Miraculous: Jesus Saves the Best for Last

 

Miraculous: Jesus Saves the Best for Last

John 2:1-11

The Gospel of John starts off with bang… “In the Beginning…” And where have we heard those words before? The opening lines of the Bible! Many theologians say the Gospel of John mirrors Genesis chapter 1. John focuses first on seven signs, or miracles, and also seven “I AM” statements. Often in Scripture, the number seven signifies completion or perfection. These seven signs, and seven statements, are reminiscent of the seven days of creation. 

And right there in John chapter 2, the writer opens with, “On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana…” The third day. Why in the world did that detail make it into the story? Well, Jews did not name the days of the week with the names that we use. For instance, Thursday stands for Thor’s day, (think Avengers, Chris Hemsworth as THOR). Thor’s day is devoted to a pagan god, and Sunday is the day of the Sun god. Instead, Jews numbered their days to correspond to the days of creation. 

 

Day One was the first day of creation and corresponds with our Sunday, our first day of the week. And on the first day, God created light, and said, “it is good.” After creating the sky on the second day, He said, “it is good.” But on the THIRD day, two things happened! God created land and sea, and said, “it is good.” AND THEN, He created plants and trees, and said, “it is good.” That’s a double blessing on the third day! That’s a double blessing on Tuesdays! It’s like Tuesdays here at FUMC with TWO back-to-back staff meetings 😊 A double blessing!

 

Because of this double blessing, Tuesday tends to be a popular wedding day in the Jewish culture – it gives a blessing to the wife and a blessing to the husband! Now when we read the opening sentence in John 2, we know this wedding is the wedding of a very religious Jewish family.

 

I was pondering this when two visitors stopped my office. They were a sweet, young couple. They had recently been married, and sat cuddly close on the couch, bursting with happiness. He did most of the talking…much like my husband! And she nodded and added something when he took a breath. She began by telling me that her mother & Mary had been friends since they were teenagers. So, naturally they had invited Mary & Jesus to their wedding. They were thrilled Jesus could come, even a bit surprised when He showed up with twelve friends. But it was all fine – Jesus was like family to them. 

 

And they had a great time. The food was delicious, the joy was overflowing, and the wine was superb! People stayed, drinking & eating & drinking a little more. Soon the wine was gone, and the waiters began to worry. 

 

“We thought we had ordered enough,” the young man said. “Can you imagine running out of wine at a wedding? The guests would’ve thought us impoverished, or thoughtless. My family name would have been dishonored. The village would have gossiped for years! We would have been social outcasts! My new bride’s family would’ve been questioning my ability to be a good husband!” 

 

The young girl slid to the edge of her seat and said to me, “I didn’t even know about the problem till after it was solved. No one told me. But someone told Mary, and she told Jesus, and He took care of it. Not only did He produce more wine, He improved it! It tasted like $500 Bordeaux!” 

 

“But listen to this!” the husband continued, “we heard He used our six stone water jars. You know, our water jars for ritual purification?! Those are big jars. They hold 20-30 gallons of water. That’s about 1000-1500 pounds. That’s a lot of water!

 

“Can you imagine?! Jesus was a religious Jew, but He gave priority to our needs! He thought it more important to spare us humiliation, than it was to keep the tradition of purification by water. And Jesus didn’t make a big deal over it. He didn’t say one word, or perform a ceremony. He simply exercised His will, and the miracle was done. After all, six jars, plus one miracle, is perfectly indicative of completion.

“Oh! And then… my best man, the emcee of our wedding… He had tasted so much wine! You know, the guests tend to drink more at the beginning of the feast, and as the evenings linger on, their senses dull…which meant we always served the cheap wine at night, when no one would notice! 

 

“But when my banquet master tasted this wine, he verified the miracle! He had no idea the wine was drawn from the water jars! He only knew that its quality was better than the wine we had served all week long! He thought we had saved the BEST FOR LAST! And in the end, we had something like 900 bottles of seriously good wine! A miraculous, and a very generous wedding gift, I might add!”

 

The young woman finally spoke up again, and said, “But here’s what impressed me. This was His first miracle, right? His debut, and He used it on us! He saved us from looking like poor hosts! Jesus didn’t have to do that. There was a town of sick & poor people. Raising the dead would have made better headlines. But He used His first miracle on a social miscue!”

 

“Maybe,” she said, “maybe the miracle wasn’t the water to wine. Maybe it was really a miracle of compassion.” 

 

And, friends, as a result of this miracle of compassion, right there in verse 11 it says, “His disciples believed in Him.” Of course, they believed before, enough to drop their nets and follow Him. But now their belief was deepened and re-expressed. Isn’t this typical of our Christian lives? God does great things in our lives, and we believe in Him all the more. 

 

So, friends, what can we learn from this miracle? Well, I think each character in the story teaches us a lesson:

 

First - Mary shows us to expect Jesus to do big things.

 

Mary naturally went to Jesus when there was a problem. The text tells us, “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

 

Several commentaries suggest this wedding must have been among some of Mary’s close friends or family members. Her concern over the lack of wine may indicate she had a hand in the catering or planning.

 

And in their culture, a wedding celebration could last up to 7 days! It was a very big deal! To have the wine run out would have been a gross oversight of those who were in charge of the provisions - namely the groom’s family. This would have resulted in shame or disgrace on the part of the new couple and their extended family - not the best way to begin a marriage!

 

It's unclear exactly what Mary expected Jesus to do, or even what she believes He can do. But, she knew He would have the answer.

 

And then Jesus answers her interestingly, by saying, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

 

As we read this in English, it sounds like Jesus is being disrespectful and harsh - calling His mother “woman.” But this is the same Greek word that Jesus used when He addressed… 

·      the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4, 

·      the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8. 

·      It’s what He called his own mother again from the cross in John chapter 19, 

·      and his name for Mary Magdalene after the resurrection in John chapter 20. 

 

It might be better understood if the word was translated “Ma’am”. While the Greek word is not an endearing term, it’s also not as distant as “woman,” and certainly not derogatory. 

 

Even with His response, Jesus must have indicated that He would do something, because Mary responds...in verse 5, “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’”

 

Which leads to the second set of characters: the servants. The servants show us to obey Jesus without question.

Jesus gave the servants two commands: First, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so, they filled them to the brim.” And second, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

 

That’s it. That’s the extent of it. Jesus issued two commands, and the servants obeyed. No questions asked. They didn’t criticize the command. They didn’t whine when they had to haul 6 of these 190-pound stone jars. They didn’t complain when it took several hours to trek to the edge of town to the well, fill the jars, and somehow get these extremely heavy jars back to the wedding before the evening was over. This was a tough and exhausting job. The monotony of filling the jars was surely no fun either - lowering the bucket into the well, filling the bucket, pulling it up, dumping the water in the jars… again and again and again until the jars were completely full. Their arms were tired. They were likely ready to go home and sleep. But they kept going. They didn’t balk when the command seemed trivial. They didn’t say, “You aren’t my boss.” They didn’t say, “You don’t need me to complete this miracle.” They simply kept going. And they didn’t stop until the jars were filled to the brim. Now Jesus didn’t tell them to fill them to the brim. They just did it. Out of obedience. They simply obeyed. 

 

When God gives us a task, sometimes, most of the times, it’s not easy. When He does, it’s mainly to get our attention and draw us closer to Him. But, what do we often do? How do we react? We moan and complain. We wring our hands with worry. And we pray and pray that it would go away quickly. 

 

That’s not what the servants did. They followed instructions, carried them out in obedience, and gave Him their very best effort despite their exhaustion. And, they didn’t even know who Jesus was! 

 

How often do we give up, instead of following through? How often do we give a lackluster effort instead of doing the best we possibly can? How many of us have forgotten Paul’s instructions to the Colossians, “Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men.” 

 

The servants are a great example of giving God our best and not giving up until we do. Perhaps we should fill our hearts and spiritual jars up to the brim with His love. Then, when any spills out, His grace and goodness will splash on those around us. 

 

A third set of characters – the groom and the MC, a double lesson, if you will: the groom shows us that Jesus loves to save the day, and the master of the feast shows us that Jesus saves the best for last.

 

Somewhere between the time the servants filled the jars with water and the master of the feast tasted the wine, the miracle happened. Jesus bypassed months of harvesting, crushing, fermenting, and mixing – and in a moment, He turned the water into wine. In this moment of turmoil, Jesus took what would could have been a shameful blot on the groom and seemed to bring him an added measure of honor by saving the best for last.

 

But even more than that… Those six stone water jars were used for ceremonial washings. They represented the old covenant, and how the Jewish people would wash and purify themselves in preparation for Temple visits, or sacrifices, or even a wedding feast. 

 

Jesus comes in, saves the day, and changes that water into wine, because HE is the new and everlasting covenant. He came to suffer and die on the cross, to obtain for us the forgiveness of sins and new life in the Holy Spirit. His sacrifice cleanses not our hands and bodies, but our souls. Jesus IS that new covenant. He not only saves the day, but saves our lives. 

 

Just as the wine is so much more substantial than water, Christ is more substantial than the old covenant. He IS the new wine, flowing in abundance from the merciful, compassionate heart of God. He really does save the best for last!

 

And the final lesson from our cast of characters: the disciples show us that Jesus was for real. 

 

John, by using the word “sign”, does something interesting. He’s indicating that the miraculous activity of Jesus is more than a demonstration of His divine power. 

 

You see, John could have used many different words to describe Jesus’ activity. Sometimes the gospel writers would use the Greek word dynameis or “mighty works” - but John never does. Other times, the writers use the word terata, which often gets combined with the Greek word for “signs” to indicate “signs and wonders.” But John is up to something different.

 

Jesus’ miracles are never simply naked displays of power, nor tricks to impress the masses. Signs are significant displays of power that point beyond themselves to the deeper realities that could be perceived with the eyes of faith.

 

And this first sign has that effect on Jesus’ disciples. These signs would give His followers a glimpse into His glory and divinity, His love and compassion. And this miracle did just that – They believed IN Him. They entrusted themselves TO Him. 

 

My favorite theologian, Henri Nouwen, says this, “…In Jesus, God’s compassion became visible to us. Jesus not only said in Luke 6, ‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate,’ but He also was the concrete embodiment of this divine compassion in our world.” 

 

Friends, that’s our Savior, our Messiah, our Jesus. He can raise the dead, He can forgive our sins, and all the while, He acts with compassion. The glory of Jesus is found in His compassion, and this miracle was full of compassion. The wine was not an absolute necessity; no one would die if they had to settle for drinking water. At risk was the embarrassment, the reputation, and perhaps the bank account of the bridal couple. Yet, Jesus counted that enough to do this first public miracle and sign. 

 

So today, friends, as we remember those saints in our lives who have gone on to glory, let us follow their lead, and the lead of our Lord and Savior, as we act with hearts of obedience and lives of compassion. 

 

 

Let us pray: 

 

Good and gracious God,

Thank You for the message of Your servant John: 

for the wisdom and the insight it brings; 

for the ministry of Your son Jesus, 

who fills our lives to the brim 

with His love and compassion.

 

We thank You for this community of faith, 

for the opportunity to come together and celebrate 

by breaking bread in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

May we continue this day 

in a deeper and closer relationship with Him.

We ask these things 

in the name of Your Son, 

our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Amen.