Lord of the Feast

I've always loved John's Gospel.

It's the Gospel that I was reading when I came to faith as a 22-year-old.

It's always had a special place in my heart.

One of the things I love about John's Gospel, which we just read from,

is that it was written later than the other Gospels.

So John's focus is a bit different.

He doesn't just tell us what happened,

but he focuses more on the meaning of what happened.

What does it mean that Jesus has come into the world?

And he has a very clear aim.

He lays his cards down on the table.

We see at the end of his Gospel in chapter 20, he says,

I have written all of this so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,

the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

So he's saying there's a kind of life that we were made to have,

a kind of life that we were made to experience,

that we're not experiencing it now,

and that the only way to experience that kind of life

is by putting our faith in the name of Jesus Christ.

And so throughout his book, he gives us a series of signs

that act like clues in a treasure hunt.

We're meant to follow these signs because each one of them points

to the true identity of Jesus,

and they're meant to convince us to believe in him.

So you would think that they should be pretty impressive signs

if they're meant to do that.

And John chapter 2 is the very first sign, we are told,

John 2 · chapter mention

the first clue in the treasure hunt.

So we would expect, given all this,

that John would start his Gospel with a bang,

that it would be something really impressive,

that there would be lightning bolts or words written in the sky

or pillars of fire or earthquakes,

or at least maybe feed a few thousand people.

But no.

We look here.

John tells us a story about a catering mishap,

a social faux pas.

Here's the sign.

Jesus makes 150 gallons of the best wine you have ever tasted.

That's it.

And so we're going to look this morning at this sign,

and we're going to look first at what happened,

and then what it means,

and then what it means for us.

Why would John think it's so important

to tell us about this almost private miracle

that many people at the party had no idea had even occurred?

Let's pray, and then we'll open God's Word.

Lord, we thank you for your Word,

and we thank you that we're not left to our own efforts

to try to understand what this says,

that we're not just dealing with ink and paper,

but that we come here in the presence of the living God,

that you, through your Holy Spirit,

speak to us through your Word,

that you know what we need, what we need to hear.

You know the work that needs to be done in each one of us.

You know the reasons you brought us here this morning,

and we pray now that you would do your work

through your Word for your glory.

And we pray this in your Son, Jesus' holy name.

Amen.

So first of all, let's look at what happened.

Very familiar story, but it's worth looking at again,

because almost every time I look at this,

I pick up on things that I didn't pick up on before.

There's a wedding.

Jesus and his disciples have been invited,

along with Jesus' mother, Mary.

No mention of his father.

It could be that Joseph has passed away by this point.

In this culture, you need to understand,

weddings were a lot bigger deal than they are

even in our culture.

A wedding would usually last a full week.

It would be marked by multiple processions

through the street.

This is probably going to be the best experience

of this couple's life.

This is an opportunity for them to throw a lavish party

for the whole town.

And the feast was really the high point,

a multi-day feast.

And at the center of the feast was the wine.

The wine is what makes the feast a feast.

So running out of wine in the middle of the feast

is a very big deal.

You couldn't just run down to Costco

and buy more mega bottles.

This couple is about to be humiliated

because they live in an honor-shame culture.

They're going to be the laughing stock of the town.

People are going to be talking about this

behind their backs for the rest of their lives.

And in this culture, the groom and his family

were the ones that were responsible for paying

for all of the festivities.

So of course, what are people going to say?

They're going to say, well,

if he can't even afford his own wedding,

how would we expect him to provide

for his wife and family?

So this is going to be socially devastating for them.

Mary's immediate response

is to turn and ask Jesus for help.

It's not his wedding,

technically not his responsibility,

but she knows enough about Jesus

to know if anybody can do anything about this,

it's him.

But Jesus gives Mary a very unexpected,

seemingly brusque, almost rude response.

And we're going to come back to that

in a little while.

First, I want to note how Mary responds.

She doesn't say,

how dare you talk to me like that?

I am your mother.

You get up out of that chair right now.

Now that's how most Jewish mothers

would have responded to their sons

after getting a response like she got from Jesus.

And she would be perfectly justified in doing so.

But that's not how she responds.

She turns to the servants and she says,

do whatever he tells you.

And I think this is really interesting

because we can almost imagine her saying something like this,

kind of walking over to the servants and saying,

okay, listen,

he often says really strange things

and he does weird things.

And sometimes you ask him something

and he does the opposite.

And sometimes you say something to him

and then he responds

and it's a total non sequitur.

And I know it seems really weird,

but here's the thing.

Take it from me,

he's amazing.

There's no one like him.

You can trust him.

Do whatever he tells you.

And you see right there in Mary,

one of many ways

that Mary shows us a beautiful example to follow.

Even when God doesn't seem to make sense,

even when we are asking and pleading and begging God

to do things that we know God loves.

And God does the opposite.

God seems to not respond.

God does something that we don't want.

He brings something into our lives

that we've prayed against.

And God makes no sense.

Mary's response is to say,

I know that often he does things that don't make sense,

but you can trust him.

And this is the thing that we see with God

again and again and again and again.

Even when we don't understand God's motives,

we can always understand

or we can always trust God's character.

Even when we don't understand his motives,

which we rarely do,

we can always trust his character.

Do whatever he tells you.

It's one of the best pieces of advice

we could possibly get

of what it means to live our lives

participating in the life of Christ.

And so Jesus says,

okay, see those stone jars over there?

I want you to fill those with water.

Now, no doubt there were plenty

of empty wineskins lying around,

but Jesus specifically requests the stone jars.

When the master of the feast

thinks there's no wine,

he's on the verge of panicking, right?

Word is starting to spread.

I think the wine's run out.

I think the wine's run out.

Jesus says, fill those stone jars.

And then he says,

take some of that to the master of the feast.

He was sort of like the MC.

He was kind of responsible

for keeping the party going.

And so just before word gets out

and just before this big humiliation happens,

the servants bring some of this liquid

to the master of the feast

and the master tastes it.

And to his great relief and astonishment,

he's drinking wine.

And he doesn't know where the wine came from.

And so he assumes that

it has been provided by the groom.

And so he calls out to the groom

and he says,

everyone else serves the best wine first.

And then when people have drunk freely,

you know,

when their palates are not quite as refined,

then the poor wine comes out.

And he says,

but you have kept the best wine until now.

And so the groom ends up being honored.

And from this day forward,

I guarantee you,

everybody at the party

talked about how amazing that wine was

and how amazing it was

that the groom kept it

until the end of the party.

So this is what happened.

But John is interested in more than this.

He wants us to understand the meaning

behind this series of events.

And in order to understand that,

we need to go back to the way

Jesus responds to Mary's request.

He says,

woman,

what does this have to do with me?

And I would love to be able to say

that if you look at it in the original Greek,

it's not quite as rude

as it seems to be.

But that's actually not true.

It is as rude as it seems to be.

It's brusque.

It's a bit cold.

It's a bit distant.

I wouldn't say it's overtly rude

or disrespectful,

but there's a certain kind of distance

that Jesus is placing

between himself and his mother.

And that's because something else

is on his mind.

And he goes on to tell us

what he's thinking about.

He says,

woman,

what does this have to do with me?

My hour has not yet come.

Now,

in the book of John,

every single time we see this phrase,

my hour has not yet come,

it's always referring to the same thing.

It's referring to Jesus' death,

his crucifixion.

So this raises a very interesting question.

Why is Jesus sitting at a wedding

surrounded by people

who are drinking and dancing

and he's thinking about dying?

And somebody once said to me,

you know,

when you're single

and in your 30s

and you go to a wedding,

it sort of makes you feel

like you want to die sometimes.

But I don't think

that that is the explanation

that makes sense.

There's a lot more going on here.

Jesus is sitting here.

He's thinking about his death.

And the reason is

because Jesus knows

the Old Testament Scriptures

by heart.

And when you look

at the Old Testament Scriptures,

all throughout,

God refers to himself

as a bridegroom.

And he refers to his people

as his bride.

And we see that this is

the kind of relationship

that God desires to have

with us,

with his people.

That God didn't just make us

to merely be subjects

or followers.

That God created us

to be the object

of his love and delight.

And he made us

to love and delight in God.

But no matter how much

God pursues his people,

all through the Old Testament,

the story is the same.

God is pursuing his people,

loving his people,

chasing after his people,

and they are continually

unfaithful to him.

Again and again,

they reject his love,

they spurn his love,

and they give themselves away

to other substitute gods.

And that really, friends,

is what is wrong

with the world deep down.

If you want to know

the core problem,

why the world is so broken,

why there's so much

injustice and conflict,

this is why.

It's because instead

of loving God above all else,

human beings set our hearts

on other things

again and again and again.

We take things like comfort

or safety or status

or financial security,

and we set our hearts

on those things.

In other words,

we give into the idea

that if I could just have

this thing and keep this thing,

then I'll be okay,

then my life will be okay,

then I'll be satisfied,

then I'll be happy,

I'll finally have what I need.

And what we find over time

is that again and again and again,

those things let us down.

They never last.

It's never enough.

And so human beings go

from one substitute God

to another,

giving our hearts away

again and again and again.

This is what's wrong

with the world.

And so God is a God

who desires this kind

of relationship with His people,

but His people are

like a wayward bride.

And so it raises the question

at the end of the Old Testament,

there really is no answer.

How does God deal

with people like this?

Now there is no answer,

but there are clues

in the Old Testament

about what God intends to do.

In the book of Isaiah,

God says something astounding.

In chapter 61,

He begins to speak

of an anointed one.

And it's very clear

the more you read

about this anointed one

that He's far more

than just a human being,

that we're dealing

with someone who is divine,

who's able to do things

that no mere human could do.

And in chapter 62,

which is our Old Testament reading

for this morning,

this anointed one

appears as a bridegroom

who has come

to make His bride ready.

And He says,

for the sake of my people,

for the sake of my bride,

I will not stop

until your righteousness

blazes like the sun.

I will not stop

until your righteousness

blazes like the sun.

And then in Isaiah,

there's this great transformation.

And God's people

are transformed.

And they are no longer desolate.

They're no longer forsaken.

They're transformed

into a radiant bride.

The object of God's

eternal delight.

And then it describes

a great wedding celebration

that spans the earth

and people everywhere

celebrate as God

is finally joined

to His people

like a bride

to a bridegroom.

But of course,

this raises

a very important question.

What makes

this transformation possible?

How do they go

from desolation

and perpetual

unfaithfulness

to shining like the sun?

And if we go back

to Isaiah 53,

we find the answer

that before

this wedding

can happen,

before the transformation

can occur,

before the bride

can make herself ready,

the bridegroom

is going to have to suffer.

And He's going to have

to suffer

for the sake

of His bride.

And it says there

that His body

is going to be crushed

like grapes

in a wine press,

that His life

is going to be poured out

like wine.

And verse 11

tells us why.

Why is He suffering?

Why?

out of the anguish

of His soul,

many will be counted

righteous,

for He shall

bear their iniquities.

So why does Jesus

respond to Mary

the way He does

in this seemingly

brusque way?

It's because Jesus

is thinking about

His own wedding.

And He knows

that in order

to make His bride ready,

He's going to have

to be crushed.

See, on the cross,

Jesus took all

of the shame

and the guilt

and the iniquity.

All of the shame

and the iniquity

of the world,

He took on to Himself.

And yet,

the Gospel tells us this,

that out of the anguish

of His soul,

all who come to Him

in faith and repentance

are counted righteous.

So this is why Jesus

used the purification

jars instead of

the wineskins.

He's saying,

I have come to give you

what these jars

and that water

and the religion

that you have been following

never could have given you.

No amount of water

can ever make you clean.

You can clean the outside,

but you can't clean the inside.

And you need something

that can clean you

on the inside.

And He's saying,

this is why I have to shed

my blood for you,

why I have to be crushed.

Only that can make you

clean on the inside.

Only then will your righteousness

shine like the sun.

And that's why,

before Jesus was betrayed

and taken away

to be crucified,

He shared one last meal

with His disciples,

where He took a cup of wine

and He handed it to them.

And He said,

this cup is the new covenant

in my blood.

And He commands them

to drink it.

And the reason is clear

if we understand this story

that it's because

He's saying,

you will be purified

ultimately by what I provide.

Only the wine that I provide

can do that.

And it's the wine of my blood.

It's my blood for your souls.

Now we begin to understand

why John would put this

at the beginning of His gospel

because this miracle prefigures

Jesus' entire ministry,

the whole reason He came,

which is to turn the water

of religion

into the wine of the gospel.

It's to turn the water

of self-made righteousness

into the wine of righteousness

that comes as a gift

by faith in Jesus Christ.

I mean, think about

how this story plays out.

Who gets credit for the wine?

It's the groom.

Right?

Jesus did all the work,

provides all the wine,

but the groom is the one

who gets the credit.

That's the gospel.

That's the gospel.

So let's ask just

with a few minutes remaining here,

what does this actually mean for us?

If this is what the gospel

of John is trying to tell us,

the meaning of this wonderful story

about a wedding,

what does it mean for us?

I'll just make a few suggestions.

First of all,

I believe this story,

if we understand it,

if we believe it,

it transforms the way

we deal with our failures

and our shortcomings.

We live in a culture,

and especially if you live in D.C.

or somewhere like D.C.,

that praises competence,

we praise accomplishment,

we praise self-sufficiency,

we praise resumes

and CVs and accolades.

Most of us live in dire fear

of anyone seeing our failures

or our shortcomings

or our weaknesses.

But notice what happens

at this wedding.

Although no one knew it,

the bridegroom did run out of wine.

Right?

He did fall short.

This was on his watch,

and he,

something fell apart.

Something got overlooked.

But that in this story

is precisely where

the glory of Jesus shines through.

Right?

It's through the deficit.

It's through the failures

and the shortcomings

of this bridegroom,

the glory of Jesus is revealed.

And what we see here

is that where this man

would otherwise have found

failure and shame,

Jesus supplies

more richly and abundantly

than this man ever could have done

on his own.

This is exactly what

the Apostle Paul discovered

in his own ministry.

when he's endeavoring

to love and to serve

the people of the church

at Corinth.

But he's weak.

He's not a great public speaker.

He's made mistakes,

and the false teachers

are exploiting that,

and they're mocking him,

and they're ridiculing him

for his weaknesses.

And his response

is not to say,

here's all of my justifications

and all of my defenses

for why I'm so great.

No, he actually does

the opposite.

He says, listen,

I've learned,

I've learned actually

that Jesus' power

is made perfect in weakness.

I've learned that his power

is made perfect in my weakness.

And he says,

that is where I most powerfully

experience the love

and the grace of Jesus Christ.

It's when I fail,

and I have no other option

but to turn to him

and cry out to him.

And he says,

so not only will I admit

my weaknesses,

I'll boast in my weaknesses.

So imagine the next time

someone criticizes you

or calls you out

instead of defending yourself

or justifying yourself.

Your response would be to say,

you think that's my worst problem?

You think that's as bad

as it gets?

That's just the tip

of the iceberg.

It is so much worse

than you possibly could imagine.

Right?

That's what Paul's response is

because he knows

the more he leans into his failures

and his shortcomings,

the more he experiences

the abundance of Christ.

Right?

We freely admit our weaknesses

because those are the places

where we find Christ.

Number two,

this, I believe,

reminds us

how God sees us

in Christ.

I say this from time to time.

I like to ask people

when I meet with them

for prayer or other things,

I like to at some point ask,

how do you think

that God feels

when you come into his mind?

You know,

when God is thinking about you,

how does he feel

when you come into his mind?

And in my experience,

most people,

when they're honest,

say they assume God

is probably vaguely

disappointed in them.

They know they should

be doing more.

They know they should do

a better job coming to church.

They know they should

be praying more.

They know they should

be serving more.

They know they should

be giving more

and that God's given

them a lot of chances.

They know that that thing

that they keep doing,

that sin that they keep committing,

that they know that God

has given them a thousand chances

and they figure that

probably by this point

God is just kind of

ready to give up.

And that's what most people

say when they're honest.

And if that is you,

if that's what you believe,

then I want you to memorize

Isaiah chapter 61,

Isaiah 61:5

verse 5.

As the bridegroom

rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God

rejoice over you.

Let me say it again.

As the bridegroom

rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God

rejoice over you.

I've been to a lot of weddings.

I've been to a lot of weddings

as a priest.

I've been to a lot of weddings

as a friend.

I've been to one wedding

as a groom.

And then before that,

I did a stint

as a wedding photographer.

By far the hardest of all.

And much respect

for wedding photographers.

High stress job.

But because of that,

I've often gotten

a unique vantage point.

I get to see things

from an angle

that most people don't get.

There's this moment

in every wedding

where the doors open

and the bride is revealed.

And everybody stands

and they turn

and they look at the bride

as they should.

But I always like

to kind of sneak a peek

at the groom's face.

Because normally

I'm standing right next

to the groom.

And I've seen this look

again and again and again.

I've seen this look

where the groom

in that moment

is utterly transfixed

by the sight of his bride.

It is a look of pure joy.

It is a look of pure delight.

And at that moment,

even though the room

may be filled

with hundreds of people,

it is as though

there is no one in the room.

It is as though

the bride is the only one there.

And what we need

to understand

is that that is how God feels

when he looks at you.

That is how God feels.

That's the look on his face

when he sees you.

Right?

As the bridegroom

rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God

rejoice over you.

Memorize that verse.

And then finally,

I believe this gives us

a vision and a reason

for Christian hospitality.

You know, we worship a God.

I mean, if this makes

anything clear,

it's that we worship a God

of lavish hospitality.

It's no coincidence

that Jesus reveals himself

by providing wine

to keep the party going.

His entire earthly ministry

is marked by table fellowship

and often with the most

unlikely people.

He's accused again and again

by the religious leaders

of being a glutton

and a drunkard

because he stays up

late into the night

eating and drinking

with the dregs of society,

with the outcasts,

with the people

that you wouldn't even talk to

lest you become unclean.

And these are some

of Jesus' best friends.

And he stays up

late into the night

laughing and talking

and drinking and eating

and feasting with them.

And when people

accuse him of that,

at one point he says,

why wouldn't we feast?

The bridegroom is here.

Right?

Of course this is

what he's talking about.

And the sacrament

that Jesus gave us

that enables us

to experience our union

with him

is also a feast.

Christ.

Right?

He welcomes us

to a feast

of bread and wine,

of his body and blood.

Right?

So if you look

at all of these things,

it is undeniable

that God is a God

of lavish hospitality.

And when we practice

hospitality,

we are walking

in the footsteps

of Christ.

In other words,

just to put it plainly,

I believe Christians

should throw

the best parties.

I think that Christians

should be known

for throwing

some of the best parties

out there.

Because what better way

to introduce people

to the God

of lavish hospitality

than to show them

lavish hospitality.

To love them

the way God

has loved us.

You know,

many of you know

about the

For the City campaign.

We're raising finances

to renovate

our future church home

and God willing

we'll move in

later this year.

And one of the main

things we're excited

about,

about having

our own space,

is to be able

to show hospitality

to the neighborhood.

To be a place

of hospitality

for Shaw,

for the surrounding

communities,

for the city.

To have the ability

to welcome people in

every day.

To love them

by welcoming them

into our space

and providing

for their needs.

And every time

we gather around

this table,

which we're going

to do in just

a little while,

we're reminded

that this is

God's vision

for the culmination

of all human history.

Right?

In the book

of Revelation,

at the end of time

when Jesus makes

all things new,

there will be

a great wedding feast.

The supper of the Lamb.

And I love to think

that the wine

they tasted

at the wedding

at Cana

is the same wine

that we will all

one day drink

at that great feast.

Let's pray.

Our Lord,

we thank you

for your love

for us.

We thank you

that as the bridegroom

rejoices over the bride,

so you look upon

your people

and you rejoice.

We thank you

for this boundless,

limitless love

that has pursued us

over the centuries,

that pursues us still.

Lord,

we thank you

that our hope

does not rest

in our faithfulness,

but our hope

rests in your faithfulness.

That our hope

rests in the fact

that even when we

turn away from you,

even when we give up

on you,

you never turn away

from us.

You never give up

on us.

Lord,

I pray that those

of us who need

to hear this

most would receive it,

that your deep love

and delight is here,

that we need only

receive it,

Lord.

Lord,

I pray that you

would give us

the grace to respond

to your invitation

into this kind

of relationship

that you made us for,

and I pray that you

would make this

all the more real

as we come to receive

the bread and the wine

later this morning.

We pray all this

in Jesus' name.

Amen.