Joy & Sacrifice

John 2:1-12

A sign always points to something more important.

We are going through all four gospels in chronological order and this helps us wrap our minds around the entire story of Jesus’ life but we must remember that each gospel was written by a different author with different motivations.

All four were inspired but all four were penned by a different man with a specific purpose in mind and this purpose is often the key to understanding some of the tougher verses. Ex: Matt spends a ton of time on the lineage Jesus because his gospel was written for a Jewish audience. He wanted Jewish people to know that Jesus is the messiah of the OT but John is different. 

John was written with gentiles in mind. More specifically, with the pagan philosophers of Jesus’ day and possibly the followers of the Jewish philosopher, Philo of Alexandria. How do we know this? Because John was the only author to call Jesus the “Word” or “Logos.”

Logos was the Greek word used by philosophers like the Stoics and Philo. For the Stoics, the logos was their god and reason itself while, for Philo, the Logos was the wisdom of God personified so it makes sense why John tried to help these folks connect the logos to Jesus.

In ancient writings, the logos is reason, which is why creation is logical so John explains that Jesus is the creator of heaven and earth. To the ancient philosophers, the logos was the light which illuminates the minds of men and John explains that Jesus is the light of the world. 

It is the theology behind who Jesus truly is which is the key to understanding this entire gospel and this is the first miracle that sets the stage and foreshadows the new covenant.

2:1 On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and ² Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding as well. ³ When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother told Him, “They don’t have any wine.”

John 2:1-3

The wedding celebration was considered to be the most important event, especially among the poor. Typically, Hebrew weddings took place over seven to fourteen days. Each day new guests would arrive, so it was necessary for the groom to have enough food so, for whatever the reason the wine was running out, Mary tells Jesus because she was hoping he would help. 

Based on the text, we don’t know what she expected him to do. It could be Mary suggesting that they leave so there is more for everyone else or that he could go buy some but my guess is that Mary had simply grown to trust her son’s resourcefulness, so she asked him to help somehow.

⁴ “What has this concern of yours to do with Me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.”

John 2:4-5

This may sound odd but Jesus wasn’t being rude. This word, “woman” in Greek is a form of affection. Jesus calls his mom “woman” a second time while he was dying on the cross. That's why some bibles translate it as “dear woman” so that it doesn’t sound so harsh. Either way, she asked for help and tells the servants,

⁵ “Do whatever He tells you,” His mother told the servants.

⁶ Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained 20 or 30 gallons.

Stone jars were used for holding water for ceremonial washing, because it was believed that stone could not contract ritual uncleanness. This caused a huge problem when glass became affordable because the OT doesn’t mention glass, but it’s made out of sand, so what is it?

⁷ “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. ⁸ Then He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the chief servant.” And they did.

John 2:6-8

This would have been around 180 gallons of wine which meant the wine alone weighed up to 200 lbs per vessel so this is why only a sample is brought to the chief servant.

⁹ When the chief servant tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom ¹⁰ and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people have drunk freely, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.”

John 2:9-10

“Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit...” Ephesians 5:18–19

I think the chief servant is making a joke. This is the interpretation that the producers of The Chosen also took with this character.

¹¹ Jesus performed this first sign in Cana of Galilee. He displayed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. ¹² After this, He went down to Capernaum, together with His mother, His brothers, and His disciples, and they stayed there only a few days.

John 2:1-12

1. Marriage is a sign of the new covenant

What is a sign? A sign is something that points beyond itself to something more important. When the sign is a miracle, it always teaches something deeper and that is what we see here. The miracle points to Jesus’ power to change the physical elements. In this way, this miracle points to Jesus’ power and place as the logos but that’s not all.

The fact that this sign occurs at a wedding is also intentional because weddings are a sign and celebration of a covenant made between two people to honor, serve, and cherish one another. People are so confused about weddings. The average wedding today can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars but the wedding is nothing more than a sign of the marriage itself.

Think about it like this. Going into debt is unwise, so going into debt for a sign post is a mistake and this is what happened to most people at the wedding in Cana; only the disciples of Jesus were able to grasp the deeper meaning behind this seemingly simple miracle. 

The marriage ceremony is a sign for everyone to see, and be a part of, this new direction in your life. The wedding is not the point, the marriage is and when you confuse the sign with the deeper meaning, you miss out on the point entirely. Marriage itself is a symbol of new life.

“Indeed, your husband is your Maker—His name is Yahweh of Hosts—and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. For the Lord has called you, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” says your God. 

Is 54:5-6

I will take you to be My wife forever. I will take you to be My wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion. I will take you to be My wife in faithfulness, and you will know Yahweh. 

Hos 2:19-20

And if this is not clear, Paul literally says it,

Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her to make her holy…In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies…since we are members of His body…This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

Eph 5:22-33

This connection to the old covenant law of Moses is even more obvious when you recognize that the vats Jesus used to make the wine were the ceremonial rock containers used in the cleanliness rituals of the Jewish people. Jesus is emptying the old and filling it with the new wine but Jesus doesn’t do it alone.

2. Jesus wants our cooperation

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."

Matthew 22:37

Jesus wants you completely: mind, body, and spirit. This means he wants your reason, thoughts, obedience, heart, and your complete submission to his will but this is not because he is selfish; it is because we were literally made for this purpose. We were made to cooperate with God.

"For we are God's coworkers. You are God's field, God's building." 

1 Corinthians 3:9

"Working together with Him, we also appeal to you: 'Don't receive God's grace in vain.'" 

2 Corinthians 6:1

And we see this through scripture. Feeding the 5,000. Jesus multiplied bread and fish but he commanded his disciples to distribute it. When he healed the blind man, Jesus told the guy to go wash himself in the pool before he was healed. When he raised Lazarus from the dead he told the people to remove the stone and to remove his grave wrappings. (Jn 6:11, 9:7, 11:39-44).

Finally, in the story of the wedding Mary gives her only command in scripture, “Do whatever He tells you.” After this command, Jesus did the miracle, but the servants did everything else.

God wants our cooperation. From Adam and Eve tending the garden to the disciples distributing food and money to the poor in the book of Acts, we have always been a part of God’s plan.

3. Our participation in the New Covenant turns duty into desire 

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose." 

Philippians 2:12-13

The New Covenant is God's promise to forgive sins, give His people new hearts, and dwell in us by His Spirit so that they can live in fellowship with Him and accomplish His will.

I love Philippians because it clearly states that God is working in us but that, as we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, the HS enables us to desire to pursue his will but how can God create a sense of desire in us? When the HS guidance and our obedience come together, we slowly change who we are which changes our priorities and what we want out of life. 

This is first of all impossible without the HS which is why the New Covenant is described in Ezekiel as, "I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes." 

Ezekiel 36:27

But once the HS begins to move, we also need to obey. The Greek word “obey” means “to convince yourself” which is why we are regularly told to “test all things and hold tight to what is good” or, as Psalms teaches,

"Taste and see that the Lord is good."

Psalm 34:8

Our natural state is to serve the Lord and our designed purpose is to follow his commands; the problem is that we have all fallen into the habit of serving ourselves and our culture was designed to promote the human will and human desires, not God’s. This is why we need to act upon our convictions because, over time, this changes our desires.

¹¹ Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek to persuade people…For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. ¹⁵ And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.

2 Cor 5:11-15

Paul explains that we are compelled by God’s love to persuade people to give Christ a chance because we have become fully convinced that Jesus died so that all people can have everlasting life. The love of Christ must become your purpose and, when it is, it changes not just your heart but your attitude towards others and yourself as it changes your priorities as a whole.

“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matt 6:19-21

Your “treasures” are those things which you hold most dear. Your treasures are the things you use to define yourself but, logically, because you are an eternal being, things shouldn’t define you. Your house, car, job, country, or even your family can’t define you; only God can truly give you meaning and purpose. Everything else will rust, break, or die but God will never leave us.

It is in this way that God sanctifies the up and downs of life but where is joy in the text? It is represented in the wine. Throughout the bible, wine is used as a symbol of new covenant joy. In Psalm 104:15 we read, “Wine gladdens the heart of man.” In Isaiah 55:1, “Come, all you who are thirsty…Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” 

In fact, the rabbis said, “Without wine, there is no joy.” This is why, when the wine ran out at the wedding, it wasn’t just a small issue, it represented a lack of God’s presence. We see wine connected directly to the logos by Philo several times,

But Melchisedek shall bring forward wine instead of water, and shall give your souls to drink, and shall cheer them with unmixed wine, in order that they may be…more sober than sobriety itself. For reason [logos] is a priest, having, as its inheritance the true God…

Philo of Alexandria, Allegorical Interpretation, XXVI. (82)

He also calls the logos, “the cup-bearer of God, the master of the feast, the word [logos]?

This meant that when Jesus created this overwhelming amount of wine it, no doubt, represented the prophetic verses throughout scripture of God’s coming which would bring with it abundance and blessings but perceiving, and therefore receiving the blessings, is up to you.

The fact is whatever brings you joy will become your focus in life. If you only enjoy yourself on the weekend, you will hate your job. If you only find joy in things, you will be miserable when your things break. The problem is that we have lost true joy. Authentic joy is an internal attitude of gratitude and love towards all people, it is not based on things which is why Jesus said,

“As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love. If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. 

“I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. ¹² This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you…You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. This is what I command you: Love one another. 

John 15:9-17

Going back to the miracle…several people witness the water becoming wine but only a select few really perceive, understand, and are changed by it…the disciples. We are told that, “He displayed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” To this day, only true disciples experience the joy of the Lord as God moves in our lives and we actually see it. 

The question is, “Do you allow it to change your life?” When you feel convicted by the HS, do you obey or do you ignore God’s conviction? When you look at your life, do you see all of God’s blessings or do you refuse to acknowledge God’s goodness? 

The fact is that if God’s people were growing, serving, and living their faith, people would come to us and ask us what is different. If we saw all of our blessings, we would complain less, laugh more, and find joy in every moment. This is what draws people into a relationship. 

“The only way in which we shall win the world for Christ is by convincing those outside that we have something infinitely valuable that they lack. Then of themselves they will come running for a share in it.”

When you lay down at night, do you thank God, do you pray at all? How do we expect to see the joy in this world if we are unwilling to accept God’s will and live it in our lives? Many of us are like the servants who filled the vats and passed out the miracle wine, we are excited at times but we are often excited about the wrong thing. 

Pray