John chapter 2 from verse 1 through verse 10. We're going to look at a very well-known story about Jesus as we go into the post-Easter season.
And in the future we're going to look at the works of Jesus Christ, but also later his words.
And here we have one of the first miracles, in fact the first miracle that Jesus did.
You'll find it in John chapter 2 verses 1 through 10.
On the third day a wedding took place at Canaan in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
And when the wine was gone Jesus's mother said to him, they have no more wine.
Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied, my hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. And nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing.
Each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water so they filled them to the brim.
And then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.
They did so. And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.
And he did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
And 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.
What Jesus did here in Canaan of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him.
Let's pray and ask God to bless the reading of his word.
Our Heavenly Father, we ask now that you will send the Spirit into our hearts to clarify what Scripture is saying to us.
To help us to glorify Jesus as we see his glory displayed.
I make this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now, the first part of this year we have focused in on the prophets.
There is a lot of good information in the prophets we learned about how God judges sin, but also how he holds forth grace to those who repent and turn to him.
We've also seen some things that have shocked us about how God uses foreign powers to humble his people.
And we have also seen ultimately how the redemption that the prophets promised all look to Jesus Christ.
But now as we go to the post-Easter season, I think we need to focus in more on Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, our King, our friend.
And the Gospel accounts show us what a wonderful Savior we have, not like any other human being who ever walked the earth.
And we look at those Gospel accounts, we see what Jesus faced.
As we look at those Gospel accounts, we see what he had to endure, and we also find out what Jesus's ministry was like as he walked this world.
He healed people. He helped people. He reversed the fall so that human beings could live in a way which pleased God but also was good for human beings.
Now today's passage is a bit unusual. It only appears here in John's Gospel.
And we see Jesus helping out in a situation which would cause a lot of social embarrassment back then.
And what we see is that his glory was revealed, or you could put it another way, his greatness was revealed.
Now today, people like to glorify themselves, or we like to glorify other people.
Now ladies, this is a good time for you because if you look at the top news stories of people getting glory, let me tell you.
You got Caitlin Clark. She can play basketball.
Taylor Swift, she's making some big time bucks.
And of course, Beyonce, who has now turned country.
Oh, the media is glorifying these people.
But we're here to glorify Jesus. And here this morning, what we're going to see is the end of it.
Christ is glorified in his turning water into wine.
And there are various ways we can look at this passage.
But I think the main point that the Holy Spirit is showing us is that Christ shows his glory, his greatness, his grandeur.
To people. People just like you and I.
Now, if we look at this passage, I want you to notice first of all that Jesus attends a very, very human event.
A wedding.
Now if you look at some of the places where Christ ministered, we may think it's always in a synagogue or the temple.
But it's not always in the temple, the synagogue, or a worship service.
Now sometimes Jesus does do his miracles and his mighty works in places like the temple when he cleaned it out.
But not always do we see Jesus working in what we would consider a religious background.
We think that that's where ministry should take place, don't it?
In a church. In a Bible study. In a prayer meeting.
We might think that's the place where God really, really works.
Well, it is true. He can work mightily in a worship service, in a Bible study, in a youth group meeting.
But too often what happens is we start thinking in the terms of these secular, sacred distinctions.
That you can't have any type of religious experience or understanding outside of a church.
Well, I want you to look at where this event happens and where Jesus Christ often does his work.
After the resurrection, how does he minister to Peter who had betrayed him?
Breakfast. Breakfast on the beach.
Many times Jesus is going through a roadway and he talks to people.
He's in a city, a crowded street. He calls people to him.
He teaches on the side of a hill.
Or even he ministers to people at a dinner party.
See, if you look at the Bible, it's not always in a churchy setting that Jesus works.
Now he can work in these settings. And there, once again, I'm going to tell you,
there is no doubt that when we look at religious gatherings, they can be very moving.
I remember in Chicago, going in to the cathedrals, they were quite impressive and quite moving.
You go to the European cathedrals. There's a reason those buildings are big.
And they are designed the way they are.
It is to draw you to the greatness of God. But it doesn't always have to be in a building.
It can simply be a meal.
You only need the presence of Jesus.
And look at what Jesus is doing here. He's at a wedding.
Throughout history, people have been having weddings.
You have gone to weddings. You have participated in weddings.
And here it could be a friend of Mary, a friend of Joseph, but Mary was invited.
And so was Jesus. Now we don't know why the disciples showed up, but they're there too.
Think of it this way. This is something that you and I would attend.
And back then, now this wedding ceremony that we're talking about, this was a one-week event.
Not like our weddings where you got the supper the night before, the big wedding day, and that's it.
This went on for a week. And there has got to be a lot of wine and a lot of food to keep people going for a week.
This is expensive. But where is Jesus?
He doesn't say, no, no, no, sorry. Can't go to it. Too much fun going on there. No, no, sorry.
It's too human for me. Jesus is right there.
Think about it. Jesus Christ is involved in something that is very human.
He did not abstain from human contact or even human joy.
Now, he does not reject it. He's in the middle of it.
In the Bible, it doesn't tell us how to conduct a wedding.
It says there are weddings, God approves of weddings, but the whole wedding ceremony of the Jews, they came up with.
Now, why do I tell you this? Why do I hammer this home?
It's because sometimes we think we have to abstain from everything in the world to be really, really close to God.
Now, once again, there are certain things you should stay away from, but not everything.
And there are parts of life that can give us great joy, and joy is not sin.
Happiness is not sin.
And to be truly holy does not mean you stay away from everything.
Think of it this way. If Jesus Christ walked amongst us today,
would you ever find him in a movie theater?
Well, I'd say, yeah, you'd find him there. Now, it might depend on the movie.
I think the Downton Abbey movies, he would be there.
So yeah, Jesus would be there. Do you think Jesus Christ would ever go to a baseball game or a football game?
Yeah, I think he would. Do you think Jesus would ever go to a birthday party?
Yes, he would.
You often, we come up with this distinction between the secular and the sacred,
and we have forgotten that all of this world is the Lord's.
Even what creates joy.
And this is where we see the glory of Jesus in a wedding.
When I use that word glory, you may be saying to yourself, what is it?
It's His greatness. It is His divinity that is shining through.
It is showing how worthy He is to be worshipped.
And I want you to think about sports, because that's the way we show glory the most today.
What did Muhammad Ali say?
I am what? The greatest.
Now that only lasted for a few years there, until I think Michael Spinks knocked him out.
But he thought he was the greatest, and everybody was supposed to sit down and praise Muhammad Ali.
He's not the greatest. Jesus is the greatest.
And here we see Jesus showing His greatness.
We praise our sports stars. We go and look at the Oscars.
We lift up our local sports heroes, don't we? We say such things, and I wish I was like them.
You'll buy the jerseys. You'll pay the astronomical amounts to go to those basketball games and to the Super Bowl.
But Jesus is far greater.
And we get a glimpse of that here.
And just as in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ was there, and we see the glory of God at work by bringing down the Egyptians.
We see the glory of God at work by dividing the Red Sea.
We see the glory of God at work with the pillar of cloud by day leading His people, and the pillar of fire by night.
Those are evidences of the glory of God, aren't they?
But look here at what's taking place and how this passage ends.
It's a wedding feast, and there is a problem.
I want you to notice where the tension lies, which is going to bring out the glory of Christ.
They've run out of wine.
And Jesus' mother says to him, Jesus, can you do something about this?
Now, I don't know why Mary asked Jesus to do something about it.
Maybe she is starting to know that Jesus Christ is not your average son, but she wants him to do something, to save the situation,
to save the host from having a social faux pas that would affect the family for years to come in their social standing.
And Jesus says to her, literally, I may add in verse 4, what to me into you?
Woman, what to me into you?
Now, we may first think by saying, woman, he's talking down to his mother.
No, in the Bible, that was a very normal way to talk to your mom on the cross.
Jesus said, woman, behold your son.
And what Jesus is telling her essentially is this.
Mary, it's not my time.
It is not the hour to show the fullness of my glory, which will occur when I die and when I rise up again.
Mary, I don't run on your timetable.
I run on God's timetable.
I have to do what is pleasing to God.
Now, after this, Mary, who is slightly rebuked, shows some faith.
Because what does she tell the servants?
Do whatever he tells you.
And Jesus, at that point, says, I'm going to give you a glimpse of my greatness.
He tells the people there who are waiting on the others, the guests, go and fill up those jars of water which were used for ceremonial cleansing.
Because the Jews always washed their hands before they attended in a type of banquet.
And those jars were pretty big.
Six stone jars, 20 to 30 gallons.
And what does Jesus do?
He turns the water into wine.
Now, some may say it's grape juice.
It's not grape juice.
The word there is wine.
There's a Greek word for grape juice.
It's not the word that is used here.
It's wine.
And I want you to notice it's a lot of wine.
It's very, very good.
Because, as the chief of the banquet says, man, you guys usually use the good wine at first.
And when everybody's drunk, you bring out the lousy stuff.
But whoa, we're into this wedding feast and this is the good stuff.
God creates the wine and as verse 11 says, the glory of Christ is shown.
Because he turned the water into wine.
He does what God the Father does.
He can change our creation.
He can create.
He reveals his glory by producing a lot of the best wine.
And what this passage shows us is the glory of God was found in his power and his grace.
The very glory of God that spoke and the world was created is the same one who has now worked through his only begotten Son,
who is both divine and human.
And he makes some wine.
It is no wonder in the Old Testament when it talks about the coming messianic era,
it says that wine will flow.
For example, in the book of Joel, chapter 3, verse 18,
in that day the mountains will drip with new wine and the hills will flow with milk and all the ravines of Judah will run with water.
Because God is blessing and here, God blesses his people with good wine.
Not great juice, not well juice, good wine.
Now the reason I want to emphasis is of course the power and the glory that Jesus has as the divine Son of God.
But what I cannot get over with is the place that he does it because it shows us his grace.
Let's say that Jesus did nothing here.
What would be the worst that could have happened?
Alright, the host is embarrassed for a few years.
But that's it.
No one's dying.
No one is starving.
No one is going without food or water.
None of that.
Jesus could have very easily done nothing.
He could have easily have said, well, you just need to get over it.
Well, you should have thought ahead and bought more wine.
But in this situation, which is one of social embarrassment, he shows his glory.
To help someone from social embarrassment, this should show us sometimes how God shows his glory.
Yes, sometimes it is the mountaintop experience.
Sometimes it is when the seas part.
Sometimes it is when mountains quake.
But it is also when God's people are embarrassed, when they're weak, and when they're frail.
That the glory of Jesus breaks through.
That's how God shows his glory.
He takes away our embarrassment.
So this morning as we go into our post Easter season, we need to think about the glory of Jesus.
But I also want you to connect it with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And if there's anything that should drive us to worship him and to be thankful to Jesus,
it's the fact that that glory is shown every time he takes care of our needs.
We say that we are to glorify God.
And certainly we should because he is powerful.
And we can see his rule here and in our lives.
But what is the next part of our catechism?
We are to enjoy him forever.
Is the chief end of man to glorify God and enjoy him forever?
Does it ever get into our hearts that when Christ does show his glory and will show his glory,
it will be dealing also with our joy by creating a world in which there is no more social embarrassment.
And the land will flow with new wine and a creation that will be unmistakably glorious.
Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father as we look into the future, on Sunday morning, help us to see the glory of Jesus Christ
and help us to see how Jesus shows us that glory so that we will believe but also that we will have joy,
knowing that we have a Savior who takes care of his people, body and soul, thought, word, and deed.
Help us, O Lord, to look to you for glory, for grace, for joy.
I make this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.