← ArchiveThe JESUS StoryThe JESUS Story: Jesus’ First MiracleDateMay 23, 2021SpeakerJared MitchellTextJohn 2Passages in this sermonJohn 24:35John 1915:55Luke 219:03Isaiah 5523:23Revelation 1929:24TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Music.0:30There we go. Well, good morning, church family. It's so good to be in the house of the Lord today. And as always, it's so great to gather together. And I'm so thankful to Matt and the band for, again, leading us in worship so faithfully. And I love having our kids in here with us for our fifth Sunday worship. I was sitting right down here and I was hearing kids' voices all around me just giving glory to God. What a beautiful sound that is. You know, the kids are not the future of the church.1:00They are the church. Amen. And it's a blessing to have them in here with us. As always, it is an absolute honor for me to be able to be up here and to stand before you and to preach the word of God for us today. As you know, we're in a sermon series right now and we are working our way through the gospel of John. And what a powerful gospel it is, right? It truly is the Jesus story.1:27And John seems to be the master evangelist. His words seem to capture who Jesus is in a way that no other writing does. That we could not describe the deity of Christ any more clearly than he does in chapter one. When he writes that Jesus was with God, that Jesus was God. He did the works of God for he was the creator.1:54And John had one purpose in writing this gospel. We see this later in chapter 20 that John writes so that his readers would know Jesus, that they would believe in Jesus and that they would come to have eternal life. And that's our heart here at Bethel. That is our heart as a church on mission, that you would know Jesus as the true and only son of God.2:18That you would believe in Jesus for the perfect sacrifice of your sins and that you would come to have eternal life through Jesus, who is our perfect savior. And this was John's goal in writing. Now, research and scholars, they all point to the fact that John was an eyewitness to this savior who changed his life.2:38And he wrote in a way that he wanted everyone else to know and experience this life changing Jesus. You see, when we are eyewitnesses to certain events or when we are eyewitnesses to really big events, we want everyone to know.2:59I can remember over the years being at certain events that I could not believe I was able to witness in person. Now, this isn't really a life changing event, but I'm a huge baseball fan. And years back, I was able to go to an Atlanta Braves baseball game. Now, at that time, my favorite player, Chipper Jones, was playing on the team.3:27And at the end of the game, Chipper Jones hits a walk-off home run directly to my section. Now, I almost caught the ball. I didn't catch the ball, but I almost did. And I remember being there and jumping up and down. I couldn't believe that we had won the game. I couldn't believe that Chipper Jones was the one that hit it. But more than anything, I couldn't believe that I was there and I was able to witness it. So the next day, I go home and I'm texting my friends and I'm calling my friends.3:57Hey, did you see what happened in the game? Did you see what happened last night? Hey, guess what? I was there. I got to witness it. It was incredible. Let me tell you about it. You see, when we witness certain events in person, it's much different than just hearing about it. Now, all throughout this gospel, we have eyewitness testimony. And you can tell in John's writing that he has this passion that with every word,4:23he is longing for us to jump into his shoes just like we were there. So today, that's what we're going to attempt to do as we open up the word and the gospel together to the gospel of John chapter 2. And I would invite you to turn there with me. We get to read about this first miracle of Jesus. Maybe this is a story that you have read before.4:51Maybe you've heard before. But today and together, we're going to lean in to this eyewitness testimony for this miracle. And the reality is, no, we were not there, obviously. But we believe that the word of God is living and active. And I believe that God wants to use this text today to change our lives. And our prayer is simple. That as we read this story, as we see this miracle of Jesus, as he begins his earthly ministry,5:20our prayer is that you would know him, that you would believe in him, and that you would have eternal life. This is the invitation of John's gospel. And this is the invitation for all of us today. Let me pray for us as we get into God's word together. And God, we come to you right now, before, and we open your word. And we just give you praise, and we give you glory, and we declare that you are worthy.5:49You are worthy of every song sung and every word said. So God, as we open your word, our prayer is that you would open eyes to see. That you would open up ears to hear. You would open up our minds to understand, and our hearts to receive. And we pray all of this in your name. Amen. Amen. So here we are in John chapter 2.6:19And what have we seen so far? Chapter 1. We see John the Baptist. He's coming on the scene, and he's telling about this coming Messiah. John says clearly that he was not the light, but he comes to bear witness to the light. And then John sees Jesus coming, and he exclaims that Jesus has come, that he is here, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.6:46And you see, from this moment, the world would never be the same. Later in chapter 1, we see Jesus calling some of the first disciples. And Nathanael comes, and he testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. And Jesus replies and says, Nathanael, follow me, and truly you will see greater things that you have never seen before. How true that would be. And that brings us to today, John chapter 2, starting in verse 1.7:17And it reads, on the third day, a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Now, Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were invited to this wedding as well. So here we are, Jesus and his disciples have come to a wedding. Now, this is not just any ordinary day. This is not just any ordinary event.7:45But like any wedding would be, this is the most important day of the life of the bride and the groom. And we expect weddings to be big events, don't we? And I would argue that the wedding on this day was bigger than what you may think of when you typically think of weddings. You know, back in college, towards the end of my college career, there were weddings almost every weekend, so it seemed. At the girls on our college campus, they had a saying.8:15Maybe you've heard it. They wanted a ring by spring, right? Like, if you were dating, then by spring of your senior year, you better have that ring on your finger. Now, I have to admit that I fell into this category as me and my wife, Anna Claire, we met in college. We dated throughout college. We got engaged our senior year, and we were married by the spring. I did something right.8:44And not only us, but a lot of our friends and our classmates as well. So naturally, this resulted in us attending a lot of weddings. And for the following years after college, we would go through what we called wedding season, that every spring, we would attend between five and ten weddings. To be honest with you, I got sick of going to weddings. They didn't quite seem like the big deal that they once were. And if you're engaged, please do not take that personally.9:13I'll come to your wedding if you invite me. I would argue that this was not the case for this wedding in this small town of Cana. You see, in these days, weddings were massive events. They were massive celebrations. They were bigger than most are today. Weddings typically only happened about once a year, and a wedding celebration could last anywhere from one day to two days all the way up to a week.9:40And Cana was a small town with a small population. This was an event. This was a wedding. That if you were from Cana, or if you were around Cana, if you were not invited, then something was wrong. It's likely that the bride and the groom, that they grew up in Cana, that everyone in this town knew them, that everybody watched these kids grow up.10:09They watched these kids come together as a couple. And now, this entire town, this community is coming together to celebrate their marriage. This is a really big deal. So, why Jesus? Why is Jesus there? Well, Cana is located right outside of Nazareth. Nazareth is another small town, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, is from Nazareth.10:34Now, it would have been likely that Mary was not only invited to this wedding, but she was also a part of the planning and the organization based on her involvement later in the passage. So, Mary was invited, and this meant that Jesus was invited. It seems that Jesus wanted to support this wedding, and to be honest, he probably just wanted to see his mom. But God had much bigger plans for this night.11:06You see, for 30 years, Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Savior, the Messiah, the Great I Am, for 30 years, he lived in complete obscurity. He lived in the quiet. And little did his disciples know that on this night, quite a big moment for Jesus was coming. You see, the lid was about to come off for the Savior of the world.11:32And we are going to read about it. Verse 3, backing up, verse 2. Jesus and his disciples were invited to this wedding. And verse 3, And when the wine ran out, Jesus' mother told him, They don't have any wine. They don't have any wine. Now, to put it lightly, this is a major problem. What have we said about weddings?12:02It's a big event. It is a massive celebration in which no end time was given. Do you want to know when the wedding ends? When the celebration ends? The party ends when the food runs out. The party ends when the drinks run out. When the playlist can no longer shuffle. A massive celebration. And this should not be ending any time soon.12:29So let's talk about the groom. When it came to weddings, the grooms have a huge responsibility. This feast, this celebration was on the groom. It was his role to provide everything needed for the event. And this reflected who he was as a husband and a provider. He was able to show the bride's family, her parents.12:57He could show the entire town that he could provide for her by how he provided for the wedding. This was quite frankly, the biggest day of his life. And it seems here that he has a huge problem. This celebration is about to end because he has messed up and the wine is about to run out. This is an honor-shame system. And shame is coming. That this groom, he is about to be seen as someone who cannot provide.13:27He is about to be humiliated in front of everyone. Now remember, Cana is a small town. Everybody's going to know. Everybody's going to talk. And Mary senses this problem. So Mary senses this problem. She makes a request. And who does she turn to? She turns to her son, Jesus.13:55She doesn't know the solution, but in a time of need, she knows who she can turn to. Now can you imagine the worry with Mary? Mary is a mom. Something I love about moms is that they just have a unique ability to see needs and to meet needs, even if it's not for their own children, right? That's something I love about Bethel and this community of faith is I know that there are families all across this room looking out for my daughter Presley just like they would their own.14:24For that, I am so grateful. I am so thankful. Moms just know, don't they? Praise the Lord for moms. Amen. So Mary knows the problem. She senses the problem. And she knows the result that it will cause. So she goes to Jesus. Jesus, come here. Jesus, come here.14:54Come here. Jesus, the wine has run out. They don't have any more wine. We got to do something. So she goes to Jesus. And then Jesus responds. In verse 4, Jesus says, Well, what does that have to do with me, woman? My hour has not yet come. So this is an interesting response. This is a somewhat distant response.15:24Some would even say that it's cold. That there is, in a way, that Jesus is rebuking his mom. He's telling her, hey, this has no concern for me. Something we got to know and believe is that Jesus loves his mom. Jesus loves his mother. He came to Cana for this wedding. He came to Cana to see her. And this was his mom. She raised him. She's been there his entire life.15:52And on the cross, before Jesus dies, this is what he says in John 19. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Colophis, and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, Woman, here is your son. And then he said to the disciple, here is your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her into his home. You see, Jesus is on the cross about to die.16:20And he says, hey, look after my mom when I'm gone. We know that Jesus loved his mother. But it was at this moment in Cana that Jesus understood that a greater reality was coming. A greater mission for his life was on the horizon. Jesus knows that the second he performs this miracle, when he does what he is about to do, the lid comes off.16:44And it's in this moment that Jesus is starting to set his eyes on the cross. That he is turning his self from his family and those he loves. And he is turning his heart and his face towards his death for the sin of the world. You see, Jesus is not being rude. But he understands that with this miracle, the larger plan of God for his life will come to fruition with his death on a cross.17:14And don't miss this moment. That Jesus is setting his face for his greater mission. And he knows this means even creating space between those that he loves most. And you see, there is no inside track to Jesus. Not even for his mother. For even she who birthed Jesus, who raised Jesus from a boy to a man, even she must come to him in faith.17:45Just like we all must do. But that invitation is open. And when we come to Jesus in full faith, he responds and he works. So Mary, then she responds in faith as she, in verse 5, she looks at the servants and she says, hey, do whatever he tells you. Do whatever he tells you.18:14And I can kind of see Jesus after having this conversation with his mom saying, mom, really? But even though Jesus says, not yet, mom. She turns around in faith telling the servants, do whatever he tells you. Now, to be clear, up until this point, Mary has never seen Jesus perform a miracle. Yet she knows that he is the greatest problem solver on the planet. So how could she know?18:43How could Mary possibly know? I think the virgin birth probably gave it away. That, you know, she's at the birth and she's thinking, you know what? There's probably something special about this kid. There's something different about this boy. And then in Luke chapter 2, we have this incredible account as Jesus as a boy, starting in 41. It says this, that every year, his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover festival.19:09And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to the custom of the festival. And after those days were over, as they were turning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But his parents did not know it. Now, assuming he was in the traveling party, they went a day's journey. And they began looking for him among their relatives and their friends. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.19:38And all those who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother says, son, why have you done this? Don't you know that your dad and I have been looking for you everywhere? And then the boy Jesus responds and he says, well, why were you searching for me? Don't you know it's necessary for me to be in my father's house? So to what extent did Mary know?20:07I'm not sure. But she saw this God man grow up for 30 years in front of her eyes. She knows he's the one to turn to. You know that Christmas song, Mary, did you know? The answer is yeah. She probably had a pretty good idea. So because of Mary's faith, this brings us to the miracle.20:33Jesus is about to defy nature, defy logic. And his disciples are going to sit around and watch in amazement. Verse 6, it says, now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained 20 or 30 gallons. Now fill the jars with water, Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. And then he said to them, now draw some out and take it to the head waiter.21:03And they did. Now we need to see that this wasn't just a small cup. Jesus did not just take a cup of water, pour a couple of lemon drops in it, change the color, and bam, a new wine. That did not happen. If these are six stone water pots, it would have been about 180 gallons of water, and they filled them to the brim. Now they come to Jesus, 180 gallons filled to the top, and they are about to watch him work.21:32So let's put ourselves there. Six water pots, 180 gallons. You know, if it were me, I would maybe bring him one water pot. Let's see what Jesus can do with one, and then maybe we'll bring him the rest. Or hey, let's fill these up halfway. Let's test it out. Let's see if this is real, and then we will go from there. If they don't do this. They bring 180 gallons filled to the top,22:00and they bring them directly to the feet of Jesus. So let me ask you, in your need, in your life, are you holding back from Jesus? You see, at this wedding, these servants were in total desperation. They desperately needed things to change, so they brought everything that they had. Time was running out, and they really didn't have time to test out this Jesus thing to see if it works. So many times, when we come to Jesus, listen, when we come to Jesus, he desires that we bring everything we have.22:30So many times, we want to say, well, Jesus, you can have this, but you can't have that. That you can have my Sundays, but you can't have my Mondays. That you can have control of my social life, but you can't have control of my finances. And Jesus desires a full surrender of faith, and like the servants at the wedding, in desperation,22:56they come to him and say, Jesus, we don't really know you, but here you go. We really need you. Would we come to Jesus with our money, our resources, our time, our families? Would we fill it to the brim and say, Jesus, here you go. All we have is yours. We need you to come and move. Isaiah 55 says, come to the water. All who are thirsty, those who have nothing, come, buy, eat.23:26The heart of Jesus is that we come with everything we have. And full surrender, and we watch him work. And this is what we're about to see here. Jesus works a miracle. Verse 9, when the head waiter tasted the water, after it had become wine, he did not know where it came from, though the servants who drew the water knew. So he called the groom, and he told them, everyone sets out the fine wine first,23:56and then after people are drunk, the inferior, but you have kept the fine wine until now. So this is a surprise. This is a shock. So if we could, let's put ourselves in the shoes of the servants. They come to Jesus with the water. Jesus says, put the water down and bring it out. So they have the water. They put it down, and then they bring it out. And they're looking down. They're looking at their hands. They start to look at each other. They start to rub their eyes a little bit. And they're saying, man, can you believe?24:26Can you believe what this man has just done? Can you believe what we have just seen? And they're looking down, and they think that their eyes are failing them. They can't believe their eyes, but their eyes are not failing them. So they go to the head waiter. I remember, Jesus did not do this in front of everyone. He didn't do this in front of all the wedding guests. He wasn't waiting for a huge crowd so that everyone would see. So when the servants bring this new wine to the head waiter, he has no idea where it's come from.24:56He did this miracle in front of the servants and the disciples. So the head waiter, then he cased the wine. He recognizes that this is the best tasting wine that he has ever tasted in his life. He cannot believe what he is tasting. I remember when me and Anna Claire got married. For our first anniversary, we went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. If you know anything about this restaurant, you know that we had to take out our entire life savings to eat this dinner.25:26But boy, was it worth it. I remember that they bring this steak out and it's sizzling on the plate. And I take a bite and I cannot believe how good it was. I remember thinking, I will never have steak this good again. And by the way, I haven't. In this way, this is what the head waiter is experiencing. So he is surprised. This isn't the way weddings are supposed to go. So he's got to go to the groom.25:57Typically with weddings, right? You put out the best food and drink first. And then after everybody's gotten some, you bring out the leftovers. You bring out the lesser wine. So this head waiter has got to go to the groom and talk about this. Remember the groom who is supposed to provide for the wedding. And I can kind of see the conversation. Man, come here. Do you understand? Do you understand what you've done? Nobody does this. Everybody else that we've ever worked with, they put out the best wine first.26:27But you have kept it until the end. Literally nobody does this. You see, now this groom has now thrown the most legendary wedding celebration that this town of Cana has ever seen. Now remember, this groom is supposed to provide. He is based on his provision. He is judged on his provision for the wedding. And about an hour before this, he's going to be completely humiliated.26:54But then Jesus goes behind closed doors, provides in his place. And now this groom has gone from a place of shame to a place of high honor. And it's not by anything he has done. You see, Jesus takes the worst and he makes it the best. He takes the nothing, the water, and he creates something beautiful. And now because of the work of Jesus, this groom now stands in highest honor.27:21Listen, the issue here is not the wine. How I pray that when we look at these verses, we're not caught up with this reality that Jesus changed water to wine. The issue here is not the wine and it never was. But the issue and the reality is that anything Jesus does is far superior to anything this world has to offer. So many times, we turn to so many things in this world to fill the gap, to fill up our water pots.27:49When Jesus is willing and he is able to provide more than we could ever want or need. And today, the world is coming for us harder than it ever has. Just look at the internet. Every day, we see a new post or a new blog or a new article that has this title. It says, 10 ways to find more joy.28:1710 ways to make yourself more beautiful. 10 ways to be truly content. And all I'm saying, church, is that if it doesn't point you back to Jesus, don't buy it. Don't buy it. Jesus changes water to wine here, but greater miracles are to come. That through repentance and faith, Jesus brings us from death to life. And listen, that's the greatest miracle we will ever see on this side of heaven. He brings ashes to beauty, grief to joy.28:48So church, come to Jesus, bring your need, bring your sins, bring your heart, fill it to the brim, and then make room for Jesus to move. How blessed are we that our needs make room for the king of the universe to come and move in our lives? So would you make room for Jesus this morning? He is there. He is ready. He is willing. And he is able.29:17What a hope we have in Jesus Christ. Speaking of hope and speaking of weddings, in Revelation 19, we get this picture of a greater wedding and a greater celebration. Revelation 19 in verse 6, it says this. Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, like the rumbling of loud thunder,29:38saying, hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty reigns. So let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come. His bride has prepared herself, and she was given fine linen to wear bright and pure, for the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.30:05And then he said to me, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb. Don't miss it this morning that Jesus is the groom. And church, the word tells us in Ephesians that we are his bride. And this groom that is supposed to provide, how Jesus has provided for us. He is the perfect Lamb of God, and he has provided for his bride, the church, through his death on a cross.30:36Praise be to God. And then in Luke, Jesus is reclining at the table with his disciples, and we know this as the Lord's Supper, and he holds up a cup. And he says, you drink this, but I'm starting something new. I'm creating something new. It's a new covenant, and it comes from my blood that is poured out for you.31:06You see, at this little town in Cana, at this wedding, this moment was on Jesus' mind. His death on a cross for you and me, it was on his mind. And church, the lid has come off. Jesus started his ministry in Cana. It had led to his death, which is his body, sacrificed for you and for me and for all who come to him in faith.31:31And three days later, he rose again, and he is alive and well, working miracles even today, the greatest one being death to life. And that invitation is for us all. So this morning, if you want to pray, I'm going to ask Brother Benny to also come down and stand down here with me.31:48If you want to pray with one of us, come down. But we're going to worship now. Band, you guys can go ahead and come on up. But church, the marriage feast of the Lamb is coming. And if we are in Christ, then we will celebrate forever and ever for all of eternity.32:16Let's pray. Let's pray.← Previous in The JESUS StoryThe JESUS Story: Follow MeNext in The JESUS Story →The JESUS Story: The Born IdentityMore sermons on John →
