Marriage is a wonderful gift from God to humankind.
When we live and love up to the promise of marriage it really is a taste of heaven.
Maybe that is why we work so hard to make our wedding day a very special time. Yet life rarely works as smoothly or goes as well as we want it to and that is especially true on your wedding day!
Over the years of my ministry I’ve seen grooms faint, brides giggle uncontrollably, and unity candles that absolutely refused to burn - once when a best man used a lighter with 4 inch flame whooshing from the top. I’ve seen welding arc’s with less power - and that candle still wouldn’t burn.
When these kind of disasters happen we usually just laugh a bit and move on - because the really important part of a wedding - the love and the promise that make the covenant - is in the hearts of the bride and groom. Still we want this day to be so special...
The "Miracle at Cana" happened because Jesus’ mother Mary was concerned about an impending social disaster at a wedding. The wine had run out. There was about to be a lot of embarrassment because of it.
What Jesus did in response was what John calls a "sign". It is a "sign" because it signifies some very important things to us about Jesus and his compassion for people. He cares about even about our embarrassing shortcomings and he wants to help us find the joy in our life.
The Wedding at Cana
John 2:1-12 (NCV)
2 Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his followers were also invited to the wedding. 3 When all the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 Jesus answered, “Dear woman, why come to me? My time has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you to do.”
6 In that place there were six stone water jars that the Jews used in their washing ceremony. a Each jar held about twenty or thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled the jars to the top.
8 Then he said to them, “Now take some out and give it to the master of the feast.” So they took the water to the master.
9 When he tasted it, the water had become wine. He did not know where the wine came from, but the servants who had brought the water knew. The master of the wedding called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “People always serve the best wine first. Later, after the guests have been drinking awhile, they serve the cheaper wine. But you have saved the best wine till now.”
11 So in Cana of Galilee Jesus did his first miracle. There he showed his glory, and his followers believed in him.
There are some things you don’t want to have happen at a wedding! The Wedding at Cana was a social disaster in the making. Weddings in that part of the world are different than here.
Indian Weddings involve 9 meals over three days with several sets of clothing for the bride and groom - all the responsibility of the bride’s family.
Jewish weddings were, and are, a big deal in the Jewish culture. The wedding ceremony would take place late in the evening after a time of feasting. The father of the bride would take his daughter on his arm, and with the wedding party in tow, would parade through the streets of the village so that everyone could come out and congratulate the bride.
Finally the wedding party would arrive at the home of the groom. The wedding actually took place in the front door of the grooms house. It was no short ceremony but the festivities lasted for days. It was a time of great celebration.
After the wedding ceremony the bride and groom walked through the streets accompanied by flaming torches. Their attendants walked with them keeping a canopy over their heads. The wedding party always took the longest route through the village so that as many people as possible could wish them well.
There was no such thing as a honeymoon! No, the couple kept open house for a week. They were treated like royalty. They dressed in fancy clothes and many times actually wore crowns on their heads. Whatever desire they spoke for they received. Their word was law!
The grooms family was expected to provide all the refreshments for this week of festivities.
In the midst of this great celebration they ran out of wine!!! Not just the good wine. All of the wine!!!!
It was a little like running out of Coke at a Coca Cola Convention in Atlanta. Not the end of the world but pretty embarrassing!
And Jesus rescued the Wedding from social disaster
What Jesus did in response was what John calls a "sign". It is a "sign" because it signifies some very important things to us about Jesus and his compassion for people. He cares about even about our embarrassing shortcomings and he wants to help us find the joy in our life.
This sign informs us that…The wine can run out.
Mary realizes the seriousness of the issue. You can hear it in her words… “They have no wine.”
To the Jewish people wine symbolized joy. The Jewish rabbis had a saying, ‘Without wine there is no joy.” At the wedding in Cana their joy had run out! In some ways it is a reminder of the emptiness of our life without Christ.
This statement by the mother of Jesus goes beyond liquid refreshment at a wedding. It is symbolic of our lives. It is a scary thing when the “wine runs out.”
My mother had surgery this past week. There is fear and there is worry – but there is an absolute peace and there is joy when you have God in your life. And when there isn’t there is… nothing.
If I were to say to you the name, “Earnest Hemmingway” today. You might not know in detail who he was, but most of us would know that he was a famous writer.
Hemmingway was a great storyteller. Many of his books are considered to be classics. The Old Man and The Sea, a story he wrote while living in Cuba reveal his genius. He was a Nobel Prize recipient. From the very early years of his life he was a person who went for it all. He was a newspaper reporter and an ambulance driver during WWI. He was involved in tthe Spanish Civil War. He had friendships that ranged from bullfighters to authors. Whatever he did, he went for it all, he was drinking long at the natural wine of life.
But there came a day when those wines ran out and he used a shotgun to kill himself.”
There are times when the wine runs out. The joy is dry!
The exuberance of the moment always gives way eventually.
I saw our new governor take her oath of office and was she excited. She almost shouted the words at the end of it. Well, that excitment will not last. The days of trying to balance the budget and getting a political agenda accomplished will come and the wine will run out.
That is simply the way life works. There are times we run out of joy.
But this miracle sign teaches us that when the wine runs out, Jesus can turn the water into wine.
Mary came to Jesus and told him of the problem that they were facing. I can just imagine her telling the groom’s mother, “You hold on just a minute! I know just what to do with this situation.” She came to Jesus and told him…I love her instructions to the servants. “Whatever he says to you, do it” Just Do It!
Jesus took the waterpots that were filled with water for handwashing. When the guest arrived someone would pour some of this water over their hands in a symbolic purification. To eat with unwashed hands would have been a defilement. Jesus took this water and made approx. 180 gallons of wine. What a wedding gift.
It’s interesting to note that Jesus took the water for purification and used it for his first miracle. The water in those pots was merely for an external cleansing. Jesus ministry over the next three years would teach people about an inner cleansing.
If we look at the first miracle of Jesus we see this truth…Jesus is not just the giver of joy…he is the giver of “abundant” joy. He not only met their immediate need, but he gave an abundance.
And Jesus did not just make some ordinary wine. No, the wine that he produced was better than that which they had started the celebration with. Jesus didn’t just doctor the water so that it tasted like wine. No, the water in those pots was transformed into the finest wine the people had ever tasted.
But we need to focus not on the stone pots or even the wine… We need to focus on the transformation.
Last week we looked at how Jesus worked in Simon’s life because he was in the faith building business.
This Jesus Story isn’t very different. The faith building business changes people. Jesus transforms life.
The truth for us is this—Jesus is not going to just doctor up our lives a little bit. Just put a Band-Aid on our needs—no he wants to transform your life, just like he transformed that water. Our lives will take on a new nature.
Jesus is about transformation.
He turned… water into wine. And he turns grim faces into relieved smiles; whimpers of fear into songs of hope; deserts into gardens, sorrow into joy. More than this he turns sin into grace and death into life.
Jesus is all about transforming power. Changing people—that’s what its all about.
This Sign teaches us that…Jesus offers an abundance of new wine at the end.
Sometimes it’s hard for us to understand God not only meeting our need but providing for us an abundance.
But that’s the story of grace. There is no measure to grace. There will always be enough grace to meet our needs. That’s the story of God’s love.
There is nothing that you can do that will cause God to diminish his love for you and he wants to pour out his new wine on you - in abundance.
Not “just enough”—an abundance. Our God is a God of abundance! Look at creation! Have you ever been to the Rockies? There is an overabundance. God didn’t give us “just enough” beauty, it is all around us. Have you ever been to the seashore and looked out over the ocean. There is far more beauty that our eyes can absorb. Have you ever seen a field of wildflowers?
Not just enough to fill a vase in your living room, but more than enough. This is the picture of grace…God always gives more than you will ever need!
A friend of mine had a tough day last week – stomping around the house – looked out the west window and gazed into a sunset you couldn’t begin to describe… God gives us an abundance of everything…
Book of Promises in my library – gone now – loaned it to someone… It was filled with promises. God is a God of abundance!
So the wine is poured out and all the people who are present rejoice at the richness of this “new wine”.
This was completely against custom. The best wine was always offered first. Isn’t that just like our Lord? The best always comes at the end. The grace we once tasted cautiously—we now drink freely. Jesus has poured out in us the richness of his love and forgiveness.
There is one among us who is pouring out the rich “wine” and there is enough for everyone!
What do you do when the wine runs out?
Mary showed us by example. She told the servants that if they would just do what Jesus commanded they would see a miracle.
A miracle that not only met their immediate need...but a miracle of abundance. Has your joy ran out today? Jesus wants to transform you! Bring your need to him!
I’d like to close with this reading. A woman with MS gave it to me about 6 years ago and it has meant a lot to me...
The Road of Life
The Road of Life
At first I saw God as my observer, my judge,
keeping track of the things I did wrong,
so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognized his picture when I saw it, but I really didn’t know Him.
But later on, when I met Christ,
It seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride,
but it was a tandem bike,
and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal.
I don’t know when it was that he suggested
that we change places,
but life has not been the same since.
When I had control,
I knew the way.; It was rather boring,
but predictable...
It was the shortest distance between two points.
But when he took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts,
up mountains, and through rocky places
at breakneck speeds,
It was all I could do to hang on!
And even though it seemed like madness,
All He said was ’Pedal’.
I worried and was anxious and I asked,
’Where are you taking me?’
He laughed and didn’t answer,
and I started to learn to trust.
I forgot my boring life
and entered into the adventure.
And when I’d say, ’I’m scared,’
He’d lean back and touch my hand.
He took me to people with gifts that I needed,
gifts of healing, acceptance and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
my Lord’s and mine.
And we were off again.
He said, ’Give the gifts away;
they’re extra baggage, too much weight.’
So I did, to the people we met,
and I found that in giving I received,
and still our burden was light.
I did not trust Him, at first, To be in control of my life.
I thought He’d wreck it; but he knows bike secrets,
knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.
And I am learning to shut up and pedal
in the strangest places,
and I’m beginning to enjoy the view
and the cool breeze on my face
with my delightful constant companion
Jesus Christ.
And when I’m sure I just can’t do anymore,
He just smiles and says....’Pedal.’
-Author unknown
