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John Message 3
The Life of the Party (with Abundance)
John 2:1-11
I have never been to an archeological dig although I have seen paleontologists at work at a site with lots of dinosaur bones and I suspect the work is similar … pain-staking labor as the excavators go so carefully layer by layer seeking to discover and not in the process destroy artifacts and evidence. I don’t think that I have the patience to do that kind of work … but I can appreciate the sense of excitement as researchers begin uncovering the next layer of history, not quite sure of what they will find. Since ancient cities usually kept building on top of the previous eras ruins (forming what in the Middle East are called tels … hills or mound), to go deeper to go backwards in time. An example in Israel of such a tel is the site of Megiddo, 26 layers of the ruins of an ancient city in a strategic location. Archeologists have discovered there the remains of a Christian church dating from Roman times. They have uncovered a 54 square meter large mosaic with a Greek inscription stating that the church is consecrated to “the God Jesus Christ.” How cool is that!
This morning, I can’t promise something quite as exciting, but I do want to take us on Scriptural excavation. We are going to go layer by layer through the story of Jesus’ miracle at a wedding in Cana. Going deeper in this case doesn’t necessarily mean discovering things of greater importance. It is rather that we gain additional insights from the text and thus greater richness in applying God’s Word to our own lives.
Let’s the survey the site for our Bible “dig” as we go over the basics of the story. Jesus was invited to a wedding in the village of Cana … in the region of his hometown. We’re not told the relationship he had with the bride and groom … but given the presence of his mother, Mary, it’s a guess that there was a family connection. Weddings were a big deal in ancient Jewish society. Ideally they would last seven full days … days of feasting, drinking, and time with the new couple. “A wealthy person might throw a public banquet for a whole city at a wedding; those of less wealth would still invite as many persons as they could.” [Keener, p. 499]
It was not uncommon for guests to show up in the middle of the celebration and Jesus arrives on the third day [there is much scholarly speculation on the significance of the third day … that perhaps John was foreshadowing the resurrection joy on the third day following Jesus’ death). At any rate, the party is on … but then social disaster strikes. There has been poor planning and they have run out of wine. This is a huge embarrassment for the bride and groom and their family. It may only have resulted in temporary hiatus in the festivities while more wine was purchased. But horror of horrors if they had already spent all their money … then the guests would have to be sent home and the family would be shamed for years. Did I say that they took their weddings very seriously!
Mary lets Jesus know of the predicament. She obviously believes he can do something about it … we guess that she had seen his power displayed around the home. Jesus’ response to his mother is a classic, “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” More than once I’ve used that line with Lynette with some degree of effectiveness … husbands, I recommend it. Seriously, Jesus was not disrespecting his mom but rather communicating that he was no longer the son obeying his mom’s directives … now he was solely doing the will of his heavenly Father. [“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.” John 6:38 (NIV)]
Still Mary is amazing … hers is a simple and profound faith that whatever Jesus has in mind will be good. She says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” They do … as Jesus instructs them to fill up six large stone jars with water (more on their significance later) and then has them draw some of it out for tasting by the master of the banquet (a person not unlike the banquet coordinator who was assigned to make sure all the guests were served and well-behaved). The banquet master is amazed and praises the groom, “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.” [John 2:10 (NIV)]
I’m sure at this point that the groom was dumbfounded, probably mumbling something like, “Well … yeah … we thought we’d save the best for … last.” Certainly the wedding bash went on in an even more festive mood. Most people didn’t know anything significant happened other than the fact that “This is really good wine!” But the servants knew … and word gets spread … water had been turned into wine!
A Sign
At the surface level, this story is obviously about Jesus beginning to reveal his divine power. The Apostle John calls this a “sign” pointing to the divinity of Jesus. He writes, “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” [John 2:11 (NIV)] John will provide the reader a total of 7 such signs in his Gospel:
1) Turning Water into Wine at Cana
2) The Healing of the Royal Official’s Son
3) The Healing of the Paralyzed Man
4) The Feeding of the Five Thousand
5) Jesus Walking on the Sea
6) The Healing of the Blind Man
7) The Raising of Lazarus from Death
He explains near the end of the Gospel: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” [John 20:30-31 (NIV)]
Now John realizes that simply doing miracles is no guarantee that people will come to faith. It wasn’t that people of that era were overly skeptical. It was more that they believed in the power of the occult and thus having miraculous power was no sure sign of God’s presence. Jesus himself was accused of gaining his power from the devil. Further, claims of someone possessing extraordinary powers weren’t unique to Jesus. For example, stories were told of the Roman emperor Vespasian performing some miraculous healings (69-79 AD) thus giving credence to the newly crowned Flavian dynasty. Telling miracles stories was a not infrequent thing in ancient biographies.
Nevertheless, the Apostle John knew that it was important part of making his case for Jesus’ divine identity and mission. They helped to authenticate his claims to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus himself recognized the power of signs to lead to faith: “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” [John 14:11 (NIV)] And in fact, these acts of power earned Jesus a hearing and would be path for some (certainly not for all) to faith.
If miraculous signs can lead to faith, then the question is asked, “Why doesn’t God do them today?” That question can be answered in a variety of ways … first of all, miracles do continue to occur, although historically they tend to be more numerous when the Gospel is first entering a region … and thus as in Jesus’ day, they help earn a hearing for the Good News of Jesus. Secondly, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my share of remarkable experiences that if not “miraculous” have been signs for me of God’s presence and guidance. Like walking and running around with a blood clot for a month in my leg but not suffering a life threatening event until I’m at Midelfort Clinic. Then going to a running camp and getting a roommate who had suffered two such clotting episodes … which my physician guessed was a one in a million pairing… and I felt was a clear message from God telling me to stay on anti-coagulant medication.
But here is what I see is an even clearer “sign” of God’s amazing power … it’s that our blood clots when we are cut so that we don’t bleed to death but regulates itself so we don’t clot to death. This is a picture of the blood clotting cascade in which a variety of proteins work through a series of reactions to seal a cut. Science has helped to show us just how complex this process is and in the very explanation creates a heightened sense of wonder. And in general, the scientific enterprise, far from being anti-religious, has helped to show us just how amazing is the universe God has created from distant galaxies to the intricacies of our own bodies. You can argue that science textbooks and articles are filled with “signs” from God … the question is whether we’re paying attention. How has God shown himself to you?
A Service
Layer one of the story of Jesus’ miracle at Cana is that it was and is a sign for his divinity. Digging down a bit to a second layer, this miracle is an act of service. Now you might argue that it doesn’t seem as important as is his later miracles of healing and raising the dead. After all, this is just about wine and partying, isn’t it?
Don’t underestimate the significance of wine in the region of Galilee which was known for its vineyards and wine industry. But more than that, wine was important as a symbol for table fellowship and celebration. Those sensitive to alcohol abuse should note that ancient wine tended to be less potent than what we serve today and frequently was watered down for meals and extended parties (because the ancient Jews viewed drunkenness very unfavorably). Wine was a standard element of daily life in the Mediterranean world and it was an important part of festive occasions. It was also a symbol of God’s abundant provision. In the Old Testament we read: “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine–the best of meats and the finest of wines.” [Isaiah 25:6 (NIV)] You have to like verses like that. Jesus in providing more wine and a better wine for the wedding feast was an agent bringing God’s abundant blessing.
Beyond this, any self-respecting Jewish groom did not run out of food and beverage at his wedding! You might think of it this way: There are many meals in which success is measured by preparing enough food but not so much that there will be leftovers that will languish in the refrigerator. But in many households, success is measured differently at a holiday meal like Thanksgiving. At a holiday meal, success is having abundance and therefore lots of leftovers. I personally hope that all the squash gets eaten (never happens), but I want leftover turkey, dressing, and gravy. At the very least, at a Thanksgiving meal you don’t want to run out of the favorites.
That’s what a Jewish wedding celebration was to be like … thus the horror that they had run out of wine … kind of like running out of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. Unthinkable! But Jesus saved the day. Even if as he told his mother that this not yet his time to put his power on public display, he would serve this couple and make their celebration truly memorable. How might Jesus best serve you and your family this holiday season?
An Exchange
So this story is about a sign and an act of service, but we can dig down to a third layer which is all about the stone jars [which we’re going to represent by this milk can]. They were used to hold water for purification purposes according to Old Testament law and its accompanying traditions. Ritual purity was different from getting physically clean. Everyone got dirty walking village streets and working in the fields … and ordinary washing would suffice. But orthodox Jews took it one step further, setting themselves apart for a holy God by doing ritual washings. This was necessary if one became ritually unclean through a variety of circumstances like coming into contact with dead things ranging from human bodies to dead insects, touching certain bodily fluids (including your own), or rubbing shoulders with unclean people like non-kosher, uncircumcised Gentiles. Ideally, ritual washings were done with “living water” … running water in rivers or rainwater … but the less strict might simply draw water for a ritual bath.
In the case of the wedding, the ritual washing had already been done, thus the jars were empty. But Jesus tells the servants to fill them up again … exchanging ritual purposes for those of celebration. A strict religious person like a Jewish Pharisee would have viewed such an exchange of water for wine as sacrilege. In fact, there was a specific mention in rabbinic law that wine was not to be mixed with water if the water was to be used for purification. But Jesus valued the joy of the wedding couple and the celebration of their marriage to be more important than an outward ritual. The stone jars exchanged purposes; and this is the one of many examples in Jesus’ ministry in which people were more important than rules, God’s heart more important than human traditions.
How we need to hear that in tradition bound churches! A couple weeks ago I was involved in a consultation up in Rice Lake and one source of conflict at the church surfaced in several conversations: between those who preferred traditional worship (offered in the early service) and those who preferred more contemporary worship (really a blended service in the later hour). When he gave our report to the congregation, the lead consultant Dwayne Lueck told them straight out, “Get over it.” In fact, if you ask a First Lutheran, Rice Lake member what he or she remembers from Dwayne’s talk, that’s what it will probably be: “Get over it.” Because Jesus has this habit of exchanging pipe organs for guitars to reach younger Americans or turning bar room tunes into hymn melodies (which is what Martin Luther supposedly did) to reach 16th century Germans or making whatever changes to our churches and our individual lives if it will mean greater opportunity for us to bring God’s love and blessings to people.
It’s not a matter of throwing out all traditions … but of being more concerned with divine purposes. When Jesus enters our lives, he has this habit of taking brokenness exchanging it for healing, of taking faulty thinking and exchanging it for clarity, of taking mere good intentions and exchanging them for actual service, of taking good and exchanging it for better. Is there something Jesus wants to change in your life’s patterns, in your lifestyle, so that you can have a greater spiritual impact on others?
An Extravagance
Finally, the bottom layer, did you notice how much wine Jesus made? There were six stone jars each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. [John 2:6 (NIV)] That means that Jesus made 120-180 gallons of wine. That would be the equivalent of 12-18 of these milk cans. That’s a lot of wine! That is an extravagant amount of wine … overkill, even for a wedding feast that was going to last a few more days. If I invited over to my home and I had just one of these milk cans full of vintage wine, you’d be thinking “This is going to some party!”
Extravagance … abundance … that is what Jesus promises and delivers to his followers. It’s an abundant life as we receive his love and forgiveness. It’s an abundant life full hope and purpose. It’s an abundant life of family, friends, and fellow Christ-followers. It’s an abundant life of service and contribution. It’s an abundant life as God provides food, clothing, shelter, etc. extravagantly in this nation. I hope you gave thanks to him for all this, this Thanksgiving. And the best is yet to come in the glories of heaven. What aspect of Jesus’ abundance do you need more of this holiday season? Ask him … he gives extravagantly!
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