Sermons and Jottings on John 2vv1-11 (The Gospel for the Third Sunday of Epiphany)
Water into Wine
John 2:1-11
We’re going to look
together today at (what is justly) the
most famous wedding in history.
Its more significant
than all the marriages of Henry VIII.
More talked about than
the weddings of Charles & Diana, or Kate and William or the Beckhams.
It’s a wedding where a guest up-stages the happy couple.
Not normally a good
thing to do!
We don’t even know the
names of the bride and groom but the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed
to us.
It might surprise some of us to find Jesus at a
party at all.
And he’s not poe-faced,
looking on disapprovingly from the sidelines.
Not only is he at the
party, but Jesus gets the drinks in.
That’s not the image
of Jesus many people have.
Some people think that
Jesus was no doubt a very great religious teacher, but you wouldn’t invite him
to your party – he’d spoil the fun.
They think of Jesus as
a kill-joy, a wet blanket, dower, terribly serious all the time.
But the truth is that Jesus
doesn’t take the fun out of life.
Jesus is not the pale Galilean.
He doesn’t make all
things grey.
Jesus is the life and
soul of this party.
His enemies falsely
accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard, but Jesus did know how to enjoy
life.
Jesus is life-affirming.
He’s more alive than
anyone!
Jesus said (Jn 10:10)
– “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full”
Although he was a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief, he was also the most joyful human being
who ever lived.
Christians should be Christ-like.
Christians should be
life-affirming.
They should enjoy a
good party and a good glass of wine.
There can be reasons
for sorrow and grief even for the Christian, but the Christian’s demeanour
should be one of gladness, cheerfulness, thankfulness.
Christians should have
fun and enjoy life.
(We shouldn’t need to
say it, but looking at some Christians, I think we do!).
We rejoice in the
goodness of creation and in God’s good gifts to us.
Yes, this world is
wicked and fallen, but we believe in original goodness as well as in original
sin:
God made a good world,
that sin hasn’t totally ruined it and God hasn’t given up on it yet.
Christians have
sometimes perpetuated those myths about Jesus as a bit of a misery.
Christians are not to
be those who have a suspicion that someone somewhere might be enjoying
themselves.
This miracle of Jesus
that we’re going to consider together, the turning of the water into wine, is
called a sign (v11).
In other words, it’s an action with
significance.
The purpose of the
sign is to point beyond itself.
The sign has a
meaning.
And this sign is
packed with significance.
It’s not a magic trick
or simply a raw display of power.
It’s a visual aid – a
tangible expression of who Jesus is and what he’s come to do.
The sign tells us
things about Jesus.
Under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, John has recorded it for us in this specific way, and
presumably he thinks the details matter.
So let’s think about the significance of the
sign.
The story is simple
enough.
There’s a catering
crisis.
Jesus is at a wedding
and they run out of wine.
V3, “they’ve no more wine”.
They come to the end of their resources.
It was the Bridegroom’s
responsibility to provide the wine – you can see that from verses 9 and 10.
The master of the
banquet thinks the bridegroom is responsible for the wine.
The Bridegroom here
has made a big mistake.
He’s only just married
and the Bridegroom has failed in his
first duty as the head of a new household.
This is a social
disaster.
It would spoil the
wedding.
It would mean shame
and disgrace.
Not what you want your
wedding day;
not a very good start
to the marriage.
The Bridegroom shows
himself to be incompetent or inadequate or both.
Maybe he was mean, or
poor, or bad at maths – who knows.
For whatever reason,
the Bridegroom has messed things up for everyone.
Jesus provides where the Bridegroom didn’t, or
wouldn’t or couldn’t.
Bible students might
think of Adam – a bridegroom who
failed in his first duty.
He’s head of a new
household and he follows his wife into sin, whereas he ought to have lead her
into godliness.
Adam messes it up for
everyone.
And if we’re honest
we’re not so unlike Adam or the bridegroom in this story.
We all have our incompetencies and
inadequacies.
Our resources are
insufficient.
We’ve all failed in our first duty to love God with all our
heart, soul, mind and strength.
Left to ourselves we
mess things up in a big way, with consequences for those around us.
Like the bridegroom in
this story, we need someone to step in and sort things out.
Jesus succeeds where we and Adam have failed.
Jesus is the Second
Adam, the proper man, the perfect Bridegroom.
Just over the page in
chapter 3 and verse 29, John the Baptist describes Jesus as the bridegroom.
The church is his
bride.
Jesus is the one we
can look to to provide for us.
We could say, whatever we’re drinking will fail.
Like the woman at the
well in John chapter 4, we will be thirsty again.
“Come to me”, Jesus
tells her, “and you’ll never thirst” . (4:13-14)
Our supplies won’t
last for ever.
The various ways we
try to quench our thirst don’t really work.
Life without Jesus won’t
really satisfy.
But Jesus is
inexhaustible and completely satisfying.
Jesus’ amazing transforming power.
He alone can turn
water into wine.
Jesus can change our lives too.
If Jesus can turn
water into wine, perhaps he can even make something good even out of our lives,
whatever state they’re in.
Jesus can take your
water and turn it into wine.
Like those in this
story, we should give him whatever we’ve got, weak and inadequate though it is.
Jesus changes the
ordinary into the special.
When Mrs Lloyd and I
were married, our wedding sermon was on this passage:
It’s good advice that
if you invite Jesus into your marriage
and he can transform it.
You want him not only
to be a guest, but you want to invite him to take charge.
I think the preacher
at our wedding rather enjoyed saying that Jesus can even make up for the
Bridegroom’s inadequacies and failures!
generous, extravagant, abundant provision (v6)
The servants are to
fill 6 stone water jars that each hold 20 to 30 gallons.
So that’s around 150
gallons or 570 litres all together.
Or 1000 pints.
About 650 bottles.
Around 2160 glasses.
V6,
20 to 30 gallons – about 25 gallons = 75
to 115 litres – about 95 litres
X6 = 120
to 180 gallons – about 150 gallons; 450 litres to 690 litres – about 570 litres
500
to 800 bottles – about 650 bottles - 2160 glasses.
About 760 bottles.
A lot of wine!
I guess this wine
would have kept most of the village going for another couple of days.
There’s no tight-fistedness
here.
God doesn’t just give
them the bare minimum for their requirements.
(They could have made
do with water, after all).
Reckless grace.
Jesus doesn’t seem to
know when to stop blessing.
God is not a God of
half-measures carefully portioning out his precious grace.
Jesus overflows with
goodness.
Here is plenty for
everyone.
The best wine.
Look at what the
master of the banquet says to the bridegroom in v10.
V10
Not cheap Supermarket plonk.
Best vintage wine.
This is the finest Châteaux
Neuf d’Pap
Jesus could make better wine out of water than people could make out of grapes!
The master of the
feast says to the bridegroom in v10, “You have saved the best till now”
Could you not say that
God has “saved the best till now”, in
the coming of Jesus.
(Last week we thought
about how in Jesus the kingdom of God has come near because Jesus is God the
king come in the flesh.)
He has saved the best
till now.
This very first sign
that Jesus did shows us something of what his kingdom will be like:
It’ll be the best.
John 1:17 – “the law
was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”
The law of Moses was
like the water: good in itself and fine in its place, but it was never the
finished product, the end goal.
The water of the law
was always meant to be turned in to the wine of the gospel.
Moses gave the people
water in the desert; Jesus gave them wine at a party.
Following Jesus is the best way to live.
There are hardships
and difficulties to being a Xian.
Being a Xian is not an
insurance policy against tragedy.
There will be all
sorts of sufferings and there can be persecutions for the Xian.
But it is still best
to have Jesus there as your friend.
Jesus makes life
better.
He transforms water
into wine.
In this story, Jesus is a friend in need.
A powerful friend.
A willing friend.
You want Jesus at your
wedding if you might run out of water.
If realise that
someway, sometime in life you’re likely to mess up, stick close to Jesus.
You want Jesus by your
side throughout life.
Jesus brings joy and delight.
Wine is for
celebration and rejoicing.
Jesus shows the unique power of God himself.
An act of creation.
Who but God alone
could turn water into wine?
An act of New Creation.
Takes the good thing
of creation and transforms it.
Water’s great; wine’s
better.
The water here is transformed
from one degree of glory to another.
In technical
theological language, we might say “wine is eschatological drink”
It’s a kind of last
times, end times drink – that’s why wine is a drink for the evening, not for
the morning.
If you heard someone
was starting off the day with a couple of glasses of wine you’d be concerned.
Wine is end-time,
work-done, rest drink.
Wine is for after
you’ve successfully performed that difficult brain surgery, not for before you
carry out the operation.
Wine is water
fulfilled, water brought to maturity and fullness and glory.
What Jesus does with
the water points to what God is doing with the world.
The Bible begins with
a garden and ends with a Garden city.
The whole story of the
Bible is one of progress, of fulfilment.
Water to wine.
All of creation will
be transformed, renewed, upgraded.
Wine is like
resurrected water.
John does after all
tell us that it was the third day (v2), and it was on the third day that Jesus
rose from the tomb, his body renewed and glorified and transformed.
Foreshadows the cross.
Jesus’ time – his hour (v4).
Jesus says to his
mother, Mary, in v4 that his time or his hour has not yet come.
Jesus’ hour has not
yet come - 7:6; 8:20
Jesus’ hour at hand -
12:23-24 – “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” – and then he
speaks of his death - vv32-33
13:1
17:1 – “Father, the
time has come. Glorify your Son.”
The hour of Jesus’
death.
Reveals Jesus’ glory (v11).
Jesus’ glory is shown
at the cross.
Jesus’ glory comes
through the cross.
Exalted / lifted up
Crowned
Cross is his throne
Resurrection comes
through death.
Wine suggests Jesus’ blood.
The Bible calls wine
the blood of the grape (Dt 32:14).
Certainly John’s first
readers would associate wine with blood, because in the Lord’s Supper, the wine
speaks to us of the blood of Jesus.
V6 – the stone water jars were the kind used by
the Jews of ceremonial washing.
Why does John bother
to tell us that detail?
Maybe just because he
was there and remembered it, and he’s writing an accurate account.
But doesn’t he want us
to see the significance?
The Law of Moses told
people: you can’t come to God because of your sin, you need to be purified and
made clean.
John the Baptist preached:
you need a wash, you need to be cleansed
It’s not the
ceremonial washing of the Jews that brings real inner cleansing.
It’s Jesus blood that
makes us clean.
Jesus provides permanent
purification.
The Lamb of God will
indeed take away the sin of the world (1:29)
Foreshadows the wedding supper of the Lamb. (Rev
19:7-9)
Heaven is pictured as
a party, a wedding banquet.
God is laying on a
feast and we’re all invited.
Our response?
A story that gives us
great hope that Jesus can use and transform even us.
Jesus can turn water
into wine.
He can use you and me.
V11 – our response should be the same as the
disciples: put our faith in Jesus.
Obedience to Jesus
words.
V5, “do whatever he tells you”
Even if it seems
stupid, as it probably did to the servants (vv7-8).
What do you want to drink?
The water of failure
and shame and life without Jesus.
The wine of joy and
blessing and celebration with Jesus.
Here are some words
adapted from G. K. Chesterton:
The worldly person
drinks wine as a medicine.
He feasts because life is not joyful; he
revels because he is not glad.
[He’s drowning his sorrows, we might say]
'Drink,' he says, 'for you know not whence
you come nor why.
Drink, for you know not when you go nor
where.
Drink, because the stars are cruel and the
world as idle as a humming-top.
Drink, because there is nothing worth
trusting, nothing worth fighting for.
Drink, because all things are lapsed in a
base equality and an evil peace.'
So the worldly man stands offering us the
cup in his hands.
But Jesus also offers us a cup filled with
the fruit of the vine.
'Drink,' he says, 'for the whole world is
as red as this wine with the crimson of the love and wrath of God.
Drink, for the trumpets are blowing for
battle, and this is the stirrup cup.
Drink, for this is my blood of the New
Testament that is shed for you.
Drink, for I know whence you come and why.
Drink, for I know when you go and where.'
We are all thirsty
creatures.
Where will we drink?
Cheers!
* * *
Additional notes:
https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=172
- January 29, 2017
* * *
Sermon by Jeremy – A Sign of the Times - January 21, 2018 - https://www.warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks/?sermon_id=222
* * *
David Field – our wedding sermon
* * *
David Jackman, Proc Trust CD – John: That You May Believe
Here is one of the
greater things that Jesus told Nathaniel he would see (1:50)
Jacob’s ladder (1:51)
– not literally, but the revelation of God in power and glory focussed on Jesus
Jewish custom –
Weddings on a Wed – festivity onto Thurs & Fri ending before the Sabbath
Bridegroom footed the
bill
A catering crisis
A very ordinary
situation
(1) The Miracle
(2) The Sign – what the miracle means
(3) The Challenge – what it means to us today
* * *
Swinburne, The Pale Galilean.
http://users.ucom.net/~vegan/hymn_to_proserpine.htm
* * *
G. K. Chesterton
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/gkcday/gkcday13.html
MAUNDAY THURSDAY
JESUS Christ made wine, not a medicine, but a sacrament.
But Omar makes it, not a sacrament, but a medicine. He feasts because life is
not joyful; he revels because he is not glad. 'Drink,' he says, 'for you know
not whence you come nor why. Drink, for you know not when you go nor where.
Drink, because the stars are cruel and the world as idle as a humming-top.
Drink, because there is nothing worth trusting, nothing worth fighting for.
Drink, because all things are lapsed in a base equality and an evil peace.' So
he stands offering us the cup in his hands. And in the high altar of
Christianity stands another figure in whose hand also is the cup of the vine.
'Drink,' he says, 'for the whole world is as red as this wine with the crimson
of the love and wrath of God. Drink, for the trumpets are blowing for battle,
and this is the stirrup cup. Drink, for this is my blood of the New Testament
that is shed for you. Drink, for I know whence you come and why. Drink, for I
know when you go and where.'
'Heretics.'
* * *
Mark Meynell, All
Sign Spotter website
& books
* * *
Paul Williams, All
http://www.allsouls.org/data/sermons/sermon1123687071955.1.mp3
* * *
Bishop John Pritchard, The Bishop of
Lee on the Lectionary:
https://vimeo.com/249663263/8f845581b9
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