The Testing At Cana: Do You Measure Up?

THE TESTING AT CANA: DO YOU MEASURE UP?

John 4:39-54

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. There was a man in prison for robbery of a bank. He’d never told the police where he’d hidden the money.

2. His old father wrote him a letter, “Son, I wish you were here. I’d like to have a garden this year, but I’ve grown too feeble to plow it myself. Do you know someone who could do it for me?”

3. The prisoner read his letter and thought. Finally, he wrote back, “Dear dad. Whatever you do, don’t get anyone to dig in that garden. That’s where I’ve hidden the money!”

4. A week later the prisoner got another letter, “Thanks Son for having all those law enforcement officers come over and till my garden for me. I hope they didn’t charge you too much!”

B. TEXT

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him... 42 “we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” 43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. 46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” 49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

C. THESIS

1. Cana was the site of the first TWO miracles of Jesus in Galilee. The first was the changing of water into wine. God used Jesus’ mother to move Him into the miraculous. That miracle symbolized that Jesus can take the plain, worthless water of your life and transform it into something marvelous and valuable.

2. The master of the banquet told the Groom, “You’ve saved the best until last!” This means that not only does God restore to us what we’ve lost, but He also makes our lives better than they ever were before! God gives us Brighter Dreams, Better Marriages, and a Walk with God closer than ever before! Praise God for His transforming power!

3. Today we’re looking at the second miracle and what led up to it. The title of this message is “The Testing at Cana: Do You Measure Up?”

I. JESUS LOOKING FOR GENUINE FAITH

A. CONTRAST: SYCHAR Vs GOD’S PEOPLE

1. Jesus has just spent two days in Samaria, and finally left for Galilee. His time in Samaria was spectacularly successful: the whole town of Sychar turned to Jesus as the Messiah. Their faith was focused – not on His miracle-working power – but on His word. “We have heard him for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world,” John 4:42. This is a better response than Jesus had gotten from his own Jewish people.

2. As Jesus entered Galilee, He was returning to his own stomping grounds, where he’d grown up in Nazareth. He knew how they would respond, “A prophet has no honor in his own hometown.” Jesus said this to contrast His reception in Samaria, with how His own people would receive Him.

3. At first, it appears that the Galileans welcomed Him (vs. 45): they wanted Him there because it was exciting – it made them feel important and because they wanted to see a miracle. In contrast, the Samaritans put their trust in Jesus because of who He was & what He said, not because of any miracles.

So I believe Cana was a test.

B. CANA: THE PLACE OF MEASUREMENT

1. The name “Cana” comes from the Hebrew word Qaneh (Strong’s #7070) which means “a reed or rod, especially for measuring.” Jesus’ question was – would the Jews “measure-up?” Jesus said, “I have not seen such great faith – not in all Israel!” Do WE measure-up?