre question. Why else would the man be there? Of course he wanted to be well. Was Jesus insulting his intelligence? No, not at all. He was asking a very serious question. He was asking because it was entirely possible that the man did not want to get well.
The man answers this way: “Do I want to be healed? That’s a crazy question. Why do you think I’m here? You must be new here. You don’t understand the problem. Every time the water is stirred, somebody else beats me to the water. I’m never able to get in the pool first…It isn’t my fault, I don’t have any one to put me in the pool. Jesus: “Do you really want to be healed….because your life will change.”
Jesus is saying, “Do you really want to be changed?” If the answer is yes, then miracles can take place. If the answer is no, then even Jesus cannot help you.
Change is scary. It takes a lot of faith to truly want Jesus to change you.
Sometimes it’s easier to stay the way we are than change. Just ask anyone who attends AA. Ask anyone who attends “Celebrate Recovery”.
Jesus said: “If I make you well, you can’t be a beggar anymore. If I make you well, you can’t use your illness to get special treatment at home. If I make you well, you won’t get all that sympathy anymore. There’s a price to be paid for being well. Do you want to change?
Ahh! But there must be more to this story. So I asked myself… Why is John telling me about this particular paralyzed man at a pool in Jerusalem? John only tells us about three healings by Jesus in his entire Gospel. (read Matthew 4:23-25) Jesus heals hundreds, thousands. So why is John only choosing three? The Royal official in Capernaum’s son is healed. (chapter 4) This man at the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, (chapter 5) and finally the man born blind in John chapter 9. Two of the three happen on a Sabbath. That is an important Jewish rule not to be broken.
You know that the Jews were deeply serious about keeping the 10 commandments. So much so they developed another 613 other rules that helped them keep the 10 commandments. They believed, like many Americans, that keeping the rules earned you points with God. This is why at so many funerals you hear these words: “He was a good man”. Which translated means “he kept the commandments better than most or as best he could.” And that should be enough to get one into heaven.
Well, no. God the judge of humanity requires perfection. The Jews in the 1st century wanted everyone to keep the Sabbath rules to earn God’s blessings. If every Jewish person kept the Sabbath perfectly for two Sabbath’s the Messiah would come. John said: “Read these 7 “signs”. Heaven has come to earth.
Even though it was the Sabbath day, the designated day of worship and rest, Jesus decided healing the man at the pool was more important than letting him suffer. In less time than it takes to tell, Jesus commanded the invalid to get up. “Pick up your bed and walk.” Without hesitation, without physical or occupational therapy, without years of remedial exercises in the hospital, the man got up and walked down the street with his light little bed tucked under his arm.
Well, actually, I don’t know if it was a light, little bed. I do know he carried it and when some of the super religious types saw what this ex-invalid was doing, they went ballistic. “What are you doing? It is the Sabbath! What you are doing is work! Our laws forbid you from carrying your mat on the Sabbath!
That’s why there is more to this story.
Read the conversation between Jesus and the Religious Jews.
John 5:16-18
There it is. Jesus is making Himself equal to God.
Back to our story.
The stone jars are now worthless for Jewish rites of purification. Jesus is replacing the water for purification with Himself. He has come to replace Jewish religious rules with Himself, including the temple, God’s dwelling place.
Throughout His life Jesus kept the all the commandments we have broken. He resisted the temptations we give into. He carried broken commandments that we should be punished for to the cross. God made him our substitute.
Colleen and I often watch the Warriors Basketball games. I love it when the substitute player, instead of Seth Curry, makes the final shot with 1 second left on the clock to win the game. Jesus is our substitute. Jesus transfers to us His righteousness by faith. (II Cor. 5:21) Just as a blood transfusion in surgery saves one’s life so the blood of Jesus shed on the cross is the transfusion that promises each believer forgiveness and thus peace with God, the righteous judge of eternity.
God has a story. It began with Adam and Eve who needed to be rescued from death. Notice all the great stories pretty much follow the same story line. Someone is in distress. Pinocchio, Nemo, Beauty and the Beast. Mary at the wedding in Cana. The invalid at the pool of Bethesda. Adm and Eve. You and me. Our broken commandments ruin our families. Our broken commandments ruin our friendships, our marriages. Our broken commandments ruin and destroys our careers. Someone needs to be rescued. You and me. Rescued from sins that destroy our relationships. Sometimes in the story, the hero dies. That is what Jesus did. He is our hero. Our substitute. He dies so that we might have life, both now and forever in the New Heaven and New Earth.
God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us.”(Rom. 5:8) John begs us to red the “signs” Jesus is our “replacement”.
When Jesus rose from the stone sealed tomb on that first Easter morning it was with a glorified resurrected human body and soul. Faith in Jesus means more than “sins” forgiven. Faith in Jesus means more than “broken ethics” forgotten and erased. Faith in Jesus means: Well listen to His words. “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, the time is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”
This is the ultimate “replacement”. This is what we long for. Your health and mine cannot hold out forever. Age will conquer you. One by one our friends and family slip from our grasp. Our work will remain unfinished. There is a happy ending. Eternity has been placed in your heart and mine. Jesus has opened the doors to eternal life.
