John 2:1-12 Interpreting the Signs

1:04But if a stroke is recognized quickly enough and treatment is procured, then the odds of survival go way up and the odds of permanent damage or injury to the body go way down. And so medical professionals tell us it's important to know how to recognize a stroke. And we can remember these signs that somebody is having a stroke through the action. Acronym FAST, F-A-S-T. Stands for face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty. And if you recognize those three signs, then it's time to call 911.

1:47And seeing and rightly interpreting those signs is important because someone's quality of life, or maybe their life itself, may be at stake. Well, today, friends, we're going to be in John chapter 2. And in this chapter, he begins the account of the public life and public ministry of Jesus. And what he's going to do throughout the rest of the next section is he's going to identify seven miracles that Jesus performed that he calls signs. And he chooses that word, signs, very deliberately. Because John wants us to understand that Jesus did not perform miracles arbitrarily. Rather, every single miracle he performed was a sign that pointed to his true identity and his mission. And seeing and rightly interpreting those signs is a matter of eternal life.

2:49So this morning we're going to get to hear John's account of Jesus' first sign. And if we pay careful attention and the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, it's meaning. Won't be lost on us. So let's take a look here at John chapter 2, verse 1. It begins on the third day. So we are still in the first week of Jesus' public ministry. And the event that John is describing is happening on the third day. And what he means by that, if we go back to the previous section at the end of chapter 1, it's two days after he called Philip and Nathanael to follow him. And we learned that there is a wedding taking place in a small town known as Cana, which is in Galilee. It's just north of Samaria. Israel was divided up into Judah and Samaria and Galilee in the north. And so this is just north of Samaria in this little town. And Jesus conducts a large portion of his ministry in this region known as Galilee and around Capernaum and Cana.

3:48And weddings, of course, are a huge deal today with families going to almost any length to give their son or their daughter the ceremony and the reception of their dreams. But if you can believe it, weddings were at least as big of a deal in first century Israel. So what would happen is that under normal circumstances, a family would invite basically everybody they knew, often the entire town, to the wedding. And declining an invitation to a wedding was considered to be a serious insult, as you can see in many of Jesus' parables that have to do with weddings later on in the gospel. On the wedding day, the bride dressed in white. She put on her best jewelry, and the groom. Attended by his friends and singers and musicians, he would walk from his house to her house to receive her parents' blessing and then exchange vows. And afterward, the whole wedding party walked back to the groom's house where a feast would be provided and the celebration would continue for one to two weeks.

4:54Now, I know some of you guys like weddings. I don't know if anybody likes weddings enough to want to do that thing for two weeks. But you can imagine just how costly this would be for a groom's family to not just provide food for that many people, but a feast for that many people that lasted from one to two weeks. And I want you to note that in these first couple of verses, John notes that Jesus' mother, Mary, was there. And by the way that he sets her apart, along with what happens next, it seemed like she might have a special role either in helping to host or even to help cater this event, maybe because she was a close friend of the family. And he notes that Jesus and his disciples are also invited as guests. So in verse 3, we come to the conflict of this particular story. The wine ran out.

5:45That was a big deal for a lot of reasons. First of all, you have to remember, this is the first century. So there is no total wine or specs down the street that you can just run to, assuming that you even had money. To buy more wine, which these people probably did not. Everything back then was made by hand, so it was really hard to come by. And if you ran out, that was a problem that you probably couldn't solve for some time.

6:13The second issue here is it's not like there was a bunch of other options to consider when the wine ran out. It's not like, ah, no big deal, you know, get the sparkling water and the Coke Zero. You basically had wine, milk, and water. Those were the choices. So if the wine runs out, I mean, it's not like you're going to have enough milk to serve a crowd this size. And anyway, serving milk to adults at a party is super weird. So, you know, we're not doing that. They don't have access to pure running water, so wine is the drink of choice. It's safe, it's available. And then finally, running out of wine wasn't just embarrassing. It certainly was embarrassing. But this is a serious transgression of the unwritten laws of hospitality in the ancient Near East.

7:05So we began this morning talking about the significance of signs. And when we read the text a little while ago, John said that the miracle that Jesus is about to perform is the first of his signs. And the fact that he calls the miracle a sign tells us that everything that happens in this passage is significant. Yes, the fact that Jesus is significant. Jesus turned water into wine is miraculous, and we're going to give our full attention to that in a few minutes. But, friends, since it's a sign, we have to ask ourselves the question: what is the significance of the rest of the details in this story?

7:47In other words, Jesus could have turned asparagus into hamburgers. Is that the point? Is the whole point that he can turn one thing into another? I don't think so. I think there's a lot going on here in the details, and this miracle is noteworthy not just because Jesus did something that nobody else could do. It's noteworthy because every detail is important, and the sign is powerful not just because Jesus turned something, anything, into something else, but specifically because he turned water into wine.

8:30Now, in the Old Testament, wine is a picture of God's blessing. Moses described the promised land as a land filled with grain and wine. God repeatedly promises to bless Israel for their faithful obedience, and one of the things that's going to mark his blessing is the presence of wine. Almost all of the faithful men in the Old Testament, Abraham, Jacob, the Levi. Levites, David, many others, they celebrated the great work of God at many times in their lives and ministries with wine. So I want you to take a look at Proverbs 3.

9:12It says, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce. Listen to this. Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. You honor the Lord, and your vats will be bursting with wine. In the Old Testament, wine is a symbol. It's a picture of blessing. And on the flip side, a lack of wine in the Old Testament is always presented as a lack of God's blessing. So consider Deuteronomy 28. As a result of their future disobedience, this is what God says: You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. Look at Isaiah 24. Isaiah is prophesying about God's just judgment on all the nations of the earth who reject him. He says, There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine. All joy has grown dark, the gladness of the earth is banished.

10:16And then one more lamentations 2. Jeremiah is talking about the exiled Israelites crying out to God. He says, They cry to their mothers, Where is bread and wine? As they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out. On their mother's bosom. My favorite word in the Old Testament. So, in the Old Testament, the presence of wine is a symbol of the presence of God's blessing on his people. And similarly, the absence of wine is seen as the absence of God's blessing, the removal of God's blessing on his people. So, let's come back to the text. What's the situation here in John chapter 2? It is the very first week of Jesus' public ministry, and he attends a wedding in Israel for a Jewish couple, and the wine has run out.

11:12So, readers of John's Gospel, they're going to think about all the stuff that I just said a few moments ago. This is a problem, this is awkward, this is embarrassing, this could ruin the family's reputation, and the wine has run out. Wait a minute, wine is a symbol of God's blessing. What is John trying to show us here? And like I said, there's a lot more going on here than Jesus just turning something into something else. John himself said at the end of his gospel that if he wrote down everything Jesus did, the world itself couldn't contain the books. He only records seven miracles. Why does he pick this miracle to highlight?

11:56Because Jesus' first miracle is a Sign that God's blessing is coming again through him. So back to the text, verse 3 again, Mary goes to Jesus and tells him that the wine has run out. Now, we don't know that Mary expected Jesus to perform a miracle to solve this problem. What we do know is that Jesus is the oldest son, and we assume because Joseph is never mentioned in the Gospels after his birth, and that Jesus tells John, his apostle, his disciple, that he needs to take care of his mom after his crucifixion, we assume that that's because Joseph is dead. And so it would have been totally natural for Jesus to have been, as the firstborn son, helping his mom to solve problems for a long time. But it does seem that Mary is implying that they'd need a miracle to solve this problem, which, given all the factors that I shared a little while ago, is probably true. They can't just run to the store.

12:55Now, Jesus' reply in verse 4, take a look at this. You look at his reply, and it sounds disrespectful. Like he's like, woman, what's that got to do with me? But we know that surely Jesus is not speaking like that to his mother. I mean, he's using the same gentle tone that he addresses her with as he hangs on the cross when he passes her off to John for him to take care of her. Woman, behold your son.

13:29Or In the garden, after his resurrection, Mary Magdalene is there weeping, and he comes up behind her. He says, Woman, why are you weeping? So here he says to his mom, Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. In the Gospel of John, Jesus's hour is always referring to his crucifixion, his suffering, his death on behalf of sinners. And so, what Jesus is doing is he's telling Mary, Look, if I do this, there's no going back.

14:05This road leads only to the cross. And that's okay because that's what Jesus came to do. He came to offer himself in our place for our sins. But he wants Mary to understand the implications of beginning his public ministry in this way. There's no going back. But anyway, not even Jesus can tell his mom no, so he says, sure. Verse 5, I want you to look at what Mary says in response. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you.

14:43Do whatever he tells you. Church, I think we should learn from this interaction because Mary has a problem, or more specifically, Mary's friends have a problem, and she knows exactly where to go with that. Problem to Jesus. And when she goes to him, she simply presents the problem to him. That's it. She doesn't say, Jesus, they're out of wine, and I want you to perform a miracle to solve this. Specifically, what I have in mind is you fast-forwarding the wedding so that everybody thinks it's over before it really is, and that everyone can go home happy. She doesn't do that. She simply presents the problem to Jesus and she says, Do whatever he tells you to the servants.

15:37Friends, I think even when we pray, which by definition is acknowledging that we cannot solve a problem, that we are powerless, we lack the wisdom, we lack the ability to do something about it, even when we pray, we still try to maintain some semblance of control by telling God, Here's my problem, and here is the exact way that I want you to solve it. And then, if God doesn't solve it in the exact way that we prescribe to him, a lot of times we feel like he did not answer our prayer.

16:12But humility tells us that what we do is we take our problems to God or our friends' problems to God, and we let God decide whether to solve that problem and exactly how to solve that problem. That's what Mary did. So let's go to verse 6 here. We get into what Jesus does. It says, Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Now, we don't know all that much, most of us, about the Jewish rites of purification and a lot of this stuff. So we get some insight from other parts of Scripture where Jesus is talking about these things, like in Mark chapter 7. So take a look up on the screen. It says, Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. I'm not real sure how you'd wash a couch.

17:39I would just be like, listen, we just have to find a different religion because I'm not going to wash my couch. I'm just not going to do that. This passage is helpful because Mark describes for us exactly what's going on here. These stone water jars are there so that the Jews could come and wash. Their hands before they ate, not so they didn't spread germs to the other people at the gathering, but specifically so they would not be defiled by eating with hands that had touched things that would make them ceremonially unclean, according to the law of Moses. But what you have to understand is that in the law of Moses, that kind of washing was only necessary in very specific instances, not every day and for everything.

18:32That's why Mark notes that this ceremonial washing, if you look at the text, it was part of what was called the tradition of the elders. It wasn't actually a part of God's law, it was an interpretation of God's law, listen to this, that came to be regarded as the only right way to observe the law. It's what we would call legalism. Now, as a part of the sign, this too is very significant. These things are not jugs of water for drinking. They're not even sinks to wash your hands so that you can remove germs before you eat. No, these stone jars had a specifically religious function, and it was to cleanse the hands, the outside of the body, from anything that one may have touched or come in contact with that would make you ceremonially unclean.

19:28So the wine. Is gone, the symbol of God's blessing is gone, and what do you have left? You have these stone jars filled with water that you're supposed to use to try to remove the spiritual filth from off of you. In a real sense, these stone jars represent man's attempt to make himself clean before God. These things are huge. It takes a lot of work, a lot of water to try to make yourself clean before God. And this water was only used for external cleansing. It couldn't actually make clean the inside at the level of the heart, the mind, the soul.

20:17So, in verse 7, now, Jesus tells the servants to fill the jars with water, which they do, all the way to the top, and then he tells them to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. And that in and of itself was a real act of faith to fill those jars and to take some to the master of the feast. Because if this doesn't work, then all they're doing is drawing even more attention to the fact that the wine is run out. It's even more embarrassing than it was before.

20:45But they do it. They take the water that has become wine to the master of the feast, and look at verse 10. He tells them, tells the groom, everyone serves the good wine first. And when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. Most people are going to try to put their best foot forward. You're going to try to make a good impression. And so, what seems to this man to be this gesture of the groom and his family, the hosts, that they deliberately save the best wine for later, that showed incredible generosity. Not to mention the fact that it spoke to their belief that the guests had enough integrity that they would even be able to tell that there was a difference in the wine at that point.

21:40So, do you see what's happened here? Jesus is invited to a wedding of a Jewish family. And I want you to remember that throughout the Old Testament, Jesus, Israel rather, is pictured as God's bride. His unfaithful bride, to be sure, but Israel is pictured as God's bride. They run out of wine, the symbol of God's blessing, and all they're left with is the remnants of old covenant Judaism. And not even pure Judaism, but a Judaism that has been diluted. It has been watered down with the tradition of the elders for hundreds of years.

22:20And then Jesus, who will come to be seen as the bridegroom in his parables and in the church, transforms the water in the purification jars. New wine, the best wine. So look at this interaction recorded in Matthew chapter 9. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.

23:26Jesus did not come to kind of patch up old covenant Judaism. As though all they needed was a little bit more teaching, a little bit more encouragement, maybe a new prophet. No, Jesus came to offer a whole new wineskin filled with new wine. And so on the night that he was betrayed, Jesus instituted what we call the Lord's Supper, and we find this in Matthew 26. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink. Of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

24:19The old wine of Judaism is being replaced with the new wine of God's kingdom. Take a look at verse 11. This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. I want you to see again, John doesn't call this a miracle, which simply speaks to something supernatural, a suspension of the ordinary laws that govern our universe. No, he calls it a sign, something that points beyond itself, something that means more than what is immediately apparent.

25:08So every miracle Jesus performed was really a sign that pointed to a greater reality. And we see this all throughout the Gospels. He heals a paralyzed man to prove that he has power and authority to forgive sin. He feeds 4,000 and 5,000. To prove that he is the bread of life, he raises Lazarus from the dead to show that he is the resurrection and the life. Every one of his miracles was a sign, and so this miracle, this transforming of water into wine, is a sign that revealed that Jesus has come to put new wine into new wineskins, to pour out the wine of his blood, not for temporary external cleansing of the hands, but for permanent internal cleansing of the heart and the mind and the soul.

26:19Now, the last verse in this section, verse 12, I want you to take a look at this. After this, he went down to Cavernium with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. It is important to note that Jesus' brothers were at this wedding, and surely they knew or they learned about the wine running out and Jesus transforming water into wine. And look, even if they didn't know about that sign or come to learn about that sign, they still had plenty of opportunities to see other signs and believe in them, just like his disciples. Did, and yet, here's what we find several chapters later in John chapter 7. Take a look at the screen.

27:08So his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him. That is the danger. The danger is that you can see the signs, you can take part in and even benefit from a miracle from Jesus. You can be so close and yet still not believe that he is the Son of God.

27:54I don't want that to be your story, where you hear about and see, maybe even experience the work of Jesus in different ways around you, in the church, among people that you know, and yet you still don't believe. You still don't believe that he is who he claimed to be. My hope rather is that you will respond like the disciples did after they witnessed him turn this water into wine, that you would believe that he is the Lamb of God who came to Have his blood shed for the forgiveness of sins, not just generally, but for your sins specifically, so that you could be reconciled to God through faith in his death and resurrection. That's what I want for you.

28:47And so, if you've not placed your faith in Christ, the one who is demonstrated again and again in the gospels through the witness of these people, these apostles and others, then let today be the day that you put your faith in Christ. Don't put it off any longer. We have good reason to believe that his brothers eventually did become believers. We know that several of his brothers did because they went on to lead in the church. But, friends, we're not promised tomorrow. And so, let today be the day that you turn from your sin and receive Christ by faith.

29:27If you're already following Jesus, then what happened at Cana in Galilee? It's just a foretaste of what is to come for all of us who are Jesus' disciples. I want you to look at Revelation 19 at this good news, this picture that we should all have in our minds of what is coming. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

30:28And he said to me, These are the true words of God. At the marriage supper of the Lamb, believers are going to enjoy a feast prepared by God Himself. The feast has no end. The wine never runs out, because Jesus Himself is the bridegroom, Jesus Himself is the master of the feast, Jesus Himself is the guest of honor. Friends, in our world, many things start out promising, but they run out. Or they keep going, but they're never as good as they were at the beginning. But in God's kingdom, the best is yet to come, and it will never end.

31:23Blessed indeed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Just make sure that you've accepted the invitation. Let's pray. God, we thank you for moving the Apostle John to record this miracle, this sign that points to the identity and the mission of Jesus. God, I pray for every person that's heard the sermon today that the meaning of this sign will not be lost on them, but that they will gladly, joyfully, and swiftly turn to Jesus and accept the invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb through faith.

32:41God, I pray that they don't put it off any longer. Whatever is keeping them away, I pray that you would draw them to yourself today and that today would be the day of salvation. God, for all of us who are already believers, I pray that we would look at what Jesus came to do and that we would be filled with fresh gratitude and appreciation for him coming and fulfilling the entire law, leaving none of it unfulfilled, none of it not obeyed, that we might be accepted and adopted through faith in him.

33:30God, I pray that you would give us that vision of what we have to look forward to when Christ returns, and that we would live every day in light of that reality that that is what is coming for us in eternity with you, Jesus, at your feast that never ends. I pray especially that you would encourage and bring hope to those who are suffering and in trials, who are disappointed, whose lives are difficult right now. God, I pray that you would encourage them with that good news of what is to come.

34:12In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.