{"id":886,"date":"2019-04-16T20:49:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T19:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/?page_id=886"},"modified":"2019-04-16T20:49:20","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T19:49:20","slug":"john-21-12-do-whatever-he-tells-you","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/?page_id=886","title":{"rendered":"John 2:1-12 Do whatever He tells you"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \nIn July 2000 I had flown to the USA with an elderly friend with a\nschedule of both visiting some of their friends, together with attending a\nBaptist history conference in North Carolina. We were fortunate for the first\npart of the trip in having lifts provided and that was greatly appreciated. For\nthe rest of the trip I was hiring a car in North Carolina that would carry me\naround several states during the next part of my particular schedule. This all seems\nrather ordinary, but in the back of the car one day, our host for the first\npart of the trip, happened to remark about his difficulties on a particular\nvisit to the UK, some years earlier when a wallet was lost. How could he hire a\ncar without his driving license? In my mind a sudden doubt cropped up-where was\nmy driving license? It was across the Atlantic back in my home in Cumbernauld\nand the rest of our family were away on holiday. Acute embarrassment and panic\non my part as I wondered how can I get my license here to the USA within the\nnext couple of days?  Cutting a long\nstory short a friend from our church had a key and they found the license and\nposted it to the USA by courier and I got it 48 hours later, just in time! It\nwas actually more complicated than that, but the point here is that something\nvery ordinary had been overlooked and threatened to derail an otherwise\nwell-planed trip. Two thousand years ago at a wedding in Galilee, what had\nbegun as a happy and successful celebration was on the brink of total disaster\nand embarrassment for the bridegroom and his family. This was of course Jesus\u2019\nfirst miracle, which in itself was important, but John, the Gospel writer, sees\na much greater significance in the context of the life and ministry of Jesus.\nThis reminds us that our lives and the various things that happen to us can\nhave a greater significance than we had ever expected or anticipated. In all of\nour lives there are special moments when the Lord touches us in ways that we\nhad not expected nor anticipated. For John, the events of the seven days\nculminating in this miracle at Cana would transform the rest of his life \u2013only\nthe events of the first Easter and Pentecost would rank higher in their\ntransformative impact on his life and experience.          <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Special Marriage <\/strong>(John\n2:1-2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the third day a\nwedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2<\/sup><\/strong>\nand Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. <\/em>(a) The significance of this event in John\u2019s\nGospel<\/strong> A wedding in a village in Galilee could not have been a more natural or\nfamiliar event to the participants of this particular celebration. No-one\nattending expected anything out of the ordinary to take place. Such events were\na welcome relief from the hard manual labour they were all engaged in year\nafter year. Life was simple and basic and short. You married in your teens and\nmany would have died before reaching the age of thirty and the vast majority\nbefore the age of forty. The comfortable existence of most people in the\nwestern world could not be further removed from the spartan, subsistence\neconomies and lifestyle of people in Jesus\u2019 day. However, John sees this\nwedding as the culmination of a week of special events. John chapter two begins\nOn the third day<\/em>\u2026 this is to be\ncounted from the last event narrated in the Gospel at the end of John chapter\none and by their inclusive reckoning to mean two \u2018twenty-four hour days\u2019 later\nthan the meeting with Nathanael. John in John 1:19 to 2:11, recounts how, with\nhis friend Andrew, as followers of John the Baptist, their lives were totally\nchanged. The sequence began on the first day with representatives of the Jewish\nleaders in Jerusalem coming out to John the Baptist in the desert to ask for\nproof of his authorisation to teach and preach to Jewish people, and to see\nespecially if he was claiming to be the Messiah, which he had not claimed. On\nthe second day (John1:29-34) Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan river; on\nthe third day (John 1:35-39a) the Baptist explained something of the\nsignificance of Jesus to two of his closest followers John (the apostle) and\nAndrew, in effect saying that man is the Messiah, it is him you ought to be\nfollowing not me. As a result of their rabbi\u2019s direction the two men approached\nJesus and in effect enquired about the possibility of becoming his disciples\n(John 1:39b); it was crucially at the end of that third day (4pm) when they met\nJesus, so the statement that they spent\nthe rest of the day with him <\/em>(John 1:39b) refers to the fourth day on which\nAndrew would introduce his brother Simon Peter to Jesus (John 1:40-42); on the\nfifth day Jesus encounters Philip and Nathanael (John 1:43-51); nothing of note\nhappened on the sixth day, but on the seventh day of that time sequence we come\nto the wedding at Cana, that would have taken place on a Sabbath day (Saturday).\nJohn has already in John 1:1 made a pointed reference back to creation and\nGenesis 1:1 and it is likely that he sees this \u2018new creation\u2019 week as a\nspiritual parallel to the physical creation week of the world in the first book\nof the Bible. [D. Carson, John<\/em>, pp. 167-168] In effect here, John\nis suggesting that Jesus\u2019 gospel message is a new creation, pointing forward to\nthe re-creation of God\u2019s sin defaced universe in the new heavens and the new earth <\/em>(Revelation 21:10). It is,\ntherefore perfectly natural in wedding services today to remind the\ncongregation that marriage is a creation ordinance (Genesis 2:24-25) and a\nfoundational pillar of human society. The question naturally arises – how is\nJesus going to make such a difference in the lives of people attending a\nwedding that it will have a transformative impact upon them? And upon readers\nof this account in future generations? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b) The significance of the participants in this wedding <\/strong>who had\nbeen invited? Jesus’ mother was there, 2<\/sup><\/strong>\nand Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding <\/em>(John 2:1). This was\nnot just any wedding in that community. It is almost certainly one that\ninvolved relatives not least of Mary, Jesus\u2019 mother, who was a participant in\nthe preparations, but also Jesus and His disciples, many of whom were also\nrelated to one another. Mary\u2019s sister Salome, for example, was the mother of\nJames and John. However, in any case the vast majority of people at the wedding\nknew each other very well because they lived either in that village or in a\nnearby community. The vast majority of people at this wedding would have had\nsome knowledge of Jesus growing up; they would have seen him in his school\nyears; when he was learning his trade as a carpenter; the hardest place to be\nan effective witness for our faith is amongst the people that know us best in\nour families and amongst our closest friends. The reason is simple; we cannot\nhide anything from them. They see us as we are and that includes our\nweaknesses. Yet having given the bad news, here is the good news! It is in\nthese circles of our family and closest friends that we are most likely to have\nan impact for the Lord and see people come to Christ, because they cannot deny\nwhat God has done in our lives \u2013when we live lives honouring to the Lord.\nJesus, in effect then, was about to enter a situation where he had expected to\nbe anonymous in the \u2018crowd\u2019, yet in the sovereign purposes of God he was going\nto perform an incredible miracle that no-one could forget. The challenge to us\nin our daily lives is to say \u2013Lord here is my ordinary week in front of me, in\nthe ordinary events of life help me to honour you by the way I do my work; or\ncarry out my social life; or relate to others in my family; may something of\nyour love shine out through me. We must never be simply Sunday Christians \u2013our\nfaith must permeate all aspects of our lives, as was revealed in this social\ncontext, two thousand years ago at Cana in Galilee.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The\nAnxious Mother<\/strong> (John 2:3-5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a)The\nWay she felt<\/strong> (John 2:3) When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother\nsaid to Him, they have no more wine. <\/em>Weddings were community celebrations\nthat could last around one week. The majority of the costs were shared as\npeople all brought food for the feast, but ultimately the groom\u2019s family were\nin charge and assumed to be responsible for making up any shortfall in\nrefreshments. In a context where people lived \u2018from hand to mouth\u2019 this\npotentially could be disastrous. Even if you had the finances there were no supermarkets\noffering twenty-four hour availability for those necessary purchases. All the\nfood and drinks had to be planned and prepared in advance. Something went wrong\nat this wedding and there was a shortage of wine, the only drink available.\nThis common vinegary drink would be considered tasteless to us today, but it\nwas the staple beverage of the population. We must not assume that there had\nbeen excessive consumption and that people were intoxicated, as the alcohol content\nwas much lower than today and getting drunk involved drinking much larger\nquantities of wine which was strongly discouraged in that culture, unlike our\nown. We all make mistakes in life. However, in that culture failing to provide\nadequate refreshments at a wedding was near the top of the list of things to\navoid doing. If I understand it correctly that the family of the bridegroom\nwere relatives of Mary and her sister Salome  then it puts in some sort of context the\nrequest of Mary to Jesus to \u2018do something\u2019 to sort out this predicament. After\nthe death of Joseph, Mary would have been totally reliant on the support of\nJesus as the head of this family. From this account we can appreciate Mary\u2019s\nsensitivity to people in need. May we seek to be those who are open to spotting\nwhen people need our assistance, but who may be too embarrassed or proud to ask\nfor it. Or who may think we might not have time to help them. Sometimes we\nhesitate to volunteer to help people because we know that we cannot solve their\nproblems, but most of the time there is no expectation of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(b) The request\nshe made <\/strong>(John 2:3-4) When the\nwine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to Him, They have no more wine. 4<\/sup><\/strong>\nDear woman, why do you involve Me? Jesus replied. My time has not yet come. <\/em>We\nhave no way of knowing whether Jesus was already aware of the impending crisis\nfor the host family at the wedding. What is clear is that Mary wished to draw\nthe problem to his attention. We must assume in the first instance that she is\nhoping that Jesus has some ideas about how a natural solution could be found to\nsolving the problem. It is a very normal and natural scene when a family member\nis asked to give a hand when the pressure is on. As Christians we can sometimes\nread back into a text of Scripture a potential outcome that might only have\nbeen possible, for example, at a later time. Jesus had not performed any\nmiracles or carried out any acts until this time beyond what could have been\nexpected of a devoted and obedient son in a Jewish home of the period. Of\ncourse there were glimpses of his fuller identity and mission, such as he\ndisplayed in the incident described in Luke 2:41-52. At that time Jesus had\nbecome detached from the larger community group from Galilee with whom Mary and\nJoseph had travelled to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. The plan had been for\nthe whole party to return together. It must have been a large number of people\nfor this couple not to spot for twenty-four hours that twelve-year-old Jesus\nwas not with them. He was eventually located in the Jerusalem Temple. Luke\n2:45-52 states: When they did not find Him, they went back\nto Jerusalem to look for Him. 46<\/sup><\/strong> After three days they found\nHim in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and\nasking them questions. 47<\/sup><\/strong> Everyone who heard Him was amazed\nat His understanding and His answers. 48<\/sup><\/strong> When His parents saw\nHim, they were astonished. His mother said to Him, \u201cSon, why have you treated\nus like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.\u201d 49<\/sup><\/strong>\n\u201cWhy were you searching for me?\u201d He\nasked. \u201cDidn\u2019t you know I had to be in my Father\u2019s house?\u201d<\/strong><\/em>[or\nbe about my father\u2019s business<\/em>] 50<\/sup> But they did not understand what He was saying to them.<\/em><\/strong> 51<\/sup><\/strong>\nThen He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his\nmother treasured all these things in her heart. 52<\/sup><\/strong> And Jesus\ngrew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.  <\/em>Jesus is\nnow at least in his late 20s or early 30s but until this time has faithfully\nprovided for Mary and her younger children, running the carpentry business that\nJoseph had managed until his untimely death. Mary didn\u2019t tell Jesus what to do\nshe simply informed him of the need. Is this not a good picture of prayer? We\ncome to bring our needs, or those of other people, to the Lord and ask Him to\nwork in these situations. Sometimes we cannot resist the temptation to tell the\nLord how He might resolve the problem we are raising! Here was a picture of\ntrust. Mary is concerned enough about the need to raise it and thereby\nindicating confidence that Jesus could do something about it. In our prayer\nlife we will naturally have preferred answers to our petitions, but ideally we\nwill, in our better moments, trust him to decide how best to answer our\nprayers.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \n  Jesus\u2019 response in verse four\nalthough readily understandable in the context of John\u2019s Gospel, as we look\nback from the period after the start of the Christian Church and in the light\nof Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, yet at the time his words might have raised\nmore questions than understanding. What is most important for us to learn from\nJesus\u2019 response is how focussed he is on what is most important in life. It is\nabout priorities. All of us could gainfully fill the twenty-four hours of each\nday several times over. The people that accomplish the most in life, in\nwhatever social context-not just in Christian circles- are those who have\ngrasped the difference between that which is most important to choose and the\nthings that need to be put to one side. Dr Oakley, my old colleague principal,\nrepeatedly stressed that time management was at the heart of success in daily\nlife. On a good number of occasions he repeated a saying that puzzled me for a\ntime. The gist of it was that someone making the best use of their time \u2018knew\nthe difference between ten minutes and quarter of an hour\u2019. It was not because\nof his divine nature that Jesus had this discernment; it was a closeness to God\nand a sensitivity to accomplishing what needed to be done at that time in his\nearthly ministry that was the key. The fact that people live so much longer now\nin our country can dull our minds to the shortness of time and the immanence of\neternity. Robert Murray McCheyne deliberately chose to visit the dying\nresidents of his parish on a Saturday evening in order to focus his mind ahead\nof preaching God\u2019s Word the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(c) The trust she displayed<\/strong> (John 3:5) His mother said to the servants, Do whatever He tells you. <\/em>Mary recognised that\nshe could not pressure Jesus into doing something inappropriate, but instead\nhad an incredible faith in his ability to do what needed to be done. She didn\u2019t\nkeep that perception to herself. Instead she informed the servants employed at\nthe wedding of her faith in Jesus in a perfectly natural way. Our verbal\nwitness to people around us ideally should fit naturally into our conversations\nand daily circumstances. We need to pray that the Lord will place such\nopportunities across our pathway and that we will have the wisdom and\nsensitivity to take them. Mary was not leading these employees in a prayer of\ncommitment to God, but the impact of her witness might have been one step on\nthe way to trusting the Lord. This point was made so clearly in the evangelism\ncourse we have run in the church called Just\nWalk Across the Room. <\/em>What small step do you want me <\/strong>to take today – might be a prayer we pray this week? God will\nprovide opportunities for us if we are actively seeking them. However, they may\nbe very different to what we had in mind and with a completely different person\nto those for whom we pray regularly to come to faith! Yet on the journey of\nfaith each week of our lives \u2013we commit that week to the Lord and offer our\navailability to him to use us through our words and actions as a witness for\nhim. This is exciting and challenging at the same time \u2013someone who thinks the\nChristian life is boring has completely missed the point!      <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The\nUnexpected Miracle <\/strong>(John 2:6-11)6<\/sup><\/em><\/strong> Nearby stood six stone\nwater jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from\ntwenty to thirty gallons. 7<\/sup><\/strong> Jesus said to the servants, Fill\nthe jars with water; so they filled them to the brim. 8<\/sup><\/strong> Then\nhe told them, Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. They\ndid so, 9<\/sup><\/strong> and the master of the banquet tasted the water that\nhad been turned into wine. He did not realise where it had come from, though\nthe servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10<\/sup><\/strong>\nand said, Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine\nafter the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till\nnow. 11<\/sup><\/strong> This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus\nperformed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put\ntheir faith in him. <\/em>This miracle had a number of key features. First it was: <\/em>(a)\nSupernatural in character <\/strong>This\nwas not a trick played on the guests or a moment of great relief when more wine\nwas located in another room on the premises. What happened here was an\nextraordinary transformation of a crisis situation. It was impossible at such\nshort notice for the host family to purchase it, had they the finance to do so,\nbecause the likely quantity of wine needed for the remaining days (?) of the wedding\nfor a party comprising the vast majority of people in the village, together\nwith a few extra family members and friends, was substantial. What can we learn\nfrom this extraordinary event? Jesus took the ordinary things that were\navailable to use for this miracle. The large stone jars containing this water\nwere common in that day as people needed to wash before eating and our modern\nconveniences had not been invented! The servants had done their job in filling\nthem with water. They played their part and Jesus did the rest. If they had not\nbeen willing to do what they could then Jesus would not have performed the\nmiracle. It reminds us in our witness today that we have a responsibility to\nlive in a way that reflects our faith and honours our Lord. We cannot just open\nthe doors of the church and expect people to come in \u2013we must go to them and\ninvite them; we need to do what we can, together with regular prayer for other\npeople and at the same time to have confidence that God is at work in the lives\nof people we pray for, even when we are yet to see evidence of that. (b) Discrete in execution <\/strong>possibly\nbetween 120 and 180 gallons of water was turned to wine. Guests at the wedding\nmight have overheard Jesus reminding servants on duty to keep the water jars\ntopped up with water. This was a simple ordinary task carried out every day.\nTaking some to the master of ceremonies was a novel step as this water was\nnormally used only for washing not drinking purposes. I wonder what went\nthrough the servant\u2019s mind as he took a drinking container or jug full of\n\u2018water\u2019 down to the top table at the wedding. The servants were used to obeying\norders, but this was rather exceptional. Again servants taking wine samples to\nthe host at the wedding would also have been routine at that time. It would\nonly be natural that this man checked what might be served to the guests. You\nand I wouldn\u2019t invite people to our homes and deliberately serve out of date\nfood, would we? What took place at this wedding happened behind the scenes. Our\nwitness for Jesus is unlikely to be helped by placard-waving, banner erecting\nor bumper-sticker mounting proclamations that \u2018I belong to Jesus\u2019! It will be\ndiscrete often one-to-one encounters as we share what the Lord has done for us.\nIf in the last two decades around 90% of people have come to faith primarily\nthrough the effective witness of one person close to the individual, rather\nthan major outreach events as the primary cause, then this should indicate to\nus clear guidance about our strategies today. Incidentally the overwhelming\nnumber of people converted on Christianity\nExplored<\/em> or Alpha<\/em> courses came\nand stayed and subsequently came to faith because a friend invited them and\nwent on the course with them. (c) Generous\nin scope<\/strong> It is indicated in John chapter two that possibly between 120\nand 180 gallons of waster was turned to wine. This, on the surface, seems a\nridiculously large quantity, but we must not forget that it was a whole\ncommunity celebration that lasted for a week and when seen in that context is\nmuch more proportionate to the needs of the occasion. However, it is certainly\ngenerous. This is a reflection on the God we serve whose grace is more than\nsufficient for our needs. Whose mercy to us when we let Him down and seek\nforgiveness, time and again shows His amazing love to us. Is this the image of\nGod we convey as Christians to the wider community? God has never watered down\nHis holiness; His principles and values or the doctrinal content of our faith,\nbut the way He treats us is much better than we could possibly deserve. God\ndoes not accept you and me because we are good enough and have earned our\nsalvation \u2013that is impossible. He accepts us because Jesus was good enough. A\nlot of people even in a nice community like that will need reassurance that God\nwill accept them, if they want to come to Jesus, because they are currently\nconvinced they cannot live up to the standard required to get in to \u2018the\nchurch\u2019. (d) Symbolic in significance\n<\/strong>the jars had a two-fold purpose, as John 2:6 indicates: <\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Nearby stood six stone\nwater jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial\nwashing. <\/strong><\/em>It was not merely a hygiene issue; rather the guests at the wedding knew\nthat in Jewish ceremonial law it was a requirement to wash your hands before\nmeals and on various other occasions. I think it is most likely that God put in\nplace some of those Jewish rules in order to maintain good hygiene standards,\nin an age long before human beings knew anything about how infections are\nspread and good health is maintained. The stone jars were symbolic\nrepresentations of the Jewish law with its unyielding demands. Jesus took that\nlaw and transformed it and just as the water was miraculously turned into wine,\nso He can transform the lives of people who put their faith and trust in Him?\nIt happens gradually, rather than instantaneously as in this story, but it is\nno less a supernatural work He performs. Have you entrusted your life to Jesus?\n(e) Life changing in effect<\/strong>\nthe master of ceremonies would have thought nothing of tasting a sip of the\n\u2018wine\u2019 brought by the servants. He had no idea of the source of his drink. His\nview of the wine is very clear in John 2:9-10: and the master of the\nbanquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realise\nwhere it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then\nhe called the bridegroom aside 10<\/sup><\/strong> and said, Everyone brings\nout the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had\ntoo much to drink; but you have saved\nthe best till now.<\/strong> <\/em> An argument ensues as the\nbridegroom (and in effect his family) were criticised for keeping the best wine\ntill last. A much bigger row would have broken out had there been no wine for\nthe guests, but this man knew nothing of the predicament that has unfolded over\nthe previous hour or two! What God can do with a life totally committed to Him\ncan be nothing short of extraordinary. He delights to use ordinary people to accomplish\ngreat things for Him. The question is this \u2013 does He have all of your life? Is He\nyour no.1 priority? May we give our lives to Jesus and trust Him to lead us and\nguide us in our daily lives, for His name\u2019s sake, Amen.\n\n\n\nGrid <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction    In July 2000 I had flown to the USA with an elderly friend with a schedule of both visiting some of their friends, together with attending a Baptist history conference in North Carolina. We were fortunate for the first part of the trip in having lifts provided and that was greatly appreciated. For … Continue reading John 2:1-12 Do whatever He tells you<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-886","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":887,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/886\/revisions\/887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}