The Glory in a Glass of Wine
Dr. Larry Thorson
Scripture: John 2:1-12
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in
4 "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus
replied. "My hour has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial
washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with
water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the
banquet."
They did so, 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."
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through
which he revealed his glory; and his disciples put their faith in him.
12 After this he went down to
Today’s New International Version Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society
They
saw his glory. That’s the theme of our
study of the gospel of John this winter because in nearly every chapter of John
there’s mention of God’s glory being revealed in Jesus. That’s the important thing that he wants to
convey to us. Jesus wasn’t just a good
teacher, but he enabled us to see God’s glory without being blinded.
Today’s
story reveals God’s glory in probably the strangest place you’re going to find
it in the entire Bible. I imagine that this
is one of the most requested miracles asked of God even today. If you live in
The setting for this revealing of God’s glory
is a wedding. Now I’ve done a lot of
weddings in my time. The most recent
wedding I did took place in December in the living room of a mobile home in
There
was a woman in
In
The
wedding Jesus attended was much more traditional. Wedding celebrations in those days often ran
seven days. On this occasion the host
ran out of wine. Now that was a cultural
blooper. If you ran out of wine at your
festival in that culture, that was the defacto end of the feast. When I was growing up we didn’t drink wine in
my family. We were strictly beer
drinkers. There was an unwritten rule in
our family that a party never ended as long as there was beer to be drunk. So I can understand this wedding preparation
blooper. It was going to kill the party.
But bloopers happen at weddings no matter
how much planning you do. Jack Longley,
who has been pastor of Trinity Presbyterian in
Once he called
the bride by the name of the groom’s ex girlfriend during the ceremony! He had a groom faint in the middle of the
ceremony, a bridesmaid and groomsman go to the floor, the groom arrive drunk,
the best man paint “HELP” on the groom’s shoes so when he knelt to pray all
could see his sign of distress. Once a best
man forgot the ring and left it in the truck in the parking lot and ran out
during the ceremony to retrieve it. There
was the reception when the person responsible for bringing the food forgot
it! There was the guest organist who
showed up and asked, “How do you turn this on...and what are these things {the
stops!}” There was one when the bride
arrived 45 minutes late because the limousine broke down on the way to the
church. There was a time when a best man
handed Jack an envelope with the honorarium...only when he opened it, it was
empty.
So
here was Jesus with his disciples when his mother comes up to him and informs
him of the problem. Notice that it isn’t
Jesus that notices the problem but his mother.
Running out of wine at a wedding celebration isn’t a life and death
situation. No one is going to die if
they don’t get more wine. But it would
be a huge disappointment and embarrassment to the host and to the honored
couple.
Notice
that Mary never asks Jesus to turn water into wine. She just points out the need. And Jesus didn’t exactly jump at the
opportunity to fix this need either.
"Woman,
why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My hour has not yet
come."
But Mary had complete confidence that Jesus
would take care of the problem. She said
to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
She
didn’t know how he would fix it but she knew he could and would.
Now that’s confidence. The only way she could have that kind of
confidence, I believe, is because she had privately seen his glory at home. Once you have seen his glory you have
confidence in what he can do.
Jesus transformed six water pots holding between 120 and 180 gallons of water into premium wine. I was curious as to how wine is traditionally made so I did a little reading about it last week. Simply put, wine is made when yeast converts sugar in the grapes to carbon dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide escapes into the air and what's left is wine. The winemaker's job is to create perfect conditions for the yeast to do its job and let nature take its course. Yeast, which causes fermentation, is a single cell organism that converts the sugar in the fruit to alcohol and carbon dioxide. It can take anywhere from a few months for light wines to a few years for heavier red wines to mature.
Here
Jesus made wine in a few minutes without grapes. If you or I filled a pot
with water and put it on our front porch, it could sit there for a 1000 years and never turn into wine. Remember back in John 1:3, John had said, “All things came into being by Him...” God is the one who creates out of
nothing. John is saying that Jesus is
God and this miracle demonstrated that he could create out of nothing. This is the first proof John gives us that
Jesus is God. Only God can create
something out of nothing. That’s what
Jesus did here. John is recording a
miracle in which Jesus demonstrates that He is the creator.
The glory in a glass of wine, what a strange place to find it. But why not in a glass of wine? If
you go back into the Old Testament, wine was a symbol of joy and blessing. Psalm 104:15: “And wine which makes
the heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which
sustains a man’s heart.” Wine was
used as a part of the offering to God (Exodus 29:40). We also know that wine
was drunk at feasts, an example is 1 Samuel 25:18.
Paul recommended to Timothy that a little wine was good for the stomach and
your frequent ailments (1 Timothy 5:23).
If Jesus was against drinking alcohol why did he prolong the
party by making more wine? The problem
of drunkenness isn’t because of wine or beer.
Just as the problem of gluttony isn’t because of food. Nor is the problem of domestic violence
caused by marriage or relationships. The
problem is that when the glory of God departs from our life then everything
falls out of balance.
My biggest challenge everyday is to balance the right amount
of sleep with the right amount of food with the right amount of work with the
right amount of praying, studying, ministering and administering. Too much of any one thing throws everything
off. I suspect you have the same
challenges most days.
That’s why we
need one another to help keep us in balance.
No serious athlete dares train without at least a coach to help her keep
her training in balance. No serious
disciple of Jesus Christ isolates themselves from other disciples. If we want to see the glory of God we need
each other because the glory of God today resides in those who have opened
their hearts to God’s Son Jesus Christ.
In your bulletin
today (also at the end of this manuscript) is an insert that lists most of the
major meeting times in a given week when you can meet in a small group. These are for six weeks only starting the
first week of February. They are for one
to two hours at the most each week for six weeks. Would you mark your top two best times for a
small group along with your name and phone number. Drop it in the offering plate. This doesn’t commit you to anything. It helps us to organize the groups and find
meeting space for them.
Our deacons will
sort through the sheets in the next few weeks and get back with you about the
specifics. If the glory of God could be
revealed in the glass of wine imagine how much the glory of God is being
revealed in you that no one knows about.
That’s why we have small groups.
Join a Small Group This Winter!
February
3 – March 15
Weekly
new small groups of a dozen or so people are forming for six weeks beginning in
February and leading up to Holy Week/Easter.
Select the top two best times you can meet and include your name and
phone number. Someone will get back with
you about the specifics. This is a great
opportunity to make new friends, grow in your faith and experience God’s glory.
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