Transcription
Um, in 1563, an artist created a painting that was commissioned originally for a monastery. And the artist painted this picture. It is known as the Wedding at Cana.
The artist, um, painted the picture, and its original purpose was to be lived under. It was in the place where the monks would eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What's interesting about the painting is that, um, it's so grand in scale that all of it isn't even fit here on our screen. Uh, the original painting is currently in the Louvre. It is 33 feet long and 22 feet high. Um, just a little bit different dimensions than this LED wall. This LED is about 40 feet wide and 10 feet tall. So imagine the size of it.
The Wedding at Cana, which is what we are going to study today. The thing that you'll notice is that Jesus is in the center of the wedding party. Now, if you've never been to a wedding, you may not notice that he's not in the right place because at a wedding party, the bride and the groom are normally at the center. What I love about this painting is that from an artistic viewpoint, the artist placed him where he should be, and that is at the center.
There's a lot going on in the painting, and there's a lot going on in the narrative of the scripture. And one of the things you cannot see off to the right is the guy with the gold clothes on and the black and gold. He's holding a glass of wine, and the guy below him is pouring water out into a jar, which is what happens in John 2:1-11. We're going to study today what Jesus wants to teach us.
The Wedding at Cana. Verse one, chapter 2. Let's follow along. Here's what it says: "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, everybody say, "Uh-oh." Trouble breaks out when the wine is gone. 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."
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so.
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 servant 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." Come on, somebody. You know that's how it is. But you have saved the best till now.
The book of John, as Jason, Pastor Jason Kaine said last week, was written so that we might believe. John 20:31, that you might believe that he is the Christ, the Lord, the Messiah. And the book of John is written differently than all of the other Gospels. Specifically, it has seven miracles in the book. Uh, most of the other Gospels have almost double the amount. John, as the writer, picks seven specific miracles that he says are signs. Signs point to something. And signs in the book of John always point to something beyond what's actually happening.
What's interesting about this as a miracle, it is Jesus' first miracle. It is the first thing that he shows up on the scene and does. I don't know about you, you may have never thought about this, but if you were God, if you were Jesus, and you're going to show up at the party and you're going to do a miracle, wouldn't you do something bigger than this? Like, have you ever thought in this context? Like all of the miracles we know Jesus did, he fed thousands of people. He raised people back to life. He, he, he healed blind people. He put ears back on people. He did all kinds of astonishing stuff. But he shows up at the wedding and he brings more Cabernet. Like it seems a little bit strange. So why this miracle? What is the context? And why are we doing it? Let's take a look at three things in the story and find their meaning and how it applies to us.
The first one is this: Let's look at the wine. The wine. Verse three, here's what it says: "When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, 'They have no more wine.'" Wine in the Bible is often connected to joy. In the Old Testament, you often will read about wine being a source of joy. Some of you are like, "Of course it is." Hey, not like that as an image, as a type and shadow. Psalms 104, I believe, says that wine is gladness to our hearts. Old Testament prophets tell us that the kingdom of God is like wine. It's joy and acceptance and love. The image of wine points towards joy. So the context is joy is connected to wine, and we're at the party and they run out of wine.
What is important to understand is that if you've ever had a wedding, uh, our youngest son, Chandler, has. He's got a stately name. Both of our kids do. Chandler Bington Metaf. Come on. It sounds like a stately name. You know what I'm saying? He got married, and I thought to myself, "We're off the hook because we are the fathers of the group." Thank you, Jesus. Praise the Lord. Like, we're off the hook. My wife calls me and she's like, "Hey, babe. I need you to put the rehearsal dinner on your credit card." I was like, "Sure, send me the email." And I was like, "Oh, snap. We're also responsible for all of the beverages." Lord have mercy on your soul. I'm just telling you men, if you have boys, you think you're off the hook, you're not. Keep the guest list small. Come on, somebody. I had to make sure we didn't run out of any beverages, if you know what I'm talking about.
Running out of wine in this context not only would have been embarrassing, it would have been humiliating in antiquity in the culture. This would have followed them their entire life. People would have talked about them as the couple that ran out of wine at their wedding. And not only that, it was this whole idea of the problem of shame and honor.
And what's interesting is that Mary is there, and she says to Jesus, "They're out of wine." One thing you may have never noticed in this story is the simple fact is that Mary brought her problem to Jesus. Most of us don't bring our problems to Jesus. Now, don't get me wrong. Most of us will bring our big problems to Jesus. If you have a financial crisis, you'll say, "God, I need your help." If you have a relationship crisis, you'll say, "God, I need your help." If you have a health crisis, when it's a big, scary, challenging problem, we're all sort of looking for help. Even those of you that are here today and you're like, "I don't know about this whole God Jesus thing." When something really scary happens, you start moving towards Jesus, calling on God.
But what I've learned, watch this, in my own soul and as a pastor over the course of many years, is most of us don't take our everyday normal problems to God. We tend to wait for the big ones. A guy by the name of Van Grimes, who was like pastor and a dad for Shelby and I. We're in our 20s. He was always talking to Jesus. You've heard me tell stories about him. And I remember one day we're in the office, and his office was glass, and I see him in his office, and he's doing this. "Yeah. Okay. Lord, help me. Lord, Lord, help. I know you're going to help me. Yeah. Because you, I know you're going to help me. Where'd they go? Yeah. I'm calling on you, Jesus. Yes. Because I know. Put it in. Let me see. Lord, help me." And I'm watching him. I'm watching him. He's talking, and I go in his office like, "Bam, what are you doing?" He's like, "I'm talking to Jesus." I was like, "I see that, but but about what?" He's like, "I lost my keys and I'm asking Jesus to help me find my keys." And I thought, "I just, I never thought of it that way, bro." Like, it's like kind of wild. He would do this all the time. I remember one time we were playing tennis at the basketball courts. I mean, at the tennis courts, me and Chubby and him, we're playing tennis, and we get in the car and we're leaving, and we're going to go eat. And he liked to eat at all these, you know, buffet-style places. You know what I'm saying? You can't have a good meal unless it's a buffet. So, we're headed to a buffet, and then in the car, he's like, "Oh, I forgot. I, I, I forgot my sunglasses." And he turns around, and the whole way back, he's praying, "Lord, I know you're going to say, 'Hey, keep my sunglasses there in Jesus' name. Lord, help me find them when I get there.'" And I just think, man, I just never thought of it like that. And we got there, and then boom, there's the glasses.
Is there any particular reason that we don't invite God into all of our lives? What would it look like if you brought your whole life to Jesus? Here's, here's what I know: that we all have big things, and we all have normal everyday life things. We lose our car keys. We lose our sunglasses. We, we misplace things. Or we, if you're, if you're in my age bracket, like the 45 to 54 age bracket, you wake up and then just all of a sudden there's just a thing. Like you just wake up. You're like, "What? Hold up. That wasn't there yesterday." You go to bed, wake up, and it's on the other side. Come on. Does anybody? Can I get an amen? We all have all of these little things. Watch this, that for some reason we think we're supposed to carry on our own. And what Mary points out here is that we need to invite God into our problems.
Scripture tells us about this in Philippians. Watch this. It says Philippians chapter 4:6. It says, "Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition." What is petition? By asking. "And asking God, 'Help me,' with thanksgiving. Watch. Present your request to God." Matter of fact, there are a few more scriptures that do the same thing. Matthew 7:7 says this, "Ask and it will be..." What? "...given to you." There's Philippians again. In Hebrews 4:16, it says this: "Approach God's throne of grace with confidence." And sometimes we think, "Oh, it's just for the big stuff." No, God is saying, "You can come to me with your entire life. You can come to me with whatever is going on in your soul."
And if we go back to the narrative of the story, what was the problem? That the wine was empty. What if you brought your emptiness to Jesus? Matter of fact, it's one of the big ideas: Bring your emptiness to Jesus. One of the things I know because we're all human, we all have places in our life and in our soul that it's empty. Places where you've experienced pain, let down, disappointment. Places where you were hoping for something to happen and it hasn't happened yet. Places where something happened to you, or places where you did or didn't do something that you regret. We all have things in our life that are empty, broken, and hurting. And we tend to think that we are supposed to manage those areas on our own. But Mary shows us that we're supposed to bring them to Jesus.
Let me give you some homework. What if this week, every time you felt any sort of need, you're on your way to work, you're like, "Oh, forgot my laptop. I don't know where it's at. God, help me." You a little stress in a relationship. God, help me. A little uncertainty about the future. God, help me. What if you took time and created margin in your day just to bring God your life? What would that look like for you?
The next passage, verse four, Jesus responds. Watch what he says: "Woman, why do you involve me?" First of all, it just seems harsh. You know what I'm saying? Jesus is a little sharp. "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My hour has not yet come."
What's interesting about this fact is if you read through the book of John, you'll see the phrase "my hour." And that phrase "my hour" is always pointing to the hour that Jesus would give his life in exchange for ours. And what's interesting in the context of signs point to something, this sign is actually pointing to something. And remember, John says, "I've written these down so that you might believe that Jesus is who he says he is."
So although the party is going on and it's fun, people are doing the Macarena and like people are dancing, and you know the wine runs out, and Jesus is kind of walking around, and Mary's like, "Yo, Jesus, they had a wine." She's like, "Woman, if I would have ever talked to my mom like that, I wouldn't even be here right now." But Jesus goes to something that seems like has no point in the story. He says, "My hour is not yet come." Why is he saying that? Because you may not understand the fact that what Mary was actually saying is she wasn't saying, "Hey, we just need more wine." In the culture, they would have experienced the shame of running out of wine. So what Mary was saying was, "Don't let these two young kids feel the shame of running out of wine." And we know the narrative of Jesus himself, the crucifixion and the resurrection, is his mission, which is to redeem humanity from our shame.
So when he says that, he's like, "Hey, it's not my time yet." We know the story. He goes on and does it. It's not because he changes his mind. It's just simply he's saying, "My purpose is to remove shame, not just in this setting, but for all of humanity." I don't know about you, but I don't know if there's anybody in the business or anybody in the room that is grateful that Jesus is in the business of removing our guilt and shame. Is anybody grateful?
So she says, "Don't let these two kids feel the shame of not having the wine." Why? Because we all carry some type and sense of shame. Sh and I were talking, and sometimes I forget epic stories. You ever forget epic stories in your family? We have a really epic story. The shameful parent stories. You know the ones. You know, everybody's got a couple of them. And I'm going to talk about the, the light one where you forget to go pick them up from school. We all got that one. You're not even a parent if you don't have that one. You know what I'm saying? You're not even qualified. Call yourself a parent if you haven't forgotten. Oh snap. There it is. Like two hours later. We're going to bed one night. Chandler learned how to sew in homeschool. Now, when you see him around the church, just look at him and be like, "You learned how to sew in homeschool." No, don't do that. Don't do that. He wouldn't appreciate his dad. One night, we're going to bed. We wake up in the morning. Chandler comes into our room and he says, "Mom and dad, I swallowed something." Now, all the kids swallow stuff, right? We're like, "Oh, really?" We're thinking like, what? He's, he's, he's a little bit older, but like, what did you swallow? He says, "A needle." Well, he's obviously okay because he's still here. Come on, somebody. We're like, "Oh, no." You know, we rush to the hospital. It all sorted out. But the shame and the guilt as mom and dad, like, we didn't have to have this conversation with anybody, but I can feel your eyes looking at me sometimes. How in the world could you let your little boy...? Smiling. Twenty years later, I feel the guilt and shame. We all have stories like this where we're like, "Man, I wish that hadn't happened." And Jesus comes in, and Mary says, "Hey, I'm not only going to invite you into the everyday challenges of life. I'm going to ask you to cover the shame of this couple because this is your ultimate purpose in the first place."
Hebrews 12:2 says it this way. Watch what it says. It says, "Fixing our eyes on Jesus." Pay attention to the structure of this. "Fixing our eyes on Jesus." Why? Because he is the pioneer and perfecter of faith. "For the joy..." There's that word joy again. "...for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its..." What? Okay, y'all have to participate if it's going to work. "...scorning it and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." This is what he does. Mary was inviting him into the problem and the emptiness and saying, "Would you come in and cover the shame of this couple because this is what you're going to do for humanity in the first place?" Jesus shows up, and you know the rest of the story. He does exactly what Mary asked.
What would it look like this week for you to begin to invite Jesus into the everyday areas of your life, into the emptiness, the big challenges, the little challenges? What would it look like if you woke up tomorrow morning and you're heading into the office and you said, "God, I'm a little uncertain about the day." What if you headed to the office and you said, "Man, you know, I'm really stressed about this project." What if you're driving, you're saying, "God, you know, I just, I just, I don't know that I have joy. I don't know I have peace." What if you just allowed him into your entire life? What would that look like?
The next big idea is the water. Verses two, five, and six say this: "His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you to do.'" Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. The big idea here, throw it on the screen, is Jesus is coming to replace the rules and the rituals of Judaism. I'll do my best to sort of teach quickly through this section, but Judaism was the religion of the day. Judaism was a system of rituals and rules that allowed you to approach God. The big idea is that God is perfect and we are not. So if you would go today to the Western Wall, you would walk up and you would see water pots, and they would, Jewish Orthodox Jews would put their hands in the water pots. They would wash their hands, and as they wash their hands, then they would dry them off, and then only then can they approach the Western Wall. And the idea is that the rituals point towards cleansing and forgiveness of sin. The challenge is that the rules and the rituals could point towards hope and healing, but never actually do it. And the reason Jesus performs this miracle is to say this: He's replacing the old way. You replace God. In other words, you no longer have to clean yourself up to approach God. I am him, and you can come to me just as you are. This is the symbolism inside. This is the sign inside of the miracle.
What's interesting though is that when we read this, we say stuff like, "Well, that doesn't have anything to do with me." Actually, it does. Why? Because all of us have water jars. We all have things that we instinctively do on the outside to make us feel like we can approach God and life better. We all have water jars. For some of you, your water jar is simply pretending that life is perfect. You're smiling on the outside, but you're struggling on the inside. This happens, this happens to preachers all the time, cuz I, I can't get up here, Shelby. And when we drive in the same car to church, it's almost a guarantee we're going to get into some type of disagreement about something. This is why we no longer drive together in the same car. Come on. From time to time, I'm just teasing. But I can't, I can't have an argument and then come up here and spew on you about the argument. I come here like, "How things going? I'm blessed and not stressed." You know, we all have water jars. For some of you, you learned years ago that you simply don't share with people, watch this, what's really going on. So you sort of hide in your pain, and you're simply doing a ritual that you think will serve you. We all have water jars. For some of you, your water jar is the water jar of success. And you simply go after everything. For years, this was mine, where if I get the right promotion, if I make enough money, if I get the, if the right person sees my work and how good it is, if I, if I sell enough of the product, if I, if I climb the ladder of success. For some of you, you are simply going through the motions, watch this, of this thing that ultimately you think, "When I get to this level, then I'll be enough and I'll be acceptable." And it's simply a different form of a ritual that is pointing to helping you feel better about yourself. We all have water jars. For some of you, it's the water jar of consistent improvement. "I'm just going to get better. I'm going to go on an ever-ending journey of being better. I'm going to read more books. I'm going to get smarter. I'm going to learn another language. I'm going to lose more weight. I'm going to make more money. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to get stronger. I'm, I'm doing everything I am to get better." And you find out it's simply a water jar. For some of you, it's serving other people. You love and you serve, and you love, and you serve, and you're always, your heart goes out to everyone else. And on the outside, it's amazing and it looks great, and we need that. But it's just simply a water jar that you're pouring out. Watch this. And no matter how much water you pour into it, it never has the capacity to quench the thirst of your soul because we all have water jars.
And then Jesus steps in and brings joy. Verses 7-9. On screen if we can. "Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water.' So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.'" So they, they did so. And the master of the banquet tasted the water, and it had been turned into wine. It's not on the screen, but the next thing that the master of the banquet does is he goes over to the bridegroom and he's like, "Yo, dog. Hey, this is not some 2026 stuff, man. This is good. You saved the best for last."
And if you're not paying attention, you'll miss it. Remember what we said in the beginning that wine always pointed to joy. And the big idea or the question is, when did the water turn into wine? The scripture never tells us. The story said, "Fill the jar, fill up with water. Fill it to the brim." And then he said, "Take what?" "Take the, now draw some out and take it to the master." That that happened when you draw it out. It happened when it poured in. Scripture doesn't tell us. Why is this significant? It's significant because it points to our soul. I don't have time to give you all the theological background on this, but when Jesus says, "Take that to the master of the banquet," let's be like the host. Jesus is doing two things. Number one, he's saying, "You're not the master of the banquet. I am the master of the banquet." He's also saying, "I provided."
Here's what's important. Often times in our life, we think joy is in the outcome. We're believing for God from God. We think joy comes when I finally get the thing that I'm asking God for. But what we see in the story is that joy is not in the outcome. Joy is in the process. Jesus says, "Let me, let me help you with this." Let's not forget Jesus is God. Sometimes you miss all of the imagery in the text. Do you know what he could have done, which is what I would have done? He could have said, "Wine be, poof." He could have just been like, "Cups are filled with wine. Bam." Why does he go through all this process? There's always meaning to the process because the joy is not found in the outcome. The joy is found in the process. And at some point along the way, they're pouring the water, and then they scoop the water. And somewhere between the jar and getting it to the master, it went from water to wine. The joy is in the process.
What am I trying to say to you? I am coming this weekend to tell some of you, you need to start walking towards Jesus in those small areas of your life because joy isn't found in the outcome of finding peace or finding hope or getting over, uh, your addiction, all those things you're praying for. Joy is in the process, watch this, of taking whatever you have in your water jar to the master because the joy comes in walking towards the master. And I want to challenge you this morning, not only to stop depending on your water jars, but to start taking them to the master. Every single weekend, I'm in the process of taking my water jar to the master. And I don't know when it's going to turn into wine. I don't know what kind of wine it's going to turn into. But what I realized, if I just start turning towards him and walking towards him, all of a sudden, I got peace back. I got hope back. I got joy back. And all of a sudden, somewhere in the process, he makes me new. Is anybody in the building?
What am I encouraging to do? What does this mean on Monday? That means on Monday, you wake up, you look, say, "God, I got my kids. I got my relationship. Got my financial well-being. Bringing it to you, and I'm going to start walking toward you." You wake up on Monday morning. You say, "God, I got the stress of my retirement. I have the stress of what's going on in our world and the stress of everything on the news. God, I, I'm afraid. I don't know what to do. I'm taking it to him."
Some of you are here this morning, and you're like, "I don't know what I feel about this whole church thing." And you barely made it. You came begrudgingly. And I celebrate that because somewhere down in your soul, you don't even realize it yet, but the reason that you are here is because you were looking into your water jar and you're saying, "This is not quenching my thirst." And this morning, you got up, you put on your Sunday best, and you turned towards Jesus, and you started walking towards him. And my encouragement to you is to keep on walking. No matter what you feel like, no matter how scary it is, no matter how challenging it might be, just keep on walking. Keep walking with your family. Keep walking with your kids. Keep walking with your job. Keep walking with your peace. Keep walking with your hope. Keep on walking. And somewhere in the middle, it's going to go from water to wine. And along the way, your relationship with him is going to be where you find joy.
Shel and I raised two boys. When they were little and they were first learning to walk, oh man, the most exciting things were, look at their little wobbly steps. All you parents know this. Your kid starts learning how to walk, and it's pitiful, actually, and they get their little... If they did that at 16, you'd be like, "Call the doctor. Call the doctor." But when they first start, you're on the other side and you're like, "Yeah, yeah, that's what we are." Jesus says, "Quit trying to carry all that on your own. Quit trying to carry your emptiness, your loneliness, your sadness, your anxiety, your frustration. Quit trying to be your own savior. Quit trying to be a better husband on your own, a better spouse on your own, a better student on your own, and just walk towards me because in the process is where you find joy."
I want to pray for us before we go. No heads bowed this morning. Prayed two groups of people. First group is a lot of us. It's those of us, we've been filling some area of our life with water, and it still feels empty. And you're like, "Man, maybe there's something better than this." Maybe God is simply asking me to walk towards him with this, or to turn back towards him. But we all have our water jars that we need to take towards him. My hands go up first. How many of you would say there's at least one area in my life that I need to walk towards him? Show of hands. Keep them up for just a moment. Can I encourage us as a pastor and as a shepherd? Can I encourage us? You're going to make it. Hope is going to come back. Peace is going to come. Joy is going to come. He's going to sort that situation in your soul. Your marriage will get better. Finances will turn the corner. But that's not the thing we're praying for. We're believing for it, but we're praying, "God, help me just to keep walking towards you." Put your hands down.
Father, I pray for those of us who've lifted our hands this morning. I pray that you would give us the courage, the wisdom, faith, and the peace to keep walking towards you.
There's another group of you here this morning, and that's the group that you've not taken the first step towards Jesus. You've never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. And today you're going to do so. Matter of fact, it's the entire reason that you're here: to take your first step walking towards him. Scripture calls that being born again. The Bible says three important things happen when you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Number one, scripture says that all of your sins are forgiven. What are your sins? All of your failures, all of your mistakes, and the guilt and shame you carry because of it. When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, he forgives all of your past and he removes the guilt and shame you carry because of it. The second thing that the Bible tells us is when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, scripture says you become a new creation in Christ. That all of the old things pass away, and everything is made new. He gives you a fresh heart and he pours his spirit into you. I like to say it like this: you get a fresh start with God. And the third thing that happens when you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, the Bible's very clear on this. When you take your final breath on this real place called Earth, there is a real place called heaven. And when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will spend eternity in heaven with Father God and the family of God. And for many of you, this is why you're here. This moment right here.
In just a moment, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to count to three, and I'm going to ask you to lift up your hand. And what you're saying by lifting up your hand is, "I want to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. I want to step towards him. I want my sins to be forgiven. I want this guilt and shame that I carry to be removed. I want heaven to be my home when I die. And today, I need a fresh start with God." On the count of three, if that's you, I'm going to ask you to boldly lift up that hand. Listen, I don't want you to overthink it. Don't worry about the person next to you. Just respond to what God is doing in your heart and reach that hand up. And we are going to celebrate out loud the greatest decision that you could ever make by taking your first step to Jesus. If that's you, on the count of three, boldly lift up that hand. One, two, three. Lift it up and keep it up. Come on. Lift it up and keep it up. Wow. Lift it up and keep it up. Keep it up. Keep it up. Keep it up. I see you right there. Welcome to God's family. Welcome to God's family. Keep it up. Keep it up. Welcome to God's family. Two of you in the back. Keep it up. Welcome to God's family. I got you, young man. I got you right there. Welcome to God's family. Others of you saying, "Yes." All the way in the back. I got you. God bless you. Welcome to God's family. I got you back there. Welcome to God's family. You guys are going crazy right now. Welcome to God's family. Amen.
Let's pray this out loud together. Say it with me. Heavenly Father, Father, say it with like, say it with your chest. Heavenly Father, Heavenly Father, I give you my life. I give you my life. I come to you a sinner. Today I accept your forgiveness. Come into my heart. Make me brand new. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. And use my life to help others in Jesus' name. And the church said, could you get a little bit rowdy and welcome those into the family of God?