Jesus Partied
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series called Visible God, which is all about seeing God through the life of Jesus. We’re studying a book of the bible called the Gospel of John, which records the life and words of Jesus as it was written by an original source, an original follower of Jesus. Our hope in doing this series is that you’ll get to see more clearly, our invisible God made visible through Jesus.
Now one of the things I hope you’ll see more clearly from today’s text, is that Jesus is a joyful God...I want you to see that Jesus is a joyful God who came to bring us joy, not to kill our joy. But some people don’t think that, instead they think Christianity’s a kill joy faith that’s full of a bunch of do’s and don’ts. They think following Jesus entails a list of do’s and don’ts that’ll just rob them of joy. Perhaps the reason they think that is because Christians tend to talk more about the do’s and don’ts of Jesus, instead of the joys we have in Jesus. We don’t always talk enough about the joys we have in Jesus, but in today’s text, we’ll see more clearly that Jesus is a joy giver, not a joy killer. So let’s turn to John 2:1-11 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle, turn right until you find Matthew, a few books to the right of that is John. We’ll be in John 2:1-11. The title of today’s message is Jesus Partied, and here’s the big idea. Jesus is a joy giver, not a joy killer...Jesus is a joy giver, not a joy killer. He came to invite us to a greater party.
Context:
Here’s your context. John’s the author of this book of the bible, he’s very good friends with Jesus, he was a part of Jesus’ inner circle, and in ch. 1 he tells us Jesus is our Messiah, our Savior who came to lay his life down for the forgiveness of our sins. He’s our Visible God who came to give us grace upon grace. He then ends ch. 1 by introducing us to the first disciples, the first followers of Jesus which Alex preached on last week. Now ch. 2 marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and John’s book is often divided into two major sections. Ch’s 2-12 are considered The Public Ministry of Jesus because he ministers to a lot of people publicly, and ch’s 13-21 are considered The Private Ministry of Jesus because he ministers more to a private group of people, in particular his 12 disciples. Some people also divide it into what’s called The Book of Signs and The Book of Glory. Ch’s 2-12 are The Book of Signs because John focuses on 7 miraculous signs Jesus performed, and ch’s 13-21 are The Book of Glory because John focuses on the glory of Jesus, especially as it relates to the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But regardless of how the book is divided, ch. 2 marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and it records the first miraculous sign Jesus ever performed in his public ministry. So let’s check it out.
The Word:
John 2:1-11 states this, “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.” Okay so I’ve broken the text down into 4 major sections. It’s the Party, the Problem, the Provision, and the Purpose...Vs. 1-2 is the Party, vs. 3-5 is the Problem, vs. 6-10 is the Provision, and vs. 11 is the Purpose. Now right here in vs. 1 we’re learning there’s a party taking place. It’s a wedding party, and wedding parties were a massive deal back then like they are today, except they were much bigger. I mean typically the entire town would attend the party, the party would last an entire week, and people would take off an entire week of work to celebrate. It was a massive deal back then! So the people in the text are partying, they’re having a good time, the text says Jesus’ mother is there, and notice who else is there.
Vs. 2, “Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.” Jesus was invited too! Jesus was invited to the party too, he was invited to the wedding party along with his disciples. You know what this tells us about Jesus?...It tells us he wasn’t a hermit...He wasn’t a hermit living in seclusion, living in an isolated bubble trying to avoid people. He certainly had moments where he’d withdraw to quiet places, usually to pray and recharge from a heavy work day. But he wasn’t anti-social, he wasn’t a hermit who tried to avoid people, instead he was social. Jesus was very social. A lot of people enjoyed being around him, and they’d often invite him to social gatherings and parties like this wedding party in Cana. Professor and Theologian Dr. Fredrick Bruner once said, “We can highlight Jesus’ frequent presence in social settings in all four gospels. Jesus was clearly not a recluse, a hermit, or an unnaturally religious person. He was invited to meals and parties, and he attended a number of them.” Simply put, Jesus was social. He was very social and likeable. People often invited him to parties, and he often attended them.
Now I’m not sure a lot of us picture Jesus like this...I’m not sure we picture this joyful, fun, party side of Jesus...Instead we tend to picture the more serious side of Jesus. Did he have a serious side? Yes he did. But he also had a joyful, fun, party side to him. This is where the movie Talladega Nights had some decent theology. They said “I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T-shirt, because it says I’m here to party, but I want to be formal too.” Jesus had both a serious side, and a joyous, fun, party side to him. Now don’t mistake what I’m saying here. Jesus didn’t have to get all drunk, high, or bust out glow sticks at a rave party to have fun. He’s not twerking it at this wedding party...But he is celebrating at this party, and a lot of Christians need to celebrate more like Jesus. They need to learn it’s okay to relax, to have some fun, to celebrate more like Jesus. It’s like I said before, perhaps one of the reasons people don’t want to follow Jesus is because his followers aren’t living joyful lives like Jesus, they’re not celebrating the joys of Jesus enough. I mean some of us are so serious about our faith, so serious about practicing spiritual disciplines, reading our bibles, attending church on a regular basis, that we forget to celebrate. But some of us go to the other extreme where all we do is celebrate! This is the Orlando Christian mentality. “Oh I like to have a fun, party, casual faith life. I like to be casual about my faith, casual about my relationship with Jesus, casual and sporadic with my attendance, and let the serious people do all the work in the church.” But Jesus didn’t live his life according to either of these extremes, instead he was both serious and joyous. He was serious enough to go to the cross for us, and joyous enough to have some fun at a wedding party. We’ll see both sides lived out in the text.
Again vs. 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.’” There’s the problem. We just talked about the Party, and now we have the Problem, it’s that they ran out of wine. Now that’s not too big of a deal to us, but to them it would’ve been a huge deal because they’re living in an honor and shame culture. See back then the groom was financially responsible for the wedding, and wine expressed celebration and prosperity. The groom was supposed to show he’s financially able to provide for his bride, and would often bless the bride’s family with gifts and money for giving her away in marriage. In fact the bride’s family could’ve sued the groom for not providing in this situation, because the wine running out implied he couldn’t provide for their daughter like he promised. So this is more than just an embarrassing moment for the groom, it’s a shameful moment that has the potential to be a social catastrophe for him and his family lineage! Now Cana wasn’t a very big town so it’s likely Mary knows the people getting married. Some say it might’ve even been her relative, considering how concerned she is about the issue. She’s so concerned, that she approaches Jesus about the problem, and listen to what Jesus says.
Vs. 4, “And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’” Now for the children in the room, don’t go running off saying this to your mom. If your mom tells you to clean your room, don’t be like “Listen here woman!...I’ll do it later...My hour hasn’t yet come.” I promise you, it’s not gonna go well for you...Besides, Jesus isn’t being harsh here, he’s not being harsh to his mom. The Greek word for woman can also be translated as my dear lady or my dear woman. It’s like the southern expression yes ma’am or no ma’am. It’s not the normal way a son talked to his mom back then, but it’s also not rude. So Jesus isn’t being rude, but he is being serious. Like I said, Jesus is both serious and joyous, and what we’re seeing here is a serious side of Jesus. When he says my hour hasn’t yet come, he’s talking about the hour of his death on the cross. He’s telling his mom that his publicly ministry is starting and he needs to focus on that, not on wine running out at a wedding. He’s being laser focused on starting his public ministry, on what he needs to accomplish before going to the cross. He’s focused on a different agenda and timeline than Mary. It’s a good reminder for us to check our hearts on our own agenda and timeline. Have you been expecting Jesus to align with your agenda and timeline, or have you been trusting Jesus with his agenda and timeline?...Have you been expecting, even demanding Jesus to align with your prayer requests...requests to find a spouse, have kids, fix your health or mental health issues, get a new job, see more prosperity in your current job or ministry?...Have you been expecting, even demanding Jesus to align with your agenda and timeline, or have you been trusting Jesus with his agenda and timeline for your life?...City Awakening Jesus will grant you some requests, but he won’t grant you every request. He doesn’t owe you anything, and he doesn’t promise to grant you everything. We need to remember it’s not Jesus who needs to submit to our agenda and timeline, it’s us who need to submit to his...And this is what Mary does.
Vs. 5, “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” She trusts Jesus with the outcome of her request, she trusts his agenda and timeline. Bible scholar D.A. Carson says, “Mary’s statement to the servants displays a great picture of faith. She understands that Jesus isn’t bound by her request, then trusts whatever he decides to do.” Mary displays great faith, but we don’t always respond like this do we? I mean my response is usually more like “What do you mean the hour hasn’t come? I’m facing a tough hour now! I think the hour to answer my request is now!” Then if Jesus doesn’t answer my request according to my agenda and timeline, I tantrum like a 2 yr old instead of trust like Mary...Mary trusts Jesus...She submits to his agenda and timeline, instead of expecting him to submit to hers. But it just so happens that her request is a part of his agenda and timeline, it’s a part of him starting his public ministry. So he grants her request.
Vs. 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.’” That’s the Provision. We have the Party, the Problem, and now the Provision. Jesus is doing something about this problem at the wedding party, he’s telling the servants to fill up 6 stone jars with about 180 gallons of water. It’s jars that were used for the Jewish rites of purification, they were used for ceremonial cleansing of the hands, and notice he tells them to fill the jars to the brim. He’s being very specific for a reason. He’s using specific jars and having them filled specifically to the brim for a reason. I’ll explain why in a minute.
Vs. 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...” Okay so a miracle just happened. Jesus just turned “the water into wine,” within seconds. The jars were filled to the brim with water, they had no room to add grapes for wine, or the time to crush the grapes to make the wine. Then immediately after the servants filled the jars with water they walk it over to the master of the feast, the head waiter, the maître ‘d, and within those few seconds, Jesus turns those 180 gallons of water into wine. John’s saying what Jesus did here at this wedding, was a miracle. He was able to turn 180 gallons of water into wine, within seconds.
Again vs. 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.’” Jesus restored joy to the party. His provision, his miracle restored joy to the party. Now some people have issues with Jesus turning water into wine, and so they try to water this text down saying it wasn’t really wine it was just strong grape juice. But let’s be real, nobody gets this excited over grape juice!...A child might get excited over sparkling grape juice, but nobody at a wedding party gets this excited over 180 gallons of grape juice...So it’s not grape juice, it’s real wine, it’s fantastic wine, and it’s an amazing wedding gift to the bride and groom. It’s an amazing wedding gift that fixes a socially, shameful, disastrous situation, and restores the joy of the party.
But did you notice what the master of the feast, the head waiter is most amazed about?... Did you notice what he’s most amazed about?...It’s not the quantity of the wine, the fact that 180 gallons of wine all of sudden showed up, and it’s not the transformation of the water into wine which is what we tend to focus on. The text says he didn’t know where the wine came from, meaning he doesn’t even know what Jesus did. So the head waiter isn’t amazed over the quantity or the transformation of the wine, he’s amazed over the quality of the wine. He marvels over the quality of the wine, over the wine being so good. In fact it’s so good that he walks over to the bridegroom saying You’ve kept the good wine until now. It’s a glimpse of what eternity will be like when we see Jesus face to face. We’ll see the bridegroom Jesus and be like, “I thought the best wine was served first, but now I see your glory and the joy you had in store for us. It’s so much greater than I could’ve ever possibly imagined.” City Awakening the second wine joys we’ll be tasting when we see Jesus face to face, will be so much greater than the first wine joys we’re tasting now. He’ll restore our joy in ways we never thought possible, like he’s doing at this wedding party. But why this miracle?...Why does Jesus choose to do this as his first miracle? I mean if you want to start a new movement in the world, and you have the power to do miracles, you don’t start with turning water into wine. You start with something more spectacular like raising people from the dead. So why does Jesus do this for his first miracle? Vs. 11 tells us.
Vs. 11, “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” There’s the Purpose. We have the Plan, the Problem, the Provision, and now the Purpose, the reason behind this miracle. John says it was a sign, and a sign is supposed to point us to something. In this case the purpose of this miraculous sign was to point to 2 things. It was to manifest his glory and show that his disciples believed in him. Jesus did this miracle to show his disciples that he really is the Messiah, the Savior, our Visible God who came to die for our sins. It’s exactly why he uses those specific jars and has them filled specifically to the brim. It’s to show his disciples they don’t have to use Jewish purification jars anymore, because when the hour comes, he’ll die on the cross and purify them from all their sins once and for all. It’s one of the reasons why Christians shouldn’t view following Jesus, following his do’s and don’ts as joyless submission for purity. Instead we should follow Jesus as a joyful submission of love, in response to him already making us pure. The wine’s a symbol of his blood being poured out on our behalf, bringing us much joy like the guests at this wedding party. Jesus is saying “I’ve come to purify your soul, to cleanse your hearts completely of all sin, and to fill your hearts to the brim with joy, with greater wine, with grace upon grace that’ll never run out.” The reason Jesus does this as his first miracle, is to manifest his glory and show his disciples that he’s bringing in a new messianic, joyous era. It’s to show his disciples that he’s the bridegroom, whose provision will never run out...Jesus is the bridegroom, whose provision will never run out.
The Big Idea:
Let’s have the worship team come up and get to the big idea. Here’s the big idea. Jesus is a joy giver, not a joy killer...Jesus is a joy giver, not a joy killer...He’s our Visible God who came to invite us to a greater party. The very first miracle he does in his public ministry is at a wedding party, and it’s full of joy!.......So how’s the wine in your life?...How’s the wine in your life?...Has the wine ran out?...Have you lost some joy, been trying to fix or clean your life up on your own, been trying to do your own thing without Jesus?...Has the wine run out in your life?
Look if Jesus isn’t a joy killer, then maybe the issue is within us...Maybe the issue is we’re the joy killers, we’re the ones who are killing our joy, by seeking joy in other things rather than Jesus...I mean we might think all the first wine joys we’re seeking after in life are tasting good, but eventually it’ll run out. All those first wine joys we’re seeking after will eventually run out. But if we turn to Jesus his death on the cross will cleanse us of all our sins, and guarantee us abiding joy in him. If we turn to Jesus and seek our abiding joy in Jesus, a time will come when we’ll get to taste more fully a second wine, a much greater wine and joy that’ll never run dry. In the words of Tim Keller, Jesus chose to do this as his first miracle to show people he came to “bring joy.” Jesus chose to do this as his first miracle, to show people he came to “set everyone laughing” again, like at the wedding in Cana. It’s a sign that there’s a greater wedding, a greater wine, a greater joy and laughing that’s coming, for those who trust Jesus as their Visible God...Let’s stand and worship Jesus for being a joy giver, not a joy killer.
Professor and Theologian Dr. Fredrick Bruner once said, “We can highlight Jesus’ frequent presence in social settings in all four gospels. Jesus was clearly not a recluse, a hermit, or an unnaturally religious person. He was invited to meals and parties, and he attended a number of them.”
Bible scholar D.A. Carson says, “Mary’s statement to the servants displays a great picture of faith. She understands that Jesus isn’t bound by her request, then trusts whatever he decides to do.”