Revealed

John 2: 1 – 11 Revealed

Intro: A minister was driving late at night on a deserted freeway when he noticed the flashing blue lights in his rearview mirror and heard the siren. He pulled to the side of the road, rolled down his window and waited for the officer to arrive. The trooper spotted an empty wine bottle on the floor as he spoke to the driver. “Sir do you know how fast you were driving?” Smelling the faint odor of wine as the minister answered “no,” the officer asked, “Sir, have you been drinking?” And the minister answered, “Just water.” The trooper responded, “Then why do I smell wine?” The minister looks down at the empty bottle and says, “My goodness, he’s done it again!”

I. This passage from the gospel of John is about just that, turning water into wine.

A. Turning water into wine is something God does every day. Rain falls on the ground, is drawn up to the branches and is transformed into the juice of the grape.

B. So why does our modern, sophisticated mind have such difficulty believing this story told by John? There has to be a logical explanation. Some people stumble and falter because what is told goes beyond the realm of the natural.

C. This gospel was not written to record history. It is a theological work. It is meant to reveal to us something truth about God as seen in Christ Jesus. Did the water actually turn into the finest of wines? Believe what you will. I believe it did; but, that’s not the central point of the passage.

II. For John, this was not just a cute wedding story about how Jesus fixed a problem. It is the essence of the miracle stories involving Jesus as told by John.

A. The turning of water into wine was the first of 7 great “signs” that John selected for use in his gospel in order to try to win converts to Christ Jesus.

B. John wrote to reveal for his readers, for us, some truth about God in Christ Jesus. What truth is John trying to reveal to us? How would the turning of water into wine win people to Christ?

C. The point of this “sign” Jesus performed wasn’t that he saved a family from embarrassment. Nor is it that he made it possible for everyone to have a good time. The key is in verse 11. “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

III. This miracle proclaimed the glory of Christ, and how his whole ministry was to come to this earth in order to transform, to change.

A. Jesus turned about 120 to 180 gallons of water into the best wine. That’s about 2,880 eight-ounce glasses of wine. The wedding was nearly half over. There was no way the guests could drink all that wine.

B. This abundance of wine is symbolic of God’s love and grace. There is always enough for everyone and there is always some left over. This miracle is a miracle of abundance and extravagance.

C. In the last few words of verse 11 we read of another transformation. “his disciples believed in him.” They were transformed by the experience.

Conclu: If Jesus can change water into wine and mere men into believers, then he can change us too. He can changed despair into hope, bitterness into peace, hatred into love, sorrow into joy, sin into grace and death into life. Christ Jesus has the power to change lives, even yours and mine.

(opening illustration based on sermoncentral sermon "Water Into Wine")