Full Transcript

Welcome, friends, to Share the Word. Whether you’re just beginning to explore the Bible or have been a Christian for years, we believe that you’ll get some great insight from our podcast as our teachers unpack the big ideas of the New Testament in a down-to-earth language. Thanks for being a listener. Now let’s get right into today’s lesson. If you’re married, what sticks in your mind about your wedding day? People these days spend big bucks, in America anyway, on wedding consultants to plan the perfect experience down to the minutest details.

Yet it seems like, no matter how much money you spend for professional help and how carefully you plan it all out, something goofy still usually happens, something unforeseen no one planned on. And you know what? Decades later, when you think back on that most important day, what sticks out in your mind? How storybook perfect it all was? Probably not. Probably what you remember are the snafus, the goof-ups, the things you didn’t plan on, the embarrassing things or the funny things.

Not all the things that went carefully as planned. As John chapter 2 opens, our author John is recalling a wedding he attended with Jesus just shortly after he became a disciple. A wedding where something absolutely unforgettable happened. John was telling us in the latter part of chapter 1 and on into chapter 2 what he remembers from his very first days with Jesus. Just in the first few days, apparently, he and his brother James, Andrew and his brother Simon Peter, Philip and his friend Nathanael, these half dozen men had been invited and they’d answered yes to the call to become disciples of Jesus. I hope you know what that means.

A disciple is a learner and follower. At the outset of chapter 2, this group is back in their home district of Galilee in the northern part of Israel. A wedding is taking place to which Jesus has been invited. We’re not told who’s getting married, but chances are it’s a relative of his, because his mother Mary seems to be involved in the event planning. Why do you think that sixty or so years later, John, when he’s sitting down to write his story of his time with Jesus, lands on this, thinks it’s important enough to write about? I think the answer is in verse 11 in chapter 2.

Jesus did something at this wedding that John and the other disciples were utterly amazed by. He did something miraculous. And why it sticks in John’s mind is that this was the first bona fide miracle that John had ever witnessed. Many others, and we might say greater, would follow, but this was the first, and that’s why John was imprinted by it. It was one of the things early on that convinced John that Jesus was a lot more than met the eye. One of the things, looking back, that caused young John to believe into him.

Weddings in first-century Jewish life were the one big social and celebratory event of your lifetime. In a society where most people’s lives were pretty mundane, weddings were big, big deals. And people spared no expense to put on the biggest shindig they could possibly afford. Unlike our weddings, where people spend on average today about $15,000 in the U.S. anyway, and it’s all over in a few hours, the Jewish wedding parties could go on for days if the host could afford it. After the formal wedding, which itself happened in the evening, it wasn’t like there was a reception for a few hours, then everyone headed home as the newlyweds took off for their honeymoon. No, the honeymoon started that night, right there in your parents’ home, while everyone else camped out in the yard.

When you got up the next morning, guess what? Most of the guests were still there. In fact, they could hang around for days, like an extended family reunion. Well, at this particular wedding, John remembers, apparently the planning was not the best, or else the wedding party lasted longer than the parents anticipated, because a mini crisis arose. They ran out of wine. We can assume that there was nowhere nearby to get wine in quantity that would have solved the problem, or maybe if there was, that the wedding budget had been exceeded already and there was no money left to solve the problem.

Whichever, this was a potentially embarrassing situation for this young bride and groom and their families. You might be thinking, okay, they ran out of wine. What’s the big deal? Bring out something else to drink. This wedding was not in Carmel, California in 1988. It was in Cana of Galilee in the first century.

Wine in that culture was more than just a beverage of choice. Wine was the elixir of life. It was liquid joy and gladness. You just couldn’t have a special occasion without wine. And besides, the truth is, there weren’t really a lot of alternatives. Water, maybe.

They pretty much only had those two choices, wine or water. And to serve water at your wedding party, that would be terribly embarrassing. So they were in something of an awkward bind. John records for us what happens next without too much explanation. Jesus’ mother, who apparently had some stock in whether this wedding came off well, approached him about the problem. She hinted to Jesus in that unmistakable motherly way that maybe he should help figure out a solution to this situation.

Jesus’ initial reaction was to politely suggest to his mother that her agenda and his were not on the same page. Jesus was at this point embarking on a divine mission that she simply did not understand yet. So he said to her, Why are you trying to involve me in this? I’m not sure what Mary felt Jesus could do about it, but the implication in the text is that she thought he could do something because although Jesus seems reluctant to get involved, as she turns to leave, she instructs the servants, Do whatever my son tells you. Well, Jesus did decide to do something. Outside the courtyard of that home, there were six large stone water jars.

John remembers each of them held about 20 or 30 gallons. These weren’t to store drinking water, by the way, John points out. In fact, no one would drink this water knowingly. These large jars were to store what we might think of today as holy water. They held water for religious washings, religious purification rituals. Religious Jews at that time ritually washed everything in order, they thought, to stay ceremonially clean.

They believed they had to wash everything with the consecrated water, everything they touched. So they washed their utensils in it, their cups, their hands, their faces several times a day. They were always washing things in this ritual water, thinking it contributed to being pure in God’s eyes. It was religious ritual that they religiously engaged in over and over and over. It’s significant that Jesus instructed the servants to fill up each of these large jars with water. It’s likely that some of them were empty or partially empty from use.

So the servants filled them all up to their rims. Jesus then simply instructed them to draw some out now and take it to the master of ceremonies, the fellow who was overseeing this whole affair. They did as he said, carrying some to the master of ceremonies. And guess what? Oh, you might know the story. You didn’t tell me, and I could have cut to the chase.

In case you didn’t read or listen to this chapter before clicking on our podcast, the water miraculously somehow turned to wine. As he gulps down some and licks his lips, the master of ceremonies fellow wondered where this wine came from. Actually, had he known, he never would have drunk it. So he calls the groom aside and says, You’ve had me squirming all this time thinking we’re out of wine, and all along you had this in reserve, you rascal. You saved the best stuff for last. I can see the young groom smiling, but looking confused at the same time, thinking, What in the world is he talking about?

Fact is, neither of them knew where this excellent wine came from. Only the servants, Jesus, and his disciples, like John, who witnessed it. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that Jesus’ first miracle was helping out a young bride and groom out of a socially awkward bind. He may have come to this wedding without a present, but he left them with 150 gallons or so of fine wine. That had to be the best wedding gift the couple received that day. But think about it.

He also left it in these jars reserved for holy water. So I have to wonder what happened when everybody at the wedding eventually realized where this wine was coming from. My hunch is Jesus thought that was kind of funny. What would they do now, drink it or not drink it? My goodness, just think if a Pharisee or two had been there, the religious rules enforcers. Now let me tell you some stuff you may, or chances are you may not know.

Looking back on it, John calls what he witnessed that day at the wedding a sign. Chapter 2, verse 11 says, What Jesus did there in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory. It’s very significant that John doesn’t use the typical word miracle, the word the other gospel writers almost always use to describe when Jesus did something supernatural. Instead, John almost always uses the word sign. In fact, this fourth gospel that we are studying is actually arranged around seven signs. What exactly is a sign anyway?

Define it in your mind right now. Merriam-Webster might put it more elegantly, but a sign is something that points to something else. Thinking back, John recognized these events were more than miracles. He saw them as signs because there was more to them than initially met the eye. They pointed to something more. They had, he realized in retrospect, underlying deeper significance.

John says that when he and his fellows witnessed this water turned to wine miracle, for him it was a sign in that it revealed God’s glory. It’s the first time they had a glimpse of Jesus doing something godly, something that showed his divine attributes, and realized he’s a lot more than any of us. And he says that caused him to believe into him. I’ve used the modern equivalent, buy into him. Certainly not fully or with great understanding yet, but this is when John’s faith in Jesus started growing. So for John, what happened at the wedding in Cana that evening was more than even a case of Jesus demonstrating apparent miraculous power.

It revealed his glory, something about who he really was. And I think upon reflection over many years, this event to John was a sign that pointed to even more than that. He realized something in it at an even deeper level. I don’t think I am pushing this too far when I see in John’s brief account three clues that suggest to me the deeper significance that John, upon reflection, realized. First, in verse 3, when Mary said, They are out of wine, remember that wine was kind of the symbol of life, of joy, of fullness. Second, John points out in verses 6 and 7 that Jesus noticed these large water jars, and John notes the religious Jews kept their holy water in them, water to perform religious ritual washings, these constant ceremonial purification rites, which they thought kept them clean.

It was these jars that he had the servants fill up to the rim. Third, in verse 10, upon tasting the water now turned to wine, the master of ceremonies commented to the confused groom, Everyone serves their good wine first, and then after the guests have been drinking, brings out the inferior stuff. But you’ve saved the best for last. What is John seeing of deeper significance in all this? What underlying truth did this sign point to? My reading on it is that John realized that the religion of Judaism by this time was running out of juice, we might say.

The vitality, the power to satisfy people, the life, the joy, had been drained out of it. It had degenerated in that culture to a largely empty ritual system of ceremonies. If wine was to them a symbol of life and fullness, the Jewish nation and the religion was at that point out of wine. But Jesus didn’t come to destroy all that had come before him. He didn’t say, Smash those ceremonial water jars. He said, Fill them up.

Why is that? Because Jesus, in his own words elsewhere, told his disciples, Don’t think that I’ve come to abolish the law and the prophets, that is, the Old Testament system preceding him. I haven’t come to abolish them, but to fill them up. Jesus’ sinless life was the only one ever lived perfectly that fulfilled the Old Testament law of God and its demands. His life would also precisely fulfill the Old Testament prophets and what they had predicted about the Messiah. That’s what I think John hears implied in the Master of Ceremonies’ words about keeping the best for last.

The Old Testament law, with all of its ceremonies, its feast days, all of the rituals, the whole system of sacrifices to deal with sin, the whole Old Testament system, was just a prelude to the coming of Jesus. It all pointed toward Him. It finds its fulfillment in Him, the one John the Baptist called the Lamb of God who will take away the world’s sin. So there’s a whole book in the New Testament about this, by the way, that we’ll get to at some point, called the Book of Hebrews. But what I want you to realize, Jesus Himself was the best God kept for last. Listen to how this truth is expressed in Hebrews chapter 10.

The Old Testament system is the law of Moses. It was only a shadow of things to come, not the reality of the good things we have in Christ. The sacrifices under the Old System were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to perfectly satisfy those who came to God in worship. Do you get it? Jesus filled up the ceremonial water jars, the water these people used over and over again in their religious rituals, trying to keep themselves pure before God and so acceptable to God. Jesus filled them up with wine, this elixir of life, this beverage of joy, this symbol of fullness.

Their holy water became His wine, that water that could never cleanse anyone’s sin anyway. What religion and religious ceremonies can never do, no matter what your religious tradition. John came to believe that Jesus has the power to actually do. He can not only cleanse us of sin and give us eternal life, but he can also give us joy and fullness now. Why can he do that? Because he’s God, John became convinced.

God was the creative power that put the universe into existence. Jesus was God on earth in human form, with the power to still transform things. This sign John witnessed proved that to him. Jesus had transformative, creative power. He can forgive and free us of our past sins and failures as easily as he could turn water into wine. He can change things, fundamentally change things, just as really as he changed the water in those big stone water jars into fine wine at the wedding.

You may be listening today and realize your life needs a transformation. Respectfully, I would suggest to you, you won’t find the transformation you’re looking for in religion. Religious rituals and ceremonies are at their best symbols, but you can find the motivation and power to change in a real relationship with Christ. The power to change comes when we invite him into our lives as our Savior and our leader. He promises then to send his Spirit to live inside of us, to empower us to become who we ought to be. He starts by changing our attitudes and putting new desires in us.

Then as we listen to his Word and yield to him and learn to trust him, he will begin to thoroughly change us, transform us. There are so many people I know who can witness to the transformative power of Christ in their lives, people who are in no way the person they were just a few years back. Let’s listen to a testimony about that from somebody right now. I traveled the world. I headlined in Vegas and did all the things the world counts as success. My motto was, If I can’t do it, no one can.

If I can’t do it. I tried to control everything, and we all know how that works out. But through it all, I felt like something was missing. For over 40 years, I thought I knew who I was. I thought I knew what was important in life. But on March 8th, 2020, everything changed.

Everything stopped. Throughout my life, I would pray to God for guidance. But in hindsight, I realized I wasn’t looking for guidance. I was looking for Him to provide me with what I wanted. I was using Him like an ATM. So on March 8th, 2020, everything I thought that was important disappeared.

Everything I thought was relevant vanished. I was now 60 years old, and I had no doubt that God was calling me. But for what? Let me give you a little bit of background. I went to Catholic school from kindergarten to 12th grade. I did what I thought God wanted me to do.

I believed that being a good person, following the Ten Commandments, going to church every Sunday, that’s what you had to do in order to get to heaven. I remember in high school, I would run into church and pray before school started. Again, these were the things I thought I was supposed to do in order to get into heaven. You know the saying, If I knew then what I know now. And what I know now is that God has been pursuing me all this time. And what I know now is who Jesus Christ really is, what He did for me, and the fact that He is the only way to heaven.

He’s the way back to God. And once I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior, all the confusion, all those feelings that something just wasn’t right, everything started to change. Everything started to make sense. My life, my focus, and it was no longer who I thought I was. It was about who God says I am. I was even considering becoming a priest when I graduated high school.

And the funny thing is that the priest who I realize now was a mentor, and he was the one who married my wife and I. But he talked me out of it, and I see God all over that moment. But as I fast forward to this moment, I find myself on uncharted waters, because as much as I believed in Christ with all my heart, I didn’t understand what it meant to accept Him as my Lord and Savior. But once I did, I started to see profound changes in not only my life, but that of my wife and I. Our children, our family, our friends started to see that transformation. In July of 2020, Nancy and I were baptized in Christ.

And in November of 2022, I was ordained and laid hands upon as a pastor. Although 2020 has been devastating in so many ways, I will always remember it as when, like Simon, I dropped my net and began to follow Jesus. Thanks for sharing your story. Don’t doubt that Jesus has the power to do that in your life as well, friend. One who can turn water to wine, the Logos who brought the universe out of nothingness into existence, don’t imagine he doesn’t have the power to transform things in you and enable you to be who you ought to be. It starts with believing into Jesus, who he really was and what he came to do for all of us, as we heard it put yesterday, receiving him and believing into his name.

Once we make that decision from our hearts by faith, things begin to change in our relationships, especially in our relationship to God, because we’ve become a son or daughter of his. Things will start changing in our lives and with other relationships around us as well. We’ll learn a lot more about that as we move forward in John’s Gospel. Be sure to hit up the podcast next time for insights into what is maybe the most famous chapter in the Gospel of John. Until then, please help us share the Word by passing along the podcast to someone you feel might be interested in learning more about the content of the New Testament. If you’re enjoying these commentaries on the Gospel of John, please help us share the Word by passing along the podcast to your friends and family.

There’s no better way to learn the content of the New Testament than chapter by chapter. For more information, visit us at sharetheword.org. From all of us at Share the Word, our blessings and prayers go out to all of you.