JESUS CHANGES WATER TO WINE

John 2:1-11

Key Verse: 2:11

“This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.”

In the previous chapter John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Andrew introduced Jesus to his brother Simon and Philip to Nathanael. Today’s passage is the first of Jesus’ seven miraculous signs that are recorded in John’s gospel. This miraculous sign set the stage for his ministry. Jesus introduces himself directly to the people as the Son of God through this miracle. Jesus showed the true nature of the kingdom of God by changing water to wine at the wedding feast. The wedding feast was the reflection of the heavenly banquet full of joy and happiness prepared for all of God’s people. Jesus also demonstrates that he had the transforming power to change people from tasteless, ordinary people to very important people who bring joy and happiness to others. Jesus used Mary’s simple request and servants’ obedience to reveal his glory. Let’s experience Jesus’ power through our humble prayer and absolute obedience. May God bless us to taste the kingdom of God through Jesus. I pray that God may bless us to put faith in Jesus through this passage.

PART I. THEY HAVE NO MORE WINE (1-5)

It was the first week of Jesus' ministry. On the third day after he left Judea, Jesus and his new disciples were in Galilee. There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus' mother was already there. Probably the people holding the wedding feast were some of Mary's relatives or friends. Jesus and his disciples also had been invited. What a way Jesus began his public ministry! Jesus wanted all Christians to have a life like that of the wedding feast. Marriage is God’s blessing because it was initiated and ordained by God in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2) Marriage was the culmination of God’s creation work. God joined Adam and Eve to become one through the first marriage. At his wedding day Adam was full of joy and happiness and confessed, “You are now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Have you attended the wedding ceremony? Do you remember your wedding day? How happy I was at the time of my wedding! No one takes away the joy of wedding day. If someone is not joyful at the wedding day, something is wrong. From God's point of view, marriage seems to be God's utmost blessing for mankind.

 Jesus confirmed that marriage is God’s blessing by attending the wedding at Cana in Galilee. Jesus went there to bless the bride and bridegroom. The wedding feast provides a joyful environment for all who attend the feast. It refreshes everyone in the mundane world. The wedding is God’s blessing and a new beginning for the new couple. Jesus came into this world to bless people and to give them happiness and meaning of life. Traditionally, a Jewish wedding feast lasted many days, even a week. Maybe the wedding feast reached its high point at this time. Many guests congratulated the bride and bridegroom saying, “You look like princess and prince. You are a perfect match. May God bless your wedding! Have three kids.” Orchestra played beautiful wedding music and vocal teams sang many love songs. Photographers were busy to take pictures. But some problem arose in the peak of the wedding. What problem arose? Look at verse 3. “When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” It was an emergency situation for the wedding feast. The wine boosted the joy of the guests at the wedding feast. We have to understand why the wine was important in the wedding in the Middle East. Modern weddings may not have wine, but we should understand about the times of Jesus. At that time, there was no coke, no bottled juice. Mostly just wine and water, and the water might not be clean. In that time, everyone drank wine. If the wedding ran out of wine, the family would be dishonored. The bride would spend her wedding night crying. Jesus’ mother noticed the problem and she reported it to Jesus. She believed that Jesus could do something about it. How did Jesus respond? Jesus replied, "Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come" (4). Jesus' reply sounds indecent, but it is not. Jesus used the same words, "Dear woman," when he spoke to her as she was crying beneath the cross (Jn 19:26).

When Jesus said, "My time has not yet come," it meant that he was living and acting on God's time schedule. All the gospel writers speak about Jesus' time. But the author of John's gospel repeatedly refers to Jesus' "time" or his "hour" (7:6,8; 12:23; 17:1). "My time" is a theme of John's gospel. Jesus was conscious of God's time schedule for himself. 12:23 says, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." "My time" or "my hour" refers ultimately to his death on the cross as the Lamb of God. Up until now Jesus was obedient to Mary but now Jesus began his public ministry calling his first disciples. Mary wanted to solve this problem right away but Jesus waited for God’s timing. Jesus waited for the right time to reveal his glory. Jesus no longer followed people’s time schedule but followed God’s time schedule. Jesus was very sensitive about his time to glorify God. Jesus knows the best time.

How did Mary respond to Jesus’ words? Look at verse 5. “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” Though Jesus seemed not to care about her request immediately, she did not react emotionally towards Jesus. Mary’s coming to Jesus may not seem like prayer because he was right in front of her. But whenever we bring a problem to Jesus, we are, in effect, praying. Mary’s actions teach us the 3 steps of prayer. The first step of prayer: She brought the problem to Jesus not to the banquet master. She knew that running out of wine at the wedding was no small problem for the family. However, she could not do anything with her own ability. Still, she felt that the problem was her own. We have to bring our problem right away whether it is small or big. Many people worry first when they have a problem. Then they miss an opportunity to experience Jesus’ power. We must bring the problems as they are to Jesus and ask his help in prayer. Mary did just like that. James 4:2C says, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” Are you too busy to ask God? Stop everything and ask God what you need. Are you too proud to ask God? Humble yourself and kneel down before God and he will listen to your humble cry. The second step of prayer: She simply waited on Jesus. She did not give up on her prayer. In that desperate situation, she could have rebuked the family for not being sufficiently prepared. She could have nagged Jesus to do something immediately. But she did not do so. She was quiet. She waited on Jesus, believing that Jesus would deal with the problem in his own way. She did not insist her way but depended on Jesus. We must learn prayer that waits on the Lord patiently. Patience is the key in our prayer life. It is easy to push Jesus to answer our prayer right away. If we do so, we give up before we hear God’s answer of our prayer or we seek human solution.

 The third step of prayer: She did what she could. Mary did not sit down in an embarrassing situation. She quietly stepped out to where the servants were. She said, "Do whatever he tells you" (5). She helped the servants obey Jesus' words. In this way, she made an environment in which Jesus could do his work in his own way and in his own time. Mary made a beautiful environment for Jesus to perform the miracle. She did what she could do. When we pray, we have to do our part and then God will do his part. For example, if you have a school problem, you have to pray to God, “Lord, help me pass this C++ class. I need this class badly.” What should you do after your prayer? Enjoy a computer game because God will answer your prayer or do your part by doing homework and preparing projects. We have to do our parts after we pray. Then God will do his part and answer our prayers. Jesus was able to use the servants because Mary prepared them to listen to him. Faith in Jesus was valuable. In this way she experienced the glory of Jesus very personally.

PART II. FILL THE JARS WITH WATER (6-8)

What did Jesus tell the servants to do first? Look at verse 7. “Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim.” As we know, the servants were serving so many guests at that time. But suddenly Jesus told them to fill the jars with water. They could have complained to the banquet master and ignored Jesus’ request saying, “Are you crazy? See how busy we are. We don’t have time to fill the jars with water.” But they did not argue with Jesus. They did not reason with Jesus. They filled them to the brim. They trusted Jesus and obeyed Jesus’ request 100%. According to verse 6, there were six stone war jars each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. How many gallons of water did they have to fill? If we assume each water jar holds twenty-five gallons of water, they have to fill 150 gallons of water. There were no hoses at that time. It was a time-consuming and physically hard work and there was no benefit to the wedding. They were out of wine. What good would water do? Filling the water jar seemed not to be related to solving the problem. All human logic indicated them not to obey Jesus. But they obeyed not 50%, not 85%, not 99% but 100%. They had to overcome their human thinking and complaining spirit. They showed their humble attitude towards Jesus. They obeyed more than expected. Though they did not understand why they were doing, they obeyed. They were assigned to something else. They did it by faith.

Look at verse 8. "Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.'" They had obeyed Jesus' word 100% when he gave them the task of filling the jars. But now Jesus was asking them to take hand-washing water to the master of the banquet to serve the guests. This was even harder to obey. They might be fired if the guests realized that they brought the hand-washing water to them. But they obeyed anyway. When they obeyed, a miracle happened. The water turned into wine. Wow! They tasted the power of obedience. The hand-washing water turned into sweet wine. Jesus used the servants’ complete obedience to reveal his glory. The six water jars produced 2400 cups of wine (16 cups per gallon). What if the servants filled the jars 50%, they could get only 1200 cups of wine. Jesus blesses us according to the measure of our obedience. Those who calculate cannot taste the full measure of God’s blessing. Are you filling the jars to the brim? Then you will experience the abundance of Jesus’ blessings. Jesus will fill your vessel to the brim. The secret of having abundant blessing from God is to obey Jesus 100% from our hearts. Then God will fill our hearts with overflowing blessings. Obedience is a key to experience the power of Jesus in our spiritual life.

PART III. JESUS REVEALED HIS GLORY (9-11)

Look at verses 9 and 10. "...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.'" The guests really enjoyed the wine made in Jesus. The banquet master had no idea what had happened. He only knew the wine was best. The guests and the banquet master enjoyed the outcome of this miracle but they did not know the source of this miracle. But the servants who obeyed Jesus and filled the jars to the brim knew what had happened. Mary who prayed knew the power of Jesus. The disciples knew what had happened. They experienced the changing power of Jesus. They saw Jesus’ supernatural power as the Son of God. They knew the secret of power comes from obedience. It was a life-changing experience to them. They accepted Jesus as the Son of God. When we trust and obey his word, we experience the divine power of Jesus. The insiders saw the power of Jesus and the outsiders enjoyed the blessing.

Through this first miraculous sign Jesus also manifested that he came to this world to change people into new creations. Jesus revealed his transforming power when he changed water into wine. No one can change another person. No one can change himself either, even if he really wants to. But Jesus can change us. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Once Sarah Bakhtiary thought that she was nothing, but Jesus changed her to become a VIP in our orchestra and Beta team. She was excellent in the YDJ soldier dancing. She knows the secret of joy as a Christian. M. James Park was thinking about suicide in the past because he was fatalistic about his life situation, but Jesus made him handsome through his transforming power. Now he became a powerful servant of God. In addition, God blessed him to have a woman of prayer as his wife and three sons as his partners. Jesus makes the best out of ordinary things. Jesus said in 1:50, “You shall see greater things than that.” Until we meet Jesus, we are not the best we can be. Jesus brings the best out of us because he is the Son of God. Jesus changed common people to become the best people. Once we were common and tasteless and dull like water but now we became dynamic and powerful and entertaining like wine. As we know, all his disciples were ordinary people like fishermen or a tax collector, but Jesus changed them to become the most influential people of the world. Jesus transformed Simon the sand to Peter the rock. Jesus changed Levi, the tax collector to saint Matthew. Once I was a country boy from Galilee of Korea with rotten human ambition and vague idea of romance. In reality I was a selfish man. But Jesus brought the best out of me. He showed me his vision to pioneer 206 East Coast campuses and to send missionaries to the South America and China. Look at verse 11. “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” Here we learn the formula of the miracle. Mary’s prayer plus servants’ obedience equals miracle. P + O = M. Jesus revealed his glory through this event. Jesus demonstrated that he was the Son of God by changing water to wine. His young disciples put faith in Jesus. I pray that we all may experience the power of Jesus through our prayer and obedience. May God bless you to have the joy of life comes from Jesus. Let’s read the key verse 11.