You Want Me to
Do What?
John 2:1-11
January 14,
2007
On the third day
there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of
Jesus was there. Jesus
and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave
out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They
have no wine.” And Jesus said to her,
“Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My
hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do
whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for
the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to them,
“Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He
said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to
the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the
water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though
the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the
bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then
the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept
the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the
first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his
disciples believed in him.
Remember the year that Jimmy Valvano
won the ESPY award. They had to help him up the steps because his body was
being attacked by cancer. Yet, he stood in front of that podium and shared
a powerful word with everyone. He started it off with some uneasy laughter
when he let the time clock folks know that he would finish when he was
ready and not when they told him to stop talking. He then went on to say:
“Do three things everyday. “ I do not remember the exact order but it was
to love, cry and laugh everyday. What wonderful words of wisdom he shared
with us that night.
The Lord desired that His people take
Him seriously but that they not take themselves too seriously. He wanted
them and he wants us to wipe off our grim looks. He invites us to put
smiles on our faces, and to allow laughter to flow from our lips. Helmut
Thielicke put it this way:
“Should we not see that lines of laughter about
the eyes are just as much marks of faith as are the line of care and
seriousness? Is it only earnestness that is baptized? Is laughter pagan?
We have already allowed too much that is good to be lost to the church and
cast many pearls before swine. A church is in a bad way when it banishes
laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub
and the toastmasters.”
One of my favorite movies is
The Buddy Holly Story. Many in this room remember Buddy
Holly and then there are some in here who are probably wondering who is
Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly was a rock and roll singer. In the movie, Buddy
and his group are playing at the local skating rink on a Saturday night.
They had been banned from playing any upbeat music. The scene opens with
them playing slow boring country music. It is being broadcast over the
radio and the local D.J. is about to fall asleep as he broadcast the
music. The skating rink is two third’s empty. Buddy finally said to the
group. “I can’t stand this, we are going to play our music.” They start to
hopping and the folks flock into the skating rink. The D.J. receives a
call from one of the advertisers demanding that he cut off that terrible
music. The next day at church, the pastor stands up and talks about the
evils of the music that was played at the skating rink and the joys of the
music sung in Church. The camera then zooms in on the choir as they sang
an anthem with no emotions or feelings. They are all frowning as they sang
the anthem of praise to God. Buddy is at
church with his parents and you see him slipping down in the pew as the
preacher talks about the music that he played on Saturday evening. The
message to that congregation and especially to Buddy Holly was that one
was not to live a joy filled life as a Christian.
How fitting it is that the first miracle that the
evangelist John tells us about was performed at a wedding feast. The
weddings in the days of Christ were somewhat
different than ours today. The family and friends celebrated for a week
the upcoming marriage of the man and woman. They toasted to
God, they toasted to each other and they
toasted to those who were about to unite together in the sight of
God. It was a festive time. It was a joyful
time. It was a time of laughter and celebration. It was a time to eat,
drink and be merry!
The last thing that the host wanted to happen was to
run out of food or drink. That would have been a great embarrassment to
the host. It is obvious by the words from John this morning that some host
usually provided the best food and drinks at the beginning of the week and
then slipped in the fast food variety toward the end of the week.
At this wedding, the worst thing that could have
happened started to happen. They began to run out of wine. The good wine
was already gone and the cheap stuff was about to be consumed and there
would be nothing left for the celebrants to drink. That was a dark picture
for the bridegroom and all of his family. They would become the laughing
stock of the community. They would be disgraced because they did not plan
well enough to meet the basic needs of the weeklong party. The joyful and
festive atmosphere were about to disappear from that wedding celebration.
Mary enters upon the scene. She walked up to those who
were overseeing the food and drink and told them to do whatever her son
instructed them to do. She then went to her son and informed him of the
present situation and how bad it was going to be for the bridegroom and
his family.
At that moment two things happened. First, Mary showed
those servants the true walk of faith. She went to them with complete
confidence that Jesus could turn the disaster
that was looming over them into a victory. She knew in her heart and soul
that Jesus was able to meet the needs of
those folks in that place. Her confidence gave the stewards confidence
enough to trust and believe in Jesus.
The second thing that happened was that the servant
followed Jesus’ instructions. They did as He
had commanded them to do. They went and they filled the jars with water as
instructed by him. They had an opportunity to challenge him and say
something like: “Well, we could have already done that. We do not need
water. We need wine for the party.” They did not do that did they? They
listened to His instructions and they carried them out.
The miracle took place. The water was turned to wine!
John informs the reader that the steward went to the bridegroom and said:
“Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the
guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
The steward was not prepared for what he was about to
receive nor was the others who were at the celebration. They were caught
off guard by the graciousness and the generosity of the host.
They were given a gift that they had not expected.
They were receiving the very best at the conclusion of the wedding
celebration. They were receiving it because some people acted out of
faith. Mary acted out of faith. The servants acted out of faith. They
trusted in Jesus completely to meet their
needs.
Out of faith and trust they moved forward in life. That
is a hard thing to do sometimes. It requires a deep inner trust. It is a
trust that surrenders everything to Christ.
Our human tendency is to give it to God and
in the very next breath take it back. To trust completely means that we
are willing to leave all of our concerns, hopes, joys and sadness in the
hands of Jesus of Nazareth. It means that we
will leave them in his hands even if our own expectations are not met.
Once you and I can do that then the burdens that have a way of weighing us
down no longer can hold us down. The darkness of the event cannot block
out the light, the warmth and the love of Jesus
of Nazareth when we put our complete trust in Him.
Once we grow that faith in Jesus
of Nazareth, we also grow the ability to have joy in our hearts, souls and
minds. The joy of the risen Lord changes our lives. Instead of seeing a
glass half empty, we see it half full. As a people of faith and joy, we no
longer say: “we can’t do that!” We become a people who state: “All things
are possible through Jesus of Nazareth.”
A Hindu trader in India once asked a missionary, "What
do you put on your face to make it shine?" With surprise the man of
God answered, "I don't put anything on it!"
His questioner began to lose patience and said emphatically, "Yes, you
do!" All of you who believe in Jesus seem to
have it. I've seen it in the towns of Agra and Surat, and even in the city
of Bombay." Suddenly the Christian understood, and his face glowed even
more as he said, "Now I know what you mean, and I will tell you the
secret. It's not something we put on from the outside but something that
comes from within. It's the reflection of the light of
God in our hearts.
On that particular day and at that specific wedding
feast, Mary the mother of Jesus of Nazareth
took a bold step in faith. She ventured out and told some other people to
trust completely in her Son and to do exactly as he told them to do. Those
persons took it to another step and did exactly what
Jesus asked them to do. This was the first miracle that John
reports Jesus performing in the area. The
servants did not have any reason to follow the instructions of
Jesus. They did it without question! They had
enough faith to believe that something wonderful was about to happen. They
had enough faith to trust in his word.
Due to a faith walk by a mother and by some servants,
joy filled that wedding feast. God would have
all of us to walk in his joy and love. It can be in our hearts, souls and
minds everyday when we surrender all to Jesus.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
