Sunday January 17, 2009 John 2:1-11

Welcome, we are finally warming up and it feels good. Our text for Sunday is from John. This is the first miracle recorded in John. The first chapter of John is structured as a new week of creation. Day one is 1:1, day two is 1:29, day three is 1:35, day four is 1:43 and the seventh day is 2:1 (on the third day is 4+3rd day =7). The seventh day in creation was rest – Sabbath.

V1-2 This was probably the wedding of a virgin which Jewish law dictated to occur on a Wednesday. In Hosea chapter 1-3 and in other places in the Old Testament Gods relationship with his people is depicted as a marriage. Here we have an actual marriage ceremony. It is in Cana and Jesus’ mother is invited as are Jesus and his disciples. The disciples at this point would consist of Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathanael.

V3 The wedding would last many days with the bride and groom acting as a Queen and King of the celebration. There would be banquets and wine flowing every day. Unfortunately their wine ran out. This would be a disaster and mean a bad outcome for the couple. It would put shame on the marriage and be forever remembered. In this culture shame was the worst thing to suffer. It would also indicate God’s favor was not present in the marriage. Jesus’ mother seems to somehow be involved with this dilemma and tells Jesus about it in a matter that indicated he could do something about it. Some Scholars surmise it was the wedding of a relative.

V4 He replies to her respectfully “women” and informs her his hour has not come. He will use this phrase about 7-10 times in John, like a bell tolling in the distance until his hour finally comes. His hour will be his crucifixion and glory.

V5 His mother still believing he would do something about the problem told the servants to do whatever he told them. Somehow his mother knew he was capable of fixing the problem and would do so.

V6 At the wedding there were 6 stone jars of water for purification rites. Stone was used for purification because it was not porous, as clay was, and so would not retain the impurities. The water was used for ritual washing before eating. The purification rites were emphasized continually by the Jewish leaders and sometimes very harshly. To brush up against a gentiles clothing in the market place meant going home and ritually bathing to purify yourself. The purity laws had come into effect later as part of the oral tradition created by the Jewish leaders and were not part of God’s original law.

V7 Jesus tells the servants to fill the jars with water and they did. This would have been the first step of faith for the servants as this would have been a strange request.

V8 He then tells them to draw out the water and take it to the chief steward (servant). This would have been the second step of faith for the servants as to take a pitcher of water to your boss hoping it is wine would have been ludicrous. But the servant did it.

V9 By the time the steward tastes the liquid it had become wine.

V10 The steward called the bridegroom over and stated that this wine is so good that most would have served it first when the guests were sober not now after a few days and the guests have been drunk. Remember the stone jars? There were 6 which held twenty to thirty gallons a piece. They now have approximately 180-200 gallons of excellent wine. This is a huge amount.

V11 Jesus did the first of his “signs” in Cana. We tend to think of these signs as miracles and they are that but they are much more. A sign points to something. A sign on a road indicates where you are to go. Jesus used his signs to point to who he was. The Old Testament spoke of a time when the Messiah would come. In Amos 9:13 the prophet spoke of a time when the Messiah would come and wine would flow from the hills and the valleys would fill of it. In other words there would be an abundance of good wine. Joel 3:18 also spoke of the mountains dripping sweet wine when Messiah came. Now we have an abundance of excellent wine that Jesus has produced and his disciples saw and believed in him. They somewhat understood the first sign. Something big was happening in this man.

Remember the first verse of this text, it was the seventh day. On the seventh day of creation God rested. One the seventh day of the new creation Jesus gave them a party. Sabbath wasn’t to be used to abstain from compassionate work. God hadn’t quit working, he rested from creating. It was the rabbis who had put all of the limitations on the Sabbath using their oral tradition. Again, we return to the stone purification jars that Jesus had them use. They are now overflowing with wine. When he makes the jars vessels of abundant wine he is redefining the purification rituals. They are not needed anymore. They never were needed and had become a heavy yoke for the people to keep up with. If people have to live daily with many rituals they become overwhelmed. It becomes too hard to keep all of them. Jesus brought an eternal Sabbath rest from ritual and an abundance of wine for the new age that he was ushering in.

I was once part of a conversation between two men on a Sunday afternoon in the summer. The one man had just finished trimming weeds for all of his neighbors and sat down to rest. The second man scolded him for working on a Sunday, as we all should be resting. The first man replied “what I did, I did for others not myself or for my gain and therefore according to God it is OK.” I had to agree with the first man. He had done a service for others including myself, as he had done my weed trimming too. This man lives to serve God and man. His service or compassion isn’t confined by a day of the week. The rabbinical leaders had wanted all work to cease on a Sabbath lest someone accidentally do work and make God angry. It was all about appeasing God by curtailing activity. Jesus came to show us his Father and that his Father still works on a holy day. God still shows mercy, compassion and forgiveness shouldn’t we?