E-Book, Englisch, 134 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-09-835455-8
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
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Chapter 1:
Transformed by Grace! “And suddenly you just know that it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of new beginnings.” —Anonymous John 2:1-11 (NASB) On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification contained twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him. When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people drank freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. It’s good when you start, to start at the beginning. Before Jesus made his official entrance into public ministry, Jesus performed one miracle. He would then go on to perform nearly forty. It is important to stop and remember what John said, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”1 I’m sure there were many other signs and miracles of which we are simply not aware. This was the first, and it is interesting that he chose to perform this miracle at a wedding. Less than a week has now gone by since Jesus appeared in the desert. John prophesied that Jesus was coming and when he arrived, John said, “Behold the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.” 2 There was a system taught in the Old Testament for hundreds of years, that on particular days individuals would bring a sacrifice—often a lamb without blemish. The lamb would then be sacrificed on the altar. Blood would be shed, and man would receive forgiveness. This completed the instruction found in Scripture that says, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission/forgiveness of sins.”3 Now this lamb has arrived and that system from the Old Testament is about to change overnight. Just a few days later, a wedding took place in Cana. We don’t know how many guests there were, but Scripture does tell us that Jesus and his mother were there and also his disciples. The Scripture gets right to the point. There was a problem. They had run out of wine, so Mary took the need to Jesus. I suppose that it is difficult to know exactly why she told Jesus. After all, we have no record of any previous miracle Jesus had performed and later in Verse 11, we learn in fact that this was his first. Certainly by this time Mary was fully aware that her son Jesus was the very Son of God himself, so she says, “Hey, Jesus, they don’t have any wine.” His response captures our attention because it sounds so abrupt. Look at it. “What has this concern of yours to do with me, woman?”4 Things are now beginning to change. Their relationship is beginning to change. This is likely the first time Mary asked Jesus for help in a public setting. What Jesus has to say here in the second part, when He says, “what does this have to do with me?” seems to be explained in the last part. “My hour has not yet come.” Mary, who is apparently expecting this need to be taken care of, then speaks to the servants and says, “Do whatever he tells you.” This is a principle that God’s people have attempted to live by for over two thousand years. Read it again. Do whatever Jesus tells you. Mary knew that Jesus could perform whatever was necessary as long as the servants obeyed. The same is true today. Jesus is more than able to do whatever is necessary in your family. Jesus is more than able to do whatever is necessary in your personal life. Jesus is more than able to do whatever is necessary to heal relationships, to heal people and to heal circumstances. For the very first time, the public is about to see that in any situation, Jesus the miracle worker can take something that is broken and fix it. He can take something that is old and make it new. Look at what he does. There are six stone jars and each one will hold about twenty gallons—possibly thirty. There are over one hundred-twenty gallons of water available. They are told to take them and fill them to the brim. These pots were used for washing. The Jews had a practice for years that they would not eat until they had washed their hands carefully. We still practice this. “Hey kids, wash up it’s time to eat.” These large pots were used because they had to wash cooking utensils as well, and the pots and pans. Mary tells them to fill them and John reports that they filled them to the brim. Now, I am not sure why we have that particular detail, except that it does point out that nothing else was added. No wine was added. No Kool-Aid was added. No food coloring was added. Just water, filled to the top. Jesus chooses some of the servants to help again and he tells them to draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. Not to the waiters, not to the maître d’... take it to the master. The main guy. These would be very heavy. A gallon of water weighs just over eight pounds so each container may have weighed in excess of two hundred pounds and there were six of them. There were more than just a few men carrying these, as they weigh over a half ton. The host asked for wine and they brought water. It happens sometimes. “I ordered sweet tea, you know the stuff dripping with sugar. This is unsweetened tea. This is terrible.” Or, “I ordered Coke, not Diet Coke.” The host ordered wine and they brought water. Of course they were just doing what Mary told them to do. Jesus told them as well, so they were just following orders. We know it was water when they left the kitchen, so we have to conclude that the water became wine between the kitchen and the head table at the banquet. It is like the waiter walking out of the kitchen carrying a whole side of beef and he says, “I need you to become a nice ribeye, medium well by the time we get to the table.” That takes faith and obedience. It’s difficult to do what God tells us to do when we look at the circumstances. It often looks virtually impossible. As much as we desire to ask so many questions, to dot every “I” and cross every “t” and know every single detail, God says, “Just do what I told you to do.” That is what Mary said and what Jesus requested. This is what the master of the banquet, not Jesus—I’m speaking of the Master of Ceremonies—told them to do. They discussed it with no one and they marched out with it. They took it over to the Master of Ceremonies. Since he was responsible, he had to make sure all the food and drink was acceptable. When he tasted the wine, the Scripture says he did not know from where it had come. The master was obviously surprised because this wine actually tasted better than the wine they had earlier. It was customary to serve the best wine first. Then, when people didn’t care as much what it tasted like, you would bring out the lesser wine, the one that was not so good. Just as there is grape juice and wine today, there was intoxicating wine and non-intoxicating wine in that day. The word here in the Greek is oinos, and it refers to both so that doesn’t help us know which one it was. Verse 11 reminds us that every miracle Jesus performed had a purpose. It was never simply a display of power. John said Jesus performed this first sign in Cana. What is a sign? When you’re traveling down the highway and you see a road sign, that sign is always pointing you toward something that is an important marker. Main Street. Uneven lines. School zone. Slow down. Curve in the road. Get prepared. Ice on the roads. Trouble is ahead. However, signs are not always negative. If you’re traveling down the highway, there are also positive signs. Cracker Barrel ahead. Rest stop ahead. Several things happened as a result of this miracle: Jesus revealed His glory. The glory of God was revealed that day. His disciples put their faith in him—apparently for the first time. Remember, his brother James did not believe until the resurrection. Their faith was solidified at this moment and now they were ready to follow him anywhere. This exchange made this wedding a Place of Grace. The law was exchanged for grace. This ceremony of washing hands—that’s what these jars had been used for—was now replaced with something new. The Law of Moses was exchanged for a place of mercy. The exchange made this wedding a Place of Grace. We are cleansed by the blood of the cross. If you have to keep going back and completing this ceremonial washing of hands, you are constantly reminded that it is not enough. You just get unclean again. One more animal sacrifice. Again and again. Now we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb....
