A Courteous Demonstration of God's Glory

Let me have you turn in your Bibles to John chapter 2. John chapter 2 for our time of study in The word this morning, and I hope it's OK with you that we're here. we, I didn't intend this a week ago, but last Sunday, given the fact that it was a church family day with us going over to Bourne's for the evening service, I wanted it to be a vision, vision casting day. We, we looked at the story of Christ feeding the 5000.

And during that message, I made reference to another miracle that Jesus did, and that is the miracle of turning water into wine that we find in John chapter 2. And that got me thinking along a particular train of thought to where essentially what I want to do, and I've talked to some of the staff and the elders and I've gotten their feedback on this. is, last Sunday, we looked at the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. Today, I want us to look at the miracle of turning water into wine.

And next Sunday, I would like for us to look at the story of Christ washing the disciples' feet. And these three messages will essentially make up, I guess what you could call a trilogy. On the subject of the courtesies of Christ, the social courtesies of Christ that he shows towards the people, his disciples and towards, other people, and there's multiple lessons for us to learn as individuals and as a church as we process, these things, together. I, I'm just convinced that there's insight that can help us in making some decisions and formulating how we can best show courtesy and serve those that come onto the campus of our church and also from our homes and our care groups as well.

As we look at these three, stories. And our story this morning, if you, if you go to John chapter 2, just look at verse 11. Basically, the story is, is found in verses 1 through 10. But then in John 11, John, gives us a summation of what it was that just happened.

he says, this beginning of signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory and His disciples believed in Him. John is saying, what I just told you in the previous 10 verses, the story that I have unfolded for you, revealed wonderful aspects of the glory of Jesus Christ, that were not lost upon the disciples who were with him on this occasion. And it caused them to turn their hearts towards him and say, we believe in Him. And so what happens here is very significant if you are wanting to experience the glory of Christ and understand His glory to a greater degree, then you'll want to study John chapter 2, verses 1 through 10.

And basically, guys, how last Sunday we looked at the feeding of the 5000 and we saw how Jesus miraculously provided a meal to 5000 men plus women. And children we also observed last week that nobody would have died. Without that meal, but Jesus wanted to miraculously provide that meal anyway because he wanted to show love and extend hospitality to the multitude in this small way. And it was a massive miracle in its scale, but for each individual person, he was simply providing each person a meal that they could have done without.

They could have gone elsewhere within an hour or two and supplied themselves. With food to eat, but Jesus wanted to provide this while they were there. And in so doing, amongst other things, Jesus in that miracle exalts the little things as very important. He exalts non-essential.

courtesies as venues through which to display the greatness of his heart. And if we are to follow his example as individuals and as a church, then what that means is that we not only work hard to provide basic necessities to those who are in dire need, but it also means that we work hard. To be a courteous people, looking for ways large and small, essential and non-essential, to show the greatness of the heart of Christ through the courtesies that we show to other people. The miracle that we find here in John 2 is another miracle that could be classified in this way.

This is a miracle that Jesus performed as a courtesy. If Jesus did not perform this miracle of turning water into wine, there are some people at a wedding who would have not had as much wine to drink as they wanted. And there would have been a groom and his family who would have experienced embarrassment, but nobody would have died. Yet Jesus considered this a miracle worth doing.

In fact, he said, this is going to be my first miracle that I perform. He seized the opportunity to show his greatness by providing this wine and by the manner we will see in which he went about providing this wine in order to replenish the supply of wine at a party and to save the host some social embarrassment. And again, in so doing, amongst other things, he exalts the little things and the little courtesies is very important. And one of the things that we're going to see as well is this.

In my opinion, the most impressive thing about this story is not so much that Jesus turned water into wine. That's an amazing thing. In fact, if that's all that Jesus did in his life, we'd probably still be talking about him today, 2000 years later. But given his later miracles of raising the dead and giving sight to the blind and cleansing the lepers, Turning water into wine, it's not as startling when viewed in the context of all the other miracles that Jesus did.

the most impressive thing about this story is not so much, in my opinion, the miracle that he performed as much as how he went about performing this miracle. He performed this miracle in a way that showed respect to some relational. And social sensitivities that most of us in this room would not have even thought about until after the fact. And even if we had thought about such things, we would have almost certainly disregarded such considerations in our haste to display to everybody our messianic credentials and power.

And it was Jesus' sensitivities to these things that revealed aspects of His glory that the disciples would have been able to observe just as much as His miracle did. I am amazed by the miracle in this story. I think I am more amazed by the sensitivity and the courtesy and the humility that Jesus showed. And the way that he went about performing it.

Ultimately, this is how we'll break down the passage this morning. There's 5 things that Jesus does in this story that reveals something about his glory. And the first of these things, we find in verses 1 and 2, and that is that Jesus attends a wedding that he was invited to. He attends a wedding that he was invited to.

It says, and on the 3rd day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus also was invited and his disciples to The wedding What we observe here is that Jesus was invited to this wedding, and he attends this wedding that he was invited to. There are commentators that point out, here's Jesus, and he's enjoying the festivities, and he's eating and drinking and laughing and singing and just rejoicing with everybody else. And in so doing, in choosing this venue to attend and participate in and to perform his first miracle in, Jesus here very clearly is showing his hearty approval of the institution of marriage.

We know from Scripture in Genesis 2 that marriage was created by God.

it is a pre-fall creation ordinance created by God. We have not invented marriage as we have evolved. As a people, God invented and created marriage. And when you tie Genesis 2 to Ephesians 5, you observe that when God was crafting and designing and shaping the institution of marriage, he was gazing at Jesus Christ and his future relationship with his people, the church.

Christ and his relationship with the church was the template that the Father was gazing at as he was shaping and crafting this institution of marriage. And so marriage has everything to do with Jesus, everything to do with the gospel. And what's intriguing is that Jesus even gave evidence that this is how he viewed who he was and what he was all about. Very early in his ministry, some people come to Jesus and say, Hey, what's up?

Why do your disciples not fast and John the Baptist disciples do fast? Jesus' reply in Mark chapter 2, verse 19 is instructive. He says, Hey, while the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom do not fast. That's his answer.

He's saying, I am a groom, and I have come here in search of my bride. My people, and these men you see with me, they're my groomsmen. Who will be standing by my side in that future day when the wedding feast and the wedding ceremony takes place, and I and my people are united in glory forever. Jesus was someone who would have loved weddings, and he is here and he chooses this setting to be his very first.

Miracle. He's right on the cusp of his ministry, by the way. There's a lot on his mind. we, we know comparing all the gospel accounts that Jesus would have been already baptized by John 40 days in the wilderness being tested.

He passed the test and it was just a few days earlier that John the Baptist was preaching and Jesus comes walking up and there's a multitude of people and John the Baptist was like, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And we also know by this point of John 2 that Jesus has handpicked 5 of his groomsmen, 5 of his disciples out of the total of 12 that He will handpick, and so he's right on the cusp of launching into his public ministry, and he gets invited to a wedding.

And he says, what? I'm going to go.

I'm gonna go. And as he RSVP'd, he said, Hey, I've got 5 disciples, brand new disciples. Can I bring them? Sure, Jesus, bring your 5 disciples.

And so here he is just Joining in the feast and the celebration. Can I give you guys a few facts about the customs of this day? Might be relevant. today, we have a wedding ceremony and then a wedding reception.

In this day, they had a wedding reception and then a wedding ceremony. They did it backwards compared to what we do today. They would have a wedding reception. first, and sometimes the wedding receptions would last for 2 to 3 days.

So imagine providing the food for everyone to be arriving, family and friends, and to be feasting for a few days prior to the ceremony. But on that final day of feasting, when that came to a conclusion, then the ceremony took place and the marriage was finalized. And after that happened, the bride and the groom would then be ushered to their home and they would take a roundabout way through the village or the town or city and they would go in a covered carriage of some sort and they would be crowned with garlands and, and people would come out and wish them well and follow them as they were going to their home.

Once they arrived at their home, this is an interesting thing, they didn't do honeymoons like we do today.

Nowadays, husband and wife, bride and groom, they get married and then like disappear, disappear for a week. On the other side of the globe. back then, you got married, you went home and had an open house for a week. How's that?

Anyone who wanted to come by and talk to you, chat with you, wish you well, bring you gifts, and essentially this was a good thing. They treated you like royalty. There's even evidence that people would call the bride and groom for one week after their wedding. They would call them king and queen.

Whatever the bride and groom said, that was the law. Their wish was everyone's command for a week and then reality would, would set in. One other detail that's relevant to this story. is that it was the groom's responsibility, the groom and the groom's family to pay for the wedding, to pay for the wedding reception and the wedding ceremony itself, which is a custom I'm finding very attractive in recent weeks.

but that's relevant to the, the story, as it continues to unfold here. and so here they are at this feast. They're having a wonderful time, and the groom and his family would have provided for this. part of the way that a groom would demonstrate his readiness to receive a bride and to care for her was to demonstrate his ability to show hospitality and to provide for the bride and all of her family and friends and so forth.

And so here they are feasting in anticipation of this ceremony that will come next. And providing for everyone to feast, wine and food was very, very important. In fact, DA Carson in his commentary on John says this to run out of supplies at a wedding reception would be a dreadful embarrassment and a shame, or in a shame culture. There is some evidence it could also lay the groom open to a lawsuit from aggrieved relatives of the bride.

Don't mess with the bride's family. they're showing up. They've come from a distance, maybe, I don't know, and you better provide for them everything that they want to eat or you'll hear from their attorney. But at the very least, it would be very embarrassing.

No one would die if you run out of food and the embarrassment they could recover from, but, but it would be very socially embarrassing for the groom and his family to failed to provide sufficient staples food for everyone to enjoy. So here is Christ, and he's demonstrating something about his glory by being at this wedding and joining in the festivities. There's a second thing that he does as this story unfolds, and that is, this is intriguing to me. He refused to perform a public miracle at this wedding.

He refused to perform a public miracle. At this wedding. Christ has an opportunity here to do something really amazing, and that is to draw attention to himself and to say, hey, everyone, I'm bailing out the groom and his family, and I'm doing a miracle to show you that I'm the Messiah. He's got an opportunity to do that, and he doesn't take that opportunity.

It says at the beginning of verse 3, the wine gave out. They ran out of wine and I'm sure that the servants would have noticed this. This would not have been common knowledge to everyone enjoying the festivities, but the servants would have noticed the wine is getting less and less and less, and then eventually the wine completely ran out. This would have been something that the servants were privy to and just trying to figure out what in the world do we do to address this this situation.

This is very concerning. Socially embarrassing, the wine gave out. By the way, when you see wine in a story like this, This might help you. there's no denying that this is a fermented beverage that, that they would have been, drinking.

and so you don't want to try to, view it as something other than that. At the same time, you don't want to think of modern day wine in a bottle and go, that's exactly what they were. Drinking. William Barclay, a commentator who has a decent understanding of historical cultural practices, says that essentially the wine that they would have been drinking was 2 parts wine and 3 parts water.

So imagine. 2 bottles of wine as it exists today, and then 3 equivalent bottles of water and then mixing that all together and you might be coming close to what they were, they were drinking. DA Carson in his commentary says this Wine in the ancient world was diluted with water to between 1/3 and 1/10 of its fermented strength, something less strong than American beer. Undiluted wine, which is about the strength of wine today, was viewed as strong drink.

So if you're going to do comparisons, that might help you, and I don't share this with you to say that drinking wine. It is morally wrong. The Bible prohibits drunkenness, but not drinking of wine. So drinking wine is not biblically wrong, but what it does indicate here is that you have to be anywhere from 3 to 10 times more careful today about the quantities that you partake of than they would have in, in this day.

But nonetheless, they, they run out of wine and this is a very embarrassing situation. This is absolutely huge to the groom and to his, to his family. I, I can resonate with this a little bit. We, we as a family are preparing our first wedding ever and, I can just say that there's a certain vulnerability that you feel, even a nakedness that you feel in putting things together.

You're making so many decisions, and it's like, is this the right one, or what should we do? And you've got to make decisions. You hope those decisions are wise and the right ones, and that they will be a blessing to To people, but that not everyone's going to be happy with decisions that you make. and some of those decisions start intertwining with other issues, and that is, well, how much do I, how much stock do I place in what others think of me and how much do I get my identity from God rather than from other people.

At the same time, we want to show courtesy to other people and where's the balance of all of that and, and where is my confidence? Is my confidence in God as we make decisions? Am I seeking Him and, the point is that, making these preparations, as many in our church who have done so, I'm just a newbie at this, but we tell you there, there's a nakedness and a vulnerability that you feel and what you do, the decisions you make will be on full display. And it intersects with your, your walk with the Lord, your spiritual life, and a failure here that we see unfolding in this story.

This, this is huge, and we should not underestimate the difficulty of this for the groom and his family. a couple of years ago, I made reference to this book. This is, From Fear to Freedom by Rose Marie Miller. She's in her upper 80s, right now, I think 88 years old.

But she, in this book talks about a crisis of faith, a midlife spiritual crisis that she went through and And just a vortex of wrong thinking that she got caught up in that almost did her in. And this is a wonderful book that tells the story of her journey to a deeper rooted understanding of the gospel and her acceptance by God and that that's what matters the most and she shares here how God showed up and really helped her to get to, to a better place. But here's what's interesting.

Do what the event was that sent her on a downward spiral?

She, in this book, she says, the crumbling, the inward crumbling began when I ran out of food at my daughter's wedding. And she didn't even, everyone, people had said, hey, can we help you? She's like, no, no, no, I got it, I got it. She had a lot of confidence in her own abilities, and they ran out of food to where there wasn't even food for the wedding party, to, to eat.

She didn't even think about it. It was such a wonderful day. It didn't bother her that day. But shortly thereafter, she was having some tea with a friend.

And listen to what she shares here. She says it started, this crumbling started innocently enough one afternoon when a friend and I were having tea together in our sun-filled living room. She, my friend, commented casually, Jim and Ruth's wedding was lovely, Rosemarie, but it's too bad that you ran out of food before the wedding party was served. I don't know what friend shares those observations, but she did.

Listen to what Rosemarie says about how she responded when she heard that. I was stunned. My mental world darkened. All of the beautiful memories of Ruth's wedding faded under the exposure of a social failure.

I thought, I have let down Jim's family, Jim and Ruth and our many friends. I couldn't shake the intense feelings of shame and guilt. For months, I fixated on my failure as a mother at my daughter's wedding. You see how that just intersected with her.

Walk with, with Christ. This is, and then we come back to John 2. And they ran out of wine, and we, we, we come to understand this is just bigger than running out of a beverage. This is, this is a big deal.

Of what's happening here, William Barclay says that for a family, the groom and his family to run out of food or supplies at a wedding would be a terrible humiliation for the bride and the bridegroom, but especially for the groom. This helps us to understand that when Jesus did the miracle that he performed, It's not like he was looking at all the attendees at the wedding saying, Oh, poor people, they need more wine. I will show all of them love by providing them with wine. Yes, he was loving them and providing that, but the ultimate recipient of his miracle was the groom.

And the groom's family, or maybe we could say the bride and the groom. They were the ones that Jesus was serving here in performing this miracle. So the upshot is that this miracle, this first miracle of Jesus, was a miracle that he performed in order to prevent a serious social embarrassment. To a groom and his family and the bride.

That's his first miracle that causes some writers to say that's how this really happened, because no one would ever make up a story like this. Here is Jesus, the greatest leader that's ever existed in the history of the world, and he did many miracles, and the first miracle he did, behold, He provided wine. At a party to prevent the host of the party from experiencing social embarrassment. No one would have ever made that up.

Reynolds Price, who I think back in 2010, he's a professor of English at Duke University, and he, he wrote a translation of the Gospel of John and in his foreword or preface to to his translation of John and two other Gospels, he talks about this story and listen to what he says. He says, Why invent for the inaugural sign of Jesus' great career a miraculous solution to a mere social oversight? He says that's, he says, I believe this really happened. Because no one would have made a story like this up.

We all would have maybe had someone being raised from the dead or some more significant miracle that met a real and pressing need. But no, John says, I'm going to tell you what actually happened. Jesus turned water into wine, and his first venue. For displaying his glory was at a wedding for this purpose.

Look what happens in verse 3. It says the wine gave out, when the wine gave out, The mother of Jesus said to Jesus, they have no wine. So that's all we have Mary saying at this point is they have no wine. On the surface, this seems to be merely a statement of fact that Mary is passing on to Jesus, but we know from Jesus' response that that statement of fact was loaded with an agenda, right?

Jesus was a smart man. Like for example when One's wife says, Hey, we're out of toilet paper in the upstairs restroom. That's a statement of fact, right? But is that all she is doing?

Just, hey, duly note that for the next time that you go upstairs? No, that's, that's loaded with an agenda and that is, you take care of this. If a wife says to her husband, my neck and shoulders are feeling stiff and sore. Is she sharing that so you can duly note that in the medical history that you're keeping of your wife and OK, I'll note that.

Thank you for sharing that. or is embodied in that piece of information, a request to address it. And we know an experienced husband, an inexperienced husband would just duly note that, I guess, OK. but anyone who's been married longer than a few weeks would know, something is being asked of me.

And so here is Mary, the mother of Jesus, coming to Jesus saying, they have no wine. Well, Jesus knows that inside of that is a request to do something about it. In fact, Mary's really saying here, they have no wine. You need to do something about it.

In fact, you need to do something messianic about this. That's very clear from Jesus' response, how he understood Mary. In fact, look at what happens in verse 4. And Jesus said to her, woman, Literally, what?

To me and to you, my hour has not yet come. In referring to his mom as woman, it's not disrespect like it may sound in our language. In fact, in John 19:26, Jesus is on the cross and he looks at Mary who's with John, and he says, Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.

There's no disrespect intended, but it is distant. It's not the way that a loving son would typically speak to his mother. There is distance implied, and Jesus is saying from here on out. the nature of our relationship is going to have to be a little bit different for your sake and for your protection, Mary.

I'm, I'm coming into my public ministry here and, and there's some ways that the dynamic between us is going to have to undergo a shift. So no disrespect, but it does convey some distance. And then he says literally what to me and to you? This is a monstrosity in trying to figure out what this means to save us all a whole bunch of time.

Here's my best guesstimate, and DA Carson represents this well. He says, strictly speaking, the phrase simply ask what is common. To you and me, i.e. what do you and I have in common as far as the matter at hand is concerned?

What's implied in this is Mary, we're not thinking the same way here. Your agenda and my agenda are different. In this, we're not thinking the same way. We don't have the same agenda because clearly Mary was wanting Jesus to do something public.

She was wanting Jesus to perform a public miracle here and she's saying this is your moment, Jesus. There's a real need here and this is your moment to let everybody know that you are the Messiah. Jesus also responds by saying, My hour has not yet come. And there's references later in John to his hour ultimately pointing to his death.

When Jesus says, My hour, though, he's not just simply speaking of his death, he does speak of his death being his hour in the sense that that's the moment where he is most fully revealed in His death and resurrection. But in a context like this, when Jesus says, My hour has not yet come, what he's saying is, my hour for publicly revealing and manifesting myself as the Messiah has not come. He's saying to Mary, this is not the time. This is not the setting.

This is not right for me to seize this moment of this bride and groom's wedding to turn this around and make this all about me and to announce myself and reveal myself as the Messiah. And so that leads to the third thing that Jesus does by way of revealing his glory here, and that is that he performs the miracle that's needed in a quiet behind the scenes fashion. He performs the miracle in a quiet behind the scenes fashion. Look at this verse 5.

His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. Guys. This is not Mary being petulant and ignoring what Jesus just said. She's basically implied, This is your moment.

Address this need. This is your hour perhaps to reveal yourself as the Messiah. Jesus says, your agenda, my agenda are not the same. My hour to publicly manifest myself as the Messiah to like everybody in the room, that hour has not yet come.

And Mary would have understood Jesus to be saying, I will address the problem, but not in a public. Type of way. Otherwise this gets real confusing. for Jesus to say, our agenda is different, my hour has not yet come, and then to turn around and do the miracle.

It's almost like he's like my hour has not yet come. And then after 30 seconds of reflection, OK, I guess it has, and I'll do the miracle. That's how you're forced to read it if you read it in this way, unless you understand that Mary was wanting Jesus to do something more public, to do a public miracle, a messianic thing that reveals Himself as the Messiah to everyone who was there, and Jesus says, My hour for doing that has not yet come. I'll address it, but not in a public way.

By the way, let's give Mary a break. I think I can get why she's a little anxious for Jesus to reveal Himself. Jesus again has been baptized by John. John has just said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Jesus has picked five of His disciples. He's right on the cusp of, he's 30 years old. John the Baptist has been preaching, saying the Messiah is coming, is coming is imminent, and John the Baptist has just pointed to Jesus as being that one. One, and here's Jesus at a wedding with 5 of his disciples, and Mary's not thinking, well, he's supposed to have 12, so there's still time to go before he goes public.

No, no, he's got disciples, and Mary, no doubt, is like, this is, this is happening any day now. My son is going to go public as the Messiah. And we just ran out of wine. Son, this is it.

This is, I got it all figured out here. here's what you're going to do and, and everyone will know that you are. The Messiah. Imagine Mary's pain for 30 years.

She has told people that this sun is the Messiah. And yet everyone treats him like an average Joe. No offense, To the Joes that are out there, but And to the average people that are out here. And wouldn't, wouldn't you be anxious if your son was the Messiah, to like, when are you gonna, so what's the plan?

When are you going to let everyone know who you are? And And this is very personal for her because she had a virgin born son, and we know from the gospels that not everyone believed that story. And so Mary was viewed as being immoral by some and that Jesus was born of fornication, and she's carried that for 30 years. Imagine her.

if you can go public and you can start doing these miracles, it'll, man, no one will be questioning this. So I think, I think we can give Mary a huge break here. She's been remarkably patient for 30 years, but now with these other developments, and now they've run out of wine, this is it. This is the moment, and Jesus says, no, this is not my moment.

This is not the setting to do a public miracle. And so Mary said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it. I know my son's going to do something. It just won't be public now, guys.

Imagine Jesus' dilemma here. this is what I think that some of us wouldn't have thought about in this moment. If Jesus did say, what, this is my hour. I, I'm going to publicly do a miracle here and everyone present at this party will know that I am truly the Messiah.

How would he do that? He would have to say, Everybody, can I have your attention? just want to let that they've run out of wine. Behold the containers that used to have the wine in them because of poor planning, they, there is no wine.

Everyone look, look at this failure of the groom. he wouldn't use those words, but that's basically what he's doing. See that there is no wine. And now behold, I will show you my messianic power, and you will know that I'm the Messiah, and I will provide wine miraculously.

If Jesus did that, if he made this his hour to do a public miracle in this way, he would have come off looking really good. And the groom would have come off looking really bad. He would have showed the groom and the groom's family up in a way that would be painful. Everyone would forever after that say, hey, groom, remember that?

That time when you ran out of wine and Jesus bailed you out. It would have made the shame worse. What would you have done? If you were the Messiah in a situation like that, if you had messianic power, would you have used that to those ends?

It doesn't matter how I make the groom feel. I'm going to show everyone who I am. And Jesus, Mary's not thinking of that, but Jesus is, and he's like, this is not, this is not the place, this is not the time. This is the bride and groom's special day.

I'm not going to make this a day all about me in this particular setting. I'm going to orbit around the bride and the groom, and we're going to keep our focus on The celebration of their love for each other and their marital union together, this is not the setting. This is not the hour for me to do a public. A miracle.

And so Mary said, Whatever Jesus says to you, to the servants, do it. And we learn in verse 6 that there were 6 stone water pots set there for the Jewish custom of purification containing 20 or 30 gallons each. And Jesus said to the servants, fill the water pots with water, and they filled them up. To the brim.

So here's the servants behind the scenes. Jesus says, Hey, those containers there, fill them up with water. So they fill them up with water all the way to the brim. And then that leads to a 4th thing that Jesus does to reveal His glory.

And that is that he let the servants take the wine to the head waiter. rather than insisting on, no, no, no, I'm the one who provided the wine, I'm the one who's going to take it to the head waiter so that the head waiter will know that I'm the one who did this. No, he says, now, now go take that to the head waiter. And he said to them, Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter.

And they took it to him. By the way, head waiter. Was imagine someone, imagine a DJ. The chief caterer and the life of the party.

The hired life of the party, that's what this head waiter. was, he was the one in charge of serving the food. He was also the master of ceremonies. He was someone who no doubt had personality and who could just move people from one thing to the next and like, hey, let's do this next and, and really make a fine celebration.

And Jesus says to the servants, go ahead and take that to the head waiter. And so they took it to him. But I'm just blessed here. We'll move on from this point in just a second, but I'm just blessed that Jesus did not insist on being the one who takes it to the head waiter.

just so the head waiter and everyone would know that he was the one who supplied and provided this wine. What, what a blessing. And Jesus does this to us all the time. Jesus structures the Christian life.

He doesn't structure it this way. I am your all sufficient one. Everyone relate to me. I give you everything directly.

You don't need any other relationships with anybody else, ever. You got me and that's it. I give you everything directly. He doesn't do that.

what he does? He provides giftedness. He gifts brothers and sisters, he gifts us and provides us, as it were, miraculous wine, and then he says, go. Go serve your brother or your sister.

And then we go and serve and we get to feel the thrill of wow, I'm useful and I just blessed this person. And then we get to experience the thrill of that person saying, I appreciate you. I love you. I'm so glad that you're in my life.

And Jesus is in heaven, saying, this is really neat. This is what it's all about. I'm bringing them into my joy as they experience this. And so I can identify with these servants that are given miraculous wine and Jesus says, go bear that to the head waiter because that's, that's what I do every Sunday.

I'm just giving you what Jesus has given me when we serve one another, we're just giving each other what Jesus has given to us, and we get to know the thrill of serving and the thrill of being appreciated. It's just the savior that we have. That leads to a 5th and final thing that Jesus does to reveal His glory, and that is He let the groom receive the compliment for what He Himself had provided. This is astounding, guys.

This is the only miracle that Jesus ever did that it seems he did intentionally so that someone else would get the credit for what he did. Look at what happens when the head waiter 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 head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, Every man serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then that which is poor. They serve, but you have kept the good wine until now.

And then boom, the curtains drop. how movies sometimes end too early. And you're like, Don't end. I want to know what happens next.

That's what happens here. The head waiter tastes this wine and he's like, This is the most amazing stuff I've ever tasted, and he goes to the groom and he's like, Man, most people serve their best stuff first and then the poorest stuff last, but you. You have kept the best to last. And then the curtains dropped.

We don't even get to know how the groom responded. How anyone else responded as they tasted this fine, delicious wine. Better than anything else they'd ever tasted. There's so many details that John does not communicate to us.

The final scene is essentially of the head waiter complimenting the groom on something that Jesus did. And I can imagine the befuddlement of this groom. Who probably was aware that they had run out of wine, and here comes the head waiter and he's expecting him to say something. The last thing he is expecting is for the head waiter to say, You are amazing.

You have blown me away. You, you've done the opposite of what most people do. You have saved the best wine to last. This is the best thing I've ever tasted.

Imagine the groom like, what? And I can see this is my imagination. I imagine the groom. Like just being thrown for a loop, and then he's like, He turns to Jesus.

And Jesus does this. Like, don't say anything. And the groom nods like just we're going to keep this on the down low. Just receive, just receive the compliment that the head waiter has just delivered to you.

OK. And thus Jesus Displayed his glory in turning water into wine. And in doing it in a manner That was humble, profoundly deferential. And courteous and respecting the reputation and the sensitivities of the bride and the groom and the groom's family, and what, no one in the room other than the servants, it seems, knew what Jesus had done, but the five disciples did.

And John says in verse 11, Jesus thus revealed His glory. And his disciples believed on him. what that means. They looked at this miracle and the way he did it.

And they turned to Jesus and said, I believe in you. You are an amazing person. With this power to do what you did and to do this miracle the way that you did it. Where you seem totally happy that the groom is, is being praised for what you have done.

You have served this groom tremendously. You are the savior for me. You are the one I want to follow and be with for the rest of my life and for all of eternity. There's so much to learn from this, guys, but we're out of time, but just that we show the greatness of Christ through the courtesies that we show to other people.

Preventing social embarrassment is important to Jesus. Also, we should be content as Jesus was in this setting to revolve around other people and to do things that serve others and actually make them look good. We learn here that hospitality is important. Jesus basically does this miracle to provide assistance to someone being hospitable.

And we also learn here that the home is a place that Christ deems worthy of displaying His glory. They're in somebody's home, and Jesus says, this home will be the setting of my first miracle as I serve those that are extending hospitality to those who are here. May God. Help us to be more like Jesus, a courteous people who think about when people come on the campus, what, what do we want them to experience?

How can we show them love in ways large and small, essential and non-essential? How can we do this out of our homes and as individuals, displaying the greatness of Christ through things large and small, as we see here. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, you are an amazing savior.

Just the sophistication of your courteous, sensitive concern for things that your own mother was not even quite comprehending in the moment. is an amazing thing to behold. You are a great savior. You think about everything, and Lord, help us to believe that as we walk with you and walk under your care, you are a savior who thinks about everything.

If you were this considerate here, to the smallest detail, how could we ever face anything about which we cannot look to you and say, Jesus, I know you've thought about everything here. Yet we always try to help you out. We think there's something you've neglected, but you neglect nothing. You see, comprehend.

And think about everything. You're an amazing savior, an amazing friend, an amazing host. And we love you so much we want to be like you. Make us as a church, more like you, make us as individuals and as families more like you, Jesus.

We thank you for this opportunity, Jesus, to give of our offerings to you, receive these funds, and do much with them for Your own glory and for the spread of this amazing gospel. Of you, our Savior, it's in your name we pray, and all God's people said, Amen.