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.