Scripture John 2:1-11
Today’s scripture is an
account of what has possibly become one of the most well know and miracles of
Jesus. If you were to go around and just ask people on the street to name a
miracle that Jesus performed what would they say? I’m sure some would mention a
healing, but it would probably not be a specific instance, people might mention
the fact that he walked on water, but I bet you that one of the most common
responses would be that Jesus turned water into wine. Even most non-Christians
would know about this miracle. There are references made to it in countless
stories, movies, television shows, It almost has even become routine to see
water a party and joke about turning it into wine. Our society knows this
miracle pretty well, but for those in attendance at that wedding, and for all
who would come to hear about it, this would be a moment of revelation.
Up to this point this point talk about Jesus had mostly
been all anticipation. We have the prophets foretelling his coming, the angel
coming to Joseph and Mary declaring that Jesus was the Messiah. The shepherds
and wise men came from all over the Earth and declared the same to be true.
John the Baptist even began preaching telling the world that the Messiah, the
promised one was coming. Then we have the baptism of Jesus, the heavens opened
and the voice of God was heard declaring that “this is my son with whom I am
well pleased.” Jesus had even began to gather some of his disciples, who
believed what was said about Jesus was true, and decided to follow him. Still,
up to this point all we have had so far is anticipation. Jesus is now around
thirty years old, For thirty years, people have been hearing about how this man
was the Son of God, this man was the savior. They had heard probably heard him
speak and interacted with him, and possibly thought to themselves something is
different about this man, but still thirty years have passed and Jesus has not
done anything to prove that he is truly is the Messiah. 30 years of waiting,
and still no toppling of the Empire, no setting free those who are oppressed,
not even a sign that this man is any different from the rest of us; that is
until Mary, Jesus and his disciples are invited to a wedding. At first this
seems like nothing special, Jesus is not the center of the attention that
of course would be the bride and the
groom. Jesus is simply a guest, a wallflower. The wedding seems to have gone
well, everyone is celebrating with a party, they are having wine, and once
again nothing special is happening. Until, they start to run out of wine. Mary
comes up to Jesus and tells, they are running out of wine you’ve got to do
something. Mary knows what Jesus is capable of, she did after all raise him,
but Jesus indicates that the timing is not right. He says, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?
My hour has not yet come." Jesus
pretty much says so what, you know what I can do, I know what I can do, but the
rest of the world does not, This is not the time for me to reveal that. Or how
it probably sounded to Mary, “Mom, Not now, I don’t wanna.”
But of course Mom always
wins, and so Jesus begins to perform his first miracle. He tells the servants to
gather the water jars and fill them full of water, he then tells them to draw
some of it out and to take it to the chief steward. Notice that the scripture
doesn’t simply tell us that Jesus turned water into wine, but rather lets us
join in on the anticipation. What is going to happen to the water? What is the
chief steward going to say? What did he do? It would not be uncommon in those
days if you were running out of wine to water it down to make it last longer.
Maybe this is what Jesus did. Will the steward like it? But then we get the
steward’s response, “Everyone serves the good wine
first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you
have kept the good wine until now."
You have kept the good wine until now. That means that Jesus must
have actually turned the water into wine! John writes the story in such a way
so that we like those present at the wedding make the revelation for ourselves.
This man Jesus, has done something incredible, he has turned water into wine.
Not only has he turned water into wine, but the wine that he created is even
better than the wine that they started out with in the first place! You see, it
would be quite normal to deceive the guests at the wedding, serving the good
wine first, waiting for them to get drunk, and then serving bad wine so that
they at that point could not tell the difference. But the steward, the
responsible one, the caterer or host of the party or whatever analogy you would
like to use would know better, and yet he is even astonished that this new wine
is even better than the original.
This is it, the first sign
of Jesus Christ. Jesus has done something to make people take notice. This man
is not just any ordinary man. This man just turned water into wine. All of the
anticipation, all of the waiting, all of the prophecy, might just be true,
because Jesus has just made the impossible, possible., I’m sure people were
going crazy when they figured out what had happened. If this was in or day and
age, it people would be texting, tweeting, facebooking, recording it on their
iphone and putting it up on youtube, the media would have already come and
interviewed people, debates would have been held on talk shows, it would be a
madhouse, and I’m sure in its own way at that time, it was. And yet in the
midst of that was going on Jesus makes it clear that his hour has not yet come.
His hour has not yet come, how is that possible if he just revealed his power
at this wedding? To answer this question
we must once again look at the response of the chief steward.
He says, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior
wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until
now." John is very clever author. All throughout his Gospel he
words and phrases that have a double meaning. This is a perfect example of one
of those double meanings. The first meaning is of course the literal meaning,
that Jesus has saved the good wine for last, but at the same time this is also
talking about this sign of Jesus. That this is but the first sign, that like
the original wine it is good, in fact it is better than good, it is what was
expected to be the best, and yet the best is yet to come. There is so much more
ahead.
We have all experienced
the opposite of this. You’ve seen commercials for a new movie that is coming
out and the commercials look so good, the movie looks so funny, and then you go
to see it and come to find out that the only funny parts of the movie, was what
was shown in the previews, It becomes such a disappointment. This is so common in our culture, we always
try to present our best. We drive fancy cars, or have big houses, When guests
come over we put out our best china and silverware. If we don’t have money than
we flaunt our best attribute; if we’re funny we tell jokes, if we’re smart we
show it off, we do whatever we can to portray ourselves as best as we can, but
unfortunately that’s all we have. If people dig deeper, expect something else,
we’ve already displayed the best we have.
And yet the opposite is
true with Jesus. This miracle of turning water into wine, is but a teaser for
what is to come. It’s like going to a
firework show and they shoot of a firework that’s really big, or really loud,
or beautiful, or it does something cool like swerves around the sky, or
crackles like rice crispies, or my favorite droops like a weeping willow tree.
We’re so impressed by these initial fireworks but then the show goes on and
more a more fireworks are fired, the do more cool things, they are bigger and
prettier, and they all lead up to the grand finale in which the sky is fully of
fireworks, you can’t even hear yourself think, and you are simply stunned and
amazed by what you have seen. This miracle of turning water into wine is like
the first firework. It’s so amazing and beautiful, but compared to what is
about to happen, it pales in comparison. My hour has not yet come. This is the
first sign of Jesus Christ.
Through this miracle,
Jesus has given the world a glimpse of what is about to come, a foretaste of
his glory, and Jesus is so right, that this is not his hour. It is amazing that
he turned water into wine, but it was only a sign. What did it do? It kept a wedding celebration from ending
early. In this passage Jesus seems so disinterested in the plea of his mother. What concern is that to you and me, My hour has not yet come?
It even seems as if Jesus is
being a little rude, Mary knows what he can do and simply asks for him to help
out the celebration. But compared to what is to come, he’s right that this
isn’t his hour. That changing water to wine is for the most part a menial and
meaningless task.
Jesus probably seems so
disinterested in the request from his mother, because he knows that turning
water into wine is not the reason he has come to Earth. This miracle, though
his first is, far from his most important. After all he would go one give sight
to the blind, allow the lame to walk, cast demons out of people, calm storms
that threaten the lives of his followers, turn a small amount of fish and bread
into enough to feed a multitude, he would raise a man from the dead, and most
importantly he himself would be resurrected,
defeating our slavery to sin and death. Water being turned into wine,
simply was not at the top of his list. And yet this sign is an extremely
important sign because it was his first. I was the first time that anyone had
witnessed his power. It is the first time that he had shown a glimpse of the
power the so many people had been anticipating. This miracle would reveal for
the first time that Jesus is truly the son of God. What really is so amazing
about this miracle is that it points towards the wonderful works that still lie
ahead. As the chief steward indicated, Jesus saved the best for last, but as we
have noted that statement refers to much more than wine. Because what was it
that Jesus was saving for last? It was of course his death, resurrection and
ascension. The true miracle is that Jesus, both fully human and fully divine,
gave himself up for us on a cross for the forgiveness of sins. That he rose on
the third day showing that death no longer has a hold on humanity, That though
we die, there is now eternal life. And after this Jesus ascended into heaven to
sit at the right hand of God the father. This shows us that Christ still is and
always is in control. All of this to give us the hope of eternal life. The
freedom from sin. Through the miracles we are able to truly know God love for
us, and knowing all of this, remembering all of these miracles and yet seeing a
world that is sad and broken, we may realize that maybe, just maybe, the hope
that we have in Christ making all things new, the hope that we have in a new
heaven and a new earth, the hope that we have in a savior whose most mundane
act is the miracle of turning water into wine,
is telling us that the best is still
to come.
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