January 14th sermon A New You John 2

January 14th sermon
John 2:1-10, Isaiah 62: 1-5


What was your wedding like? Show me your hands for those who had an extravagant wedding….you know, presents piled all the way to the ceiling, roses everywhere, doves flying up, Tabernacle Choir singing in the background, angels playing their harps, the sky opens and a spot light from heaven shines on the bride.

Our wedding was in a small church in Kerrville. It was all family and a few friends and we packed that place out. It was April 2nd and there were 6 ft wooden rabbits guarding the front door. Here is how it went. I was on one side looking at Brandy. She was looking at me with those loving eyes. “Do you Sean take Brandy to be your loving wife….” I’m thinking “don’t lock your legs, don’t lock your legs, don’t pass out”…”oh, I do”.

“Do you Brandy take Sean to be your loving husband….” She’s thinking “oh my this is the best day of my life. I can’t believe I got someone as great as Sean. He is such a hunk. We are going to have lots of kids and a big house. This is wonderful.” “ oh…I do”. And now I pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride.” I dipped then kissed her. The best day of her…I mean our lives.
Well if you think your wedding was a big deal, you have to look at the weddings in the 1st century. They were a week long. This is a true fiesta.

Wine was very important back then for meals and for festivals. Wine was a symbol of joy, but drunkenness was forbidden by scripture. Jesus didn’t intend the guest to get stinking drunk. He made 180 gallons of water into wine to satisfy a large number of guests for a few more days.

It’s been said that the wedding was for a relative or close friend of Jesus. Think about this. It’s a great dishonor for the host to run out of wine for the guest. Mom is upset because the wine has run out. Friends usually sent wine and other items ahead of time for the wedding celebration.

Lack of wine would show a lack of friends. If Jesus or his mom were among the inner circle of friends for the bridegroom, he would be obligated to bring wine. So by providing the wine, Jesus saves the bridegroom from dishonor, but also saves his own prestige.

In the OT, an abundance of wine showed a sign of God’s joyous arrival of a new age.
· On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, (Is 25:6a)
· The mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it (Amos 9:13cd)
· In that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, the hills shall flow with milk (Joel 3:18a)
Six jars that will hold 20-30 gallons each. I would say that 180 gallons of wine would be an abundance. Water back then did not come in bottles of Perrier. It was safer to drink some fermented grapes than the water.

Jesus took this water that might not have been the best to drink and made it into the best wine around. The jars were empty when Jesus first got there and he filled them up. That is what Jesus does for us. Jesus fills us with the best of himself.

The old container is our bodies. Jesus transforms us from the inside out. The sinner becomes a saint. The pagan becomes a child of God. The polluted becomes pure.

This miracle is the beginning of his signs. That abundance of wine was a sign of God’s new age. Jesus changing water into wine was the beginning of a new age. The age of God’s grace was upon the people.
John uses the word sign instead of miracle, because what Jesus did was a sign pointing to something even greater than some water turning into wine. It was a sign pointing to God.

The guests and the wedding steward focused on the new wine and its sudden appearance. But for a sign to fulfill its purpose, it has to point to something greater. What does this point to? It points to Jesus. It points to God.

Those six jars were ceremonial cleansing jars. They would be filled with water for the Jews to wash with before and after eating. And now their use is changed. The old purifying water is gone. The new wine symbolic of Jesus’ blood is here.

When you read about a sign (the water to wine, the healing, the resurrection), remember, it’s a road sign. We are all on a journey. Think about being on an old ship with big sails. We have the spiritual wind behind us and the mile markers pointing in front of us. I told someone the other day I was behind their ship blowing into their sails to move him along his spiritual journey faster, and I would try and let off some of that tension. He told me “you do challenge me, but I don’t want to be lukewarm.” Your wet muddy path is laid out before you. Keep any eye out for those marker signs, that guy on the side of the road, and the jar…the jars that were filled with water, but now filled with the cleansing blood of Christ.