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10-John-C2-The_First_Miraculous_Sign.doc|
John 2:1-11 Key Verse: 2:11 THE FIRST MIRACULOUS SIGN "This, the first of his miraculous sings, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him." Today’s message is about the Jesus' first miraculous sign at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. In this event, the main purpose of Jesus' coming to this world is well revealed : Jesus came to this world to bless those who believe in him. Jesus came to this world to transform our life without wine into a life with true wine, which is Jesus. May God bless us to learn how to get the true wine, the eternal joy of our life. Part 1. Jesus blesses the wedding. (1-3a). It was the first week of Jesus' ministry. On the third day after he left Judea, Jesus and his new disciples were in Galilee. There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus' mother was already there. Probably the people holding the wedding feast were some of Mary's relatives or friends. Jesus and his disciples also had been invited. The young disciples, who had big stomach, must have been very happy thinking about eating delicious food at the wedding feast. Peter made his stomach emptied even skipping the breakfast. Other disciples' stomach already made many noises when they thought about the wedding food. To the Jews, a wedding was a most blessed event in life. Customarily, the wedding banquet began on a Wednesday, and lasted through the weekend. After the ceremony, many days of feast continued. The bride and bridegroom were dressed in robes and wedding crowns, and treated like a prince and princess. They stayed at home and had open house for a few days. A wedding was always a joyful event for the whole community. It was like an oasis while living a laborious and hard life. As Genesis chapters 1 and 2 tell us, after the creation God saw what he had created, and it was very good. Soon God planted the paradise in the Garden of Eden. Then he blessed the first marriage between Adam and Eve. From God's point of view, marriage seems to be God's utmost blessing for mankind. It is so meaningful that Jesus performed the first miraculous sign at the wedding feast. In actual, Jesus came to this world to save us from sin and death, which means that he should prepare to die on the cross as a lamb of God. However, when Jesus was invited to the wedding, he willingly accepted the invitation and went along with his hungry disciples. At the wedding feast, Jesus must have enjoyed the food and wine with neighbors and blessed the newlywed couples. Jesus as a creator of wedding went there and blessed the marriage. Jesus really wants us to live a happy life like the bride and bridegroom in a wedding feast because in the beginning, God created us to live such a happy life at the Garden of Eden. However, we human lost the paradise due to our pride and disobedience. So, Jesus came to this world to restore the paradise and he participated in the greatest joyful event of our life. We can imagine how happy the people in the wedding were with much food and drink. “One more drink of wine ! One more dishes !, Big mouth Peter also enjoyed a big bite. They also shouted, “Long live the couple !” In wedding feast, there are a lot of pleasures and joys. They wished to live such a happy life for all their time in this world. However, the happiness of the wedding in this world is neither complete nor lasting. Look at verse 3. At the wedding, a serious problem arose. In the middle of the wedding feast, the wine ran out. Wine was essential to a wedding feast because it made the wedding guests delightful. And offering good hospitality was traditionally very important in the Jewish community. So, it was embarrassing for the bridegroom and the bride that the wine ran out at their wedding. It was considered as a breach of hospitality. It was the time the joy of wedding feast would end. Part 2. Mary’s prayer and Servant’s obedience (3b-11) At that time, Jesus' mother knew the situation. She went to Jesus and said, "They have no more wine." The word of Jesus’ mother, “They have no more wine” is showing the real nature of the happiness in this world. Usually the happiness in this world is interrupted and never lasting. Someday, the happiness and joy in this world will end with no more wine. Jesus was there at the wedding. However, Jesus does not work for himself. He always involves someone of prayer and obedience to do God’s work. Jesus' mother is a woman of prayer who teaches us how to pray. She was in the kitchen at the wedding feast, when the wine ran out. She might have thought, "Well, that's too bad." But she made this problem her own. She brought it to Jesus. Bringing it to Jesus is prayer. She didn't tell him what to do, but by bringing it to him, she was asking for his help. Then she simply waited on Jesus. In that desperate situation, she could have rebuked the family for not being sufficiently prepared. She could have nagged Jesus to do something immediately. But she did not do so. She was quiet. She waited on Jesus, believing that Jesus would deal with the problem in his own way. We also must learn prayer that waits on the Lord patiently. Then Jesus replied, "Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come"(4). Jesus' reply sounds harsh, but it is not. Jesus addressed her on the basis of his messianic ministry, not on human relation¬ship because Jesus began his public min¬istry as a son of God. Besides when Jesus said, "My time has not yet come," it meant that he was living and acting on God's time schedule, not on human time schedule. Likewise, we also must give our first priority to God. We are not to satisfy our human desires or the demands of our families. We must submit every request to the will of God and his time schedule. When Jesus spoke of his time, Mary, the mother of Jesus, could have been upset about her son's response. But she was not. She decided to do what she could do. Mary did not sit down in an embarrassing situation. She quietly stepped out to where the servants were and she said, "Do whatever he tells you" (5). She helped the servants obey Jesus' words. In this way, she made an environment in which Jesus could do his work in his own way and in his own time. Prayer includes the action in faith. If mother of Jesus has not faith in Jesus, she could not say anything to the servants. Faith always leads us to move in preparation for God’s work. Finally it seemed prepared for Jesus to do God’s work. There only remained the obedience of the servants for Jesus to perform the miraculous sign. However, the servants were the most busiest men in the wedding feast because they had to listen to many masters and mistresses and treat all the people of the community for several days. But Jesus commanded them, "Fill the jars with water." Usually these jars contained water for the ceremonial washing of hands and feet. There were six jars. Altogether, they held about 180 gallons of water (680 Liter). So, filling them would be no small task. At that time, there was no faucet in the house with only leaving the tap running to fill the jars. They should go to the well and back to the house with water pitcher for numerous times. But the servants obeyed Jesus' word and filled the jars to the brim. "To the brim" tell us that their obedience was out of their willingness. Obedience is not blind submission. Obedience stems from willingness. Obedience is possible when we have faith in Jesus in our hearts. If we worked half-heartedly in school or company, obedience of “to the brim” could not be made. The sign of the children of God is filling the jars to the brim. Laziness is the typical lifestyle of the half-heartedness and lack of faith. Lazy servants would never fill the jars to the brim, only half way to the top. If the jars were filled in half or less than that, the no more wine problem would have happened again in the wedding feast. Jesus blesses the obedient persons and through the obedience “to the brim”, he performs the miraculous sign as of today. Look at verse 8. "Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.'" They had obeyed Jesus' word 120% when he gave them the task of filling the jars. But now Jesus was asking them to take the foot and hand-washing water to the master of the banquet to serve the guests. This was even harder to obey. The servants could be severely rebuked and even beaten. But they also obeyed at this time. When they obeyed to the end, a miracle happened. The servants did not know when the water was turned into wine. It might be changed when they went to the master of banquet with trembling hand and feet. In any way the water turned into wine. The hand-washing water turned into sweet wine. Look at verses 9 and 10. "...and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.” When the master of the banquet tasted the wine, his tongue began to dance in his mouth. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants 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; but you have saved the best till now.'" The guests really enjoyed the wine Jesus had made. The banquet master had no idea what had happened. He only knew the wine was the best choice wine. On the other hand, the servants who obeyed Jesus and filled the jars to the brim knew what had happened. They experienced the changing power of God. Look at verse 11. “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus per¬formed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him.” Here we learn the fundamental reason why Jesus performed this miraculous sign. Jesus blessed the wedding at Cana. He turned a potentially miserable wedding feast into a joyful occasion. Jesus came to bless and to bring joy. He blesses weddings. The bride and bridegroom, the guests and the banquet master did not know why the wedding feast was so joyful and gracious. But they were blessed anyway. What is the reason for the joy and delight in our fellowship? It is because our fellowship has Jesus as the Lord and there are also a woman of prayer and man of obedience in our fellowship like in the wedding banquet. Student shepherds are obedient to the word of God dedicating themselves to sharing So-gam and preparing various programs in Bible café. Laymen in our fellowship are also obedient devoting themselves to 1:1 Bible study and caring lamb. Our shepherdesses are obedient to attend early morning prayer meeting, go fishing and serve lunch meeting at campus even though there comes only a few students. Through all of the prayer and obedience like that, Jesus performs miraculous signs among us. Jesus changing power transforms the monotonous and meaningless life into the holy and joyful life. When we follow the prayer of Jesus’ mother and the obedience of the servants, the wine made in Jesus will never be run out in our life. Jesus performed the first miraculous sign at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. This event has spiritual meaning. The world was cursed by one man's disobedience. But Jesus came to this world to bless mankind again as he blessed the wedding at Cana in Galilee. Where Jesus is, there is the joy of heaven and overflowing bless¬ing. But only those who trust Jesus and participate in his work with obedience can really understand where the source of blessing comes from. Jesus is the true wine in our life. Let’s get the true wine in our life through prayer and obedience. |
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