John 2. 1-11, The first sign

John 2. 1-11- The Seven signs, (1) Water into Wine

A Middle eastern wedding would bring the entire village to a halt for a party that would last several days! Food would be prepared and wine provided for many guests. And at this wedding – the wine ran out! This as embarrassing; at best the bridegroom would be a laughing stock. At worst eh could be sued under a sort of first century trade descriptions act.

Jesus' Mum is in the thick of things and comes and tells Jesus about the terrible, embarrassing situation. But Jesus says “Why involve me? It's not my time yet!” That seems harsh – at first glance. (Even worse if your bible translates the literal Greek “Woman...” – though the translation doesn't give us the affection in Jesus' voice and Jesus calls Mary “woman” when in Jn 19. 27 he places her in John's care as a a surrogate son.) But “Why involve me? Is literally “What to you and to me?” which is exactly what the demons said when they disputed Jesus right to throw them out in Mark 1. 24. So Jesus is asking Mary what right she has to ask for his help. Clearly she can't tell him what to do just because she is his mother. And the key to this conversation is in the phrase “My hour has not yet come.” Jesus' “hour” in John always refers to his death and resurrection. It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that defeats the enemy, releases God's power, and gives those who trust in him the authority to expect God to be at work. So he is saying to Mary, “Mother, you can't claim some right to my help because you are my mother, and my hour – the time for the cross – has not come. So what makes you think I am going to step into this situation?”

It is important that we understand this idea of authority, of what right we have to expect God to be at work in our situation. or in the situations of other people. We need to address this. What right do we have to ask Jesus to help? Certainly not because we are his Mum! Not because we are related; not because we have been going to church all our lives or are nice, respectable people.

We are used – especially in Scotland – to the idea that we are miserable sinners, and “what's for you will no' go bye ye” so when the wine runs out, or we face embarrassment, or financial loss; or we are struggling with health or job or study or whatever, we think we have to just soldier on. What right do we have to ask Jesus to help? Only this – because his hour has come. He has died on the cross. He has defeated Satan. He has made us his friends and brothers. He has released his Spirit into our lives as we have put our trust in him.

Mary models faith

I love the impudent, indomitable faith that Mary brought to this situation.

Mary isn't put off by what Jesus says. I guess she knew Jesus' hour would come, and that even before that hour, there could be signs to say that hour was coming. So she tells the servants “It'll be all right: just do what he tells you to!” She wasn't going to be put off. And the amazing thing is, that for thirty years, she hadn't (I believe) seen Jesus perform one miracle.

(None of the canonical gospels record Jesus doing miracles as a child, and there is a reason for that – because they never happened. That's the difference between the restrained and intelligent way the Biblical Gospels are written, and the truly mythological stories of the other “gospels,” for example the “Infancy Gospel of Thomas” which describes Jesus as a spoilt brat with supernatural powers who made clay sparrows that came to life, yet could curse people to death.)

She knew who he is. She knew where he had come from. She had seen the other stuff like his ministry in the temple when he was twelve. Isn't that amazing faith?

We need to develop that quiet confidence in what Jesus can do, the ability to bring a situation. to Jesus – even to if you haven't seen a miracle for thirty years, and to bring situations to Jesus in the missionary context. The servants didn't have a clue who Jesus was... but Mary primes them to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. And Jesus does what she expects. "Mary approaches Jesus as his mother, and is reproached; she responds as a believer, and her faith is honoured," says Don Carson. Jesus responds when she takes her stand on the basis that although his hour had not yet come, it was coming.

Mary models Mission

It looks like Mary was in there in the middle of things – close enough to those who were serving to know what was happening. She is concerned for the poor bridegroom; she instinctively knows that Jesus can do something with this situation.; she wants to get the servants – maybe not slaves but simply those who were taking their turn to serve at table – involved. Mission, then, is about telling people who haven’t a clue who Jesus is, to do what Jesus tells them to do, in the expectation of Jesus performing a miracle.

So Jesus orders the servants to fill the six washing jars with water. 180 gallons, or about 600 litres. Fine, so far so good, the servants do what they are asked. The jars were made of stone not porcelain and as such would keep the water pure. Hard work, but a bit of a diversion. They probably don't imagine what Jesus is going to do next. Once the job is done, Jesus tells them to draw some water out of the jars and take it to the master of ceremonies. Aden it had turned in to wine: not just any wine but good quality wine, the best that had been served all day. That is about 800 bottles of wine – more that could have been “set aside”, or smuggled in. The master of ceremonies didn’t' know where the wine came form – but the servants knew and before long the word got out. This is what Jesus had done. Some of these servants must have told the story. And John and some of the other disciples hearing the conversation and seeing the results, must have realised that this was a miracle.

Aden by doing this – John calls it the first sign – Jesus showed his glory. That is first of all, who he is. Archbishop William temple says “The modest water saw its God and blushed.” In one simple act, for those who were in the know – in particular for his disciples – Jesus revealed his glory, and as John says “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1. 14)

And secondly, it is something of The nature of what he does: it is what we receive from him. “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” (Jn 1. 16) The six jars were used for ceremonial cleansing, the washing of hands, clothes, cups, that was part of Jewish religious life. He turns the water that was used over and over in ritual washing, into new wine that cleans and disinfects us from sin, fully and permanently. He changes the water of law that tells us how we should live, into the wine that makes us strong enough to live that new life. Jesus turns the “water” of Jewish religion, of into the “wine” of a living relationship with God, the water of religious duty into the wine of celebration and not just the “old wine” of a second-rate celebration but the new wine of the Kingdom, a living experience of God's power and presence.

John calls this story “the first sign Jesus did. ” There are seven of these signs in John's gospel. We are going to look at each of them. It's good to remember that there was something between Christmas and Easter: Jesus' life and ministry is as important as his birth and his death. And his disciples believed in him. That is what these signs are for. So can I finish by saying a word or two to disciples. At the beginning of 2016, I wonder how many of us are muddling through with just water; I wonder how many of us are feeling embarrassed because we have run out of wine. Life's not much of a party. We feel under-resourced; maybe even threatened; we don't know how we are going to get through it.

We need to renew our trust in Jesus. In who he is, and in what he wants to do in and through us. We need like Mary to step up and engage with who Jesus is – and encourage others to engage with who Jesus is.

© Gilmour lilly January 2016