He Can Do Miracles? January 18, 2015

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Sharleen Glenn
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1 He Can Do Miracles? January 18, 2015 John 2: 1-11 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus mother said to him, They have no more wine. 4 Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My hour has not yet come. 5 His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, Fill the jars with water ; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now. 11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. We ve been looking at how the Bible reveals to us just who Jesus is. Around Christmas, we talked about how the angel that appeared to Mary and told her that she was going to have a son revealed something about who the boy would be. Luke 1 said of the baby that Jesus that, 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. So, it had been revealed to Mary just who Jesus would be. And it was revealed to his father Joseph. And Mary s relative Elizabeth seemed to understand that Jesus was to be the savior. And there were the Magi who traveled a long distance to come and worship the infant Jesus. They seemed to know that Jesus was something special. You can think of more examples from Jesus early life that we won t go into today (Anna and Simeon blessing Jesus in the Temple as an infant, etc.). There was that time that Jesus got left behind in the Temple and tried to tell his parents that of course he would be there. Then there was that long time from when Jesus was 12 until the time that he showed up at 30 at the Jordan River for John the Baptist to baptize him. We talked some about that last week and how a voice came from heaven as Jesus came up from out of the water saying this is my son whom I love. In him I am well pleased. And we talked about how this likely revealed just a little more of who Jesus was to those gathered there as well as to John the Baptist. But, they still didn t understand everything about who Jesus was. 1

2 A little more is revealed in the story that was read for us this morning about Jesus. Just before today s verses, Jesus is out gathering his first disciples. He had recruited Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathanael and then had taken them along with him and his mother to a wedding in Cana in Galilee. Some say that this wedding was for Mary s nephew. We don t know exactly who it was for, but somehow Mary played a role as she was the one who was to do something about the wine running out. To us this may seem like no big deal. But in Jesus day hospitality was really important. To not have enough provisions for all of one s guests would have been a huge social faux pax. Guests were to be taken care of, even if it meant the hosts had to do without themselves. Think of the strangers that visited Abraham and Sarah in the wilderness for whom they provided food and drink and shade. Turns out they were angels (messengers) sent by God to tell Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child in their old age. In Jesus day, weddings were a week long party. There were some guests there for the whole time and potentially also some new guests each of the 7 days. Wine was a main stay of celebrations. Now the culture looked down on those who drank to excess. This wine would have been diluted. In those days they mixed 2 parts wine with 3 parts water so all wine drunk was actually 40% wine and 60% water. But there was no more wine at this wedding. Mary was the one who told Jesus about it. Now why do you think Jesus cared about this? Well, we kind of wonder based on what he said. Don t we? Jesus said, 4 Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come. Now this doesn t sound very respectful to us. Does it? If we had responded to a question or request from our mother to clean our room or take out the trash by saying, Woman, leave me alone it probably wouldn t have gone over very well. Would it? But this phrase had a different understanding in Jesus time. When he said, Woman it was not intended as disrespect as it would today. At that time the term was one of respect perhaps like m lady or if you are from the south Yes, Mam. But there definitely was some push back on Jesus part. He tried to tell his mother that the time for his public ministry was not yet. But his mother was undaunted. You see, I think that Mary knew more than anyone else just who Jesus was and what he was capable of. She knew that he could do something to prevent the wedding host from being embarrassed by running out of wine. She knew Jesus could prevent the host from being ridiculed and ostracized because of his lack of hospitality. And so Mary said, 5 to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. 2

3 Mary must have had some part in the planning and arranging of the wedding party because the servants listened to what she said. He told them to take the six twenty to thirty gallon water jars that were sitting there and to fill them with water. Now these jars were used for some of the ceremonial washing that was integral to Jewish life. Water would have been poured from them to wash the dust and dirt off of someone s feet and the water from this also would have been used to wash one s hands. They didn t drink water from these The servants must have been wondering what this was all about. How was this going to help? But, they did what Jesus asked of them and then told the servants to take some of the water and to give it to the head steward (think of perhaps the head waiter or the wedding coordinator or the one who would have been in charge of everything seeing that the wedding goers were eating and drinking making sure it was all up to snuff). And what did the steward say? Well, what s up? This is the best wine of them all. Who would have thought you d save the best for last? Jesus had turned the water into wine? How about that? It was a miracle. No longer was the host going to be embarrassed. But just what is a miracle? Merriam and Webster s dictionary defines a miracle as: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs or an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment. The content of the jars was water just a few seconds ago now it was wine. That s pretty extraordinary and unusual don t you think? That s a miracle! I know Tom would like to be able to turn taco meat into filet mignon and lobster tail, but I don t think that s too likely to happen. We may think that turning water in to wine is not a significant miracle. We may think that it is just not important (as would taco meat turning into steak and seafood). But it was significant. This was the first miracle that Jesus performed in his public ministry. And his mother and the first disciples that he had recruited were there to see it. And because of this, his disciples believed in him. 3

4 I can imagine that his disciples were probably wondering something like, if he can turn water in to wine, I wonder what else he can do? Maybe we should follow this guy for a while and see what happens. For Mary, I imagine that she knew a little more of just who Jesus was and what his potential was and so while others were astounded at the water turning to wine I imagine Mary saying, If you thought that was fantastic, just wait. He is capable of so much more. Jesus public ministry was just beginning. He had just been baptized by John in the Jordan River. He had just called his first disciples to follow him. People were just starting to pay attention to him and wonder who he was. Just who he was, was just starting to be revealed to the people who were around and who were paying attention. There was something about this Jesus. He was a different sort of fellow. And now, they observed that he could perform miracles? What else might he do? It makes me think of a song that I think is just beautiful that was written by a man named Mark Lowry of the Gaither Vocal Band in 2004 called Mary Did You Know. I want to share some of the words with you. Mary did you know that your baby boy will some day walk on water? Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you. [Verse 2] Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man? Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand? Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod? And when your kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God. Oh Mary did you know The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again. The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb [Verse 3] Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb? This sleeping child you're holding is the great I am I think Mary knew the potential that her child had. She didn t know or need to know all the details. She trusted that God would take care of those details. But she knew that Jesus would be who God said he would be. 4

5 When we read of the water being turned to wine by Jesus we see others started to get a glimpse of what Mary knew. It took a while for others to understand just who Jesus was. If he could turn water to wine, what else could Jesus do? What kind of power did he have and what kind of power does he have? Maybe we want to think about that? If Jesus could perform a miracle which is seemingly so insignificant in order to save the host of a wedding party from embarrassment, what can he do in our lives? If the wedding host was so important, what does that say about us? Aren t we just as important? If Jesus was willing to help him out in a bind, what is he willing to do for us and for our lives? Ever think about that? This week, I encourage you to think about just how important you are to Jesus and to realize that you are just as important as the man who hosted the wedding. God wants to do so much more for us if we will look to him for guidance and support. Allow Jesus to reveal himself to you. Let s pray 5

The Book of John LESSON FOUR. John 2. Day 1 John 2:1-5 Day 2 John 2:6-11 Day 3 John 2:12-17 Day 4 John 2:18-22 Day 5 John 2:23-25

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