The First Miracle

You've seen the commercials showing someone with a mouthful of cookies.

And as they ask the questions, got milk? We're going to be looking at some things here.

The question in the story we are about to read this morning is, was got wine?

And the answer was no. So let's read that story. John chapter 2,

John 2:1–11

verses 1 through 11. If you follow along with me.

On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.

Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, They have no more wine.

Woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied, My hour has not yet come.

His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you.

She didn't listen to what he said my hour hasn't come but anyway,

she's mom so nearby stood six stone water jars the kind used by the jews for

ceremonial washing each holding from 20 to 30 gallons now can somebody tell

me how much a gallon of water weighs,

eight eight and a half pounds so 20 to 30 gallons is how much.

160 to 240 pounds. Okay, just keep that in your mind.

Jesus said to the servant, fill the jars with water.

So they went to the well with their jars on their shoulders,

filled them up and carried them back. No, they didn't. So they filled them to the brim.

Then he told them, now draw some water out and take it to the master of the banquet.

They did so and the master of the banquet tasted the wine that had been turned,

or 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 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.

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.

So the wine was gone.

A miracle was needed to save the family, and the new couple,

and the ultimate embarrassment,

of not being able to provide enough for their friends at their own wedding was

truly a humbling experience.

They would be forever remembered in this small village as the ones who failed

to take care of the needs of the guests that they had invited.

The supply of wine was already running low when Jesus and his five new disciples

showed up. They had been invited, but it was adding and putting an extra strain

on the diminishing supply of wine.

The Gospel of John is full of

symbolism and allegory. The story opens with the words, on the third day.

Now, the story here is heavy with allegory in which.

John had been alluding to Jesus' resurrection after three days.

John is preparing for us for what he was building up to throughout his Gospel,

that Jesus would be buried, and on the third day, he would show up again,

having risen from the dead.

Then he would make preparations for the great wedding feast of the Lamb of God.

Then he would gather together all who would be his guests into the kingdom of God.

Jesus' first sign would point to his final sign by which he would show his glory.

In the days of Jesus, wine was a symbol of joy.

When the wine ran out, the joy of the wedding couple ran out.

But on the third day of the wedding, and weddings at that time oftentimes took

about seven or eight days, wedding festivals.

So on the third day of the wedding, just as on the third day of Christ's crucifixion,

when the wine had run out, Jesus restored their joy after it.

Sorry. I don't know if you guys have ever seen the TikTok. There's this woman

with this paper bag in her car.

Cop stops her and he says, what are you drinking?

And she smells it and she goes, oh, he did it again. But anyway.

That just flashed through my head, you know.

After Jesus and his disciples arrive at the wedding, Jesus' mother approached

him and said, they have no more wine.

Some believe that the bridal family may have been relatives of Jesus and his

family, or perhaps was even the wedding of one of Jesus' younger siblings, one of her sisters.

They believe she was, mother was not asking for or expecting a miracle,

but saying, in effect, the arrival of you and your disciples has caused a problem.

Please send some of them to purchase more rind. Now, I don't know where scholars think that.

People just like to make up stories about, oh, wait a minute, I do that too.

But I believe there's more likely scenario is that Jesus's mother had known

all along who Jesus was and what he was capable of doing. She was his mother.

He had been prophesied to her when she was getting ready to conceive him.

In the days of Jesus, wine was a symbol of joy, as I said.

And Jesus' mother understood that his public ministry began with his baptism

and the calling of the first of disciples. She expected that he would be able

to do something wonderful.

And so even over his reluctance to start his ministry before it was time,

my time has not yet come, she tells the servants, do whatever he tells you.

We could probably stop with that right now and just that'd be the sermon.

Do whatever he tells you. Wouldn't that be.

In our words, wouldn't that be a message? Do whatever Jesus tells you.

But I can't do that because I'm a pastor and a pastor have to go on for at least

30 minutes. So anyway, there are some things we could draw from this story.

The first point I would like to make regarding the story is that miracles happen

when we understand that Jesus cares about our everyday needs.

Jesus' mother knows that he cares about people. He cares about all of our needs,

not just our spiritual needs.

Scripture says, cast your cares on him, for he cares for you.

He cares about people being unnecessarily embarrassed. He cares about people enjoying themselves.

Jesus is the kind of guy you would want at your party. He knows how to have a good time.

In fact, in the New Testament, he's often seen at parties to which he has been

invited, and he always seems to be the center of focus at the party.

Sometimes, as in Matthew 11, verse 19, his enemies have opposed him and called

Matthew 11:19

him a glutton and a drunkard.

Well, there's no evidence that he was a glutton and a drunkard,

but he was at a lot of parties,

including the one where he was when the woman came in and spilled myrrh all

over his head, oil all over his head and his feet.

No one ever accused Jesus of promoting a dour, rigid, emotion-stifling religion.

The picture I see of Jesus that I think is more evident of who he was was one

that was painted by a girl, drawn by a girl, I believe, in Germany.

After she had experienced having died and gone to heaven briefly and come back,

she painted a picture of Jesus.

And it was a picture of Jesus smiling and reaching out to people.

I thought, that's who my Jesus is. He was the one who loved and smiled and welcomed him.

Wherever Jesus went, there was life and joy. He stated in John 15,

John 15:11

verse 11, that his life mission was, as he said, that his joy might be in us

and that our joy might be complete.

That doesn't sound like a sourpuss-type guy, does it?

It sounds like a guy who loves God and loves people, as we heard last week.

He has come to bring his joy, and there is joy everywhere in our world.

He is the God of irrepressible joy, and he has come to share.

He offers the wine of joy to all those who are thirsty for life,

for those who will come and drink.

He takes care of our needs, both great and small.

There is nothing too ordinary to pray about.

He's just as concerned about the little problems of your life as he is about your big problems.

Jesus cares for you.

If he was a little God, he would be able to take care of only the major things.

But since he's a great God, he is capable and able to take care of all the things in our lives.

Scripture tells us in Matthew 6, he sees every sparrow every time they land

on the ground. He keeps track of the number of hairs on your head,

or in some case, the number of hairs that are missing.

He calls the stars by name. He is a great God who is too big not to be concerned

about the everyday things of your life.

God and Jesus care for you.

Our God lives and he reigns. He is so personal.

He promises to live within us if we only ask him. He is so great,

he is involved in every detail of the ongoing process of life upon earth.

He designs every snowflake. He calls for the storm and then commands it to be

still. If you've read Job, you'll see that.

Who is it that calls forth the storms, the snow from the north?

He whistles to the birds, calling them to their winter home.

He holds the world together with his loving and powerful hands.

He knows your name, and he knows your need.

This is a mighty God whom we serve.

The second point I would like to make about the story is that miracles happen

when we understand that Jesus transforms our everyday experiences.

Jesus didn't come to give us information. He came to give us transformation.

He changes things. He has a way of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary.

Like he did changing water into wine.

He could change us from sinners to saints.

He did not come to bring new ideas. He came to make new people.

The water didn't just appear to be wine. It was really transformed into wine, the best of wine at that.

Some people have trouble believing this kind of miracle, but it's only because

they don't understand the kind of God we have.

I've heard some say that people were so drunk that they didn't know that it

was just water that they were drinking.

Sorry, you're taken away from the Word of God in that.

Turning water into wine is the kind of thing that God can do every day.

As you travel around this area, as I've had the opportunity to do,

you will see several vineyards.

Grape vines extend out a long distance.

And while we as a church do not support the alcohol trade, it's interesting

to note that even here in Wisconsin, God is still turning water into wine.

The rain falls on the ground, and as the vine draws the water up to the branches,

it's transformed into the juice of the grape.

And when that juice goes through the natural process of fermentation,

it is transformed into wine.

Because they didn't have refrigeration in the times of the Hebrews,

they would put the juice from the crushed grapes into wine skins,

and the natural sugars of the juice would cause the wine to ferment into weakly alcoholic,

excuse me, the juice to ferment into weakly alcoholic wine so that it would

be preserved for consumption.

So this was God's natural way to preserve that juice.

Now, there's another sermon in this. If you leave the wine in the wineskins

for too long, what does it become?

Vinegar. And that's not good to drink.

But anyway, our God is in the transformation business. The world wants us to

get a new hairdo or a new wardrobe to lose weight or get a facelift.

Society tells us to get a better job or learn a skill, but Jesus doesn't want

to change your looks. He wants to change your heart.

He doesn't want to give you a new suit. He wants to make you a new person.

He doesn't want to rearrange you. He wants to renovate you.

You want to look better on the outside, and he wants to make you new on the inside.

And when that transformation takes place, it will show up on the outside as well.

I shared this before with you. When I accepted Christ at the age of 17 on the

way home in the plane, I was sharing with the lady next to me about my new faith.

And then when I got home, some people came to my parents at church one Sunday

and said, what has happened to Tim?

For the first time since we've known him, he smiles.

So God not only changes us on the inside, but that transforms us inside and

makes us new on the outside as well.

When Jesus changed the water into wine, he did not just change the color and

fool the people's taste buds.

He actually changed the water into wine. When the water was turned to wine,

the shame of the bridal party was

turned to joy. The mood of the party was transformed into festivity again.

And Jesus' disciples were transformed as well. The Bible says,

he thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him.

This was early on in his ministry, one of the first miracles he ever performed.

And it was at this, the disciples who were following him now came to have faith in him, trust in him.

That's what Jesus really came to do. He came to transform people.

Jewish custom was focused on the importance of being ceremonial clean.

The water jars were mostly empty because each guest had been given water to

wash their feet and hands as they arrived.

But this was so much...

This was not so much for cleanliness as it was for ritual purity.

It wasn't really to wash the dirt off their feet.

It was just a matter of tradition that they would do this. They would wash their feet.

The jars of water were there in order to fill the Old Testament requirements

for ceremonial washing.

It was a ritual. It was a dead ritual.

In a little while, we're going to be celebrating the Lord's Supper,

and so oftentimes that becomes dead ritual. This should not be.

We should be remembering the Lord at all times, and especially as we take the Lord's Supper.

But in John's way of mixing events with metaphor, the jars represented the Old

Testament law and its inability to make a person really clean.

You can be cleaned on the outside, but that water didn't do anything to clean you on the inside.

When Jesus came into contact with those jars used in ritual cleansing,

he transformed their contents.

He filled the jar with his new wine.

The deadness of the Old Testament law was made alive with the wine of the new

covenant that Jesus came to bring.

Wine is the symbol of God's grace that comes into our lives undeserved and transforms

us from the inside out into the image of God.

It says in Revelation chapter 21, verse 5, I am making everything new.

Revelation 21:5

The old system of having to live up to an impossible legal code was being replaced

by the wine of God's grace, which washes our sins away.

We are cleansed on the inside. I was asked by.

One of Nancy's great-nephews.

Joel's oldest, Bennett. Last week, we talked about, he and I were talking about

some things, and he asked, is speeding a sin?

Hmm, good question.

You know, there are signs, there are times when we do things that break laws,

laws of man, and yet there are times when we break laws of God as well.

But we are cleansed on the inside, and this is not just a symbol,

its substance. Our sins are not just taken away. We have a changed heart.

Our sins are cast away from us as far as east is from the west.

But yet Christ comes in, the Spirit of God comes in and changes us from the

inside out and makes us desire to love God and live for him and love others as ourselves.

He places within us a holy desire. There's no limits to God's grace.

What Jesus gives is never just enough. It's always more than enough with plenty left over.

He didn't give just enough trees. He gave more than enough. He didn't create

just enough mountains. He created more than enough.

He did not give just enough ocean. He gave more than enough.

He did not give just enough life and joy. He gave more than enough.

In very ordinary places, he creates extraordinary beauty. And if you have lived

in this area long enough, you might have taken for granted the beauty in this area around us.

It is just amazing what God has done in this driftless area of Wisconsin.

So let Jesus touch you and see if he might take your ordinary life and make it extraordinary.

But Jesus didn't just transform the contents of those jars of water by turning

it into wine. He transformed the purpose of those jars as well.

Jars that were meant to be holding water to wash feet were transformed into

vessels that contained the joy of the Lord.

Original purpose of those jars, as I said, was to be curious to provide water,

to simply wash their hands and feet, to remove the filth of the world into a

basin of increasingly dirty wash water.

But when Jesus turned that water into wine, he gave those jars a different purpose.

These jars carried joy to the wedding couple. They brought new hope to the party.

They carried the best that had ever been experienced.

The master of the ceremony says, what have you done?

Most people bring the best wine first, and when people are drunk,

then they bring the cheap stuff so that they don't know what they're getting,

if you've ever been a drinker.

But you know that if you drink the worst-tasting stuff first,

you aren't going to take another drink.

Well, when you take the best stuff first, then your mouth and your body gets

numb and you start drinking the trash or the skank beer, as they call it.

I can't understand the taste of any of it, but anyway.

But our bodies are now living sacrifices to be placed in God's service.

These vessels of clay now carry the joy and hope and the best that the world has ever experienced.

Jesus is in the business of turning water into wine, sinners into saints,

fear into courage, sorrow into joy, defeat into victory, despair into hope,

and death into life.

When he raised Lazarus from the dead, he said, come forth.

And the idea was the command for him to come forth out of his deadness and live again.

And that's what he does to us. He says, come forth, leave your life of death,

and come into the life of victory and joy and hope in Jesus Christ.

The third point I would like to make concerning this story is that miracles

happen when we understand that Jesus extravagantly provides for our everyday requests.

There were six jars containing between 20 and 30 gallons apiece.

And so at the least, we said that

the jars contain 120 gallons of wine and maybe as much as 180 gallons.

That's a lot of wine.

A lot of wine. There's no way the guests could have consumed that much wine

in just a couple days after they'd already been feasting and drinking for three

days. Why did Jesus give so much wine?

Because he was an extravagant giver, and he wanted to prove that he could always

give more than enough. He never gives just enough. He always gives over abundantly.

What the guests had tasted cautiously before they now drank in abundance.

This is the same thing Jesus did when he fed the multitude.

He multiplied five loaves and two fish so that 5,000 men and their families were fed.

That's a whole lot of Culver sandwiches.

And when everyone had eaten their fill, it says they were filled,

there were 12 baskets of bread and fish left over. How many disciples were there?

Twelve. So the disciples went around serving, and there was enough for at least

a basket each when they got done.

He gave them more than they could possibly eat, but that's the way Jesus gives.

Jesus said in John 10, verse 10, I have come that you may have life and have it to the fullest.

John 10:10

We may be poor according to this world's standards, but we're rich toward God.

We may have nothing in this world, but we have everything in God.

For we have an extravagant God who lavishes on us his blessings.

That's what it says in Paul's letters.

I like the way the message translates Psalm 145, verse 16. Speaking of God,

Psalms 145:16

it says this, you are generous to a fault.

You lavish your favor on all creatures. God's grace means that he is generous

to a fault. This means that you can ask him for anything.

Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20 said that God gives immeasurably more than all

Ephesians 3:20

we ask or imagine. Now, that is a lot.

Immeasurably more. You cannot measure how much more God gives than all we ever ask or imagine.

It's according to his power that's at work within us. To the dying thief on

the cross, he gave the gift of paradise.

To the woman caught in adultery, he gave the gift of God's amazing grace and

forgiveness. To a grieving father, he gave back a child from the grip of death.

To the grieving mother, he gave back the life of her dead son.

To the one who denied him, he gave the keys to the kingdom.

Our God is lavish with his gifts. what has he given to you?

And to you who come with your request, he gives the promise of abundant life

here and now and beyond this world, eternal life. You remember in the story

that when they filled the jars, they filled them to the brim, it said.

And when the master of the test banquet tasted the wine, his eyes lit up.

He could not believe what he was tasting.

He said, this is better than Mogan David. No, he didn't.

He said, everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine

after the Geffs have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best until now.

What's up, is kind of what he was saying. What are you doing?

This is beyond culture. This is beyond tradition. This is beyond expectations.

This is something blowing tradition and all of that out of the water.

You're doing something that's never been done before.

Jesus always saves the best till last.

The world puts its best out front, and things seem to go downhill from there, don't they?

But when God shows up, things go from good to best. John wrote in John chapter

John 1:16

1 verse 16, from the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another.

Count your blessings, know them one by one.

We've been filled to the brim with the blessings of God. One day as we enter

his kingdom, we will be treated to sights we never dreamed possible.

Everything we have ever feared will be gone because the best will be in the presence.

We will enter into the forever presence of our Lord and Savior,

of our Father God, and of the Holy Spirit, and we will taste the best forever.

And get this, the most joyous thing you will ever experience is when Jesus welcomes

you with these words, well done, good and faithful servant.

Enter now into the joy of your master's happiness.

It's interesting that Jesus waited until man's resources had run dry before

he performed this miracle.

Only when we get to the end of our ropes, only when we get to the end of what

we can do, will we look up and receive what only Jesus can give.

Are we at the end of ourselves yet? Are we ready to turn it over to him and

let Jesus make this water into his wine.

He can, he does, and he will. He's still in the business of miracles.