The Restorer of Joy
Sermon Notes
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:1-11)
A Strange Miracle
This story’s a bizarre one, out of all the miracles one of the more difficult to understand.
Forces us to ask the question, “What’s going on here?” Possible interpretations:
Jesus likes weddings (first public act is to bless a marriage)
Jesus is starting a new religion (I heard this one from an Arab Christian man while driving past Cana): replacing the ritual handwashing with new wine.
Or, what I always assumed when I was younger: Jesus was just showing off.
Of course, none of these actually fits the context of the story.
Jesus does like weddings, but He wasn’t particularly interested in blessing this one. His mother forced His hand.
The new religion interpretation is a classic example of making the text say what you want it to say. It’s always dangerous to start Bible interpretation with your political preferences.
Again, Jesus had no desire to show off. He wanted to avoid the situation altogether.
So we are left with the question, “What’s going on here?”
This is actually a really fantastic question to ask for two reasons.
Firsts are important to writers. This is not only Jesus’ first miracle in the book of John but really His first public act. So asking what this miracle is all about will help us understand what John is all about (what Jesus is all about in John).
The “what’s going on here” question is one that we should be asking about every miracle because every miracle operates on two levels, the private and the public. What I mean by that is every miracle is received by an individual or a group of people while at the same time making a statement well beyond that individual or group.
The calming of the storm was not simply about getting to the other side of the lake but about demonstrating who was in the boat. The King.
The healings are not simply about the individuals who are healed but are statements about the Kingdom of God that exists wherever the King is.
And the water to wine is not simply about this one couple but about a much bigger revelation that still has the capacity to speak to us and change us today.
So, what’s going on here? Let’s start at the top.
Hospitality in an honor shame culture. This was a big faux pas.
They ran out of wine because they hadn’t spent enough money on wine, probably because they didn’t have enough.
Some commentators have even suggested that a couple could be sued for running out wine at their wedding.
Mary, a remarkable woman, didn’t want them to be embarrassed, so she asked her son to do something about it. (How did she know He could do something about it? Another question for another time.)
Jesus reluctantly helped them avoid a socially awkward situation and, in fact, turned things around by making them look really good and generous.
The moral here is that Jesus is just a really great guy. That He loves people so much that He goes to great lengths to help them avoid social stigma. The problem, of course, is that Jesus doesn’t really seem overly concerned about people’s social status. In fact, He tends to ruin the reputations of many of the people who follow Him.
Let me suggest a lens that helps us understand this and every miracle. King and Kingdom. What does this miracle tell us about who Jesus is and about what He came to do?
Every miracle tells us something not about the person receiving the miracle but the person doing the miracle. They tell us who Jesus is.
Every miracle that Jesus performs is a restoration. In each case, there is something lacking that was not lacking in God’s original creation.
No sickness, no oppression, no death.
And, in this case, no insufficiency, no poverty.
Each time Jesus upsets the “natural order,” He is, in fact, restoring the natural order, planting a flag in fallen ground and claiming it as His. He is demonstrating the Kingdom of God and, thereby, pointing forward to a day when there will once again be no sickness, no oppression, no death, and no lack of wine!
Wine as joy: with that lens in place, this is not about a social stigma but about restoration. Of what?
That sounds kind of funny to say, but we all know that, in every society since the dawn of time, including our own, including biblical culture, wine is synonymous with blessing and joy.
So, what does this text tell us about who Jesus is? It tells us that He’s the restorer of joy!
This is how John wants us to understand Jesus right from the top of the Gospel.
This is how Jesus wants us to understand Himself. This is who He is and what He came to do.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 15:11
How did Jesus restore joy?
Sink water
Jars used for washing hands (would have been used already, probably still had water in them)
Jesus turns sink water into joy by grace (no washing required). Jesus didn’t bother to sanitize anything first. He just brought joy.
Abundantly: full of the best
30 gallons apiece/180 gallons total
Close to 1,000 bottles of wine
The best wine
He used their hands: When did the water turn to wine? In whose possession was it when it happened? If they had not done what He told them to do (which required a risk), would it have happened?
Of course, that’s not all there is to the story. If that’s what Jesus did, why does He seem so grumpy about it? Well, that speaks to how He would convert sink water into joy?
“My time has not yet come.”
“Time” in the book of John always refers to the cross.
As He considered all these people drinking the wine of joy (and the day on which His people would drink the wine fully with Him in His Kingdom), He was thinking about would it would take to get there: drinking wine in sorrow.
You see, there is another seemingly contrary interpretation of wine in the Bible: the cup of God’s wrath.
Jesus is thinking about His death at the wedding feast because His death is what it will take to get us to the wedding feast.
Not our cleanness but His; not our efforts but His
Our joy comes through His sorrow, our life through His death.
Jesus drinking the cup of wrath gives us the opportunity to drink the cup of blessing and joy.
What does this mean for us?
He wants to turn our sink water into joy. How does He do this?
By pouring out His love into our hearts, just as we are.
By filling us with His Holy Spirit and transforming the broken parts of us
By giving us a promise and vision of That Day.
This is how we navigate this life.
“Jesus sat among all the joy sipping the coming sorrow so that we can sit among all the sorrow sipping the coming joy.”
And, He wants to give you the capacity to turn others sink water into joy.