Jesus Goes to a Wedding

Due to technical difficulties, my sermon from this past Lord’s Day, preached on John 2:1-12 (Jesus at the Wedding in Cana) didn’t record.  Because I love the passage so much, I figured I’d post the content from the sermon in blog form in lieu of the recording on our sermon page.

Jesus at the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12)

Jesus and His Pals

As Jesus enters the wedding at Cana, he has a new group of guys who have begun following Him.  They came from all different “walks” of life (some seekers, one a skeptic, etc.), and yet they ended up at Jesus.  He is now identified with them, in a sense, as a unit – where he goes, they go.  Thus he is invited to a wedding, and so are they.

Mary Working

Meanwhile, Mary appears to be working at the wedding. 2:2 says that Jesus and the guys were invited, while Mary was simply there at the wedding.  Perhaps she was working alongside the mother of the bride or groom, which would also explain why she can tell the servants later to do what Jesus says, and they do.

Outta Wine

When the wine runs out – a major social oversight one which was not supposed to happen -- Mary summons Jesus.  We don’t know exactly why she does, but she does.  Perhaps she knew that he could do something about it.  Perhaps she knew that something was weighing on him so he’d be inclined to act.  In any event, when she tells him of the wine problem, Jesus’ response is poignant: “Woman, what does this have to do with me?   My time has not yet come.” 

What did Jesus mean by this?  While the roughness of his response should not be minimized – because this is a rebuke of Mary – the response shows that something is weighing on him.  What was it?

Well verse 11 makes clear that what he was to do next was a sign.  Notice John doesn’t refer to this as a miracle (though it was one), but as a sign.  This means that the action which Jesus takes will point elsewhere.

Also remember that in another famous episode where a situation weighs on Jesus to the point of emotional output was during Lazarus’ death.  There the people were in such pain at his death and Jesus had his own eyes fixed forward to His own death.  And this made Jesus weep (11:35). 

In the same way, the wedding situation, which would house a great sign from Jesus, pointed forward to His death – the true wine (His blood) which would be poured out to make glad the multitudes.  And it weighed on him here, and that’s why he responded to Mary the way he did.  He was, although fully God, fully man as well - capable of real emotions and real pain.  Here his impending death is feeling more and more real.

The Reality To Which This Miracle Points

Since it is established that this action is a sign of things to come, we can discuss exactly what things.  Through His death, he’ll accomplish three things:

          1. He’ll drive outward religion inward.  He’ll take concern with outward purity – that is, feeling clean and “saved” because you simply participate in certain religious activities such as church, communion, baptism, tithing, etc. – and drive it inward.  So when people know him, they won’t seek to be clean by doing outward things, but will strive for the inward cleansing of the Holy Spirit. 

            We know this is his point by the fact that he turns the water from the Jewish ritual jugs (which were used to clean “dirty” hands of religious people) into wine that is consumed into the body.

            This is bad news for those who just want a religious card in the back pocket without surrendering their hearts to God.  But it’s incredibly good news for those who want to go deep with God.  Jesus came to take us further.

            2. He’ll marry His bride, the church.  In the passage, when the wine is tasted by the master of the feast, he gives the bridegroom credit for a job well done in keeping the best wine until the end.  Of course, Jesus referred to Himself as the Bridegroom who had come into the world to marry his bride (Matt. 9:15), and John the Baptist, on the opposite page from John 2 in my open Bible, said that he himself was backing out of the ministry because Jesus the Bridegroom had come (Jn. 3:28-29).

            Thus Jesus is the true bridegroom who brings the wine for his people to enjoy as He comes to the earth to take His bride – the church, those who are called by his name and are thus responsive in faith and repentance. 

            I love that the Bible puts the relationship between God and His people in terms of a wedding and marriage relationship.  God is personal.  He wants to be pursued, and enjoyed.  Truly He is the pursuer of people (Luke 19:10).  He is the apple of His peoples’ eye, and they are the apple of His.  Though they add nothing to Him, yet he delights in them so much so that He was willing to go through hell and back to bring them home to Himself.

            3. He’ll unleash pure joy on His people who know him.  Just as the best wine showed up at the end of the party, so the “best wine” has showed “in these last days” (Hebrews 1:1-2) for the nations, in Christ.  It’s scandalous that Jesus went to a party and brought the booze.  But it is even more scandalous why He did – to indicate that He came to give His people the good time of being with Him for eternity.  It is a joy to know Christ.  It is happy.  It is the very best one can get to, and the very best that can be imagined.  It is exactly what we were made for.  So the Apostle told his audience, “We write these things that your joy may be full” (1 Jn 1:4).  “You give them to drink from the river of your delights” (Ps 36:8).  “My people shall be satisfied with my goodness” (Jer. 31:14).  This is why one fruit of the Spirit is joy – where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and where there is freedom to enjoy the presence of God, there is joy.  He came for our joy (cf. Jn 16:3).

The Bible’s Wedding Language

Do you have this relationship with God through His Son?  Are you among the married to Him?  Check your heart – if you delight in Him and don’t consider Him an intruder on your time, but instead is Himself the very best use of time and very best end of your affections, you are drinking the best wine.  And the promise of this scripture, based on it's reality as it happened all those years ago in Cana, is that this wine will never run out.

A Christian, A Seeker, and a Skeptic Walk Into a Savior

I preached this past Sunday on Jesus’ interaction in John 1 with several men who were to become his disciples.  As I prepared and then delivered, I was struck by how the men each approached Jesus from different places in life, different levels of faith, different dispositions of personality, etc. and yet Jesus seemed to know how to get right to their hearts.

Three Different Men

First, one notices that when Andrew and “another disciple” approached him after hearing John the Baptist say that Jesus is the Lamb of God, Jesus asks them, “What do you want?” (1:38, paraphrase)  In other words, he was asking them why they’d volunteer for what He had coming to him.  Their question regarding his lodging (“Where are you staying?”) shows they apparently have plans in place for what they’d like to see, but Jesus’ response – “Come and you will see” (1:39) – brings them right to the heart of discipleship: Your lot, known to me, will be a mystery to you, and you must come ready for whatever I have for you.

Then Jesus finds Simon son of Jonah, and gives him the nickname of Cephas/Peter, which means “rock” (1:42).  Peter will truly only become a rock-like figure later, after Jesus rises again and gives Peter and the disciples His Spirit.  But Jesus’ calling Simon the rock this early is a guarantee and promise of what Jesus is going to do in him over the next several years.  He will change Simon so that in the end he is Peter.  This is parallel to what happens to all Christians: They receive the righteousness of Christ, adoption, and the Holy Spirit when they believe (Ephesians 1:14), all as a down payment on the real gift that will be given later: bodily resurrection, salvation from all that is painful, and no more darkness or it’s unwelcome cousins.

Finally, Jesus has an interesting encounter with Nathaneal.  Nathaneal, known elsewhere as Bartholomew, is a skeptic.  As Philip, a committed disciple and friend of Nathaneal, tells him about Jesus, Nat famously scoffs at the idea of a Messiah coming from lowly Nazareth (1:46).  He simply doesn’t have a category for the notion that the Messiah comes from Nazareth, and, perhaps arrogantly, dismisses the whole notion.  But 1:47 shows us that he came anyway. 

As Tim Keller has rightly said, Nathaneal’s skepticism was a veneer covering up his real longing for redemption and for his categories to in the end be proven untrustworthy, as they bow to something greater.  So he comes.  And when Jesus welcomes him with a statement that can be taken both as a commendation and as a sarcastic bag, Nat is curious how Jesus knows him, and Jesus simply tells him he saw him before, “under the fig tree” (1:48).  Nat is struck by this, because apparently whatever was happening under the fig tree was discreet.  But Jesus saying he knew about it elicits a profession of faith from Nat (1:49).  The skeptic has been converted!  But Jesus interestingly cuts him off, now dismissing him, for having a shallow faith: “Because I said I saw you, you believe?  You’ll see greater things than this!” (1:50) Jesus then tells Nat and the other disciples that He is the ladder to heaven from Jacob’s dream (cf. Gen. 28:12-13), and that they’ll see him as such if they follow him.

Apparently Nathaneal was building his faith on the miracle of Jesus’ perceived ESP.  This shallow faith would ultimately fall apart if the miracles ever ran out, not that they ever would.  But Jesus says a similar statement to Thomas later, when he only believes because he’s seen the risen Christ (20:28).  Jesus tells him how weak this is, making the point that he needs to believe just because of who Jesus is.  This is the point with Nathaneal – skepticism almost kept him out, a miracle drew him in, and eventually he’d lose it all unless he begins to see Jesus as the Ladder to Heaven.  So Jesus tells him to follow until he sees with the eyes of faith.

Three groups are represented by these disciples: Christians (Philip, a committed disciple), seekers (Andrew, Peter, the other disciple), and skeptics (Nathaneal).  And Jesus had an uncanny ability to not only interact meaningfully with each of them, but to do so in a way that drew each of them into life-giving faith in Him.  He knew how to get people, and He still does.

No One Too Far Gone

There isn’t anyone on earth who is too far gone for Jesus to reach.  He not only can reach the Christians, but he can reach seekers and skeptics alike.  Each person has idols of the heart, dispositions of personality and interests, premade goals in seeking Jesus, etc.  But he knows how to peel back the layers and get to the heart.

This means that wherever you are in the faith, you’re not too far for Jesus to reach you, nor will you be, as long as you have breath.  This is why Jude said that Jesus had the power to keep us until He returns (Jude 24).  This is also why Jude told Christians to have mercy on those who doubt – skeptics – (Jude 22): Because Jesus could still reach them, so Christians need to not put anything in their way.

Your loved one who is walking in rebellion from Jesus their Creator, and won’t listen, isn’t too far gone either.  You just need prayer and faithfulness, because through these, Jesus reaches people.  It remains to be seen if He will, but it doesn’t remain to be seen if He can.  Our task is to be ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20), and trust the rest to Him.

Deep Waters

Proverbs 20:5 says that the purpose in man’s heart is deep waters, but the man of understanding draws it out.  In other words, people are complicated, and Gospel presentations, whether sermons or books, are not one-size-fits-all.  But Jesus, the true Man of understanding, Wisdom Personified (cf. Prov. 8:22-35, Jn. 1:14), knows how to draw out the purpose of their heart and drive in His truth.

I suppose what I’m saying is this:  If you know Jesus, don’t worry or fret about the weakness of your faith or your loved ones’ lack thereof.  If you yourself are the doubter, just come and see.  Jesus can prove Himself. But come and see.  He can reach people and draw them to Himself (Jn. 6:44).  If He was equally accessible to Philip, Andrew, Peter, and Nathaneal alike, so that, coming from all different places, they each became disciples, don’t we think He can do the same today?  Thus, our job as Christians is to lift Him up in word and deed, and pray that He, through His Spirit, will proclaim liberty to the captives.  He’s done it before, and He’s still doing it now.

Church Full of Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins

We were watching Elf the other night, and I was especially struck by the toy-making scene where Buddy will miss his quota pathetically.  He is crushed by his obvious limits as an elf, famously calling himself "just a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins."  What struck me (for the first time) was the response of all the other elves.  While Buddy is crushed and broken, the elves rush to his comfort, several chiming in to lift up his broken spirits.  "Buddy you're not a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins."  "Buddy you have lots of gifts."  "Buddy, you're just special." Even though Buddy is not an elf in real life, and his being out of place in the toy factory is hampering their production, the elves just can't bear to see someone writhing in depression.  So they all break from meeting their individual quotas to cheer Buddy up and show him he's a part of the group and they love him.

What if church was like that?  What if church was a group of people who have committed to follow Jesus together, so that when one of them eventually shows incredible weakness in the particulars of living for Jesus, the rest of the crowd gathers around them to lift them up?  Truly if the Gospel of God's grace is being faithfully proclaimed in the church context, the reality of sin will be a part of the church's culture, so that repentance from said sin is regularly enjoined.  Thus when some believers are stuck in sin, unable to find repentance or freedom -- and make no mistake; we all do stumble in many ways (James 3:2), and there is no one who doesn't sin (1 Kings 8:46) -- they will look at everyone else and feel like a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins.

But at that point their believing family within the church will move from merely sitting around them to entirely surrounding them.  The weak brother or sister will know that even though they're weak, they have a body of weaklings surrounding them to strengthen and restore them, by the Word of Christ.  This bearing with one another's burdens in fact fulfills Christ's Law (Galatians 6:2).  I think this is what the Apostle John spoke about when he said that we are sure we're loving our brothers and sisters in the Lord only when we are ourselves walking in His commands (1 John 5:2-3).  And I know it is what the Lord Himself meant when he said that our love for one another will set us apart in the world as the people of Jesus (John 13:35).  This kind of brutal honesty toward sin that lays us in the dust when we fail, but lifts us back up as other believers purpose to strengthen and restore us until we find repentance and freedom from our High Priest-King Jesus is not only helpful, but life-changing.  It is the essence New Testament Christianity.

This in no way minimizes sin.  Instead, it deeply intensifies the reality of sin.  And in so doing, it intensifies the need for believers to gather around one another when one is stuck.  All of us feel like a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins at times, but in reality we are simply missing the mark.  But the encouragement of believing brothers and sisters who all together confess that they too miss the mark (Romans 3:23) is itself the Lord's hands and feet reminding us of His steadfast love and faithfulness.

Christian, you may be a Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins.  But you're a beloved Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins, and your Lord is interested in what you do from here.  Start with thankfulness for His grace toward you, and watch how the grace changes you.  Church, let's set the tone for patience, long-suffering, and burden-bearing.  Repentance is necessary, but repentance comes from the Lord as a grace (2 Timothy 2:25).  And often the means of grace is the community of Christ's followers - us, being Him to one another.

Bye, Buddy.

Keep Christ in Christmas?

I’ve taught a lot of Bible studies over the years, and preached many sermons.  I’m young, but God has given me many opportunities in my early years to use the gifts of communication that He has given me.

One thing that has happened far too often is that I have come into a study or sermon ill prepared.  I will teach or preach obviously wanting in the areas of clarity, content, or execution.  Often want in execution flows from want of clarity or content.

There have been times when I’ve walked away from a Bible study or sermon thinking, “Man that was bad.  I really didn’t execute what I knew.”  But in fact the real issue isn’t that I didn’t execute what I knew, but that I didn’t know what I was executing well enough for it to happen naturally.  Either I didn’t know the content well enough, or I knew it, but didn’t rightly order it so as to make it most clear.  To use a football analogy, my poor execution didn’t have as much to do with a perceived inability to “stand in the pocket” as much as it did with not knowing the plays well enough. 

I should have prepared better.  Perhaps I should simply be prepared better.  “Always be ready to make a defense” (1 Pet. 3:15); “be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2).   The implication in these verses is that if you know the content of the Gospel, you’ll be able to execute in the pocket because it’ll come naturally to you.  In other words, if you know the Word, you’ll always be ready to communicate the Word.

December is always the month when many of my fellow Christians speak a lot of “keeping Christ in Christmas.”  While I would never argue with the need to keep Christ on the forefront of anything, I have been intrigued at the recent surge of challenges by skeptics to the Americanized version of Christian Christmas.  It seems to have started with The Great Starbucks’ Holiday Cups Debacle of 2015, and has now flowed further into many people questioning the integrity of the Christmas holiday itself.   They cite the questionable history of the December 25 dating; they cite the obvious pagan use of things such as trees and how Christians several hundreds of years ago took those pagan celebrations and Christianized them; they note connections between early Christmas celebrations and ancient pagan “holidays” and cry foul over it.  While it is a complicated history (and shouldn't be oversimplified), there is warrant for questioning the integrity of the modern version of Christmas as at least partially unbiblical.  That isn’t to say that celebrating Christ’s birth is wrong by any means – Christians are to observe all that the Bible says, including the birth narratives as the miraculous accounts that they are.

But I wonder if many of my fellow Christians are pushing too hard to “keep Christ in Christmas,” because, frankly, they aren’t keeping Christ in the rest of their year.  In other words, could it be that we want to protect Christmas so bad because it is when we (finally) feel closer to Jesus, when in reality, Jesus wants us to be closer to Him all the time?  The New Testament message is nothing short of fellowship with Christ:  “You were called by God into the fellowship of His Son” (1 Cor. 1:9); “Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ” (1 Jn. 1:3); Jesus said to His disciples, “Surely I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20).  Christianity is nothing less than a present awareness of His presence with you.

If deep and rich communion with Christ – union nonetheless, as in marriage (Eph. 5:32) – is Biblical Christianity, then why do we have to try so hard to “keep Christ in Christmas?”  Won’t our participation in the holiday, as His disciples, mean His participation in the holiday?  The reality of Christmas is meant to flow out to the rest of life: Immanuel means “God with us”; and as the passages above make clear, the true Christian is the one who lives in that place all the time: God is with them, in Jesus.  “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 Jn. 5:11). 

Let us not be a people who uses this time to fight.  Instead, let us be a people proclaiming peace.  Secular people and nonbelievers are never won to Jesus by bickering or fighting, but are won by Jesus making Himself known to them, as He made Himself known to us.  If during the Christmas season we show the peace of God ruling in our hearts, it will mean that the peace of God really does rule in our hearts all the time, and perhaps the Lord will bless our witness.  We’ll be prepared to show Christ to people in this Christmas time because Christ is really with us all the time.  In other words, we’ll execute because we know existentially and truly the very truths which the holiday is supposed to communicate.  

If we "fight" to "keep Christ in Christmas," we’ll lose; and it won’t be because we didn’t fight well enough.  It might sadly be because we fought for something that is perhaps only true to us for a month out of the year, instead of being true to us every month.  And if it's only true for you this month, it won't be true for you this month or any other month.  But if Christ is truly with you now, He's with you all the time, and the peace of God will rule over you now and all the time.