They Have No Wine

Well, the title of today's study, they have no wine. They have no wine. And I invite you to open your Bibles once again, and let's turn to the passage of Scripture that we'll turn our attention to today, which is John 2. John 2, we'll be reading verses 1 through 11. John 2, verses 1 through 11. Now, as we turn there, some of you will quickly realize that we're turning to what is the first recorded miracle of Jesus Christ. This is the initial miracle. And being so, being the initial recorded miracle, it held of great significance for the disciples then, and for the work that they had in front of them.

I think if we allow these words in this account to hit our hearts today, it'll be effective in preparing us for the work that lies ahead as well today. So let's begin. We're going to read through this, John's account here, John 2, verses 1. And this is the account of Jesus turning water into wine.

John writes, On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine. Jesus said to her, Woman, what does your concern have to do with me?

My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. And there were six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, Fill the waterpots with water, and they filled them up to the brim.

And he said to them, Draw out now, and take it to the master of the feast, and they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine. And when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now. The beginning of signs Jesus did, this is the beginning of signs that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

Let's stop there. Every local newspaper that I have ever seen growing up has had within it a section that was given over exclusively to the accounts concerning weddings. Have you noticed that? It's been a while since I looked at a newspaper, honestly, but I suspect that it's still there in many newspapers today. And generally, this section is dedicated to local weddings. And it is, if we're honest, it's quite a bore. Quite a boring thing for anyone other than the immediate family. But if you got married around the time in which newspapers were the primary means of information distribution, chances are there you were, buried amongst the back of the newspaper, amongst the ads, being declared as Mr.

and Mrs. And while most of these announcements do stay buried in that way, every so often there is a wedding that will make it to the front page. And I believe that any newspaper that would have been privy to the events described for us here in these first eleven verses, that newspaper would have considered this to be something of a journalistic scoop, if you will. This wedding here would have certainly made the front page.

Because in it, you have such intriguing matters of human interest. You have what is a catering crisis. And to top it off, you have a miracle here. So this would have moved definitely from the obscurity of the back pages all the way to the front. And in putting our attention to this event here, we're being confronted with an account here of Jesus Christ's first initial recorded miracle. And so, thusly, those that have really any biblical exposure, they know about this miracle. They know about the miracle of turning water into wine. And a lot of readers have believed in this miracle.

But some have not. And of those doubters, if you get on the Internet and start to Google, which I don't recommend, you will see that there are various ways in which individuals come up with it as to how this miracle could have taken place without the miraculous occurring.

Some dedicate themselves to explaining all of Jesus's miracles in a way to say, No, that could have happened in this natural way, they say. And the particular individual's estimate of this miracle, it really depends on their estimate of Jesus Christ.

How an individual views this miracle will depend in large part how they view Jesus Christ. And I believe it's for this reason that John, prior to this miracle being recorded, spends so much effort into giving us clear declarations as to the identity of Jesus Christ. You'll notice very clearly that prior to this miracle, John has made it clear that of the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. And he takes almost a whole chapter, if you will, there in chapter 1, to say to his readers, In my recordings to come, I want you to know who you're encountering in these recordings.

In fact, you're encountering the one, the Word, who would become flesh. And you're going to be coming to my recordings and just know that you're encountering the one who has stepped from the right hand of God onto this earth. And John, in a way, would want his readers to come to this miracle and take a deep breath after chapter 1.

He would want us to come to this miracle, take a deep breath, and really take in all that he has told us regarding Jesus Christ, and who he is, and the identity of him, take a deep breath, take that all in, and then come to this miracle. And by doing so, you will then come into the reading of this miracle and be able to see, well, changing water into wine, well, that's no problem at all.

For the one who has created the ends of the earth. It's no problem at all to change water into wine for the one who created water, and who created the elements that make up wine. No problem at all to have that transformation. So again, the reader's estimate of this miracle, and all of Jesus's miracles, will be directly related to their estimate of the person of Jesus Christ.

So this afternoon, we want to cover two main thoughts here in this passage. First to cover is the scene that's described for us. It's a pretty straightforward scene. Secondly, to come to an understanding of the significance of this scene. So let's try to sketch it out here the best we can. First of all, notice the occasion. What was the occasion? Well, it's a wedding. There in chapter 2, verse 1, on the third day, there was a wedding. So this wedding occurs two days after the events described at the end of chapter 1.

What are the events that's described at the end of chapter 1? Well, Jesus now has gone in, and he's beginning to pick and choose his disciples. You will see that from verse 35 to the end of the chapter in chapter 1, verse 35 to the end. Jesus Christ is picking those first to be his disciples. One he chose was Nathanael. So let your eyes go up here to chapter 1, in verse 50 and 51 here.

Chapter 1, in verse 50 and 51. So look what Jesus says to Nathanael just before the recording of this message. He says, verse 50, Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you, I saw you under a fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, And most assuredly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, And the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. So Jesus Christ says, by following me, you're going to see great things, and you're going to see greater things you will see.

Those who I've chosen, great things, you will see those who follow me. And then right out of the gates, he gives him one great thing, this miracle beginning in chapter 2 here. We're not told who was involved in the marriage, you'll notice. We're not told who was being married. Although commentators and commentaries will spend pages of pages speculating on who is being married.

It is a wonderful amazement to me. We can spend so much time trying to work out those things that God obviously felt like we didn't need to know. But while it is important not to spend time on that, it is important in our studies to take a look at what we are given and to put yourself in these moments and try to put yourself in the shoes of who is being described in these happenings and what was going on in their minds.

So that's what our focus will be on today. We know the location, verse 1, Cana of Galilee. We also know that Mary was there, mother of Jesus. She was present at the wedding. We also see in the first two verses an invitation was extended to Jesus and His disciples. So, His friends and family were involved. You see that in verse 1 and 2. So, pretty straightforward. Not a lot in those opening two verses to notice.

I may bring just one thing out, just in passing. What you'll notice here is that Jesus Christ was there. You might notice that. He was there. He was sharing in this joyous occasion He was invited to. He went, and in all of His humanity, He is sharing in this joyous occasion. He's with friends. He's with family. We notice that because sometimes we have a picture of Jesus Christ through the many different depictions as someone who is solely a somber figure. One, that He wouldn't be interested in going to different festivities and things, such as a wedding like this.

I think that would be an inaccurate picture. Because while He was in certain circumstances stern and severe sometimes, I believe that for sure, in this case, He was glad to be there. Glad to show up at the wedding. Involve Himself in society. If you see Jesus Christ, if you look in Scripture and see how He moves through people's lives, you will notice He is an individual that is able to attract people to Himself, men and women. He loved to sit down and talk to them.

He was perfectly good and capable of entering into crowds. Glad to talk to Him and counter Him in that way. Just a little reminder there, as we pass by in verse 1 and 2, religion and religious people and God's people, we don't have to be gloomy all the time.

We can be joys. We can enjoy weddings. Jesus was enjoying the festivities until the joy would quickly fade, in particular, for His mother. I want to really try to put ourselves in the shoes of Mary here. This was quite an embarrassing and frankly mortifying situation here. Look at verse 3 here. They ran out of wine. Verse 3 again. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to them, they have no wine.

So immediately, what do we see? We see a personal involvement with Mary here, a personal involvement into the particulars of this wedding. Why else would Mary be going around this wedding any more concerned that they ran out of wine than any other man or woman that was there?

Why would she have any other concern greater? Well, she must have had a direct responsibility in what was going on, in the coordinating, in the proceedings of this wedding. And this was no small issue, let me tell you.

Because if you know anything about Jewish weddings, and I didn't know too much, but I did a lot of research on it. These were typically big society events, these Jewish weddings. And they would have often, very often, prolonged over days and days. A ceremony like this, you might find them having the ceremony at night, in the darkness. And then the couples are taken through the village streets by flames on torches with a canopy over their heads, usually taken along the most prolonged route.

So that those well-wishers could see them and give them best wishes. Like today, where a couple is taken and they're showcased, of course, in various ways. And so you can imagine how Mary was feeling here. She obviously had a major responsibility for the wedding, and she was concerned with this issue. And you can feel it here. If you've ever shared in any kind of responsibility in an event such as a wedding, something so important and something goes wrong, it's mortifying, really. It really is. She failed at her duties here and planning. And this would have no doubt, and I'm sure in her mind, she's saying, this is going to bring a slur to our family, to my image. Imagine serving wine. Everything's going well. Someone comes up to you. You're supposed to be in charge of this, and they say, we're out of wine. And there are seven more tables that you have to fill there. Mortifying. Horrifying, really. I can just feel this. I've been in charge of certain situations like this. And when something goes wrong like this, you feel about this big. And so, you'll notice into this predicament, and into this embarrassment, Jesus Christ comes as the solution. Look at this again. The mother of Jesus, verse 3, they ran out of wine. The mother of Jesus said to them, they have no wine.

Now, Jesus obviously understands what's going on in his mother's mind here. She's not just given a statement of fact. She's not expecting Jesus Christ to say, Oh, well, I'm so sorry to hear that. No. What she is saying is, they have no more wine, and what are you going to do about it?

That's what she's saying to her son here. That's clear from Jesus's response that we'll get to in just a moment. But there is an inherent request in her statement here. They have no more wine. And it's just such an interesting moment to consider this as she approaches Jesus in this way, her son.

Something we might see in this is something that every parent, every mom and dad, experiences at some point in their child's life. As that child transitions into adulthood, what often can happen, and it often so does, is that the dependency factor also shifts.

And what I mean by that, mothers and fathers spend their early days taking care of their children, looking after their children. Their children are dependent upon them for guidance, answers to questions, financial help, help to go here to there, and everything that they do. And it's a strange feeling, I'm sure. We're not quite there yet. But it's a strange feeling, I'm sure, when suddenly the dependency factor shifts. And a mom and a dad becomes dependent on the child for advice, for guidance, for counsel, for finance, whatever it might be. Now, it would seem that if that hadn't happened before, this may be what's taking place here in this incident with Jesus and his mother, where the mother of Jesus is looking into the eyes of her son, and there's this implied request, and she comes to him with this urgent need. Son, Jesus, I know you're able to help me in this. I need help in this situation. I'm looking for your help.

Maybe there is a transition taking place here, but not only that, what we might also be able to see here is Mary's heightened awareness at this moment to the identity of her son.

Remember, when Mary looked into the eyes of her son, this child, since she raised from very early on, when she looked into the eyes of her son, she was not only looking into the eyes of her son, but she also looked with an awareness of the true identity of her son, the son of God.

In the early part of Luke's Gospel, we're told that she kept that knowledge in her heart, and she pondered it. She pondered that knowledge of who her son really was. Let's look at that for just a moment.

Turn with me to Luke 2, verse 10-19.

Luke 2, verse 10-19. We see this very thing. She held his identity in her heart, and she pondered on it. This may give us a little bit of a fuller understanding of what is happening at this moment at the wedding.

Luke 10, verse 10-19. This is fascinating to think about what would be going through his mother's mind and her heart. Look at this. Luke 2, verse 10.

This is going back to his birth.

This will be a sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in an angel.

And suddenly there was an angel with a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, Let us go to Bethlehem, and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.

And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying, which was told to them concerning this child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Let's stop there. So what did she have to ponder? Well, the things that the shepherds told her. The angels had said that this was the son, a child conceived, the son of God, this child. And she pondered the fact that here she was a virgin, giving birth to this same child, giving over to her and her husband as the earthly father, Joseph. And he was unique, and he was distinctive, and he was brought into this world with a purpose. And she must have known that it was only a matter of time for the identity that was made known to her to become displayed to the world. Only a matter of time. And so it may be even in this incident, this first miracle, that she's saying to her son, Go on, let him know who you are. Declare, reveal your glory, son. That may be what she was implied in her statement to him. We're running out of wine. Because it might have been implied in that way, because look at Jesus Christ's response. This is such an interesting response to her. Let's go back to John 2, if you will. John 2, verse 4 again. Look at Jesus's response to her coming to him and making this statement, They have no wine. Very interesting here. John 2, let's read verse 4 again. Jesus said to her, Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. Again, it may be even in this incident, this first miracle that she's saying to him, inherent in this statement, let him know who you are. Declare and reveal your glory. Let him know who I know you to be. And he replies, Woman, what is it concern, this concern has to do with me? My hour has not yet come. Now, some people have been put off by this response. The NIV softens it a little bit. The NIV says, Dear Woman, instead of just Woman here. And there in the New King James, we tend to look at it as being this harsh words from Jesus Christ. But if you look at the Greek word, it's not as cutting as the English appears to be.

In fact, this addressing her in this way, Woman, it's the same designation that he uses in John 19 from the stake. We won't turn there, but John 19, where he dresses his mother in the same way. He says, Mother, from the stake. It's John 19 verse 26. As he's passing the responsibility of the care of his mother to the disciple he loved, John. He uses this same designation there. So I don't think it's some kind of male, stereotypical, rude response to a female. In context, I read it much more him saying, Mother, don't worry, Mother. You don't quite understand what's going on here. Leave things to me. I will settle them in my own way. I think she received that message because you'll notice the amazing trust that just overcame her almost immediately. Look at verse 5. His mother immediately, His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. So she received what he was saying to her.

So even in this mortifying moment, you know, you just feel the emotion that she had at that moment. The faith to trust Him. Even though she didn't know what He was going to do at this moment, she just says, Trust Him. Whatever He says, you trust Him. Do what He says. That might be a word for us in that to have the faith to trust even when we don't understand. To have the faith to trust even when emotion is overtaking us. So important in our spiritual experience. Display trust even without understanding.

So what do we have so far? We have a wedding. There is an embarrassment. And there's an implied request from the mother to Jesus. Then we have the miracle take place. Let's read this. Pretty straightforward. Here, verses 6 through 10. Let's read this again. Verse 6 through 10.

So He said out the inferior then. You have kept the good wine until now. So how did the water turn to wine? Well, we're actually not told. But once again, we know that the Creator of the ends of the earth made it so. And again, any attempt to explain this miracle away by natural means inevitably will fail. And again, if you go on and Google, and again, I don't recommend it, without exception, every explanation that you hear that tries to eliminate the miraculous takes more faith to accept than the miracle itself.

You will find that over and over again. Unbelievable explanations. I came across one, a very classic one. Maybe you've heard this one. The individual says, oh, I don't believe this miracle stuff.

You know how these miracles happen? And the person next to him says, oh, you do. Yeah, well, tell me about one. What about this walking on water? Walking on water. That's an easy one. The water was very shallow, he says. And the boat was very close to the land. So when Jesus went out and was walking on the water, it was kind of dark.

It just looked as if he was walking on water. He was actually just walking on the bottom. The friend says, oh, well, huh. Tell me how many men were in that boat. Well, 12. I believe it was 12. How much do you think that boat weighed? Oh, it'd be hundreds of pounds and thousands of pounds, maybe. Enough to, heavy enough to hold that many men. And how deep did you say the water was again?

I'd say it'd be about four inches. So again, you just made a bigger miracle than the miracle in the Bible. You got a boat big enough to carry that many men floating on four inches of water. So you see, it's a product of the foolish mind. The fool has set in his heart there is no God. So your estimate of these miracles depends on your estimate of God and of Jesus Christ.

And they try to produce explanation out of their own intellect. And it's foolish, God says. The one who knows Jesus Christ is the creator of the ends of the earth knows it's not too much for him to do.

Nothing is too hard for him to do. The miracle stands because Jesus Christ is who he claimed to be. So there you have it. The miracle performed. Now, what of the significance? What are the significance of the miracle? It's interesting. Some miracles will say point blank. The reason this miracle was done is for this reason. It was stated very clearly. This passage doesn't do that. So what are the significance of this miracle that was performed?

Well, even though we're not given the exact reason stated for us, there is something here that we want to notice that may move us to that understanding. We already touched on it a little bit, but it's found in the second half of verse 4.

It's such an interesting phrase here, and I believe this will help us uncover the significance of this event. There it is in the second half of verse 4. Jesus says, My time has not yet come. Such an interesting part of this passage. If you're reading it like me, that one seems to really stick out at you when you come across it. His response to Mary, again, My time has not yet come. Very interesting to consider because when you begin to look at that phrase, you begin to notice that this phrase actually comes to us over and over and over again.

Or a similar phrase to it in the Gospels. So we need to ask ourselves, what did he mean by this in his response to his mother? She says, we're out of wine. He says, My time has not yet come. Now, some will say, this phrase is in there and it has no relation to the context surrounding it. Well, we can quickly not believe that. We know everything has context. Everything has meaning that's found within the Scripture that it sits.

So let's look at this phrase, My time has not yet come or a variance of it. My hour has not yet come. And let's look at just a few places in the Gospels to help us in understanding what Jesus Christ meant in his response to his mother here. Let's go forward just a little bit to chapter 7. John 7, in verse 3-6. John 7, verse 3-6, we encounter this same phrase. Jesus is up at the feast here and he's urged by his brothers here. John 7, verse 3, His brothers, as Jesus' brothers, therefore said to him, depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing.

For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. So they're egging him on here. So verse 5, for even the brothers did not believe in him.

Then Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. Let's stop there. So the right time for me to show myself in this way has not yet come. So these are the same words, right, as used in the wedding. Mary says, do something. He says, my time has not yet come. His brothers are urging him, showing your divine glory to the world. The right time has not yet come for me, he says. Now allow your eyes to fall down a few verses, staying here in chapter 7 to verses 28 through 30 here. Verse 28 through 30. Here's the context of... He's in Jerusalem, and he's teaching in the temple courts, and he's now crying out concerning his identity. Look at this. Verse 28 through 30. Then Jesus cried out as he taught in the temple, saying, So there's these words again. Why couldn't they lay ahold of him? Because his hour had not yet come. So we're on to something here. We're laying ahold of something here with this phrase. There's this wedding miracle in John chapter 2, and almost with no explanation, he gives her, his mother, this phrase, the same phrase, my time has not yet come. What does it mean? What does it mean? Go forward here, a few more chapters. We'll look at just a few more. Look at John chapter 12 and verse 27. John chapter 12 and verse 27. We're moving forward in John's narrative of the events of Jesus Christ. The crucifixion is now in prospect, and you'll notice that Jesus Christ's terminology has begun to change a little bit here. Look at John 12 verse 27. He's beginning to predict his death. See the phrase here, verse 27.

He says, my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Look down a little bit. Chapter 13 verse 1. Chapter 13 and verse 1. Chapter 13 verse 1. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. You see it changing a little bit. Jump forward one more spot, one more place. John 17 verse 1. John 17 verse 1. Here's the culmination here of this phrase, really. John 17 and verse 1. In his final prayer here. John 17 verse 1.

It's the same phrase, but now it's progressed. He says, the Father of the hour has come. The hour for what? For the time of his death. So, here when we encounter John chapter 2, in this miracle at the wedding of Encano of Galilee, we're at the very threshold of his ministry. It is clear. It is clear. Here from the beginning, Jesus Christ is looking forward to what will be the culmination of his ministry. And we see it throughout. And it's almost as if every event, every encounter, he interprets in light of his ultimate purpose, why he stepped on this earth, onto this earth. So, when his mother comes to him and says, we have no more wine, Jesus says, my hour has not yet come, we can't even begin to understand the depths of that statement. Because when we begin to understand that he at that moment, and at every moment, saw everything in light of his soon-coming death for an atonement for sin, in it, in all of it, during it all, Jesus Christ was aware of the purpose to which he came. Even as a 12-year-old boy, you remember, his mother and father lose him, we could say, but he wasn't lost. They go around searching for him. As a 12-year-old boy, they find him in the temple, talking to the scribes. They go up to him, where have you been? We've been looking all over for you. And what does he say? He's a 12-year-old boy. He looks his mother in the eye and says, why did you seek me? Do you not know that I must be about my father's business? So there is a 12-year-old boy. He began to weave into his mother's thinking the fact that his whole life is moving toward a culmination. He's weaving into her thoughts, weaving into her heart why he came. The boy that she would witness him one day at the foot of his sacrifice. So what then of the significance of this wedding miracle as recorded for us? I believe it's this, that Jesus Christ saw every day of his life in light of the purpose to which he came, right from the beginning, from the very first miracle. What a response that was. We have no more wine. My time has not yet come. And it's at least a possibility that the thought of wine brought his heart to the awareness of the effect, that the real need of the people at the feast is not the wine to continue their festivities. But their real need is that of what the wine would later represent. That of the spilled blood as he is an atonement for our sins. And the provision that he's about to make for them is a symbol of that which he would one day shed for them. Amazing. And we can even understand then, in light of that, the significance of the water jars. I don't know if you noticed that little phrase there that was brought out. I wondered why I mention this. There in verse 6, John records that there were six water pots of stone, according, he says, to the manner of purification of the Jews. Why mention that? Why mention that these water pots were the kind used by the Jews? They were used by the Jews in ceremonial washings, as it says there, according to the manner of purification of the Jews. It seems something more than just an explanatory note for our non-Jewish readers. So maybe he, Jesus, is even looking at the stone water jars for these ceremonial washings, knowing what he was about to do, looking forward to his sacrifice, knowing that the Jews could cleanse and cleanse and cleanse themselves in these ceremonial washings, but they could never get truly clean. Ah, only one, only one could truly cleanse them with the everlasting spring. Here stood the one that could cleanse them fully, spiritually, the one that stood in the midst of this wedding and turned water into wine.

See, that's the good news of this wedding account. In Mary's son, the one, the Son of God, he's there, and not only does he get forgiveness, he gives cleansing from our sin, and inherent has the power to perform any miracle in your life.

Even the miracle of giving you life back again, for giving your sins.

In the light of those truths, when we read verse 10 again, it has no meaning. At the end of verse 10, he says, you've kept the good wine until now. You've kept the good wine until now, there at the end of verse 10. Jesus Christ, we could say. He always saves the best for last. So whatever miracle he's performed in your life, there's more to come. Greater things than these.

The best is yet to come.

Well, finally, we'll conclude this afternoon. In this scene, we have the beginning also of the revelation of his glory. It's amazing. There in verse 11 again, what do we find? It says, John records, this beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. So this is not some purposeless expedition of supernatural power. Now, it had deep significance.

Was it really necessary to supply a wedding party with more wine?

No, but that's the wrong question.

Jesus wasn't simply adding wine to the wedding feast, but in this miracle, he is painting a picture for his disciples, if we'll see it today, of all that would come.

And we see these miracles, and you can respond to them in two ways. You can either respond to them with just surprise or intrigue, or you can respond to them with belief. The master of the wedding, he was just surprised and intrigued by it. But the disciples, in seeing this miracle, it caused belief in them. So what will your response be?

See, the miracles in your life, I want you to know, are coming from the Creator of the ends of the earth.

And there's more miracles to come. More miracles to come. This is just the beginning, we could say, as John said.

So here it is.

The miracle of turning water into wine.

This beginning the signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.