I’m due to give an evangelistic talk on Jesus’ turning of water into wine (John 2) on Monday and am puzzling away over the significance of this first of Jesus’ signs and how much of it I should try to explain in 15 minutes over supper.
I fear that “interpretative maximalism” might seem like “making it up” to my hearers. The exegetical rabbits might seem to pop out of the hat. Looking at the text might be like squinting at one of those magic eye books: is the supposed picture really there? How much Bible-study-proof of every point is needed and how much of it can your average non-Christian bear without nodding off into the crème brulee?
Any thoughts (and illustrations!) most gratefully received.
My one sentence summary so far is already a bit of a mouthful. It might be something like:
Trust in the transforming power of Jesus’ perfect cleansing death and you can be confident of the great joy of God’s heavenly kingdom.
Here’s some of the way I got there:
This sign (v11) reveals Jesus’ glory (v11). Jesus’ glory in John’s gospel is above all his death (17:1). Jesus’ coming hour (v4) is his cross (7:6, 8, 30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1).
With the institution of the Lord’s Supper, wine will become a sign of the blood of Christ shed for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28).
The wine replaces the water of Jewish ceremonial purification (v6). The number 6 suggests the imperfection and incompleteness of ritual cleansing (in contrast to the perfect number 7).
The wedding feast is a biblical description of the great eschatological wedding feast of the lamb (Matthew 26:29; Revelation 19:7, 9).
Wine is suggestive of joy and gladness. It is a luxury for rejoicing. Jesus is no kill-joy.
Assuming all the water is turned into wine, Jesus produces an extravagant, abundant supply: about 150 gallons, 570 litres or 750 bottles (c.f. John 10:10).
Jesus makes better wine out of water than men can make out of grapes (v10). Jesus’ creative power is suggestive of the fact that he is God Himself.
The correct response to the sign is to believe in Jesus (v11; 20:31).
But how to try to say everything? I could speed-talk. Mmmm.
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Went to a youth rally about a year ago, where the speaker took on John 2 (maybe I've told you this), but it lasted 40 minutes, and referred to the passage only twice amongst a cacophony of memory verses. First reference was to tell the kids that the wine wasn't real alcohol and they should stay well away from the stuff. Second was to say we are like the six clay jars, full of dirty water (they had been cleaning themselves, you see) and needing to be emptied and then filled with Holy Spirit.
Wasn't best pleased...
For what it is worth, I think the contrast of Jesus' creative, transformative, cleansing and abundant power with the limited (out of wine - v3), imperfect, insufficient and cheap(!) (v10) nature of humans is powerful. The master of the banquet is certainly blown away by the comparison when he drinks, and although he does not know it is Jesus, we do.
So this is a sign of what Jesus will achieve in his death and resurrection for those who "drink" of him (ch4 and 6 - though I think going to many other places apart from John 2 is ill advised).
Thoughts will have to end here - baby is due tomorrow (though could well be a couple of weeks late...)
Ben, thanks very much. I like your points.
The passage seems like an embarassment of riches (whatever that means).
I guess all truth is related and there are multiple perspectives on all this, but as you say the idea of drinking of the water (wine!) Jesus will give you is obviously not far from the evangelist's mind.
All the very best for fatherhood - and please assure mum of my prayers.
Given the suspicion surrounding interpretive maximalism which is the effect not only of a 'fundamentalist' view of scripture but also of an Enlightenment view of literature, it strikes me that this is not the easiest thing to try to deal with in a 15 minute 'over supper' talk.
People won't know the contextual references or have the biblical worldview and so the danger is that either (probably) their suspicion is simply increased or (possibly) they look to you as the guru with the keys to the text.
So my advice is - don't even try to say everything. Say one thing and try and say that well. I'd go for the generous abundance at the wedding feast which paints an attractive picture of the kingdom but that may just be because I'd rather give good news than bad.
And don't even try and show most of your working in this - if people are interested in why you say what you say they'll ask.
Given the suspicion surrounding interpretive maximalism which is the effect not only of a 'fundamentalist' view of scripture but also of an Enlightenment view of literature, it strikes me that this is not the easiest thing to try to deal with in a 15 minute 'over supper' talk.
People won't know the contextual references or have the biblical worldview and so the danger is that either (probably) their suspicion is simply increased or (possibly) they look to you as the guru with the keys to the text.
So my advice is - don't even try to say everything. Say one thing and try and say that well. I'd go for the generous abundance at the wedding feast which paints an attractive picture of the kingdom but that may just be because I'd rather give good news than bad.
And don't even try and show most of your working in this - if people are interested in why you say what you say they'll ask.
Mmm. Don't know why that came out twice. Maybe the repetition is for emphasis?
Marc,
I'm with Ros. I'd definitely skip the first three points. Focus on wine and joy. That's what I did when I did a 10 minute evang on this a few weeks back. Big up the feast/meal/wedding imagery.
fwiw, my intro was along the lines of:
aren't Xns killjoys? Grey? Dull? cf. the kinds of things we say and get worked up about on the Today programme. I paraphrased quip about the Puritans: "Christians so often give the impression that we are haunted by the fear that someone somewhere might be happy..." And people often see Jesus in a similar way. Cf. Swinburne's line: Thou hast conquered O pale Galilean, and the world has grown grey from thy breath. (in a poem speaking re fall of pagan Rome and rise of Xty).... Seemed like a good way in.
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