Jesus replied, “Woman, what does that
have to do with me? My time hasn’t come
yet.”
His mother told the servants, “Do
whatever he tells you.” Nearby were six
stone water jars used for the Jewish cleansing ritual, each able to hold about
twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the
jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some from them
and take it to the headwaiter,” and they did.
The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the
servants who had drawn the water knew.
The headwaiter called the groom and
said, “Everyone serves the good wine first.
They bring out the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking
freely. You kept the good wine until
now.” This was the first miraculous sign
that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He
revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
You never get a second chance to
make a first impression. A first
impression tends to be a lasting impression.
But, what if your first impression is a false or incomplete impression? It happens a lot, and I’ve noticed the
impressions people have in their minds about Jesus, in particular, are
sometimes very incomplete or just plain inaccurate.
Today we begin a new series of
messages called “Surprising Things They Never Told You About Jesus.” The Jesus that is often shared in churches is
sort of weak, sterile, benign, and well . . . boring! Then we wonder why
more people aren’t excited to get to know him better!
In this series, we’re going to
look at a few episodes in Jesus’ life that paint a much more robust,
interesting, dynamic, and fascinating picture.
Jesus was anything but boring!
Sometimes, the more you get to know someone, you realize you didn’t know
them as well as you thought you did.
That’s what I hope will happen for you in these messages. Whether you’ve known Jesus for a long time,
are just getting to know him, or aren’t even sure that you want to get to know
him, I promise you’ll walk away from this series with a different picture of
him in your head than you’ve ever had before.
Today we start the series with
this surprising thing they never told you about Jesus: Jesus could party.
“Party” is not the first descriptor that
comes to mind for Christians
Jesus could party. What makes this surprising is that, so many
Christians are just so serious all the time.
I mean c’mon, Christians are the ones who brought us the Crusades, the
Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials - we’ve got a reputation for not
exactly being the most fun-loving people on the planet! I have a friend who says, “A Christian is
someone who lives their life in fear that somewhere in the world, someone is
having fun.”
Or, perhaps you’d prefer this
quote from John Wesley, founder of Methodism, who said, “Sour godliness is the
devil’s religion.”
Ashley and I once stayed at a
bed-and-breakfast and came into the dining room as some of the other guests
were just finishing up. Without any
prompting on our part, the first thing they told us was that they were
Christians and which church they belonged to, and then engaged us in a
conversation that let us know that they were very hateful, angry, racist,
homophobic, sour people. We listened
uncomfortably and when they left, I just looked at Ashley and said, “Wow. They hate EVERYBODY! Good thing they told us they were Christians,
‘cause I’d have never figured it out on my own!”
The Jesus they know probably isn’t
very much fun, and he certainly doesn’t like to party. Friends, if you’re a Christian, and you’re
walking around with a permanent scowl on your face, it might be time to get
re-acquainted with Jesus! (“I’m a
Christian - Peace be with you!” “I’m
full of the love of God and neighbor; can’t you tell?”) As we’ve heard already in today’s Scripture
reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus loves to party.
In John chapter 2, Jesus, his
mother, and his disciples are among the invited guests at a wedding feast. Unlike our weddings that are typically an
afternoon and evening, Jewish weddings at the time of Jesus were a total
blow-out - think My Big Fat Greek Wedding
and make the party last for a week.
It was three days into the party when the unthinkable happened: they ran
out of wine.
They don’t have any wine
When we host a party at our house,
we always say it’s better to have too much and have some left over than to run
out, right? Rest assured, if you come to
a party at our house, there will be plenty of food, plenty of music, plenty of
room, plenty to drink. It has happened
that we’ve run low on ice or napkins or something, which is a little
embarrassing, but it’s not the end of the world.
That’s us, but in the time and
place of Jesus, running out of wine isn’t just a social faux pas, it’s a disaster, because wine is a sign of God’s
abundance, joy, gladness, and hospitality.
In the Old Testament, wine symbolizes the presence of God (Joel 3:17-18,
Isaiah 25:6). And so, when they run
short on wine, they run short on God’s presence and blessing, abundance and
joy. The wine has run out before the
wedding is over, and it’s a catastrophe.
Jesus’ mother is the one to bring
Jesus into the situation. These are the
first words she speaks in John’s Gospel, “They don’t have any wine” (v. 3), she
says, alerting Jesus to a problem and implying that he can do something to fix
it. She knew that running out of wine
signaled a deep problem, pointing to a scarcity of the presence and blessing of
God, which meant this was a job for Jesus.
Mary cannot stand by and allow
their marriage celebration to have a lasting shame as its memory. “They don’t have any wine - their wedding
will be remembered because the wine ran out, everyone will be talking that the
blessing of God ran out, and what should be this great feast and celebration
will be remembered as the day when God’s presence was scarce, and there wasn’t
enough joy and gladness to go around.
They don’t have any wine, Jesus. There’s
a problem. Something is wrong. Do something about it, Jesus!”
What does that have to do with me?
Jesus replied, “Woman, what does
that have to do with me?” (v. 4) That
sounds kinda rude, but Jesus is probably really just calling her “Ma’am” and
the cultural translation sounds harsher to our ears than it really was. If he really was being rude, the next verse
would say, “And then Jesus woke up in the hospital.” - you don’t get away with
sassing your Mom, even if you’re Jesus!
Yet the story is still rich with humor. When Mary says they don’t have
any wine, you can almost see Jesus swirl the last of the wine in his glass and say, “How is that my problem? They should have hired a better wedding
planner!”
Mary pretends she doesn’t hear him
as she calls together a staff meeting of the entire catering company and says
“You all do whatever my boy Jesus tells you to (v. 5). Depending on how Jesus responds, this party
is either over, or it’s just getting started.
If Jesus were boring, when the
wine ran out, boring Jesus would have said, “Great! Now that the wine is gone, turn out the
lights because this party is over! And
it’s about time! So now, the party’s
over, and good riddance! Now we can all
go home and get down to serious business.”
Jesus kept the party going
That might have been the response
from boring Jesus. Yet, the evidence
clearly shows, if you believe the Bible, anyway, that Jesus was more interested
in keeping the party going than in killing everyone’s buzz. “Nearby, there were six stone jars used for
the Jewish cleansing ritual, each able to hold about twenty or thirty gallons”
(v. 6). Jesus had them fill the jars up
to the brim, and then draw some out and take it to the headwaiter. The water in the jars had turned into wine,
good wine, in fact.
Most people put out the good stuff
first, and then once everybody is feeling good and can’t tell the difference,
switch to the cheap stuff. At this point
in the party, you would have expected Jesus to make some Boone’s Farm or
Two-Buck Chuck. But, no, Jesus turned
the water into some top-shelf hooch and gave it away. He saved the hosts from embarrassment and
provided abundantly for all.
How abundantly? Well, run the numbers. I spent a summer in college making wine, and
we sold it in 6-gallon batches. One
batch would make, on average, 27 standard bottles of wine, accounting for some
settling of sediment within each 6-gallon batch. And so, if there were six stone jars full of
30 gallons of water that Jesus turned into wine, that’s the equivalent of 810
bottles of wine. However you add it up,
that’s a lot of wine - a lot of blessing, a lot of God’s presence, a lot of
joy, a lot of gladness.
That’s a pretty nice wedding gift from Jesus. Can you hear how that would have gone over with his disciples? Peter says, “I bought them a toaster.” John says, “I got them a panini press. I know they didn’t register for one, but I have one and I just love it and thought they could use one, too! Hey, Jesus, what did you get them? What? C’mon, Jesus! I thought we agreed on a $50 limit!”
The thing is, though, there are no limits when it comes to God’s goodness. God’s blessings are abundant as new wine, and life in God’s presence is as joyful as the wedding guests who found their provisions re-stocked and kept the party going.
A sign of the kingdom
In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ miracles
are called signs, meaning they point to a reality beyond themselves. And so, we don’t pay primary attention to the
miracles themselves, as cool as they are, but we look for the greater meaning
and message they represent.
Really, with all the evidence, are
we all that surprised to discover that Jesus could party? His first miracle was at a party, and it kept
the party going - this is what the kingdom of God is like.
You are invited - we are all invited - to the party. The kingdom of God is near. Party on!
Gracious God,
We confess that words like “party” and “celebration” are
not the words that come first to our minds when we think of the life of faith. Perhaps we would prefer a faith that is more
rigid – more concerned with rules than relationships, more concerned with
religion for its own sake than righteousness for your sake. Forgive us for our lack of imagination.
We have often squashed your joy. We have been quick to turn out the lights on
the party rather than to allow your life-giving Spirit to flow into us and
through us. Free us from the burden of
taking ourselves so seriously all the time.
Instill in us the gladness that rightly comes from knowing you.
For those whose faith has soured, whose spirits have
become bitter, we ask for a freshness and a lightness to enter their lives
again. Turn their sour grapes into fine
wine.
We thank you that there are no limits to your goodness. Save us from being people who try to contain
your presence within boundaries and borders where you have placed none. Keep us from blocking your joy and presence from
others, and when they look at our lives, may we give them an accurate and
honest picture of your wonderful, matchless, limitless grace and love.
We thank you for Jesus, who knew how to party, and
invites us to a never-ending joyful celebration. We accept his invitation gladly, and welcome
the abundance of blessing that we share in his presence. It is in his name that we pray. Amen.
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