The Word: John Talk 7 (2:1-12)

0:00 Good morning, thanks to Benji and the band. We have arrived at our final week in this series in the introduction to John's Gospel. And let me remind you for the last time why it is we have been spending this amount of time in such a small section of God's Word. It is, of course, first of all, to build us up. It's to edify us. As we see and we grasp the truth that is here in the prologue and then following that, that we would be built up and strengthened in our own faith, but all with the idea of the opportunity to go out and open this section of God's word with other people as we pray for those opportunities to do that. And then to actually have that and take that opportunity and be more confident than that and be more encouraged in that and be more bold in that as those opportunities potentially open up to us. Now, linked to that as well, a couple of weeks ago I mentioned a little thing, a little idea called Story Bearer Shorts, this idea where we would share little stories of what's going on across our church family, just ordinary, simple things in terms of our witness to other people.

1:12 And I'm really grateful to the people who have shared some of those so far. We've got a lot and we'll sort of drip feed those out over the coming weeks. And I mentioned a couple of them on Friday in an email. I'm going to add a member, so if you're remember, you didn't get an email, maybe check your junk and see if it's there. But I'm going to read another couple as well, just to encourage you, encourage us to think about our role as witnesses, our role to scatter the seeds, the seed of hope. So here's the first one. I'm traveling Australia. Remember, if you send any of these in, they are anonymous.

1:48 I'm traveling Australia with a tour group of mostly English 19 to 25 year olds, all of which are self-proclaimed atheists. Over the last month, we've had conversations about why I live differently to them and why my faith is the most important thing for me. In some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth, we've had chats about creation and the artistry of the places we visited and how each of us has been formed with the same care, love and attention, not by accident. I have watched their hearts begin to soften over and I pray that these little conversations will continue over the coming weeks and that I will listen when God speaks and do as he asks. And that little line ties in so well with where we are this morning. And what I thought would be a difficult and potentially lonely time for my faith, it's been so encouraging and exciting to see what God is doing. And then one more. After a few conversations about church and my faith with a cleaner in my school, she told me she didn't own a Bible.

2:49 I bought her one and gave it to her. Nothing else happened. 15 years later, just this week, she came to speak to me to tell me she uses that Bible daily now and how important it is to her. And she was so thankful. A small act, but years later, it had an impact. A seed planted, and although it took many years, it grew. Simple stories. And we want to share those with one another because that keeps us thinking about this stuff.

3:19 That keeps that heat of what it is that we're meant to be doing here in our community. So let's continue to share those and pray for those people in those situations and in those opportunities. Okay, let's turn to our passage this morning. We're in John 2. We're going to look at the first 12 verses of that. That brings us to the close of this introduction to John's gospel. But before I do that, I just want to take a moment to pray. There's no doubt this week at all sorts of levels, personal level, at level of elders, church as a whole, I have perceived just a really strong sense of spiritual oppression around a lot of different things.

4:07 And I think with the goal of distracting us from centering our minds and our hearts on the word of God and the truth that's found in it. So I want to pray. I'm thinking of Paul in Ephesians 6 at the end of when he talks about the spiritual armor and just that idea of him saying, pray, be alert, pray in the spirit on all occasions. And he's saying in his own situation, pray also for me. So let's pray for ourselves now as we come to his word. Father, we recognize that the evil one wants to keep our eyes and wants to keep our hearts distracted from the truth of your word and from the truth about your son found in your word. And Father, we know that you will want to use your word in individual lives and situations this morning. And so we trust you as we come to it now.

5:10 And we ask you to speak through your word, by your spirit, into those lives perhaps that the evil one wanted to distract us from speaking into. We trust that you are a glorious God who wants to reveal himself to us in your word and ultimately through your son. And we ask that that might be the reality of what we experience today in his name. Amen. Okay, we're just going to work through this, like I said, sort of step by step. Let the story speak for itself and let's learn what we can from it. So John begins, On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.

6:02 Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. So, first thing to consider here is this, that all of this talk of John here of weddings, and of water, and of wine, some people might want to tell you it's all sort of metaphorical. It's all allegory or something along those lines. John's very clear here, that's not the case. This is historical event. This is careful eyewitness testimony of something that actually happened. And John is so, what I've sort of spotted this time, I've gone through this passage a number of times before, but what I've spotted afresh this time is just the detail that John goes into, the detail that he includes, and the detail he includes, and it's every single aspect of it has purpose behind it. And we see that even in these two opening sentences.

6:57 Everything has significance. So it's significant that John mentions that this is on the third day. If you were a Jewish listener and you were hearing this words, that third day thing would make all sorts of things crop up in your mind. Going back to the Old Testament stories of Abraham and stories of Esther and Jacob and Jonah, the third day is a day of divine renewal. So the fact that John mentions third day, That's important. Also, the fact that this is a wedding. A wedding had so much meaning and so much significance in Old Testament scripture. So Isaiah, for example, I think we've got a couple of quotes here.

7:39 And Isaiah talks about God being your maker is your husband. The Lord Almighty is his name. And the wedding as well has so much significance concerned with joy and fulfillment. And Jeremiah highlights that in this passage here. Look at what he says. It's the replacement of desolation and the replacement of emptiness with joy and gladness. The voice of the bridegroom and the bride and the voices of those who bring their thanks offering and say, God, you are a great God. And that's all connected up with this imagery of a wedding.

8:13 And again, Jewish listeners listening to this would have been picking up on all that. Every detail in John's account matters. but as well as that I think it's worth bearing in mind because we're coming to this and we come with our preconceived idea of what a wedding is like a contemporary northern ireland wedding is like but a jewish wedding in the first century was far removed from what we would experience today at a wedding for example a traditional jewish wedding wouldn't just have like a the ceremony and a reception and then an evening do, a Jewish wedding could go on for seven days. Celebrations could go on for seven days. People who know me know how much I struggle to get even the first dance around nine o'clock, nevermind seven days. And of course, when we have a wedding, we invite people strategically, don't we? We've got a limit and we've got to work out who's coming, who's not, who gets a plus one, who doesn't, all that sort of stuff.

9:13 For a Jewish wedding, it was the whole village and more who were there. This was a massive community event. And we can see that in the fact that Jesus and his disciples so far have been invited to this wedding in this village a few miles down the road from Nazareth. And it must be potentially a family member or a friend because Mary, his mother, is clearly involved in the catering team here. So lots of detail very early on and lots of significance behind it. So we're at a wedding, but we're at a wedding with a hitch. Not a flicker of pun-based emotion there on your face. You get a wedding with a hitch.

9:58 Man, you're a hard crowd. A wedding with a hitch. Here's what John says. when the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, they have no more wine. Now again, at our weddings, if the wine runs out, that's probably not so much of a problem. Maybe the discussion before, and it's more, should we have wine or not? So all that sort of stuff actually is the bigger conversation. Maybe a better analogy in our context would be the slur running out at a Northern Ireland on Christmas Day house.

10:32 That might be something more. You know, the shame of your slur running out on Christmas Day, that would be a good analogy. And that's what running out of wine here in this Jewish context would have meant. Deep shame. Deep shame for the bridegroom. It was his responsibility to ensure that there was enough food and enough drink to actually sustain the seven days of celebrations. And if he wasn't able to do that, that said something about his ability to care for and look after his new bride. And believe it or not, it even opened up the potential of a lawsuit against him if he didn't do this.

11:13 And at a symbolic level, running out of wine was an ominous sign. there was a Jewish saying, where there is no wine, there is no joy. No joy. What would running out of wine say about the future of this marriage? It was a gravely serious situation. We need to understand the gravity of it. And Mary, in whatever role she has, she hears of this impending disaster, and she turns to her son, and she invites him into the problem they have no more wine. And Jesus too would have understood just how grave this situation was.

11:58 And that's what makes what he says in response so intriguing. Look at the way he responds to his mother. Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come. The way Jesus addresses his mother here is definitely unusual, is definitely abrupt. It's not a usual way a son would address his mother. It's not lacking in affection completely.

12:28 One commentator actually suggests that a good translation would be to use the Ulster term womondear. Womondear. There's a little hint of affection in there, but there's not a lot. It's definitely a little bit of a gentle rebuke. And what this does here, as he speaks, it highlights, highlights the different wavelengths that Mary and Jesus are on in terms of their thinking, in terms of what it is they are thinking about. And it marks something of a change in their relationship. You see, it seems highly likely that Mary would have been a widow by this point. And as a widow, she had most likely become very reliant on the practical help and support of her eldest son.

13:16 And in her mind here is a practical problem that needs a practical solution. And her resourceful son has probably helped in that way in the past. But Jesus is thinking on a totally different plane. He is thinking solely. You think about the disciples that he's already gathered. He's thinking about his father's timetable for the revelation of his identity, for the revelation of and the unveiling of his glory as Messiah. And that's what he means here by my hour has not yet come. It's a key phrase in John's gospel.

13:54 It's repeated again further down the line. In chapter seven, Jesus refuses to go to Judea because, and John says, his hour had not yet come. In the same chapter, and then in chapter eight as well, he escapes a rest because his hour had not yet come. And then in chapter 12, at the beginning of the week of his crucifixion, he tells his disciples, the hour has now come for the son of man to be glorified. His full and ultimate glorification would come in his death on the cross. And here's another little interesting detail to honor. Jesus will call his mother woman one more time, recorded by John. And that's when he is hanging on the cross and he looks down at her and addresses her and says, woman, here is your son.

14:51 And he points to John, the writer of this gospel. And what he's doing is he's making provision for her care as a widow. And he's telling John to look after her. And I think what John is doing here, by using that term, it's almost like a motif. He's connecting these things together. Whenever we get to there in the gospel on the cross, I think we're meant to think back to whenever Jesus talked to his mother in that way, back at the wedding in Cana. So that's something to think about anyway. But right now, Jesus is at this wedding.

15:30 And he is not prepared to let anything, not even a request from his mother to prevent a disaster. He's not prepared to let anything get in the way of his father's timetable for the unveiling of his glory. And so you might have expected in that situation then, Mary might have just accepted that and gone to find some other sort of, somebody else to fix the problem. But she doesn't. Mothers know their sons, obviously. And in response, Mary doesn't protest. But nor does she give in. Look at what she says.

16:06 She actually just turns to the servants. It's almost like, in a sense, she ignores what he says. And turns to the servants and says, do whatever he tells you. Do whatever he tells you. Key words that will come back to you. See, Mary isn't privy to the big picture that is occupying Jesus' mind, but she trusts her son. She trusts Jesus. And she proclaims her faith in him with these words to the servants, do whatever he tells you.

16:36 And in this proclamation, she provides for us an example of simple faith. She doesn't get to see the whole picture. It's often the case that in our relationship with Jesus, we don't get to see the whole picture either, but she places her faith in her trustworthy son, and she leaves her concerns in his hands. In a sense, in this interaction, there's a change. Mary comes to Jesus as his mother, and she leaves this interaction as a faithful disciple, and Jesus does respond, And he does overcome the problem of no more wine, but he does it in his own way. And he does it in a particular way. And again, we need to look at the detail of how he does this. Because he could have done it, let's be honest, he's got the power to have done it all sorts of different ways, but look at how he does it.

17:38 And John here is at pains to include certain aspects of how he actually performed this sign. John goes on then, nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Again, look at how specific he is. He doesn't just say water jars. He tells us how many. He tells us what they're made from. He tells us what they're for. He tells us their capacity, how much water can actually be held in them.

18:12 John goes into detail. And like I say, if we think about it, Jesus could have done this sign, performed the sign any way he wanted, but he chose very specifically, very deliberately to involve the stone water jars that were used in religious ceremonial washing. His choice is purposeful. You see, these jars were a physical representation of Jewish religion and law and custom. They were this illustration of this endless cycle of having to over and over and over again, repeatedly wash away the corruption of the world and be acceptable, be ceremonially clean before God. And we'll come back to that. So Jesus says to the servants, fill the jars with water. And so they fill them to the brim.

19:14 again think about how Jesus is going about things he didn't need the stone jars nor does he need the servants he could have done all this in a different way that didn't involve any of that but he chose to use these servants to perform his sign there because their response of obedient. Their response of faith, that's actually part of the picture. That's actually part of the sign. It's part of what Jesus is pointing to. And they respond then by filling these jars. I love the way we're told filling the jars to the brim. They didn't just fill them, they filled them to the brim. And when we think about that, six stone water jars, think about the maths here.

20:03 Six stone water jars, 20 to 30 gallons per jar. That's somewhere between 500 and 750 liters. That's somewhere between about 600 and a thousand bottles of wine. If ever there was a picture of abundance, overflowing, lavish abundance, here is that picture. And then he told him, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. And they did so. And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He didn't realize where it had come from.

20:41 The servants who had drawn the water, they knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink. But you have saved the best till now. and like with the Andrew story a couple of weeks ago at times I do let my imagination run away with me a little bit and sort of think and try and get into the story and I sort of wonder what would it have been like to be a servant here if you think that through you know Jesus has asked you to fill these massive jars with water it wasn't just like having to stick this thing under the tap this was hard work. And you're wondering what on earth is going on here. But yet you choose to obey. And you choose to follow. And you fill the jars up to the brim.

21:39 And you're asked to draw some out. And you're astounded when you see it's not water, but it is wine. And you nervously bring it to the master of the banquet and he takes it and he tastes it and I imagine you'd be watching with bated breath as he assessed the aroma, the flavor, the notes, the palate of the wine as he let it roll around his mouth and then he declares this is the best wine, far better than the stuff from before. And no one else knows what's going on. It's the bridegroom, isn't it, that gets publicly commended? Jesus isn't mentioned. It's the bridegroom that gets the praise.

22:30 And everyone else is in the dark, but you, your servant, have been invited into this little window of this sign. You've been made a part of it. I wonder how, and John doesn't tell us again, that's my imagination, which of these servants became disciples. as they saw. Anyway, here's how John concludes this section of the narrative, this summary statement. What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. After this, he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

23:12 And that brings us the close of this introduction. Chapter two goes on to describe Jesus' first journey up into Jerusalem for Passover, and that begins the next stage. And we'll come back to that again in the future. But let's think here specifically then about what this summary statement says. What Jesus did here was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory. John doesn't say what Jesus did here was the first of the miracles. He says it was the first of the signs. It's this Greek word, simeon, this word for sign.

23:48 It's vital that we actually stop and grasp that. It's not simply a miracle. It's not just a display of raw divine power for no reason, apart from to display that power. It has a purpose. It is a sign. Think of a signpost pointing towards something, pointing towards someone, pointing towards a certain direction. That's what this is about. It's not simply for the sake of showing off.

24:20 It's got a clear purpose. It's illustrating a clear picture. It's got a clear message to communicate. And a sign, think about a signpost on the road. A signpost invites a response. It doesn't force one. It doesn't compel one. I could drive down the road and ignore a sign if I chose to and decide to follow my own navigation skills.

24:49 It doesn't do that. And there's something here in the almost the undercoverness, the discreteness of Jesus' sign here, that it doesn't compel belief, but it invites into it and it leaves room for humble faith. And that's important for us to recognize. Jesus will never kick down the doors of our hearts or our minds and force belief on us. He will give us clear signs to respond to, but we'll need to come with humble hearts to then see and believe and have faith. But then what's this sign pointing to? What is the picture?

25:41 What is the illustration? Where is it going? Well, it's clear. It's an abundance of the best wine replacing the water in these jars of religious ritual. And if it's pointing to anything, it's clearly pointing to the identity of Jesus, to who he is. Again, Jewish hearers of this would have put all of this together. And they would have thought about passages in the Old Testament. Let me give you a couple that might have come to their mind.

26:16 See if you can make these connections. Amos, Amos 9, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains. This picture of abundance and flow from all the hills and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. Or Joel 3, in that day, the mountains again will drip with new wine. The hills will flow with milk. All the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the Lord's house, the temple, which of course Jesus is the fulfillment of, and will water the valley of Acacias.

27:01 And then Isaiah 25, On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare, what? A feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines. And Isaiah goes on to paint this picture even more on this mountain. He'll destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations. He'll swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

27:40 You see, these are visions. These are prophecies from these Old Testament prophets. Amos, Isaiah, Joel. Looking towards the promised messianic age. The promised time when God will send his chosen one, his Messiah who will at last step into history and renew and heal the world. Will replace the old with the new and will replace sorrow with joy and emptiness with abundance. Will replace darkness with light and as we read here in Isaiah, tears with joy, death with life, water with an abundance of new wine. And so in turning the water in these old religious washing jars into the best wine,

28:32 Jesus is revealing to humble hearts that are willing to look and see that he is the chosen one, he is God's Messiah. back in chapter one John told us the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us we have seen his glory the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth this is what we saw John said and it was at this wedding that they saw it for the first time not in all its fullness like we said that wouldn't happen in all its fullness until the cross but still this was the beginning of the progressive revelation of the divine power and majesty and authority and glory of the word of God and for those disciples it was more than enough for them to say I believe I put my faith in you and that then as we come to close leads us on to our response to this this first sign this primary sign of Jesus at this wedding and our response to other the other signs in this gospel account remember again for the last time in this series what John tells us in chapter 20 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written, including this first one at the wedding at Cana, so that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that by believing you might have life in his name. And so the question to some people here in this room today is this. What is your response to Jesus?

30:42 What is your response to him? What is your response to his claim to be the son of God, the Messiah? Are you willing to look at this sign and with humble heart put your faith in him? do you see what he's offering do you see what he's inviting you into he is inviting you into a solution to your spiritual emptiness to that lack of joy at the deepest level it's a solution that's this is what the religious ceremonial washing jars are all about. It is a solution that can't be found in religion and religious ritual and ceremony. But nor can it be found in self-help, nor can it be found in keeping on changing your circumstances in the hope that that sorts things out because none of that changes in here. Actually, I mentioned that Finding Jesus research from Evangelical Alliance a couple of weeks ago.

31:52 There's research that looks at how adults have come to faith. And I was at a little conference last week, and there was one little story mentioned which struck me. Let me just read a little paragraph of what was said about one woman who came to faith. She says this, On the outside and on paper, you would have thought that I would be the happiest. I had everything I ever wanted. My partner had a successful business, which meant I didn't have to work. We had two children, which is all I've wanted. We lived in a nice little village.

32:25 And I just thought, wow, why am I not happy? Because I had what I always thought I wanted in life, but actually I was quite miserable. Where there is no wine, there is no joy. You see, we don't have the spiritual resource within ourselves. to keep the wine flowing all the time. And Jesus is maybe inviting you this morning to turn to repent, to admit to him your spiritual bankruptcy, to do whatever he tells you and follow him and trust in him, like Mary, like the servants, and to step into life with him and experience. his gift of abundance, to experience his forgiveness for you that he paid for at the cross, to experience the miracle of his regeneration and transformation of your heart by his spirit, to experience his gentle, ongoing, day-by-day, heart-level,

33:47 internal cleansing sustaining and enlightening and this deep-seated peace and joy to experience the new wine of Jesus himself by his spirit. That's what he offers. That's what he invites you into. He doesn't say in this world, in this life, he's going to rescue you from the struggles and suffering and challenges and tears and sorrow of this life, what he says is, I'll give you a joy, a ballast of joy that will sustain you and keep you afloat in the midst of that, the mess of life. So how will you respond? And then for the rest of us, those of us who believe in and know Jesus, as we come to the end of this introduction to John's gospel at this wedding, at this new beginning, we're invited, I think, to reflect on ourselves. We're invited to reflect on our own lives in him. And I'm especially drawn back to those words of Mary, do whatever he tells you.

35:04 Do whatever the word of God, the creator and sustainer and savior of the world tells you. Why? Because of who he is, because he is the word. First and foremost, obey because of his glory. But then also because his glory is intimately connected as we sung with your good. I think of Jesus' words later in John. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you.

35:38 listen, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. That my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Trust, obedience, surrender, do whatever he tells you and experiencing his new wine, joy, and the spirit, those are connected. And I think some of us this morning might need to have those words impressed on our hearts by his spirit in a fresh way. I wonder, is he using these words, do whatever he tells you, to show you by his spirit areas of your life where you're clearly not doing that,

36:35 where you have not surrendered those to him, and where you know you need to. He is inviting you back into that place. Listen to me. He says, trust me. Surrender to me. Do whatever I tell you. Let me sustain you.

36:58 I'm going to invite the band out hopefully they're behind me and they'll come back out and we're going to pray together and as we pray together I just want to use I want us to look forward to another wedding a wedding that we those of us who trust in and have faith in Jesus will be in attendance at but we'll not be servants nor will we simply be guests. We will be the bride together and the Lord Jesus will be the bridegroom and we will be joined as one fully. And that is our promised hope in him. And just as our present joy is connected with our obedience, it's also connected with our hope. We are called to, that's why we gather together. Don't give up meeting together. Spur one another on.

37:56 All the more as you see the day approaching, that's because we're called to set our hearts and minds on things above together. We're called to fix our eyes on the eternal together. We're called to set our hope on the grace to be brought to us when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. And that's going to culminate in a wedding where we're going to be the bride. And so let me close with John's vision of that ultimate wedding to which all other weddings are pointing to. Let's pray and let's use these words as our prayer. Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like the loud peals of thunder, shouting hallelujah for our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory.

38:54 For the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. This is our future hope. This is our future joy. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people. Then the angel said, write this. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. And he added, these are the true words of God.

39:27 Father, thank you. That in Jesus, we have been invited into this life of new wine joy. help us to grasp the gift that we have in him help us to see the connection between doing whatever he tells us to because he is the glorious one who deserves that and are experiencing the joy of his new wine.

40:19 And we pray that you might draw people here this morning to yourself. May they come with humble hearts and may they see a glimpse of your glory and may they come to put their faith in Jesus, the word, the true light, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And draw them to yourself, we pray. And Father, may we look forward and may our present joy be stirred up and built up and filled up as we look to the future joy that is promised because we know that your word is trustworthy. We know that you will fulfill your promises. We know that this will come true. And so we ask that this future hope might sustain us as we deal with all that life has to throw at us.

41:29 Thank you that you're with us, that you fill us by your spirit. Continue to strengthen us, we pray. Continue to help us to reflect on what this truth of this sign means for us. In Jesus' name, amen.