Do whatever He tells you
John 2:1-5
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So far as we’ve walked through John we’ve seen several things. First and foremost is that Jesus is God in the flesh, the living word, He’s been here since the beginning. We’ve seen that he’s the embodiment of Grace and truth and that we should live by those two things. We’ve also seen the command to simply “Follow Me” from our Lord. Today in John 2 we are going to go see his first miracle.
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John 2:1-12
The Wedding at Cana
[1] On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. [2] Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. [3] When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” [4] And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” [5] His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
[6] Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. [7] Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. [8] And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. [9] When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom [10] and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” [11] This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
[12] After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
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Things to notice –
V1 on the third day (might be a reference to the resurrection, but no way to know)
On the third day is letting us know this is within a week of Jesus calling the disciples there in chapter one.
Cana of Galilee is about 8 miles north of Nazareth where Jesus is from, so he’s close to home.
V2 Jesus and his disciples are invited, likely meaning he’s a family friend or acquaintance, but notice Mary his mother is there too, so someone the family knew
V3 wine ran out. Maybe because a bunch of Jesus’ disciples showed up?
Would have been extremely embarrassing for the groom. Wedding festivities often lasted a week and each day new guests would appear. A lot of food and wine were consumed and it was a financial strain on a groom. Interesting that Mary would go to Jesus here and say “they have no wine”
V4 “Woman” sounds disrespectful, but it’s affectionate. It’s an expression of polite distance, but when used in the NT it means rebuke….so He’s kind but not agreeable to her timing….. just like his question to her “what does this have to do with me”? When Jesus talks about the “hour” he’s referencing the time of his crucifixion (that term “hour” comes up 9 times in the NT). Jesus as we see in other places doesn’t split the mountain open here and declare that He’s the Messiah, He has a work to do among the people and disciples before He has to go to the Cross. There’s many times I think we all think “I’d have done it this way” but if we knew what He knew we’d do it His way every time.
V5 our verse “do whatever he tells you” So obviously Mary, his momma knew what He could do. Notice her words, she doesn’t really argue with him, she treats him like a momma would. She pretends it’s going to go her way anyway. (When eating with my mom it really didn’t matter what I wanted if she decided she was going to put it on my plate, it was going on there….she’d ask…then do it anyway regardless of the answer). Here is a simple instruction for them, but I think a simple instruction that we should note right? If it’s Jesus….do whatever he tells you to do. Mary here says do it and she get’s out of the way.
*****SLIDE
- If he tells you to follow him…do whatever he tells you
- If he tells you to go be a missionary…..do whatever he tells you
- If he tells you to get up and pray everyday….do whatever he tells you
- If he tells you to join the church…do whatever he tells you
- If he tells you to give to the poor…do whatever he tells you
- If he says don’t quit when things are tough… on your job or your family or your kids or your marriage…do whatever he tells you
Do whatever he tells you to do.
Mark 10:17-22
[17] And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” [18] And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. [19] You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” [20] And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” [21] And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” [22] Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Mark 2:13-14
[13] He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. [14] And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
V6 Six stone water jars for Jewish rites of purification. Stone was believed to not contract ritual uncleanness and they hold twenty or thirty gallons each, so no small miracle.
V 7-10 Jesus tells them to fill them to the brim (again showing us this is no small task) and then told them to take it to the master of the banquet and when he tasted it He didn’t know where it came from (but the servants did….we recognize when we see) and the wine was better than the first. Usually they’d serve the good wine first and when everyone had a little or a little too much they brought out the cheap stuff.
Why would Jesus make so much? Was he enabling them to get drunk or more drunk? Doesn’t sound like God, right?
(obviously not a rationale to get drunk or be a drunkard, scripture teaches against such thought…it’s a bad witness, it’s a bad testimony)
Jeremiah 31:12
[12] They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
and they shall languish no more.
Joel 3:18
[18] “And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD
and water the Valley of Shittim.
Amos 9:13-14
[13] “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
[14] I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
In the OT abundant wine is a sign of fulfillment, Jesus’ conversion of such a large quantity of water into wine would have indicated the arrival of the long awaited Kingdom. The OT is filled with things that signify God’s gifts and abundance, rain, milk and honey, peace, wine, banquets and feasts. Not just the OT but all of scripture points to this let’s look at Revelation 21 for a moment.
Revelation 19:6-10
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
[6] Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
[7] Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
[8] it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
[9] And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” [10] Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Isaiah 25:6
[6] On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
So now we have this connection to blessing and Jesus and the church as his bride and they celebrate with a supper…a feast.
V 11 “sign” or a clue (a sign of what?) that He’s the Messiah
Miracles that attest to Jesus’ identity as Messiah and Son of God and lead unbelievers to faith. John specifies that after this sign, Jesus’ disciples believed in him. The statement says that before this lived as an ordinary man with his divine identity hidden. In each of the signs that John includes, the emphasis is on the way in which the “sign” reveals Jesus’ messianic character and on the exceptional and striking nature of the feat accomplished by Jesus—
such as the large quantity and high quality of wine (2:6, 10),
the fact that the official’s son is healed a long distance away by the sheer power of Jesus’ word (4:47, 49–50),
the invalid’s recovery from a 38-year-long ordeal (5:5),
the large quantity of food produced by Jesus (6:13),
the man’s recovery from lifelong blindness (9:1–2),
and the raising of Lazarus after four days in the tomb (11:17, 39).
All this to show us His Glory…why…so we will believe. Why doesn’t he keep doing it? Because there were some who saw it and didn’t believe. There are some today that would see and still not believe. We all have miracles all around us of God’s mercy and grace and glory and we still don’t believe or believe rightly. Remember if we had the faith of a mustard seed we could move mountains.
This miracle showed the glory of Jesus as the sovereign Creator and ruler of the material universe and also as the merciful God who provides abundantly for his people’s needs.
What to do with this passage?
Jesus is the Messiah, He’s the living God. He is grace and truth. He asks us to look and see what he’s done (the signs) and what he’s doing and follow him. Today we see scripture saying……… do whatever I tell you to do
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
