The first sign (11/22/17 the Book of John #11)
ATTN: It used to be that when I was a young man, at weddings, I would think of my own future wedding. But now that I’m older and I have two daughters, I put myself in the shoe of the father of the bride. I have some years to go before they are of marriageable age, but I can already tell you that I will be a basket case… I will have a hard time suppressing the emotions of letting my daughter go and also the urge to kill the boy that will take my girl away from me…
Why all of sudden am I talking about weddings? Because that’s where the text takes us today. Jesus is at a wedding. And incidentally, that is where Jesus performs the first miracle. Now, John the writer of this books says in v. 11, “This, the first of his signs.”
What are signs? Signs are miraculous events that point to the fact that Jesus is the Christ. Miracles are not like magic in that they are for convenience sake, like Jesus gets hungry and so he turns stones into bread and eats them. As a matter of fact, that’s what the devil tempted him to do after 40 days of fasting. But Jesus refused to do it. Then, why this miracle? He wouldn’t turn stones into bread when he was hungry, but he would turn water into wine? What does it say about Him? On the surface, it feels like almost a waste of a miracle to make this one His inaugural miracle to launch his ministry. So what if the wedding party ran out of wine? So the wedding party will be embarrassed, which is a social faux pas, but is it such a big deal that Jesus would use this occasion to show His first sign? How does this non-critical event display God’s glory (v. 11) and how does it serve as his first sign as to who He is and what He is to accomplish? Ultimately to the fact that he is the Christ, the son of God, as that is the purpose of the gospel of John. And how does this sign point to that? Three ways: It points to the…
- The greatest of all weddings to take place.
- The most devastating of all funerals before that wedding
- The easiest (or the hardest) of all ways to get to that wedding. (greatest of all inviations)
- The greatest of all weddings.
I find it fascinating that Jesus decided to do his first miracle or sign at a wedding. Now, if you are a guest invited to a wedding, and you are single, what do you tend to do?
ILL: I got married rather late – at age 34. So, all my friends married before I did. And what do you think went through my mind as I set in each of my friends’ weddings? When will it be my turn? What will my wedding be like? What will my future bride be like?
I believe Jesus was doing the same thing. He was thinking about his own wedding. His own wedding described in the book of Revelation called the marriage supper of the lamb where he is the bridegroom and the church is His bride. and that wedding will be the wedding of all weddings. There will be feasting and partying like we have never known. That wedding will signify the ending to all suffering, all pains, all tears. Death itself will die and we will never say goodbye again to our loved ones. This is what all humanity has been looking forward to. Unbounded pleasure and joy. Jesus frequently used the imagery of a grand feast, banquet, or a wedding feast, all things happy and joyful to draw a picture of what the final state of those who trusted Him will look like.
Think back at the time you were getting married. Never mind how you marriage went after that day, but the wedding day itself, wasn’t it full of joy, festivity, laughter, hope, dancing, songs, tears of joy, etc? And then for those of you who waited, you got to enjoy the most intimate moment with your spouse as the part of that wedding celebration. God uses this imagery to describe what the final state of those who are His bride will be like. It is with this end in mind, we are to live our Christian lives. One day, Jesus our bridegroom will take us to be His lawfully wedded bride and will give us all that belongs to Him and His infinite joy will become our joy. There is a reason why every western fairy tale ends with a kiss and the words: “And then they lived happily ever after.” The Bible story is embedded so deeply in their subconscious, they can’t help but finish every good story with that line. They are borrowing from the Bible.
This presents a radically different mood to Christianity than what we normally associate with Christianity, does it not? When you think of church, Christian religion, theology, what do we normally think of? Stodginess. Stiff. Boring. Wooden, living by the rules… After a while we begin to think, “Really, isn’t Christianity about denying ourselves, suffering, sucking it up and dealing with life? We are not supposed to enjoy life. As a matter of fact, the more miserable we feel, the more godly we are? Is it?
But when we hear of Jesus describing the Christian life, He talks of joy. He talks of celebration. He talks of everlasting life which means eternal quality of life not so much the length of life. He talks of ecstasy, consummation, quenched thirst, happiness, joy, peace… But at the same time, he talks of denying ourselves, taking up the cross, which is really dying to ourselves. Which way it is? Are we supposed to deny ourselves of all desires, go to our death, wipe smiles off our faces and suck it up, or are we to be joyful and happy, …? It is both. We deny ourselves of temporal, worldly good, so that we may attain the permanent and spiritual good.
ILL: Do you remember what it was like when you were in school, right before the Summer break? Going to college in the east coast, our summer break was almost 3 months long. But right before is two weeks of final exam. And it would be hell. But how do I endure it? Where do I find the motivation to pull all nighters, drink lots of caffinated drinks in the process? It’s the vision of what’s coming afterwards – 3 months of summer break! I get to go to the beach. I get to hang out with by buddies. I get to relax and enjoy … And the desire for the summer break is so great, I would actually look forward to the exam week because exam week means the end is near and i get to go home.
We do not take pleasure in suffering. No. No more than I took pleasure in pulling all nighters studying Thermodynamics. We do not take pleasure in hardships. We do not take pleasure in getting sick and dying. We are not masochists. But because we know what is coming, and what is coming is so much greater and magnificent than the suffering that we are going through now, it will overwhelm our current situations. So, we can be joyful in the midst of our suffering because we know that better times are coming. You see, Christian joy is not in the absence of suffering and pain. Christian joy is in the midst of suffering and pain because we know what’s coming in the end…
In Heb. 12:2, it talks about Jesus in this way: “Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus knew that that greatest of all weddings was coming up for Him. And that gave Him strength to endure the cross.
- It also points to the most devastating of all funeral.
Jesus does something unexpected here. He always does something unexpected… that’s why we can’t fit him in a box.
v.3 “When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” Of course, this isn’t Jesus’ problem. It’s not his wedding. But Mary is insinuating that maybe Jesus could do something about it. And as a good obedient son, we’d expect to Jesus to have said, “yes, mother. I will do something about it.” But in v. 4 Dear woman, why do you involve me? Actually, NIV translation softens the response by adding “dear,” but in the original language the word dear is not there. “Woman!” Who calls his mother, “woman?” and he questions her motive. So this is unexpected of a good example we should see from Jesus. And then what he does afterwards is also strange. He goes and does it!
Now, is Jesus being like a fickle teenager who initially says “no” to what he mom asks him to do and then feeling guilty later on says, “oh ok, fine, I will do it…” Maybe Jesus felt guilty for calling his mom, “woman,” and he changed his mind and he does it even though he said he wouldn’t? That’s not what Jesus is doing. He is not a fickle teenager. He is God. He is in essence saying, “Mary, you do not force my hand. I’m your Maker although you are my mother. You didn’t create me. I created you. So, BTW, young people, this only applies to Jesus. So in essence Jesus says, “I will move according to my schedule. I dictate my pace and you don’t!”
But then He goes and does what Mary seems to suggest. What’s going on? It all hangs on what Jesus meant when He said, ‘My time has not yet come.” He’s not talking about his time to do the miracle. He’s not saying, it’s not time to do the miracle yet. And then a moment later he goes and does it. “My time” translated more specifically in other versions “My hour” is referring to his death. What he really came to earth to do. Throughout the gospels, up until he faces the cross, he keeps on saying, “the hour is not here yet,” but the night before he was to be crucified he says, “my hour has come.”
Why is He thinking about His death at a wedding party? Because He was thinking about THE wedding of all weddings, but for that to take place, there had to be a funeral. And that would be His own! That is why I believe Jesus was brusque with Mary because he was reminded of what he had to do. He was reminded that before that wedding of all weddings, he will be rejected by his father, he will be rejected by his brothers and friends and will die alone, experiencing hell for all humanity – the most devastating of all funerals.
If you are not convinced, look at what Jesus uses to do his miracle. Ceremonial washing jars. These jars were used to hold water that will be used before the Jews presented themselves before the Lord as holy. But what will ultimately make them truly holy, truly presentable before God? It will be washing with the blood of the lamb. That’s why they sacrificed lambs for their sins. And you remember what John the Baptist said about Him when He passed by: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”
The way to the greatest of all weddings is if there is the most devastating of all funerals and that is the funeral of the Son of God whose blood was shed for all sinners – you and me. And Jesus tells us follow Him. You know what will happen when you follow Him? You will be denied of worldly good. You might experience hell even. The way to heaven is through our own cross. Before we can get to the greatest of all weddings, we must go through the death of ourselves.
- The easiest of all ways for some; the hardest for others
Then, how do we actually get to that greatest of all weddings, the celebration that will never end? How do we say “yes” to this greatest of all invitations? I give Tim Keller credit for this insight. Two things:
- we admit that we are out. 2. We take credit for what Jesus did.
Look at what happened next. “John 2:9-10 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the 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 10 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.”
Now, who gets the credit for the wine? The bridegroom. It was Jesus who performed the miracle but the bridegroom gets the credit. He didn’t deserve the credit! He was the stupid one who didn’t properly plan for his own wedding. He did nothing! All he did was consume the wine he should’ve left alone for the guests! He should have been blamed. But instead he gets the credit for what Jesus did on his behalf.
And that is the central teaching of the Christian faith. We are sinners. We have messed up. We deserved death and hell. But Christ lived the perfect life for us and we get the credit for it! But before this could happen, what had to take place? The bridegroom had admit that he was out. He was out of wine and there was nothing he could do. If he somehow tried to work it out on his own, then this great tasting wine would’ve never been supplied. He had to admit that he messed up and he was powerless to recover.
That is how we become Christians. That is how we enter into the greatest of all banquets. Christian is one when asked the question, what is wrong with the world?, answers: “I am! Me! That’s what’s wrong with the world! The world is what it is because it is full of people like myself – a sinner!” It’s not Donald Trump’s fault. It’s not Kim Jong Un. It’s not the radical Islamists. It’s not even the annoying next door neighbor. It’s not my wife or husband that abandoned me. It’s me! I am what’s wrong with the world!
We have to admit that we are out. We have to admit that we are sinners at the core of our being – that we are selfish, self-centered, and even our good works are out of selfish motives just to make us feel superior to others. And so we turn to Jesus to provide that which we can’t – which is the holiness that is required to enter into His kingdom.
Now, this, anyone can do. You don’t need a special talent to do this. A person on his death-bed can do this. But not everyone will do it. As a matter of fact, in another sense, not everyone can do this. Only the humble can do this. The proud cannot do it. That is why becoming a Christian is at once the easiest thing to do and the hardest thing to do. It is the easiest in that it doesn’t require and effort or ability on our part. We simply receive. Children are very good at this. But it is the hardest for those who cannot stand owing something to someone who has to work for everything he gets. Namely, most adults. We want to earn it. We want to work for it. We want to tell the world that we are worthy of it and that’s why we got it. It is those who are barred from God. Only the humble can enter… True Christians are the ones who say, “I’m out. I’m not worthy. I don’t measure up. I need Jesus…”
CONC: The Greatest of all weddings is coming and once it starts it will never end. It’s not like an American wedding that lasts for a day. It’s not like a middle-eastern wedding that lasts for a week. It’s God’s kind of wedding that will last for all eternity. There will be celebration, laughter, friendship, family, joy forever and ever. But remember that for that to happen, the most devastating of all funerals was experienced by Jesus, providing the way for us to enter into the wedding. We admit that we can’t get in. We don’t deserve it. But we take credit anyway for what Christ has done. And live the rest of our lives in joy remembering and communing with this Jesus.
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