John 2:1-11- New Wine

John 2:1-11

Jeremiah 31:31-34

New Wine!

Who exactly is Jesus?

It is vital that we know who Jesus is.

Because, it is Jesus alone who gives eternal life- it is Jesus alone who gives us life both now and life for eternity- and it is to Jesus that all the words of this bible testify to!

And to know who Jesus is- we have to be clear on who Jesus is not!

And so as we read through this passage today and discover that Jesus turned water into wine, and as you read through the rest of the book of John and discover that Jesus fed over 5,000 people with just 5 loaves and 2 fish, and discover that Jesus even brought a man who had been dead for 4 days back to life, it is vital for us to know that Jesus was and is not some kind of magician.

Jesus was not and is not some entertainer…..He was and is not the gladiator in the arena who shouts after his victory….”are you not entertained?”

Jesus didn’t perform this particular miracle of turning water into wine, so that he could be the ultimate party goer- the ultimate party entertainment.

No, Jesus performed this miracle, like all the other miracles recorded in the book of John, to reveal exactly who he was- to reveal his Glory. The miracles Jesus did, ultimately showed something about Jesus Himself- something that was written about Him long ago which had been predicted in the Old Testament scriptures.

In fact the seven miracles that Jesus did which John records for us in his book, were actually referred to as a sign- the Greek word for miracle (semion) also means sign.

Jesus performed miracles, as a sign which pointed towards something greater, something more glorious than the miracle itself, and that something greater and something glorious was Jesus himself.

And so let us not get fixated on the wine today, or perhaps how the mechanics of it all worked, but let us get fixated on Jesus

This is what John tells us in verse 11

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his Glory. And his disciples believed in him. 

Jesus showed these signs to reveal His glory and as a result the disciples put their faith in Him. Whenever Jesus performed a sign, there was always a response from the people who saw them. Some believed and some rejected- some saw and believed, some saw and rejected. Just shows, seeing doesn’t always lead to believing.

So, let us look at more detail of this first sign that Jesus performed and find out what characteristic of Jesus, was it revealing.

Look at verses 1-3 with me:

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus was also invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine”.

So here is the scene:

Jesus and his friends and family were hanging out at a friend’s wedding.

And a wedding celebration in that culture at that time could have lasted the whole week and then at some point in that celebration- the wine run out.

There was no more drinks for the guests!

Now this was a huge problem! The honour and shame culture was huge and so, to run out of wine would have been a very shameful act, especially for the hosts of the wedding.

And so Mary- Jesus’ mother turns to Jesus and says “They have no wine!”

In other words, when Mary said to her son Jesus they have no wine, she was really saying, now so do something about it!

It perhaps was like me telling my kids- their dirty socks are on the floor!- They know that means pick up your dirty socks and put them in the washing basket. I say it, hoping they would spring into action.

Mary let Jesus know the problem and she expected Jesus to do something about it. Mary expected Jesus to do something about the lack of wine. Mary believed Jesus could do something about the hopeless situation.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I pray and I just don’t expect Jesus to do anything about it.Sometimes my prayers are just half hearted. I can pray and say all the right words, but sometimes I just think that Jesus won’t do anything about it. I have become so used to people rejecting Jesus, that when people’s eyes are opened to the Glorious gospel of Jesus- I am surprised. I perhaps don’t expect as much as I should at times from Jesus.

Sometimes we may just feel like we are going through the motions when we pray.

The Mother of Jesus- didn’t have this problem- she expected Jesus to do something. Perhaps after she witnessed Jesus at the tender age of 12 teach all the elders and priests at the temple, as well as many other amazing things, perhaps Mary knew that Jesus could do something about this wine situation.

And yet even though Mary expected Jesus to do something about the lack of wine- look at the response Jesus gave her in verse 4

And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Don’t you just love this response- Woman, Woman, he doesn’t even call her mother, but woman. “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

If I called my mother  “woman”, I would receive a clip around the ear.

Why was Jesus distant in his response, why did he not refer to her as mother?

Well, the clue is found in the next couple of words- Woman “My hour has not yet come”- “my hour has not yet come”

Jesus knew that this miracle which he would perform would push him more into the spotlight, and the more Jesus was pushed into the spotlight- the greater the opposition to Him would become.

Jesus had been sent to earth by his father for one reason, and that reason was to die on the cross for the sins of his people and then to be raised up again, Glorious. That is what the life of Jesus was all driven towards- towards Calvary- towards dying on a tree as a curse for his people and Jesus knew that only way, that God could purchase a people for himself was through the cross- there was no other way. Jesus knew there would come a time, there would come an hour, when he would be dragged before Pilate and sentenced to death on a cross.

And so Jesus wasn’t going to be distracted from his mission, he wasn’t even going to let family ties manipulate him into other things. He wasn’t even going to let the good intentions of his own mother distract him from his mission.

When it came to the mission of Jesus, He knew that this was something that only he could do- and so in one sense he had to distant himself from his own family and his own friends, because he knew his family and friends, would try and persuade him to go another path, a path that didn’t lead to the cross.

In John chapter 7,  we read that once Jesus brothers wanted Jesus to go to Judea, so he could perform miracles and entertain people, and yet again, Jesus wasn’t manipulated by his brothers, He stayed where he was and he responded to his brothers the same way he did to his mother- My hour has not yet come.- You cannot distract me from my mission.

Jesus had been sent by his Father to die on the cross at the appointed time, which God had already predetermined and no-one or nothing was going to change that plan.

God had sent Jesus to this earth to die for the sins of his people and nothing or no-one was going to stop that.

Even when Jesus’ best mate Peter pulled Jesus aside and said in layman’s terms “Look Jesus there must be another way to gather your people- you don’t have to die,”-  yet again- Jesus wasn’t tempted to take the easier route, Jesus wasn’t manipulated by his friend Peter.

Remember Jesus’s response to his best mate Peter- “Get behind me satan”

No Jesus set his face like flint towards the cross and fixed his eyes on the Joy set before Him through the cross.

Friends it is so easy to try and manipulate or be manipulated.- It’s easy to be distracted. It’s easy to be part of some noble cause, and yet it’s easy to drift from our mission of making disciples of Jesus.

When Jesus came to this earth, his father had set that appointed time and nothing or no-one was going to change that.

Friends, there are many, many, good things which we can be doing to serve Jesus, but may be today, God is challenging you to give up some of those good things and perhaps just focus on one or two good things. May be you are doing some good thing, but you are not doing it for the growth of God’s kingdom. May be God is challenging you today, to use that good thing for the growth of his kingdom.

In John 17, the hour eventually came for Jesus to go the cross and this is what Jesus prayed to his father the night before he was crucified.

Verse 1

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes towards heaven and said “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that the Son may glorify you”

Friends, God’s timing is perfect!

Jesus’ hour came at His Father’s timing.

Sometimes when we pray we may get impatient- God may not always answer us in the way we expected, but we must remember that God’s timing is perfect and he has an overall, overarching plan that will not be thwarted and so just like Jesus, we have to trust in God and his timing. We have to be careful not to be distracted of manipulated into doing things which takes our eyes off the ball!

We just have to keep trusting and waiting on the Lord, for his perfect timing.

Anyway, let’s get back to the wedding:

Mary just asked Jesus to do something about the wine situation- and Jesus responded with “why do you involve me woman”- and then Mary responded with, how every mother would respond,  she basically told Jesus, to get on with it anyway and do something about it.

Look at verse 5

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

And so then Jesus honours his mother and does something about the wine situation- but he does it in a way that still keeps his mission to the cross: central.

Jesus uses this opportunity to keep his mission central.

Look at verses 6-10 with me:

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.[a] 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

And so Jesus responded to his mother, by sorting out the wine problem, in fact he does more than sort the problem. “You want wine, I will give you wine, I will give you so much wine, you won’t know what to do with it” “Not only will I give you between 600-700 litres of wine, but it will be the best wine you have ever tasted”

This was no half-hearted Job by Jesus- he gave wine, he gave lots and he gave the best.

Jesus never has and never will do things by half measures.

He gave his all for us, and he wants our all.

6 massive jars, which the Jews used for ceremonial washing were filled to the brim, to the brim and wine flowed out of them- Jesus turned the water into wine. Jesus was generous, he didn’t even skimp on the wine, it wasn’t a “$4 bottle o special in a brown paper bag”, but this was the best wine. Jesus didn’t care that other parties would have brought out the cheaper wine last when everyone had too much to drink, no Jesus brought lots of wine and he brought the best.

Jesus saved the best till the last.

And what did this sign, this miracle point to?

Jesus was pointing to the fulfilment of Prophesies from the prophets of old like Jeremiah, Amos and Isaiah- a time when God’s kingdom would be overflowing with the blood of the new covenant- a time when God’s kingdom is not restricted to nation of Israel, but is open to all people- all people. A time when God’s laws are not just written on stones like the ten commandments, but at time when God’s laws are written on people’s hearts by his spirit, a time when God’s people are not just washed on the outside but are made clean on the inside. A time when God’s kingdom would be overflowing as his spirit is poured out into people’s hearts.

It was no co-incidence that Jesus used 6 ceremonial washing jars to make the wine. The ceremonial washing jars is what God’s people used every day to wash themselves as a symbol of God washing their sins away. Day after day they would wash, symbolising that they had been set apart, they had been cleansed from the filth of the world. The washed on the outside as a symbol of their being set apart, being Holy for God.

And yet, the reality is- those ceremonial washings may have made them clean on the outside, but it didn’t make them clean on the inside. The reality is, they could have looked like nice washed tombs on the outside, but they could have been spiritually dead on the inside.

And no matter how much water they used, they could never get to the heart and clean the heart.

Friends, Ceremonial rituals will never make us Holy before our Holy God.

Only Jesus can clean the heart and this is exactly what he did at the cross.

And this is what the sign was all about- it was showing that Jesus was going to be the one who changes people from the inside, who cleans people from the inside.

After all the prophets, the best was saved to last- Jesus, Himself.

It is through the blood of Jesus that flowed from the cross that makes people clean, makes people holy, makes people part of God’s family. It is through the blood of Jesus that are sins have been washed away.

Yes, God’s people, before Jesus came to earth, had the ceremonial cleanings, they had the burnt offerings day after day, they had the altar at the temple- but all of those things were like cheap wine compared to the sweet wine of Jesus. All those things just pointed towards the best that was still to come and that was and is Jesus.

Jesus came to do something that no amount of ceremonial washing could do- He came to clean our hearts on the inside.

And friends, if you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Lord and saviour, perhaps today is the day to do so. You will find that Jesus is generous, you will find Him to be the best.

The house we live in is a great house, structurally- good double brick home- big. However it does need a bit of a paint job- and so I decided to get my DIY skills a go. And as Kari will tell you- my DIY skills are nearly non- existent.

Anyway, I thought I would make a start on painting the windows and the back door. I got some paint, brush and away I went.

Although as soon as I started laying the first layer of paint, I realised that this was going to be a bigger job than I thought. I couldn’t just paint over the top of the peeling paint that was already there, I had to strip back the paint, sand off the wood, clean it and then put that masking tape down, so I didn’t get any paint on the windows.

I also realised that the wood in some parts was so bad and so rotten, that the wood needed to be replaced- there was no point painting over the rotten wood, the wood would fall to pieces as soon as I applied the brush.

When Jesus died on the cross to wash us from our sins, it was like he got a chisel to our hearts and chipped away all the old paint, he put in new wood where it was needed and he cleaned us from the inside. And when you put your trust in Jesus, His holy spirit not only dwells in your hearts to reassure you of the cleaning job Jesus has done, but the Holy spirit continues to act like a chisel- chipping away all the rotten stuff in our hearts and making it new- and yes- at times that can be painful and long- but it is also good, good for us and glorifying to God.

As much as we can change our external behaviours, only Jesus can change our hearts- we can paint all the paint we like on the outside, we may cover a few cracks, but Jesus must clean us from within.

Let us pray