When Things Change With Jesus

John 2 (1)

When things change with Jesus

- Read John 2:1-12

This passage begins with the words, “on the third day”. Evidently this event took place shortly after the events that had occurred in John chapter 1. Jesus had called some disciples and they were traveling with Him, hanging out with Him to check Him out.

It is amazing how much you can learn about a person by spending time with them. It’s easy for a person to put on an act when you only see them from time-to-time or when you are only with them for short periods of time, but it is something entirely different when you spend extensive periods of time with the person.

So, several of the disciples were traveling with Jesus, checking Him out, checking to see if He is the real deal.

Jesus goes to a wedding in Cana of Galilee, to attend a wedding. Can you imagine that RSVP? Jesus sent it back with a note, “I’ll be attending and bringing 12”.

So Jesus and His disciples went to the wedding.

He saw His mother there, and there He turned water in to wine. Yes, Jesus turned water in to wine.

There are a great many who would use this passage as a pretext to preach, or to teach about alcohol. That is not the focus nor the purpose of this passage, so I will not; but so that I will not be accused of sidestepping or avoiding the subject, which is clearly discussed in scripture, I will quickly make a few points on the subject before we move on.

I. What the Bible says about alcohol:

1. Jesus did turn water into wine. Jesus did turn water in to alcohol. Many try to jump through hoops and perform all sorts of linguistic calisthenics to try and say otherwise, but I believe they are mistaken. Jesus turned water in to wine.

2. No where in the Bible does scripture condemn alcohol. No where in the Bible does scripture say that you cannot drink, that you cannot consume alcohol. To say otherwise would be scripturally dishonest.

3. The Bible specifically mentions a couple good uses of alcohol.

a. Alcohol was used medicinally -

> 1 Timothy 5:23, “Don’t continue drinking only water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.”

Alcohol in the Bible was used as medicine, and it still is. I have a nephew who is pharmacist. Several years ago he told us that a spoon of alcohol was as good for a cough as any prescription medicine they had.

When I was young, I was a bit sickly. I know that comes as a surprise when you see the strapping model of manhood standing before you today, unless of course, you’ve heard me the last couple of days, sounding like I was about to lose a lung from whooping cough or something.

When I was a kid, our pediatrician told my mother to get a little whisky and mix it with lemon and honey and give it to us for our coughs. My mother, quite indignantly told him that she had never tasted alcohol in her life and wasn’t about to give it to her children. Our doctor showed her the ingredients in the cough syrup she had been giving us and pointed out there was alcohol in it and told her to do like he said.

My mom sent my dad down to slink into a liquor store to get some, because she didn’t want to be seen around the place.

Alcohol was used medicinally.

b. Alcohol was used for relaxation

> Psalm 104:14-15 He causes grass to grow for the livestock

and provides crops for man to cultivate, producing food from the earth, wine that makes man’s heart glad— making his face shine with oil—and bread that sustains man’s heart.

There are times, when the use of alcohol might be acceptable for relaxation and such.

4. The Bible has many warnings about alcohol

a. We are not to get drunk.

> Ephesians 5:18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit.

I have known a number of people who have destroyed their lives with alcohol, but I have never known a person who became an alcoholic who never took a drink.

When my grandfather was a young man, he began to have a lot of pain in his right arm and leg. They sent him to the doctor but they couldn’t find anything wrong, they couldn’t find the problem. They didn’t have MRI’s and cat scans back then. He began to drink to relieve the pain.

Many years later, after the invention of the MRI, they finally found the problem, he had a small tumor on his spine pressing on a nerve there. That tumor eventually led to paralysis on the right side of his body. It didn’t matter much by that time, because he had already become an alcoholic. He would often drive the back streets of Dinsmore, Florida, drunk, and pull over to the side of the road and pass out wherever he happened to be at the time.